Joyoti's story

Joyoti Roy heads Strategy and Marketing at the CSMVS Museum, Mumbai. She is interested in the social and civic role of cultural organisations and believes that arts institutions have the key responsibility to shape and reflect people's futures.

Joyoti has been working in the field of museums, conservation and culture for over seventeen years and is currently involved in the CSMVS - Getty Sharing Collections global project at CSMVS which aims at demonstrating the connected and plural histories of the world through a permanent gallery. Joyoti was a 2008 CWIT awardee for a fellowship programme in conservation of contemporary art at the Tate Gallery, London. She was the Clore Leadership Fellow for Culture representing India to the UK in 2017–18 and worked with London’s Victoria and Albert Museum for their upcoming museum and collection research facility in East London.

Until 2017, Joyoti was heading the Outreach Department at the National Museum, Ministry of Culture, Government of India. She has worked with the British Council and the British Museum as a consultant.

CWIT has had a huge impact on my career, and my life. In 2008, I travelled to London for the first time – I soaked in its cosmopolitan culture. It changed my approach to my own cultural work – made me progressive, inclusive and experimentative, things I will cherish for life.

I must have seen all the museums in London during the three months I was there, from the British Museum to the small Museum of Tea and Coffee! Learning from observation, from conversation and from peers was a big gift of the internship. This experience was important because although I had gone to learn conservation of acrylic paintings at Tate Gallery, my love affair with the idea of museums took root in London. Moreover, CWIT has a very open-minded approach to learning, particularly self-driven learning. It has made me more articulate as a thinker and writer. But most importantly I am truly impressed by the gentleness and warmth with which the scholarships are managed and I won’t ever forget my first meeting with Richard Alford with whom I had the most candid but critical conversation on the arts.

Joyoti Roy