WMMD Newsletter April 2018Contents:
West Midlands Museum Development UpdateDisaster, Salvage and RecoveryWMMD funded places for staff from four West Midlands museums to take part in the joint Historic England and West Midlands Fire Service Disaster Salvage and Recovery course in Handsworth Fire Station on 6 - 8 February. During the three day residential course delegates were immersed in the realities of emergency planning, response and recovery. "[We learned] how to provide basic recovery for different collections. We were able to handle and pack a variety of materials and learn basic first aid for them. I experienced this for myself when I acted in the recovery team as part of the main salvage exercise. The training has given me inspiration to run similar sessions at my property with more confidence in my collections care abilities." "The case study was absolutely fascinating and harrowing, but really brought home the reality of an emergency. The case study gave an interesting insight into the timeline of an emergency and a realisation that the situation does not end with the extinguishing of a fire or the end of a salvage operation. The activity goes on for many months and a variety of different people are involved." "[The most challenging aspect was entering a smoke filled room wearing breathing apparatus] I couldn’t believe the level of sensory deprivation and that they (firefighters) are working largely on touch and understanding building layouts and how little time they have to get in and get out with the oxygen supply. It really highlighted the importance of developing prior knowledge and communication with the fire service of buildings and collections and improving the visual communication aids in our emergency plan." "In light of a new understanding of what works for the fire service and for a larger group of people – we are aiming to make our recovery documents, information about priority objects and maps of the stores and galleries more intuitive and easy to understand.’’ "It was a very valuable and enjoyable course led by people with a wealth of experience and expertise. There was no extraneous information, all was valuable and relevant." Casting an Expert Eye over World Culture CollectionsA rare piece of Tahitian barkcloth (pictured above) has come to light at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum as part of the WMMD Expert Eye programme. Museum Ethnographic Collections consultant Len Pole worked with staff to help identify objects within the collections, their significance and origin. Kerry Whitehouse, Registrar at the museum said, "The project has definitely helped fill in some of the gaps and has helped us understand what our next move is with regard to finding out more". Carrying on the momentum of Len's work the museum team put in a successful bid to Art Fund with BBC Civilisations Festival which helped to redisplay the case containing the Tahitian barkcloth. If you would like to be involved in future Expert Eye projects which link experts to a range of collection types please contact Helen Johnson. Solve to Evolve ConferenceDelegates from over 80 museums and more than 20 sector partners attended the Solve to Evolve conference in March. Delegates summed up their conference experience as It was a busy and inspirational day with Gordon Seabright, Eden Project, Graham Garnett, Chester and Cheshire West Council and Sarah Maltby, York Archaeological Trust delivering thought provoking and inspirational plenaries. Birmingham's Poet Laureate had delegates composing haiku poems and the Solution Stations covered a whole range of topics in bite-sized sessions. Most delegates then toured Blists Hill Victorian Town on exclusive tours before finishing at The Forest Glen for dinner and story telling from Peter Chand. WMMD Resourceswww.mdwm.org.uk/resources has a wide range of resources drawn from our programme and workshops which can be accessed by Accredited museums and those officially Working Towards Accreditation. If you would like to access these resources please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk for a password. West Midlands Museum Development EventsAll WMMD events are free15 May - Collections Knowledge Café: Marking and Labelling10.30am – 4pm, Cider Museum, Hereford HR4 0EFThis event, in partnership with the Collections Trust, will introduce the different equipment, materials and techniques used for marking objects. It will include hands-on activities to put knowledge into practice. What will you learn?
Who should attend?
The session will be led by Sarah Brown. Sarah is the face of Collections Trust around the country, and works closely with the Museum Development Network across the English regions to deliver free, Arts Council England-funded events on a range of collections management topics. A marking and labelling kit will be available to each museum that attends. This is a free event with lunch and refreshments included. This event is now fully booked. Please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk if you would like to be on the waiting list. Other Events17 April - Introduction to Heritage Open Days and Programming12noon - 4.30pm, Middleport Pottery, Stoke on Trent ST6 3PENew to Heritage Open Days? Been a while since you last organised an event? These sessions will explain a little more about the festival and how it all works. You’ll also be given top tips and guidance on how to create and organise an incredible and engaging event. For more information and to register your interest click here. 20 April - Digital Technologies10am – 3.30pm, Lapworth Museum of Geology B15 2TTTouchscreen interactives, smartphone apps using location identifiers like iBeacons or NFC chips, and immersive technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, and voice interactions – digital tools and technologies offer new opportunities for museums to open up access to collections, enhance the visitor experience, and promote the exchange of ideas and knowledge. Yet they also come with a level of scepticism and concerns, especially around money, staff time and skill gaps. Midlands Federation of Museums and Art Galleries is holding this spring event to provide expert insights and practical advice for museum and heritage professionals at all levels who want to build their confidence around digital in a supportive, friendly environment. To book click here. 23 April - GEM Special Event for Mentors11am – 4pm, Manchester Museum M13 9PLYou’re invited to attend a special event for existing and aspiring GEM mentors! As GEM continue to develop their training programmes, they are increasing support for GEM mentors and looking for your feedback to co-create an effective and rewarding mentoring scheme. Developed in partnership with Tamsin Russell, Professional Development Officer for the Museums Association, the event will explore the benefits of mentoring and the opportunities and resources available across the sector. For more details, including how to book, click here. 26 April - Exhibitionists: Designing Great Exhibitions10.45am – 5pm, V&A Sackler Centre, LondonMuseums Association MP SeminarFrom creating context to connecting audiences and objects, exhibition design has a huge job to do. Inhabiting a unique space between architecture and theatre sets, exhibition design is essentially about creating spaces that illuminate the objects on display and the stories they tell. Following its sold-out event Grand Designs: New Thinking on Exhibition Design in 2017, the Museums Association is delighted to announce a follow-up one-day conference on 26 April 2018 at the V&A Sackler Centre in London. The programme shares the principles of good exhibition design, explores design as an effective interpretative tool, and highlights how exhibition design can create more meaningful visitor experiences. This conference is for anyone involved in creating permanent or temporary displays and exhibitions. Click here for more information and to book. 30 April - Museums' Environmental Framework Webinar11am – 12noon, Somerset HouseAs a sector with stewardship, community at its heart and an extraordinary reach, museums have a unique perspective to bring and contribution to make on environment and climate change. Julie's Bicycle is hosting a webinar to explore what environment and climate change means for museums, how museums can develop their environmental practice and the opportunities this can open up, based around the Museums' Environmental Framework. For more information, click here. 3 and 4 May - Touring Exhibition Group (TEG) Marketplace and Pre-Marketplace Seminar 2018M-Shed, Princes Wharf, Bristol BS1 4RNJoin colleagues nationwide for one or two days of networking and inspiration at the UK’s principal touring and partnership exhibitions networking event. The programme includes:
For further information, or to book click here. 10 May - Child Protection and Safeguarding: In the Arts and Cultural Sectors10am - 4.15pm mac, Birmingham B12 9QHThis Artswork Professional Development course is of benefit to individuals and organisations looking to update their understanding of child protection legislation and best practice, this course provides a full update on current child protection legislation, including the Disclosure and Barring service, the Duty to
Refer and Working Together. £150 per person including lunch, refreshments and a certificate of attendance. Limited bursaries available. For more information and to book your place click here. 16 and 17 May - Museums + Heritage ShowOlympia, London W14 8UXThis show is the perfect place to discover new ideas and opportunities and to explore new ways of working, all designed to make your organisation bigger, better and stronger! It is completely free to attend and offers two jam-packed days featuring more than 50 free talks, 150 suppliers and consultants and a raft of special features. 18 May - Changing the Narrative: Older Women and the Cultural Sector9.45am – 4.15pm, Ellen Wilkinson Building, Devas Street, Manchester M13 9PTDrawing on academic and empirical research in gerontology, sociology and business and the personal experiences of older women working in the cultural sector, this event brings together current thinking and research. What are the opportunities and barriers that exist for women who wish to continue to contribute to the sector that they spent their working lives in? Does creativity develop with age? How are the expectations of the way we live in our 60s and beyond changing? This event is supported by ArtsMethods@Manchester and MICRA: the Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing. NewsNew Interpretation Guide for Carriages in Museum CollectionsHorse-drawn carriages are found in museum collections across the country. As moving objects in static displays they are often difficult to interpret. This new guide, commissioned by Staffordshire Archives and Heritage and funded by Arts Council England, brings together best practice in the interpretation of carriages to help museums bring them to life. It was written by museum interpretation consultant Steve Slack, in collaboration with professionals from across the museum sector working with carriage collections. A pdf version of the guide is available on the new website exploring Staffordshire Museum Service’s unique carriage collection www.staffordshirecarriages.org.uk/resources. MA Launches Collections 2030The Museums Association has launched Collections 2030. This is a major research project looking at the long-term purpose, use and management of museum collections. The research will be guided by two main themes: the culture of collections (how collections can be used and what we think they are for) and infrastructure (what we need in place to make our collections effective). Building on recent reports such as the Museums Taskforce, Mendoza Review, Culture is Digital, and Why Collect?, the research will look at changes to museums and wider society and examine how they will impact on collections use and management. A reference group, made up of sector organisations, will act as a critical friend, while a steering group of museum professionals will determine the direction of the research. Find out more. Museums + Heritage Awards Shortlist AnnouncedTwo West Midlands museums have made it to the shortlist this year after a record breaking number of entries were received. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery has been shortlisted in the Marketing Campaign category for their exhibition 'Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender and Identity' and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for 'Sharing Shakespeare's Story' in the Educational Initiative category. Good luck to both museums for the award ceremony on 16 May. Guidance from Information Commissioner's OfficeDon't forget the Information Commisioner's Office has issued a helpful 12 step plan for preparing for the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which come into force next month. Click here to download the guidance. Kids in Museums Launches the Family Friendly Museum Award 2018.Nominations are now open for the Family Friendly Museum Award. Any member of staff or volunteer can nominate their museum for the annual award. You can also invite your visitors to send in their own nominations. It doesn’t matter whether you're a giant National museum or a tiny two-room local gallery. You can be volunteer-run or boast a team of curators. You can be best known for your outstanding coin collection or be alive with high-tech interactives (or even better - both!) What matters most is that your museum goes that extra mile to provide an excellent family friendly experience. For more information and how to make a nomination click here. Subject Specialist NetworksThe new Subject Specialist Networks website can be found at https://subjectspecialistnetworks.org.uk/. OpportunitiesFree E-learning Fundraising Training Courses are Available NowThanks to investment from Arts Council England, Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy is pleased to bring you free access to the world's most comprehensive portfolio of online fundraising training for staff, practitioners and trustees in the arts, cultural and heritage sector. Their latest e-learning courses are live now until 4 May 2018. Get started by signing up to the Cause4 Advance modules here and for the University of Leeds course here. Call for Papers – Museums and Digital Memory: From Creation and Curation to Digital PreservationThe British Museum’s National Programmes team and the Digital Preservation Coalition invite you to contribute towards a day of workshops, discussion and debate on the subject of digital content in museums on Monday 3 September. They want to explore best practice in how we as a sector create, curate and preserve digital content – not just the exciting outward-facing side of digital technology in museums, but the often overlooked back-of-house digital preservation work that is essential to ensure the long-term viability and sustainability of these efforts. Central to the day is the question: if museums are memory institutions, how do we ensure that we maintain access to the digital memory that we’re creating now for our future audiences? Further details on how to submit a proposal can be found here. Please send proposals no later than Monday 30 April to Georgia Mallin, UK Partnerships Coordinator. Call for Papers – Musical Instruments Unwrapped: Telling Social Histories Through Musical InstrumentsThe Social History Curators’ Group and Musical Instruments Resource Network has announced a joint seminar on 12 November at St Cecilia’s Hall, Edinburgh. Musical instruments are complex cultural objects. Like many others which are taken out of everyday life to be shown in museums, they benefit from interpretation that offers audiences a variety of ways into understanding their diverse functions and meanings in societies. In bringing together specialists from a variety of disciplines, including musical instruments and social history, this seminar seeks to broaden perspectives. It aims to help develop new ways of thinking about the presentation of musical instruments and how they can be active performers in a wide range of display contexts, whether or not they are able to be played. For more information click here. Call for Papers – GEM Conference 2018The theme for this year’s GEM conference is Past, Present and Future which will take place 4-6 September in Nottingham. To celebrate GEM’s 70th anniversary this year the conference will be exploring how the landscape of heritage education has evolved over time with a look to what lies ahead for the sector. What have we learned from previous practices and how can we ensure a sustainable and vibrant heritage education provision both now and in the future? Do you have practical experience from your own organisation that you would like to share to help answer these questions? Remember, we often learn a lot from something that goes wrong – please don’t be afraid to share your bitter experiences for the benefit of others! If you’re interested in running a session, find out more here. Membership OfficerBarber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham21.6 hours per week (FTC 12 months) |