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.