Museums play a vital role as platforms for artistic and cultural exchanges. They serve as spaces where people can come together to learn, appreciate, and exchange ideas about different cultures and artistic expressions. Through their collections, exhibitions, and programs, museums offer opportunities for visitors to engage with different cultures and perspectives, fostering greater understanding and appreciation. By bringing together diverse communities and cultures, museums can create opportunities for dialogue and collaboration, promote cross-cultural understanding and mutual respect and contribute to cultural enrichment and social cohesion.

The first session of the third dialogue of the China-Europe-America Museums Cooperation Initiative will invite museum directors and representatives of cultural and academic institutions from different countries to discuss how museums can better serve as permanent platforms for artistic and cultural exchanges.

Meet the Speakers

Yu Xinzhong is a doctor of history of Nankai University and a postdoctoral fellow of Kyoto University in Japan. Currently, he is an outstanding professor and Dean of the School of History of Nankai University. He is also the vice president and Secretary General of the Chinese Society of Social History. He has written five works such as The Epidemics and Society in Jiangnan during Qing Dynasty: A Study on the Social History of Medical Treatment and Public Health and Epidemic Prevention Mechanisms in Qing Dynasty and Their Evolution in Modern China, and published more than one hundred papers in journals such as Historical Research. He was selected as a young scholar and distinguished professor of Cheung Kong Scholars Program. He won the National Excellent Doctoral Thesis Award, the first and second prizes of the National Humanities and Social Sciences Outstanding Achievement Award.

Liu Yi, Ph.D. in History, professor at Nankai University and Director of the Nankai University Museum. His research interests include: archaeology of Chinese mausoleums and ceramics, museum studies, and history of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. He has published more than 100 papers in both Chinese and international journals, and several monographs, including Life inside the Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, 30 Courses of Porcelain Identification, Imperial Mausoleum System of the Ming Dynasty, Ancient Chinese Mausoleum System, History of Chinese Ancient Material Culture: Mausoleum, Archaeological Research on the Ming Dynasty Vassal King Tombs. He is the chief editor of Introduction to the Study of Cultural Relics, a key textbook certified by China’s Ministry of Education, and has edited various museum collection catalogs, archaeological excavation reports, and professional journals. He has led multiple research projects of the National Social Science Found of China and provincial and ministerial level scientific research projects. He is a member of the National M.C.H.M Education Steering Committee and China Archaeological Society, Deputy Director of the Song, Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties Archaeology Committee, Deputy Director of the Archaeology Education Committee, advisor to the Mausoleum Archaeology Committee, Executive Director and Academic Member of the Chinese Society for Ancient Ceramics, and Deputy Director of the Tianjin Antique Authenticate Committee. He has also served as a member of the Chinese Museums Association.

Louis Godart is an archeologist. He is a member of the Accademia dei Lincei – founded in 1603, and a member of the French Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres – founded in 1663. He has been the cultural advisor of three Italian Presidents, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (1920-2016), Giorgio Napolitano, and Sergio Mattarella.

Gretchen Dietrich is executive director of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The UMFA is the flagship fine arts museum for both the state and the U. Under Dietrich’s leadership, the UMFA has flourished, with increased attendance, audience engagement and community outreach, higher revenues and new institutional support. Dietrich began her career as a museum educator and has held positions at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. From 2015–2018, Dietrich served on the board of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) and oversaw AAMD’s Education & Community Issues Committee. In fall 2019 she was selected to join the inaugural board of directors for Art Bridges, a new foundation dedicated to expanding access to American art across the country.

Yu Yunquan, President and research fellow of the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies, Editor-in-Chief of International Communications and Contemporary China and World.

Dr. Sarah J. Chicone is the Director of the Museum Studies and Cultural Heritage Management Graduate Programs in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Advanced Academic Programs at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Chicone has worked professionally and academically in Museums and Cultural Resource Management and previously served as the co-chair of the Museum Studies Professional Network of the American Alliance of Museums. She has 20 years of professional experience as lead curator, developer, and designer for natural history, science, anthropology, contemporary art, and history exhibitions. Her academic and professional interests include cultural heritage, material culture studies, cultural resource management, informal education, exhibition design, and public archaeology. She has published across the museum and heritage sector on issues of outreach, exhibition design, and academic pedagogy. Dr. Chicone received her PhD in Anthropology (Archaeology) from Binghamton University, where she worked as part of the Ludlow Collective. She also holds an MA in Anthropology (Archaeology), a graduate certificate in Museum Management from the University of South Carolina, and a BA from Lake Forest College.

Arthur de Villepin is the chairman and co-founder of Villepin, as well as an entrepreneur and avid collector of art. The son of former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, Arthur grew up surrounded by artists. His mother is the celebrated sculptor Marie-Laure Viebel de Villepin and his sister, Marie de Villepin, has established a successful career as a painter. Throughout his childhood and extensive travels, Arthur was introduced to many leading artists, including Zao Wou-Ki, Anselm Kiefer, Myonghi Kang, Pierre Soulages and Miquel Barceló, all of whom trained him to see art through the eyes of artists rather than the market. This experience had a profound and lasting effect on Arthur, nurturing a passion for collecting based on close friendships with artists. The launch of Villepin is a natural evolution for Arthur, who has pursued art activities through parallel initiatives under the Art de Vivre Group. The gallery and the Art de Vivre Group headquarters are located in Hong Kong, where Arthur has been based for the past ten years. Together with his father, he has nurtured strong friendships with artists from the region, developing unparalleled expertise in the Asian art market. He is currently on the Executive Committee of The Friends of Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Creative Industries committee for Art & Culture of the French Chamber of Commerce, and is also an Art Ambassador of the Hong Kong Tourism Board.