Victoria Museum, Kyiv, Ukraine

Brief: Advice and training in planning, developing, and managing the Victoria Museum, a costume and style museum dedicated to urban fashion from 1830-1920, Kyiv, Ukraine. Time frame: 1 year completed after 8 months. In autumn 2016,  I was contacted by Ms. Lysenko, enquiring about providing advice and training to establish her own private museum in Kyiv. I prepared a training plan, and  the essentials and desirable requirements for the museum. This was followed by several Skype conversations, an agreed study programme, and a trip to London by Ms. Lysenko.

During her stay, we met daily, visiting important private and public collections in London and further afield. We also commenced with the training sessions comprising the following areas: Governance, Finance, HR, Press Office, Marketing, Exhibition and Collection Management, Programming and Audience Development, Conservation, Security, and Health & Safety. Naturally, there were areas where Ukrainian law and rules and regulations applied, and separate advice had to be sought by Ms. Lysenko. It was an intensive and rewarding period, with an unreserved commitment by my client. She was determined to open her museum the following year. I informed her perhaps she had to allow more time for the delivery of her vision. How wrong I was!

The grand opening of the Victoria Museum took place on 30 May 2017, in a historic building she had procured. Located at 23 Butyshevy Lane (formerly A. Ivanov Lane), in Kyiv, close to other cultural sites. Ms. Lysenko was staging her first exhibitions “Capital Fashion of the 18th and 19th Century” and “Cinema and Artifacts,” comprised of loans from private collections in the Ukraine.

Naturally, many tasks had to be completed, and problems had to be resolved, from the refurbishment of the building to the installation of the display cases, environmental monitoring equipment, lighting, and alarm systems, apart from developing the curatorial concept for the exhibition. At that time, it was still a challenge for my client to convince national and international institutions to lend part of their collections to the museum. However, the situation changed as Ms. Lysenko became recognised as a serious player in the museum world.  It also encouraged her to acquire and obtain her own collection.

Further dialogues took place about collection management systems, recruitment,  training, and maintaining talented professionals, as it was a struggle to find suitable and dedicated individuals, along with increasing visitor numbers and revenue.