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Traditionally, the curator’s work has been in close connection with the main functions of the museum - preservation, research, and communication. The changes that have occurred at museums over the past few decades have also influenced the profession of curator. Specialisation has taken place inside the museum, and so the curator’s functions have also changed. This article focuses on the curator’s field of work at national museums in Finland and in the Baltic states. The analysis is mainly based on interviews conducted with curators and other museum professionals at the Estonian National Museum, the Estonian History Museum, the National History Museum of Latvia, the National Museum of Lithuania, and the National Museum of Finland. Emanating from the PRC model provided by the Reinwardt Academy as well as the global changes induced by the new museology, the focus is on the curator’s connection with museum collections. The analysis shows that the curator’s role is not similar in all the museums under discussion; there are regional differences in structure, curatorial duties, and priorities. While at some museums the curator is regarded as a collection keeper who can also do some research, at others they are rather researchers and have only infrequent contact with collections.

Straipsnyje tiriamos Soroso šiuolaikinio meno centro (SŠMC) Lietuvoje 1993–1998 m. surengtos kuruojamos metinės parodos. Remiantis naujosios muziejininkystės teorinėmis nuostatomis, analizuojama šių parodų rengimo politika, jų ekspozicijos bei recepcija dailės kritikoje, siekiant išsiaiškinti, kaip ir koks šiose parodose buvo kuriamas santykis su žiūrovu. Metinių parodų rengimas – viena iš 1993 m. Lietuvoje filantropo Georgeo Soroso įsteigto SŠMC veiklos krypčių. Jos XX a. paskutiniojo dešimtmečio Lietuvos dailės lauke įtvirtino kuruojamų parodų modelį. Rengiant jas didžiausias dėmesys buvo kreipiamas į pristatomų reiškinių naujumą ir aktualumą. Vietos meno lauko ekspertai prioritetus teikė parodų projektams, kurių rengėjai turėjo daugiau simbolinio kapitalo. Metinių parodų suvokimui ir publikos formavimui didelę įtaką turėjo ir eksponavimo erdvė – baltuoju kubu pavirtę meno rūmai, kurie paveikė naujos parodų publikos formavimąsi. Tačiau lankytojas atliko pasyvaus reginio vartotojo vaidmenį ir nebuvo skatinamas intelektualiai įsitraukti į parodoje kuriamą pasakojimą. Tam trukdė tiek kontekstinės informacijos trūkumas, tiek ir parodų ekspozicijų architektūra. Pastangos intelektualiai įtraukti žiūrovą į parodas apsiribodavo tekstais kataloge. Kontekstinės informacijos pačiose parodose trūkumas, ne visada tolygus ir aiškus parodų struktūravimas erdvėje trukdė lankytojams geriau suvokti kuratorių intencijas, pačius kūrinius bei įsitraukti į parodų prasmių kūrimo procesą. The paper examines the annual curated exhibitions organised by the Soros Centre for Contemporary Arts (SCCA) in Lithuania in 1993–1998. Based on the theoretical provisions of the new museology, it analyses the policy of organisation of these exhibitions, their expositions and reception in art criticism, seeking to ascertain the relationship with the audience created in these exhibitions. Organisation of annual exhibitions is one of the activity directions of the SCCA established in 1993 in Lithuania by philanthropist George Soros. They established the model of curated exhibitions in the Lithuanian art field in the 1990s. While organising them, focus was shifted on recency and relevance of the phenomena presented. Local art field experts prioritised exhibition projects whose promoters had more symbolical capital. The perception of annual exhibitions and formation of the audience were greatly influenced by the exposition space – the chamber of arts transformed into a white cube, which affected the formation of the new exhibition audience. Yet visitors performed the role of passive consumers of a view and were not encouraged to become intellectually involved in the narrative told at the exhibition. It was hindered by the lack of contextual information and the architecture of display of exhibitions. The efforts to intellectually involve the audience in the exhibitions were limited to catalogue texts. The lack of contextual information in exhibitions and not always even and clear spatial structuring of exhibitions prevented the audience from better understanding curators’ intentions and exhibits, and become involved in the process of creating meanings of exhibitions.

Actuality of the Theme. The main function of museums for a long time was to preserve the memory of humanity and to transmit it to future generations. However, today there are no doubts that museums play a much broader role in the society. Visitors in museum spend their leisure time in a meaningful way, meet their friends and communicate with them. They not only examine the exhibits, admire and enjoy them, but also acquire knowledge. Museums are starting to segment their visitors and they try to propose various differentiated services for every particular pre-defined segment. Thus, it was clarified that the family is a segment, which gets least attention in our museums. In many Lithuanian museums services for families serve as an empty niche which is like a puzzle, which fiddles around like a new mosaic from solitary projects in various museums of the country. Scientific problem is the absence of research undertakings related to the issues of family and museum, the potential and reality of their correlation in Lithuania. So the object of the research was chosen the relation between family and museum. The purpose of the project was to reveal the reciprocity of family and museum and to suggest the scientific recommendations for its development. The goals of the project were: to reveal the concepts of the contemporary family and the modern museum; to traverse the problematic of the family and museum reciprocity; to scrutinize the peculiarities and importance of families’ learning at museums. The qualitative as well as the quantitative empirical methods were used during the survey: the questionnaire offered to the families as museum visitors, the interviews with the experts who organize the educational activities in museums in Lithuania; immediate observation; surveys and disengaged conversations with the experts who work in various museums in Poland, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Greece, Sicily, Malta, Latvia, Estonia, USA, Lithuania. The theoretical methods were used as well: the comparative analysis and synthesis, summation, abstraction. According to the research data, the hypothesis that Lithuanian museums have to be focused on the needs of families and endeavor to make them one of the most numerous groups of all visitors was proved. The main conclusions of the project were: • Contemporary families and modern museums have common needs which evidence in the field of education. For family is important to spend leisure time purposeful and this unclose the opportunity for museums to attract very numerous group of visitors. The satisfaction of these needs create a new quality of both family and museum as such. • The research has proved the theoretical premises as well that the needs of the contemporary family in the museum space to be as follows: mutual social interaction, educational experiences, spending time in an active way and having fun. Hereby the recommendations for the Lithuanian museums were offered with regards to family visits. This project could be used for the museum employees upgrading of qualification and competences. This might also serve the theoretical development of the museum theory and its advancement as well.

Straipsnyje apžvelgiamos Lietuvos šiuolaikinės dailės parodų kuratorių savivokos tendencijos bei kuratoriaus identiteto kaita nuo 9-10 dešimtmečio pabaigos iki šių dienų. Remiantis 2006 m. pavasarį atlikta kuratorių apklausa bei P. Bourdieu kultūros kūrimo lauko teorijos nuostatomis, analizuojama kaip Lietuvoje formavosi dabartinių dailės parodų kuratorių identitetas, kokios yra bendros Lietuvos kuratorių savivokos tendencijos, vyraujantys kuratorių, institucijų ir menininkų sąveikos būdai. Lietuvos šiuolaikinės dailės parodų kuratoriai yra aktyvūs dailės lauko agentai, bendradarbiaujantys su menininkais, kartu su jais kuriantys bendrą intelektinę produkciją. Analitinio-struktūrinio pobūdžio parodose kuratoriai atskleidžia menininkams būdingas kūrybos tendencijas, jas pristato. Parodose-projektuose riba tarp kuratoriaus ir menininko dažnai niveliuojasi, nes abu agentai lygiaverčiai dalyvauja tiek projekto koncepcijos kūrimo, tiek paties projekto sklaidos procesuose. Lietuvos dailės parodų kuratorių savivoka nuo 1988 m. pamažu keitėsi ir ėmė įgauti stabilių bruožų. Ryškiausia yra kuratoriaus kaip tarpininko tarp dailės kūrinio, kūrėjo ir auditorijos, praktiko ir teoretiko, vadybininko, organizatoriaus ir kūrėjo savivokos tendencija, nulemta dailės lauko institucinės sanklodos, ekonominių sąlygų ir atliekamų funkcijų pobūdžio. Nedidelis aktyviai parodas rengiančių institucijų skaičius, šalyje galiojantys įstatymai, apibrėžiantys kūrėjo statusą, bei nestabili ekonominė padėtis nulemia tai, kad kuratorystė - ne vienintelė dailės lauko agentų veikla. The article overviews self-assumption tendencies of contemporary art exhibition curators in Lithuania, and the development of curators’ identity from the end of 1980-90’s till present days. On the basis of the survey of curators, performed in spring of 2006, and provisions of culture creation field theories by P. Bourdieu, the author of the article analyses the formation of contemporary art exhibition curators’ identity in Lithuania, common self-assumption tendencies of Lithuanian curators, and prevailing ways of the interaction between curators, institutions, and artists. Contemporary Lithuanian art exhibition curators are active agents in field of art; they work in tight cooperation with artists together with them creating common intelligent production. In analytical-structural exhibitions, curators disclose and present creative tendencies of certain artists. In exhibitions-projects, boundaries between a curator and an artist disappear, as both agents equally participate in creating the concept of the project and its distribution. The understanding of Lithuanian art exhibition curators changed and gained new features since 1988. Curator's as an intermediary's between the artistic creation, the artists, and the audience role is the most obvious; they are practitioners and theoreticians, managers, organisers, and creators, such understanding was conditioned by the institutional state in the field of art, economic conditions, and functions performed. Small number of the institutions organising exhibitions in Lithuania, national laws defining the status of a creator, and unstable economic situation influence that curatorship is not the only activity of art agents.

Sėkmingai asmenybės raidai didelę įtaką turi aukštesnioji ir aukštoji mokykla. Susiformavusi aštuoniolikos metų asmenybė dar bent penketą metų kuria individualų gyvenimo stilių, ruošiasi pagrindiniams pasirinkimams „su kuo, iš ko ir vardan ko gyvens“. Dauguma jaunuolių iki 18 metų nesusikuria identiteto ir aukštesniojoje mokykloje vyksta intensyvi jo paieška, ypač jei grupė turi gerą vadovą - kuratorių. The tutors influence to the personal development of the first year students was investigated in two higher schools of agriculture: in Rietavas higher school and Klaipėdos higher school. The method of research - inventory prepared by us about tutors functions at school. We investigated 156 students of the first year, their parents (120 persons)and an administration of scools (6 persons). Results achieved : tutors activity is limited to fulfilling official duties, it does not influence students leiser time, insufficient attention is paid to professional orientation. The parients of the first year students have no relations with the tutors of their children, they don't know the functions of tutors. The personal development as well as professional development of first year students does not have continuos development, the students don't doubt about their life, perspectives of it with their tutors.