Guest Speakers to Discuss Tibet Museum April 26 at UW

Two guest speakers with ties to the Tibet Museum will speak at the University of Wyoming Tuesday, April 26.

Tashi Phuntsok, founding director and project coordinator of the new Tibet Museum, and Kelsang “Kaydor” Aukatsang, president of the Asia Freedom Institute and a nonresident senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, will present “Tibet and the Tibet Museum: Resilience and Hope in Exile.” Their talk will take place in Room 111 of the Visual Arts Building at 5:30 p.m. A reception will follow at 6:30 p.m.

Phuntsok and Aukatsang will discuss their experiences across diverse careers. They will specifically situate the redevelopment of the Tibet Museum in relation to fundamental questions facing the future of the Tibetan community. These questions include: How can a small exile community with members scattered across the globe remain resilient? What is the situation today? How can democracy, cultural preservation and identity be nurtured and bolstered in exile?

The UW Art Museum, Global Engagement Office and Department of History will host the talk.

Isadora Helfgott, vice provost for global engagement and an associate professor of history, and Nicole Crawford, director and chief curator at the UW Art Museum, have been working in an advisory capacity with the Tibet Museum since the initial phases of the redevelopment of the museum in 2016.

“We are thrilled for this opportunity to host our Tibetan colleagues at UW to discuss their experiences with the role of museums and museum building in the larger geopolitical landscape,” Crawford says.

For more information about the new Tibet Museum, visit www.tibetmuseum.org/the-new-museum.

For more information about the talk, call Will Bowling, education and public programs coordinator at the UW Art Museum, at (307) 766-3441 or email wbowling@uwyo.edu.