Georgian Museums Association (ICOM) within the scope of BE MUSEUMER project, participated in the International Conference - “Museums during Covid-19 - Challenges, Reassessments, Perspectives", organized by the Network of Museums Organizations of Georgia and Europe. Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, Levan Kharatishvili, participated in the opening of the conference and addressed the participants.

The main topics of the conference were museum activities. Participants discussed the problems and challenges posed by pandemics in museums, shared experiences on best practices for museum digital activities, and discussed future development of museum activities in the post-pandemic period. Within the framework of the conference, the session was dedicated to the reports of the beneficiaries of the project BE MUSEUMER (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan) and the students of the master’s program in Museology of the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts.

The conference was held online and was attended by world-renowned museum experts, including Peter Keller (Director-General of the ICOM), Julia Pagel (Secretary-General of the NEMO Europe Network of Museums), Sharon Hill (Director of the Association of British Museums) , Diana Pardue (Chair of the ICOM Disaster Risk Management Committee, USA), Corinne Wegener (Director of the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Cultural Heritage Preservation, USA), David Lortkipanidze (Director General of the Georgian National Museum), Maria Cristina Vanini (Europe Italia Expert) , Inga Karaia (ICOM Georgia, President), Antonio Carlos Ruiz Soria (Founder and Director, Economia Creativa, Spain), Nikoloz Antidze (Director General of the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia), Trilce Navarette (Erasmus University Professor, The Netherlands), Alexander Debono (Advisor to the President of Malta on Culture, Professor at the University of Malta), Bjorn Stanvers (Academy of Cultural Management, The Netherlands) Venke Madeerbacher (ICOM CECA Europe Coordinator), Director of the Aarhus Education Department, Ani Avagyan (President of ICOM Armenia) and others.

It is noteworthy that due to the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of museums around the world have been closed. Owing to the decision of the Interagency Coordination Council, museums and museum-reserves will gradually start open to the public from June 20 in Georgia. During the initial phase, only those museums could open, that complied with the recommendations developed by the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Refugees, Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia.

Project BE MUSEUMER was held with the financial support of European Union Creative Culture Program Grant, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Georgia - LEPL Creative Georgia and the Association of Georgian Museums (ICOM), NEMO - European Academy of Museum Organizations, Netherlands Academy of Management and Tbilisi State Academy.