Culture & Education | Monday 22 April, 2019 3:30 am |

Sharjah Museums Authority (SMA) has announced that it is accepting entries for it's SAWA Museum Academy, an introductory professional qualification that covers the diverse areas of working in museums and the cultural field in general.

 

Directed at students of museum studies and young museum professionals from the MENA Region and Germany, the two-phase program is a joint initiative of SMA, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region together with the University of Applied Sciences Berlin.

 

SAWA Museum Academy is designed to create a multicultural learning environment for Arab and German students to jointly share learning experiences, innovative approaches and methods in cultural appropriate museology, with the aim of gaining awareness and fundamental skills in multicultural museum management and curatorial approaches.

 

Phase one of the program begins in Sharjah between September 15 – 25, while the second stage takes place in Berlin, Germany, from 8 - 16 June, 2020.

 

Manal Ataya, Director-General of SMA, explained that SAWA, which means together in Arabic, is a unique program that supports and develops capabilities and necessary skills, by equipping students with the essential tools and international best practices in museology required in today’s world.

 

She added that the program provides participants with an opportunity to study together and learn from each other’s experiences and expertise, while it introduces them to other cultures.

 

Ataya concluded by saying that SAWA is testament to museums’ role as bridges that connect different cultures and elevates society’s upward adding that it reflects the important Sharjah- Germany relationship, which was forged by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council member and Ruler of Sharjah over many decades.