Meet our new leader

“I hope the whole city joins in the development of the museum, everyone has a story to share! Inger Christine Årstad comes with a heart for voluntary cultural protection and local history when she starts as museum manager at Ålesund Museum in the autumn.

Inger has “half a family” in Ålesund. The local affiliation led her to the first major museum job at Sunnmøre, the development of the basic exhibition at the Ivar Aasen tunet in Ørsta. She received her education as a journalist and documentary filmmaker in Volda, before majoring in Cultural History at the University of Oslo. During her studies, she established the company Kulturhistorie Film & Dissemination, which has produced numerous museum exhibitions.

“I'm a creative person who likes to take a hold of the good stuff while telling a good story,” she smiles.

Årstad debuted as a tour guide at Toten museum as a teenager, and was head of archive, photography and dissemination at Mjøsmuseet from 2013 to 2021. Completely new exhibitions and communication schemes for the public were created and the museum at Toten doubled the number of visitors. Her job as general manager of Memoar - Norwegian organisation for oral history, led Inger to Bergen. For the past year, she has been employed by Kulturvernforeningen as regional coordinator for voluntary cultural protection in Vestland. Served as a board member for the Cultural Heritage Foundation, tells of a lady with an eye for building protection. Experience as a cultural politician and project manager in the museum industry will come in handy in the new job in Ålesund.

‍