Curiosities NW Curiosities NW is an innovative collaborative project involving museums, wildlife reserves, zoos and other bodies with an interest the natural world. It is about encouraging more people to take an interest in their environment, either by exploring local and worldwide natural history in a museum, or by visiting local wild sites and seeing what the region has to offer.
Curiosities NW came out of discussions in early 2010 between museums in the North West with Natural Science collections. Putting people first, Twitter, Facebook and a website provide opportunities for public engagement that are in tune with current expectations. Events, programmes and activities engage and involve the public with the real thing. Curiosities NW is one facet of the work in the North West to develop the full potential of natural sciences. Renaissance North West and in particular David Craven, Collections Development Officer: Natural Sciences drives the project forward. He notes that the early work mapping skills of specialist curators, location of collections and identifying partners both internal and external to the museum sector has been essential. This work has helped to put people in touch with each other that work with collections, and with the natural environment. There is a spirit of cooperation, an informal commitment to work together. Advice and support is freely available on a variety of issues. ‘Getting people into networks has meant that the thinking around natural science collections in our museum is more joined up’. Whilst, the idea of a regional collection is at this moment too much of a paradigm shift David says what is happening here are the first baby steps towards that ideal. Financially and practically in the current economic climate it may be the only way to proceed to ensure a secure future for these collections.
The Natural Sciences project has only been running for one year. The partners will meet in
November to evaluate the impact of the work to date and discuss future ways of working. Initial feedback and comments indicate that there is raised awareness of collections in the public consciousness, increased volunteering at reserves, and increased support for wildlife at home. Further information
David Craven, Collections Development Officer: Natural Sciences , 0161 2752670 / 07798 668258 david.craven@manchester.gov.uk http://www.facebook.com/pages/Curiosities-‐North-‐West/145589255479613 http://twitter.com/#!/Curiosities_NW http://www.naturallycurious.co.uk/ Partners in Curiosities NW
Ainsdale Sand Dunes NNR Beacon, Whitehaven Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery
Bolton Museum, Art Gallery, and Aquarium Botanic Gardens Museum, Southport Brantwood, Nr Coniston Clitheroe Castle Museum Dock Museum, Barrow Gallery Oldham Grizedale Forest Grosvenor Museum, Chester Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston John Rylands University Library, Manchester Kendal Museum Lady Lever Art Gallery Lancaster Maritime Museum Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Museum Merseyside Maritime Museum Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester Portland Basin Museum, Tameside Rossendale Museum RSPB Dove Stone RSPB Leighton Moss Ruskin Museum, Coniston Tatton Park, Cheshire Touchstones Rochdale Towneley Hall, Burnley Tullie House, Carlisle Warrington Museum West Park Museum, Macclesfield World Museum Liverpool WWT Martin Mere