Olivia Bourrat, a 45-year-old chief heritage curator trained at the École du Louvre, the INP, and the Sorbonne, has been appointed director of the heritage and collections department at the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in Paris. She succeeds Anne-Solène Rolland, and returns to the museum after previous stints there, as well as at France-Muséums, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the French Ministry of Culture, and Paris Musées.
This appointment matters because Bourrat now leads the central department of a major institution dedicated to the arts and civilizations of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. Her extensive experience across key French cultural organizations positions her to shape the museum's collection strategy and heritage management at a time when debates about the restitution of non-Western artifacts and the decolonization of museum practices remain highly relevant.