Museum July-August 2012 : Page 27
Q & A Left: 5IF.POHPMJBOGMBH�f; Right: .ZBOEBT+BNCBMEPSKBUUIFBOOVBMNFFUJOH�f; funding often prevents us from being creative … That is a common phrase heard in the museum fi eld in this country as well. are familiar with this and have a great interest in natu-ral history. In America, schoolchildren love natural history museums because of their fascination with dinosaurs. Is it the same in your country, and do you have many schoolchildren visit your museum? … but we are still intent on trying new things. That is why I am very grateful to come to this event to meet museum people from the U.S. and around the world. This will help me. I am also keen to tour the Expo Hall, because the new museum products are of great interest to me. We do not have anything like this in Mongolia. But there is a strong interest in museums on the part of the Mongolian people? Yes. We have 126,000 visitors at my museum each year. We are the largest natural history museum in the country, and we are glad to have so many visitors. But my background is in marketing as well as other aspects of museum work, and we are anxious to increase our number of visitors. I think that, as the economy grows and becomes more privatized, we can do that. But we also need to fi nd funding to sup-port this effort. The natural history of Mongolia is of great interest to people of all ages. As you know, the Gobi Desert is one of the best areas for fi nding dinosaur fossils, many rare ones, even discoveries of unknown species. Mongolians +VMZr"VHVTU   +VMZr"VHVTU  Yes, yes, schoolchildren are a big part of our visitors every year—almost 40 percent. In Mongolia, I think it is accepted that museums are important to education, and that a visit to the museum is educational for all ages. Schoolchildren are extremely important for all of us at our museum. But we are often frustrated in that we often do not have the funds to be creative in our exhibitions and programs, especially for children. We have tried to improve this by working with many NGOs [non-governmental organizations]. We have been able to get some fund-ing from NGOs that work in Mongolia, in China, in Japan. And America, of course. It was a USAID [United States Agency for International Development] project that renovated our largest na-tional museum, fi xing the storage, the lighting, the gal-leries, really the entire facil-ity. This is important. We do not have a lot of money in my museum. Our entire budget is just 125 million tugrik … that is about $120,000. So you see outside funding is important. And while privatization will be good in the years ahead, our museum has lost a good deal of its government fund-ing in recent years because the government is trying to do more. What are some of the things you’ve learned by being here at the annual meeting? getting the recordings so I can go over the topics again. Mostly it has been great to be with so many great museum people. They have been very welcoming and friendly. Everyone is willing to share. I really would like to thank AAM and Mr. Bell for this opportunity. I will never forget it. I just hope I get the chance to come back again. Next year in Baltimore, perhaps? Oh, so much. The sessions I have been to will help me in my job back in Mongolia, and I am looking forward to Yes, Baltimore. Then I might be able to stay longer and visit with AAM and the museums in Washington! z www.aam-us.org MUSEUM 
Publication List
Using a screen reader? Click Here