Some more thoughts on community museums, looking at Wireless in Wales and Denbigh.  The enthusiasm of Wireless in Wales’ committee and volunteers is great, and it’s becoming increasingly necessary.   Anyone working in the heritage industry knows that the last few years have been tough. To some extent, devolution has worked well for both Scotland and Wales, where we’ve been cushioned from the very worst of the cuts – it’s been observed by someone I’ve worked with that local authority museums’ services in England have undergone a “massacre”.  Jobs being lost, museums closed, volunteers now being the order of the day.  Of course, we couldn’t escape this forever, and local authorities here are scaling back.  From a professional standpoint what is happening down in Carmarthenshire is worrying. 

The proposed Heritage Act, that Huw Lewis says will be coming in towards the end of 2014 or early 2015 cannot come soon enough, and we’ll all have to do our best to shape the resulting legislation.  It looks like heritage or museums services will be made statutory, but that could mean (i.e. probably will) that the unitary authorities will only have to provide one heritage/museums officer rather than have a dedicated county museum.  At the moment there is no such statutory protection. 

 

So what is the impact on community museums?  It seems that they will be filling the spaces left by the local authority museums once the axes have been sharpened.  It does raise the question of what the model for the professional heritage industry will be by 2020 – a few specialists in national museums and large heritage organisations giving advice to small community museums that operate on a purely voluntary basis?  Local authority museum officers responsible not for any sites they operate themselves, but working all out supporting the independents?   It could easily be.  Senior officers in local authorities are not heritage specialists and have no idea on the range of issues and targets that the councils are involved with.  I do remember when we looked at that in Denbighshire, and the only core council responsibility that we genuinely had nothing to do with was flood prevention!  Education, environment, health and lifestyles, yes.  It’s because of this that the Advocacy Toolkit will be necessary.  In forming (and in the case of politicians informing) the Heritage Act we’re going to have to spend much more effort on advocacy, and much more time too – not that we have any more time with the mounting backlog in collections and increasing our education, exhibition and events programmes to increase footfall and try to justify our existence.

Denbigh is an interesting place to see the community museum developments.  There is a group, of which I’ve been involved on the periphery, trying to create a Denbigh Museum.  There used to be one, in the Library, but it lost accreditation and closed.  The items are currently in the care of Denbighshire Heritage Service, but apart from occasional exhibitions in Denbigh, they are not on show.  Several buildings have been inspected as possible sites for a new museum, but it will be raising the money that will be the hard part, or course.  The will to do this is there, as are the people, the collections are waiting to be displayed, there is enough curatorial help available to get the museum up and running – for them now is the time for their advocacy to hit its stride.  Wireless in Wales is lucky to have a space in Canolfan Iaith in Denbigh with Popeth Cymraeg (Welsh Unlimited) due to the links between them that already existed.  Although a smaller concern than the proposed Denbigh Museum (of which its collections might one day form a part, although it would be nice to see it retain some independence) it does show how enthusiasts, properly constituted, with the right help, can source funds and develop their collections management and display expertise and work in partnership to create a going concern.

The main concern for the industry as a whole is whether this will be the model that all local authorities will look to in the next couple of years before the Heritage Act makes them get their houses in some sort of order.  This isn’t a criticism of these community museums, but it would be a damning shame if only the nationals and they were left.

Great day today at Llandudno Museum.  I'll be there for a couple of days a week for the next month or so looking at their collections, using the new CyMAL Significance Model, along with the Accreditation Standard and Museums Strategy for Wales.  Have to thank Helen Bradley, Museums Development Officer for Conwy Council, along with Richard and Debbie at the Museum.  Still don't know how Helen does it!  Hope I can help.  I hope to come up with a report about the collections to help with accreditation renewal.  Loads of interesting ideas along with the artefacts which range from World War 2 and seaside Victoriana to oriental collections and, of course much on the history of Llandudno.  I won't go into details on the collections, of course, and I'll only talk about them on here if there is a point raised which the staff wouldn't mind me raising and which raises larger questions on museum collections.

Had a look around the Home Front Museum as well as Oriel Mostyn.  Very interesting day all in all - especially the comparison of the museums, the peek at the collections of Llandudno Museum and the Fred Langford Edwards exhibition "apothecaries, archives, icons,..." which runs until June 3rd.  Amazing images of religious statues and art and hospital equipment from Spain and Latin America.  Some quite quirky and haunting photographs. Well worth a look if you're in the area.

First ever AGM of Wireless in Wales last night, with a good turn out.  For those who didn't know the Wireless in Wales Museum in Denbigh is looking towards accreditation sometime this year and it's a good example of how a few enthusiasts can create a great community resource.  Vesi Jones has really been a driving force to create the museum in Canolfan Iaith, taking on the work of her late husband David.  The committee and the volunteers are all enthusiasts, or quickly become so.  I had no idea valves could be so fascinating.

The museum tells the story of the Welsh contributiuon to the development of radio (more than you might think) and how radio helped with the survival of the Welsh language.  

http://www.wirelessinwales.org.uk/

I'm pleased to have helped them with curatorial advice and helping the volunteers get to grips with MODES.  The education events I've helped them develop look like they'll be a resource for local groups for years to come.  I think I'll be working with then again, so more of that anon.  Denbigh has the people to make a go of a community museum, so it will be interesting to see what develops.

Seriously thinking about travelling down to the Museums and Heritage Show at Earl's Court in the middle of May. 

Very interesting day in Llandudno.  First a meeting with Helen Bradley, Museums Development Officer for Conwy Council.  Always good to bump into Helen, as she's one of those dynamic people who are really getting things moving.  Unlike where I worked in Denbighshire, Conwy have no museums of their own, so Helen's work is with the independent museums.  It's a massive task - honestly Helen, I don't know how you do it!  We had a word about events and also collections management, but more of this later...

Up on to the Great Orme, via the tramway to the Great Orme Copper Mines.  Met Sarah Pevely who I've been working with for the last three years, mostly in her role as Community Archaeologist for North East Wales.  Another one of those people who make things happen - so good to be surrounded by them, especialy in these trying times for the heritage industry.  had a good look around the prehistoric coper mines - the inventiveness and stamina of the people who carved these caverns out of solid rock is what makes the impression, especially when you consider they were using bone and antler, hammerstones and fires to carve their way to the riches in the strata.  

I liked the interpretation - simple character-led boards below ground and the personal tours, sometimes self-guided.  Imagining being in those constricted tunnels for hours on end, only tallow candlelight to see by - enough to give anyone claustrophobia!  Film and demonstration area on the surface, but nothing overly complicated nor too high tech.  

It contrasts to The Cardiff Story.  I was there a couple of months ago for a Federation of Museums and Galleries of Wales meeting (hereafter I'll call them the Fed - they may well get mentioned a lot and it'll save time and my fingers!).  It was a good meeting on community involvement, and I was talking (as a last minute substitiute) along with Will Morecombe from Rhyl Adventure Playground.

What struck me about Cardiff Story, which we had time during lunch to have a look around, was that it was very much an all-singing-and-dancing display, loads of audio-visual, very interactive.  Now, there's nothing wrong with that in the right place, and Cardiff Story was trying to tell a complex tale.  It must be said, however, that with that sort of display it is easy to go overboard.  Some of the sounds from the audio-visuals were loud enough to conflict with each other in the main hall and it was a bit of a sensory overload in a large room.  It did remind me in places of the People's History Museum in Manchester, but in that musuem the rooms are smaller, the sounds less intrusive.  Another aspect that was mentioned was that this sensory overload took something away from the actual exhibits, which I have to say I wasn't overwhelmed by- and I love objects and enjoy being captured by the essence and story of an actual physical object n the way a film doesn't grab me. 

It also has to be said that with all the high tech interpretation  - museums trying to get them in young, provide infotainment (!) and provide what they think caters for the "X-box generation" (other consoles are available) many modern museums, whether in new-build purpose built structures or adaptations are beginning to feel a bit "samey".  It's not the building - it's the interpretation and the use of space and technology.  This is where the collections management comes in - it seems in too many places the cart is well before the horse and the needs to create an attraction that will get people, especially families, through the door means that less attention is being given to the collections that are the heart of every museum service. 

If we have a collection and wish to display it we have to ask: 

What is it we have - and how much is interesting/important/unique?

What story does it tell?

How can we make that story relevant to the people we want to connect with?

Only then do you get down to the interpretation.  Fair enough - we're in troubled times and museums need as large a footfall as they can get and bring in the families and create something that the visitors will want to come back to again - it's all about sustainability.  A sterile room full of glass cases doesn't pull in crowds unless the artefacts are exceptional.

Are all museums now to be heritage attractions, with the emphasis on the attraction..? For the moment it looks that way, and that's the challenge.  But collections are still the life blood of the museum and no amount of audio visual fireworks can really make up for good collections work, however trendy.

Looking through the Museums Strategy for Wales.  Good to see that we seem to be ahead of the game, and also that the other countries of the UK - except so far England -seem to be on the same wavelength.

Worth  a look:  http://wales.gov.uk/topics/cultureandsport/museumsarchiveslibraries/cymal/museums/strategy/?lang=en

These are things that need to be outlined, need to be said for all to see, especially when the whole sector is so under pressure - not only from cuts due to the economic situation but also from the lack of fund due to the monet being diverted to the Olympics.  The Olympic money is all very well - but who will it benefit and for how long?

I've been working a lot with outdoor education on heritage sites.  I'm hoping to keep this up by working more with Learning Through Landscapes.

When teaching children about landscapes we must, I think, be aware of giving them as much freedom as possible.  I know it may seem over protective at Foundation Phase, but the landscapes and areas that children learn in must be politically neutral.

I've just been reading George McKay's "Radical Gardening - politics, idealism and rebellion in the garden".  Interesting, I'm not sure I'm with him on everything, but I think he's right when he says that "Keep off the Grass" is a political message.

First post on the blog - and what's it going to be about?   

About working in the heritage industry, my time as a museum curator, little things I've picked up over the years, my work in heritage education and the heritage world as a whole.