The first phase of our Museums project is near completion. From June 2010 a team work of British Council staff, Kazakhstani and British volunteers and Museum curators produced an impressive suite of museum brochures. 18 Museums - 12 in Almaty, 2 in Astana and 4 regional ones will get a thousand copies of beautifully designed brochures in the English language.

On 25th January 2011, the award ceremony to mark completion of the first phase of the project will be held at the British Council office at Samal Towers, in Almaty. English language brochures, illustrated and designed to international standards, will be presented to the participating museums by the British Council Director. To ensure sustainability of the project the museums will also receive electronic copies of brochure designs and translations of museum materials for future use.

The project aims to:

- Facilitate implementation of the trilingual policy of the Kazakh government and support cultural relations between the two countries

- Improve the quality of services for English speaking visitors to Kazakhstan, by providing English language guidebooks and tourist brochures for museums, in line with the state policy to diversify and improve tourists services. Currently, there is very little, if anything, in the English language.

- Promote Kazakhstan's rich cultural legacy to British students of Russian language

- Increase the engagement of young Kazakhstanis with the history of their country.

The project, within the first 8 months, has successfully delivered all the above aims.

In second phase of the project, we plan to reach more museums across the country and create an online portal for museums, with the help of young volunteers from the UK and Kazakhstan.

We also plan private sector support for the continuation of this work.