Treasure Caretaker Training

Treasure Caretaker Training preservation workshops are by invitation and held within a monastery, library, or community center. Workshops and seminars are attended by monastics, local and national museum and archives professionals, government officials, professors, scholars, students, and traditional artists. All learn to protect and preserve their own cultural heritage treasures. 

Preservation workshops and lectures have been held in India, Bhutan, Nepal, China, and in Europe and North America. Each workshop is designed for the needs and demographics of the local area and demographics of participants. 

For example, in one workshop, ten-year-old monks sat beside senior monastic officials, scholars, archivists, arts students and master artists. Preservation education is highly effective when begun at a young age, and we are looking to develop a school curriculum that is culturally appropriate.
 
Sustainability is also important to Treasure Caretaker Training. Monastics who began in our workshops in 2005 are now senior monastic officials and are already informed and interested in preservation measures. One nun from our 2005 Bhutan workshop is now a PhD scholar in Hong Kong University, and she credits her time with Treasure Caretaker Training for her increased confidence and academic success. Nuns who began as participants and now preservation instructors in our workshops and are teaching monks how to document their own sacred artforms. 

Our monk and nun treasure caretakers are also grateful for your donations towards 2021 preservation workshops, with invitations from Nepal, Bhutan, and Sikkim when travel resumes.