The current director Rael Artel will continue as the director of the Tartu Art Museum in the next three years or until the reorganisation of the museum. According to the proposal of the competition committee the Minister of Culture Indrek Saar and Rael Artel signed an employment contract for a new term of office.
According to Tarvi Sits, undersecretary for cultural heritage of the Ministry of Culture and the chairman of the competition committee, Rael Artel has very clear vision and a strong view for implementing it. “The committee found the rich experience obtained by Rael Artel during the past three years to be a good platform from which to continue in the direction of positive developments. The museum’s strong versatile programme takes into consideration the local cultural heritage as well as modern art production and it addresses people,” Sits said.
According to Rael Artel herself the activities already planned will continue in the museum, however, special attention will be dedicated to communication and visitor experience during the new term in office. “I can definitely promise a lot of exciting exhibitions and art books. Visiting Tartmus once a year is definitely not enough, instead everyone interested in culture should pay us a visit every few months,” Artel said. She added that work continues with reorganising the museum into a foundation and the issue of improving the storage conditions of collections that has lasted for decades is still current.
Rael Artel (1980) has worked as the director of the Tartu Art Museum since 2013. She has previously been a freelance curator, preparing international modern art exhibitions in Estonia as well as elsewhere in Europe. Artel has also worked as a visiting curator in the Kumu art museum and the Lodz art museum in Poland. She is the artistic director of the modern art festival Art Ist Kuku Nu Ut. In 2004-2008 Rael Artel led the project space „Rael Artel Gallery: Non-Profit Projekt Space“, which organised several art projects in Pärnu and Tartu. Artel has obtained a master’s degree in art history from the Estonian Academy of Arts. In addition she has completed the curators training programme at the De Appel art centre in Amsterdam.
The competition for the position of the Director of Tartu Art Museum was announced due to the ending of the director’s term of office on 1 April 2016. The Competition committee involved representatives of the Ministry of Culture, Tartu City Government, Art Museum of Estonia, Tartu University history museum and the Estonian Museum Association.