Issue Two – July 2007
Renaissance invests ÂŁ290K in Regional Museums Curating for the Future Conference
The Manchester Museum
Renaissance Development Officers
Virginia Tandy, Director, Manchester City Galleries
”
The North West is a phase II regional Hub and as such, from 1 April 2007, we are in receipt of 60% of what MLA believed to be the Renaissance funding needed for a fully operational hub. Despite this shortfall, we are very pleased to have been able to achieve a high level of engagement and investment in regional museums. In 2007-08, regional museums are benefiting from £290,000 that is supporting collections care and access, best practice events, training and skills development. This means that Renaissance investment in regional museums is now at least equivalent to the investment of the former North West Area Museums’ Service. The North West Hub and Museums Libraries & Archives North West are embracing the ambitions of the Museums Association’s Collections for the Future report, and are working in innovative ways to make a difference in regional museums at a practical and strategic level. We are looking ahead to the autumn, when we will learn the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review in terms of the resources available for Renaissance in the Regions in the future.
Claire Wood
The Wordsworth Trust
Lancaster Maritime Museum
Alan Fletcher
in museums and galleries in the North West
Renaissance invests
“
Renaissance North West is committed to engaging with the wider museum community in the region.
Renaissance Support for Collections Development In March 2007, Renaissance North West launched two schemes, making a total of £135,000 available to museums in the region. The ‘Collections Care for Access – Museum Development Fund’ and the ‘Unleash the power of your collections! Collections for the Future Challenge Fund’ offered up to £5,000 for initiatives by regional museums and galleries. Proposals by the successful applicants were experimental, risky and demonstrated imagination and innovation – they included: # Volunteers at the Liverpool Scottish Regimental Museum
have found a clever way to provide access to their collection of volunteer and territorial photographs, uniforms and badges. The purchase of a digital projector will enable the museum to get the collections out to schools, communities and special interest groups. # Keswick Museum want to take a 14-foot long, 1.5 tonne xylophone, made of rare ‘Hornfels’ rock taken from the mountainside of Skiddaw in the 19th century, on tour and need a customised travelling case. # 14 Cheshire museums will work in partnership with West Cheshire College to equip staff with the skills needed to produce short films about the power of their collections, which will be available on websites. # Archaeology students from King George V College are producing an online catalogue, as well as a printed version, of the highly significant Goodison Collection of Egyptology at Sefton Museum & Art Gallery. # A combination of live video streaming, DVD recording and audio input through touch-pad technology, will give visitors to Queens Street Mill Textile Museum a unique bird’s eye view of its designated collection of Lancashire looms. # Stockport Story Museum are to hang for the first time, five newly conserved paintings at the Local Heritage Library. They will be used to re-interpret the town’s history, buildings, events, personalities and costume to new audiences. # Previously inaccessible archives will be available to visitors at The Fusiliers’ Museum in Lancashire after a team of volunteers complete a project to rehouse documents, photographs and ephemera.
www.mlanorthwest.org.uk
Profile:
Renaissance Development Officers Catriona West Development Officer (Renaissance) I came to MLA North West from Lancashire County Museum Service, where I worked as Keeper of Helmshore Mills Textile Museum. The primary focus of my wide-ranging job is to support museums across the region, but in particular to develop and deliver a regional workforce development programme. I have been working closely with museum staff in the North West to identify priorities for
Carli Douglas Collections For the Future Development Officer: Roman Heritage I am based at Manchester Museum, and use my background in Archaeology and Museums Studies to engage with and support curators, museums and collections in the North West. My focus is on the development of greater access to, and engagement with, regional Roman collections through reinterpretation, redisplay, touring exhibitions and sectorwide partnerships.
skills development. It is important for me to ‘tap into’ people’s passion and encourage collaboration between museums and individuals in the region, to form actionlearning sets and pursue learning as an instrument for modernisation. My second priority is to work with the sector to promote sustainability and investment within their organisations. I am achieving this through providing museums and galleries access to, information about, and examples of good practice related to sustainable business practice. One of the biggest rewards of my job is discovering more about unique collections in the region, and ensuring that these are understood and articulated within the sector and championed by external stakeholders. Since starting my post earlier this year, I have worked with collections and curators at: # The Salt Museum, Northwich, Cheshire # The Armitt Trust Museum & Library, Ambleside, Cumbria # Rossendale Museum, Rawtenstall, Lancashire # Ribchester Museum of Roman Antiquities, Lancashire # Saddleworth Museum & Art Gallery, Greater Manchester. My job is a pilot initiative, and I am using Collections for the Future as a framework to make the story of the region’s Roman heritage more widely known and understood. The aim is to tell the story coherently and dynamically, increase understanding and awareness of the Roman material held in museums, and improve access to museum and heritage sites across the region.
improve the relevance, impact, profile and quality of museum services and collections. The post holder will increase access, use and understanding of the region’s collections, by strengthening curatorial expertise in collections care, increasing access to knowledge and resources. As a result they will:
St Mary’s Conservation Studios
Since August 2006 Renaissance Development officers Collections Care Liaison Officer have been in contact This post is being recruited and will be based with over 100 at St. Mary’s Conservation Studios in Preston. The post has been created to deliver the regional museums and galleries vision for Collections for the Future, namely to
# diversify and increase the number of people who enjoy
and learn from the region’s collections # work in new ways to develop and transform museum
services # deliver direct benefit and support to the development of
museum staff and volunteers # increase standards according to the museum
Accreditation scheme. Claire Wood
www.mlanorthwest.org.uk
Working in Partnership
INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING
ONCE UPON A TIME
The Renaissance programme is working towards delivering a comprehensive service to schools across the region – through direct work with children and young people, as well as strategic work that aims to change the way teachers use museums and galleries.
Renaissance is funding the Once Upon a Time programme that is being developed by museum-led learning networks across Cumbria from Barrow to Maryport.
Julie Howse, a teacher from Birchfields Primary School in Manchester, is working part time with the Learning and Interpretation Team at the Whitworth Art Gallery. The secondment allows Julie to develop her knowledge of the cultural sector and also offers an opportunity for the gallery to work with a teacher in the development of its programmes. Leading on the development of initial teacher training work for the North West Hub, Julie has developed partnerships with key higher education institutions and is running training days to share best practice. She aims to increase awareness of the rich resources available to teachers at museums and galleries.
Eight museums are working in partnership with the Lakeland Museums Education Network and Cumbria Coastal Learning Network to deliver a project for schoolage children that explores how information is passed on through stories, tales, myths and beliefs. The Ruskin Museum, The Quaker Tapestry at Kendal, Senhouse Roman Museum, Penrith Museum, The Beacon, Haig Colliery Mining Museum, Helena Thompson Museum and The Dock Museum are developing locally-focussed resources, services, events and activities that will feature in an exhibition and a series of events to be launched at Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery in the autumn. Contact: Julie Wooding, Education Manager at Tullie House, JulieWo@carlisle-city.gov.uk
Contact: julie.howes@manchester.ac.uk
Events and Training
July 18 Documentation for Accreditation FREE British Commercial Vehicle Museum, Leyland. Contact Catriona West: as above
July 24 Museum Security FREE Kendal Museum, Cumbria. Contact Catriona West: as above July 17 Extended Schools FREE St. Mary’s Conservation Studios, Preston. Contact Jackie Fletcher: jackie.fletcher@mlanorthwest.org.uk Sept 12 Procedural Manual workshop, People’s History Museum. Contact Diane Rushbrook: diane.rushbrook@mlanorthwest.org.uk Sept 13 Documentation Planning workshop, People’s History Museum. Contact Diane Rushbrook: as above
Caldew Lea School
Contact us
July 23 Museum Security FREE Nantwich Museum, Cheshire. Contact Catriona West: as above
Cumbrian Newspapers Ltd
July 11 Documentation for Accreditation FREE Cheshire Military Museum. Contact Catriona West: catriona.west@mlanorthwest.org.uk
Emma Anderson, North West Hub Manager 0161 235 8822 e.anderson@manchester.gov.uk Myna Trustram, North West Hub Research Manager 0161 235 8849 m.trustram@manchester.gov.uk Jennie Crawford, North West Hub Communications & Events Officer 01228 534781 j.crawford@manchester.gov.uk Jane Fletcher, North West Hub Education Development Manager 07854 921522 janef@carlisle.gov.uk
Sept 14 Human Remains Legislation FREE Manchester Museum. Contact Catriona West: as above
Alex Saint & Andrew Palmer, North West Hub Strategic Audience Development Consultants alex@alexsaint.com / andrew@palmersquared.co.uk
Sept 19 Curating for the Future, FREE Manchester Museum. Contact Jennie Crawford: j.crawford@manchester.gov.uk (see overleaf)
Catriona West, Development Officer (Renaissance) 01925 625056 catriona.west@mlanorthwest.org.uk
Sept 24 Introduction to Audience Development FREE St. Mary’s Conservation Studios, Preston. Contact Suzanne Spicer: s.spicer@mosi.org.uk Oct 5 How to maximise your Museum Shop FREE Rex Makin Theatre, Liverpool. Contact Catriona West: as above For more events go to www.mlanorthwest.org.uk/trainingandevents/events
Paul Webb, Development Officer (Standards) 01925 625054 paulfraser.webb@mlanorthwest.org.uk Carli Douglas, Collections for the Future Development Officer: Roman Heritage 0161 306 1772 / 07867 528370 carli.douglas@manchester.ac.uk
Curating for the Future: a conference exploring the curatorial role in the 21st century 19 September 2007, Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, 10:00 – 17:00 What is the role of the museum curator in the 21st century? This is your opportunity to be challenged and inspired, and take part in the debate about one of the hot topics in museums and galleries today. Curating for the Future is organised by Renaissance North West in partnership with the University of Manchester and the North West Federation of Museums and Galleries, as part of the regional programme to deliver the Collections for the Future framework.
This conference is an opportunity for regional museums and gallery staff to debate the future of curatorship. Funded by Renaissance North West, places are FREE but limited to 100 delegates.
Programme MORNING: Keynote Speakers Jane Glaister, Strategic Director, Culture, Tourism & Sport, Bradford City Council TRANSFORMATIONAL COLLECTING V. TRANSACTIONAL CURATORS? If museums are to continue to flourish, have relevance to all our communities, be financially efficient and be seen to have significant value by stakeholders, then the way we acquire, exploit and manage collections must be transformed. But ‘transformational collecting’ requires transformational curators, and Jane Glaister will argue that the current professional culture and training mitigates against this – valuing transactional rather than transformational processes and skills.
Mark O’Neill, Head of Arts and Museums, Culture & Sport Glasgow CURATORSHIP: BY WHAT AUTHORITY? Museums make decisions about what the public sees, and what they are told about the meaning and importance of what they see. The authority to make these decisions is based on a dual authority. One authority is derived from the expertise of staff – traditionally that of curators, but also now of educators, designers and management. The other authority derives from the role of museums as agents of civil society, in a democratic public sphere. Mark O’Neill will show how these forms of authority can interact creatively, with practical examples from the experience of Glasgow Museums, and in particular from the redisplay of Kelvingrove.
Nick Merriman, Director, Manchester Museum A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR COLLECTIONS? Recent research has shown that museums seem to be inherently unsustainable institutions, in that their collections continue to grow without commensurate growth in the resources available to look after them. Nick Merriman will examine how we might conceive a sustainable approach to collections development, drawing on literature from environmental sustainability, and the anthropology of memory and forgetting.
AFTERNOON: Thematic workshops 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Disposals: How can disposal be carried out ethically and responsibly? Dynamic collecting: How can acquisitions be dynamic and relevant? Strategic documentation: How can documentation deliver the needs of audiences and stakeholders? Developing tomorrow’s workforce: What kinds of training and skills development are required by curators? Access v. collections and curatorial expertise: How can curators balance the development of their subject specialism alongside delivering access to collections?
Curating for the Future: a conference exploring the curatorial role in the 21st century 19 September 2007, Manchester Museum 10:00 – 17:00
Delegate Application Form Name: Job title: Organisation: Address: Tel: Email: Please indicate your top three choices for the thematic workshops (1-5):
There are 100 places for regional delegates at this conference. To apply to attend this FREE event, please describe why do you want to participate in Curating for the Future, and what you hope to take away for yourself personally and for your organisation? (max 150 words or go to www.mlanorthwest.org.uk/trainingandevents/events for an electronic version of this form.)
Please send your application to: Jennie Crawford, North West Hub Communications & Events Officer, Renaissance North West, Manchester Art Gallery Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3JL. j.crawford@manchester.gov.uk Applications must be received by 20 July 2007. We will let you know if you have secured a place by 27 July 2007.