Iraqi museum staff to receive training in US

The US State Department is funding a programme to provide specialised training for Iraqi museum professionals from Baghdad and Kirkuk at six American institutions. The initiative is the first US-sponsored museum exchange since 1991 when the United Nations imposed trade sanctions against Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait. The embargo remained in place until the US-led offensive in 2003.

According to Edward Able, president of the American Association of Museums (AAM), the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs contacted him shortly after the March 2003 invasion and asked for the AAM to design a collaborative project to help their Iraqi colleagues.

The AAM scheduled a planning meeting at its Washington, DC, headquarters in January 2005 with Dr Donny George, director of Iraqi Museums at the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, who was also the director of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad at the time of the US invasion, and Dr Borhan Shakir, director of Excavations at the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage. The group formally agreed to use the AAM’s International Partnership Among Museums (IPAM) programme as a model, designed to help Iraq restore, preserve and secure its cultural heritage.