Tibet Museum Director to Speak at UW April 25

The director of the Tibet Museum in Dharamsala, India, will discuss at the University of Wyoming the history and current state of Tibet, and how he created exhibitions that present complex subjects to a diverse audience -- while living in exile in India.

Tashi Phuntsok will discuss “Tibet: The Story and Struggle of a Nation” at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, in Room 127 of the UW College of Business Building. The event is free and open to the public. His presentation is the final Center for Global Studies event this semester.

The Tibet Museum was established in 1988 to document, preserve, research and exhibit all matters relating to Tibet’s history, culture and present political situation. The museum’s goal is to educate Tibetans and nonresidents.

The museum currently consists of a small permanent exhibition centrally located in Dharamsala, which receives about 70,000 annual visitors and has a strong online and regional traveling exhibition presence. It will soon move into a new, larger space to be completed this spring. In conjunction with the move, the Tibet Museum is reconceptualizing and redesigning its exhibitions.

Phuntsok was born in Thimpu, Bhutan, and raised and educated in India. He received a bachelor’s degree (1997) and a master’s degree in history (2001), both from Panjab University.

He has worked at the Central Tibetan Administration (de facto Tibetan government-in-exile) since 2001. Before joining the Tibet Museum, Phuntsok worked at the Department of Education, Department of Home, and the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

For more information, call Nicole Crawford at the UW Art Museum at (307) 766-6529 or email ncrawfor@uwyo.edu.