ISSUE 15 OCTOBER 10
The future of national support for museums Big Society agenda
Manchester Museum – Claire Wood
Curating for the Future conference
Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, DCMS
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Claire Wood
The future of national support for museums
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There is now an opportunity to integrate Renaissance and the other important functions of the MLA into the wider cultural framework.
Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery
The Culture Minister, Ed Vaizey, has spoken positively about the Renaissance programme and we will learn more about his aspirations for regional museums at the MA conference in Manchester in October. He continues to place considerable emphasis on cultural leadership, innovation and philanthropy, and has been encouraged by the sector’s engagement with ongoing debates about public funding of culture, heritage and the arts. We will also have a clearer understanding of the government’s plans for museums after the Comprehensive Spending Review announcement on 20 October. Throughout the summer, the Renaissance team has worked with regional museums to help them to advocate the successes and highlight the good news stories which demonstrate how museums contribute to wider government priorities through ground-breaking work with schools, engaging
young people, community outreach and volunteering programmes. The team is supporting strategic partners and museum networks to understand the opportunities and challenges in developing survival strategies for the future through new business models and new relationships with other services and sectors. Renaissance is also working closely with MLA, the NW Fed and National Museums Liverpool to commission a powerful vision for the region that helps develop a model for the future. If, as we hope, Renaissance funding continues in some form and we await an announcements on how MLA’s responsibilities will be discharged in the future, we firmly believe that there is a powerful opportunity for regional museums to continue to play a significant role in the country’s economic regeneration through tourism and as a focus for community identity.
Virginia Tandy OBE, Director of Culture: Manchester City Council & North West Hub Lead
MLA abolished The Secretary of State announced on 26 July that the MLA would cease operating by 2012 and that the key functions carried out by the MLA will be transferred to other, existing organisations. The MLA Board recognises that final decisions are a matter for Ministers, but they advocate in the strongest terms that people and their local communities must continue to benefit from place-based investment in the services and outcomes provided by museums, libraries and archives, as outlined in MLA’s ‘Sharper Investment for Changing Times’.
The Board is committed to the principle that the sector meets the demands of the public, adding value and benefit, especially at a time when social need is very high. They believe that the professional best interests of museums, libraries and archives must continue to be served in a joined-up way that maintains a coherent focus on sector-specific, specialist development and improvement. Meanwhile, MLA is continuing to focus on the timely and effective delivery of all of its existing programmes and services, including the recentlylaunched libraries initiative being delivered in partnership with LGA. The
MLA is also advising DCMS about options for the future evolution of the flagship Renaissance programme; decisions about which will be announced by Ministers in the context of the outcome of the spending review. DCMS and MLA worked together over the summer to finalise the details and timing of changes that will be implemented by 2012. Collaboration is in hand with a range of interested parties, aiming to ensure that seamless and sustainable transfers are achieved in line with the objectives of Ministers and the MLA Board. Keith Bartlett, Director of Engagement – North, MLA
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This includes: placing more power and opportunity into people’s hands encouraging people to take an active role in their communities transferring powers from central to local government supporting co-ops, mutuals, charities and social enterprises. In terms of the Big Society agenda and museum advocacy, this represents an opportunity to emphasise: the role of museums in celebrating and exploring democracy and citizenship the contribution that the sector makes in creating a sense of community and bringing diverse groups together the part played by museums in providing volunteering opportunities and providing positive activities for young people to engage with their communities. Renaissance North West is supporting work in several areas that relate to the Big Society agenda to help museums meet the challenges in this changing political and economic landscape.
Getting your museum ‘commissioning ready’ Renaissance North West is helping museums within the region to be more responsive to the changing funding environment. We are currently researching a series of potential business models and charging structures to better inform core learning offers, allowing venues to see opportunities for developing and shaping the work that they do in light of changing needs from our users. It will look at other models within the cultural learning sector and provide an understanding of how these could work in our region.
Manchester Art Gallery
Museums, health and wellbeing The six Hub venues are carrying out projects about health and wellbeing. These involve people working directly with objects from the collections or using the collections as inspiration for other art forms like writing, art and craft, movement and music. Of course museums cannot do this work alone and so we are working with partners from the health professions like psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, a schools hospital service, art therapists, adult social care organisations and community groups. The work takes place in the museums, in care settings and in hospitals. The idea that engagement with the arts can bring about general improvements to health and wellbeing is not a new one. Renaissance North West is working with researchers from the Psychosocial Research Unit at the University of Central Lancashire to identify the specific ways in which engagement with museum objects can improve health and wellbeing. The findings from this research will be available early in 2011. We know that engagement with museums can help people to feel better about life in general, but can it be deeply therapeutic? Can it help people work through the darker side of life? Certainly museums are full of objects which express a dark side! For further information contact Myna Trustram, m.trustram@manchester.gov.uk
Working with young people Over 50 young co-curators from the North West participated in the launch of Stories of the World: London 2012 as part of the national Cultural Olympiad Open Weekend in July. Joel Chester Fildes
With the need for stronger partnerships and greater collaborative working, we have been developing a series of workshops across the region to enable venues to get ‘commissioning ready’ with Local Government Improvement and Development, formerly IDeA. Commissioning describes the strategic activity in public services that focuses on identifying need, allocating resources and procuring services to best meet that need in an efficient and effective manner.
Alan Seabright
Big society agenda
The Big Society plan was launched by the Prime Minister in Liverpool in July. The government has set out in it’s document ‘Building a Big Society,’ plans for a society where the lead force for social progress is social responsibility, not state control.
These workshops will allow venues to increase their understanding of the commissioning process, how it works, what commissioners are looking for, the roles of evidence and outcomes and the opportunities to explore new and developing partnerships across the sector. For more information contact Louise Sutherland ella.l.sutherland@manchester.ac.uk
Stories of the World launch
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Valuing volunteers Volunteers make a crucial contribution to the capacity of museums to deliver quality services to visitors and this practice will become ever more relevant in the context of the ‘Big Society’ and the economic challenges facing the cultural sector. The emphasis placed on volunteers and volunteering is changing as organisations begin to think differently about the resources available to them and Renaissance North West recognises that this poses both a challenge and opportunity for museums and galleries. Renaissance North West is currently mapping common practice in volunteer management across venues in the Manchester City Region; looking at good practice case studies and cost effective programmes that deliver benefits for individuals, the organisations and also address broader local and national initiatives. It has brought together a team of people who work regularly with volunteers to develop a stronger infrastructure which will: support the recruitment, training and management of volunteers promote the development of a transferable volunteer workforce that adds value, extends the offer and promotes a flexible and adaptable approach to collaborative working as concerns about capacity emerge encourage a more responsive approach to local sector and cross sector volunteer development opportunities.
Green Museum Survival Strategy The heritage sector is facing significant changes to the way it operates in order to preserve heritage for the future whilst reducing energy use, CO2 emissions and running costs. In this time of uncertainty there is one thing to be sure of, our environment is changing and we need to respond proactively. Museums and galleries consume significant amounts of energy to maintain suitable conditions to protect and preserve collections for the future and for the comfort of staff and visitors. There are ways to reduce energy use and costs by exploring new ways of controlling internal environments to ensure care of collections.
For more information and to contribute to the work of this group contact Adele Finley, a.finley@hotmail.co.uk
As part of the launch event, young people participated in a series of master-classes given by internationally renowned artists, photographers and dance specialists, plus award winning animators, a performance poet and a DJ. The project, developed and managed by Renaissance North West, will enable the museums to work with over 200 young people over the next two years bringing new voices to the museum collections, developing new skills among the young people and raising aspirations for the future.
Rossendale Museum
Claire Wood
The launch event took place at the Whitworth Art Gallery and showcased six regional museums including the Gallery of Costume at Platt Hall, Bolton Museum, The Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Lancashire County Museums Services and Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery. Each museum is working with young people aged 14-25 to deliver a powerful legacy for 2012.
Renaissance North West has been working with the Regional Green Museums Steering Group, which is made up of representatives from across the region, and ARUP to develop a framework to help museums and galleries improve their environmental and economic sustainability. ARUP is a multi-disciplinary organisation of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists with a strong portfolio focussing on sustainability.
The Survival Strategy is a five step guide to help museums identify priorities for reducing operational running costs and energy use and offers over 200 solutions to help you achieve reduction targets. The five steps are: 1 Determine your baseline 2 Review maintenance, housekeeping and energy purchasing 3 Establish your targets and goals 4 Select your optimal upgrade initiatives 5 Make your survival strategy happen The strategy will be launched at this year’s MA conference. A copy of the strategy will be distributed to museums and galleries in the North West and an electronic version will be available on-line: www.renaissancenw.org.uk For more information contact Kaye Tetlow, kaye.tetlow@lancashire.gov.uk
www.renaissancenw.org.uk
11 November 2010
People’s History Museum, Manchester
How can museums capitalise on the strengths of the North West’s cultural heritage to meet the challenges ahead and secure a sustainable future? How can museums be flexible and creative to adapt to the new economic and political landscape, and to exploit future opportunities? This year’s conference takes place just three weeks after the Comprehensive Spending Review announcement and at a time when the only certainty is that building on the successes of the last decade will require creativity, imagination and perseverance. Curating for the Future 2010 will provide museums professionals with the opportunity to celebrate innovative work that is taking place regionally. Delegates will also be encouraged to reflect on and share their own practices, to network and contribute ideas through round table discussions. The conference has been designed around three overlapping themes: partnerships, commissioning and realising the potential of collections. Steve Connor, CEO, Creative Concern Why do museums struggle when it comes to working in partnership? Drawing on his experience of working across a number of sectors, Steve will challenge museums to look outwards, evaluate practices, think and act creatively to develop projects with partners from both within and outside the sector.
Linden Rowley, Associate, Local Government Improvement and Development Are you tuned in to commissioning? With an emphasis on working with adults and health in the changing landscape of public services, Linden will open up the developments in commissioning with practical responses and opportunities for bringing museums to communities and individuals in new and inspiring ways. Helen Battersby, Arts, Heritage and Museums Manager, Cheshire East Council Helen will examine how small independent museums in Cheshire East have been working with the Local Authority to consider their future sustainability. Does the strategic commissioning framework hold the key? How are the museums responding to the challenge? Stephen Whittle, Museum Manager, Gallery Oldham Stephen will talk about Gallery Oldham’s innovative approach to its use of collections, including regional programming and partnerships, and an opportunistic approach to income generation. Jilly Bruns, Collections Development Manager, National Museums Scotland Museums across Scotland are building a national picture of ‘domestic technology’ collections as part of a MA Effective Collections project. Jilly will provide a context to this collaborative project, and explain how it is benefiting the museums sector.
Claire Wood
Janice Hayes, Principal Museum Manager, Warrington Museum & Art Gallery How can the outcomes from a collection review inform strategies for the delivery of museum services? Janice will outline the action plan that Warrington Museum & Art Gallery is developing following a review of the fine art collection. For more information and to book your place at the conference please contact Julian Andrejczuk, j.andrejczuk@manchester.gov.uk
Claire Wood
Curating for the Future conference
Blackburn Art Gallery & Museum
New Accreditation standard Following a year of consultation, a draft of the new Accreditation standard has been produced and was piloted over the summer. The new standard will be launched at the MA conference in October and applications will be accepted from February 2011. If your museum is already Accredited, you will not have to reapply to the new standard because the changes will be introduced through scheduled biennial returns. The first lot of museums that will go through this process are museums that were awarded Accreditation in February 2008. In terms of the documentation and forms for the new standard, museums will not be required to collate anything previously submitted to MLA. You will not need to change existing policies to fit the new standard until they expire or are due for renewal. It will also be possible to signpost assessors to policies and accounts which are available online. Changes in the new standard include: Corporate Health – similar to the Governance section in the old standard but with increased importance on the forward plan. Collections – this section is based heavily on PAS197 and the creation of a collections management framework. Users and Facilities – this is your opportunity to really advocate the achievements of your museum. Renaissance North West has two copies of PAS197 which are available for loan to museums. For more information contact Sarah Cooper sarah.cooper@manchester.ac.uk
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Regional role of National museums in the North West As the nine-year-old ‘child’ of the Imperial War Museum in London, IWM North, on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in Trafford, is now a strong feature on the North West’s cultural map.
Once these programmes were up and running, we looked for partners and explored how ideas could work elsewhere, as with our ground-breaking volunteer scheme, In Touch, expanded out and developed with the Manchester Museum over the last 3 years. This of
Training & Events 30 September Environmental Monitoring and Control FREE
Lancashire Conservation Studios, Preston
Wordsworth Museum, Grasmere 21 October Care and Storage of Archival Material FREE Lancashire
Records Office, Preston 22 October Valuing Volunteers Seminar FREE The Manchester Museum 9 November Objects for Learning Lancashire Conservation Studios,
Preston, Organised by GEM North West, contact Kirsty Hall kirsty.hall@liv.ac.uk 11 November Curating for the Future Conference FREE People’s History
Museum, Manchester 12 November Pest Management FREE
Lancashire Conservation Studios, Preston 12 November The Unconscious in the Museum FREE Manchester Art Gallery 7 December Successful Fundraising FREE Manchester Museum
The synergy was so good that, even though IWM North could not benefit directly from the funds provided by Renaissance, I felt there was everything to gain from working closely with the partners and by joining the Board. What is good for the region’s museums is good for all of us, and, sure enough, as we all joined forces, other agencies recognised our value to the local economy and listened to arguments for further support in towns and cities across the region.
I have no doubt that Renaissance has driven forward the creativity and standards within the sector in a way that no other regional programme has, and has greatly increased our profile and effectiveness as a result. Jim Forrester, Director, Imperial War Museum North
Emma Anderson, Renaissance North West Manager 0161 235 8822 e.anderson@manchester.gov.uk Myna Trustram, Research Manager 0161 235 8849 m.trustram@manchester.gov.uk Jennie Pitceathly, Regional Museums Development Manager 0161 235 8810 j.pitceathly@manchester.gov.uk Katie Athey, Events & Communications Support Officer 0161 235 8892 k.athey@manchester.gov.uk Kaye Tetlow, Collections Care Liaison Officer 07500 065537 kaye.tetlow@lancashire.gov.uk Sarah Cooper, Accreditation, Standards & Review Officer 0161 306 1772 / 07500 226470 sarah.cooper-2@manchester.ac.uk Julian Andrejczuk, Workforce & Skills Development Officer 07538 181257 j.andrejczuk@manchester.gov.uk David Craven, Collections Development Officer: Natural Sciences 07798 668258 david.craven@manchester.ac.uk Louise Sutherland, Learning Development Manager (maternity cover) 07825 106421 ella.l.sutherland@manchester.ac.uk Brendan Parker, Finance & Performance Manager 0161 235 8872 b.parker@manchester.gov.uk Connie Witham, Finance & Performance Officer 0161 235 8897 c.witham@manchester.gov.uk Alex Bird, Support Officer 0161 235 8825 a.bird@manchester.gov.uk
For information about all events, including booking contact Julian Andrejczuk j.andrejczuk@manchester.gov.uk
www.renaissancenw.org.uk
To help protect the environment, this publication is printed on stock from renewable/sustainable sources using only organic based vegetable inks.
14 & 15 October Sustaining Museums, Sustaining Communities FREE Dove Cottage and the
course placed us firmly alongside the equally ground-breaking strategic work being supported by Renaissance North West across the governance boundaries.
Contact the Renaissance North West team
It might not have been so if we had not recognised from the start that we needed to have innovative and imaginative public programmes with real depth and range to bring us closer to the communities we serve.