Tuesday 5 October
Conference 2010: sessions, keynotes and events
Delegate registration desk 08:00 - 17:30
Conference sessions 10:30 - 17:30
Exhibition 09:30 - 17:00
0830-1000
Off-site session
Breakfast on Oxford Road
Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester Museum
This off-site breakfast session takes place at two university venues on Oxford Road.
Breakfast is followed by an opportunity to tour exhibitions, learn about the museums’ community work and take part in discussions on sustainability.
1030-1100
Keynote address
Victoria Dickenson
Exchange Auditorium
Victoria Dickenson’s keynote address focuses on museums and human rights. She explores why Canada decided to create the world’s first museum dedicated wholly to the subject of human rights.
She also addresses the current funding models and the evolving direction of museum development in a country whose institutional traditions reflect those of both Europe and the United States.
She also reflects on the ‘Canadian model’ of public-sector reform and shares her experience of how it has affected museums in Canada.
Victoria Dickenson is the chief knowledge officer of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. She was formerly executive director of the McCord Museum of Canadian History in Montreal.
She is adjunct research professor of history at both Carleton University and at the University of Manitoba and has over 35 years’ experience working in international museum communities.
In 2003 she was chosen by the Canadian Museums Association as a recipient of the Commemorative Medal for the Golden Jubilee in recognition of her contribution to Canada’s museum community.
Chair:
Sharon Heal, Head of publications, MA
1100-1230
Concurrent sessions
Capturing the cultural tourist
Exchange Auditorium
Are you being asked to find more visitors with less money? Canny museum services are reaping the benefits of new ways of working with the tourism sector.
This session invites you to pick the brains of tourism industry leaders who are already convinced of the benefits of working more closely with the cultural sector.
Hear from regional and national museum colleagues who have established ground-breaking cultural tourism partnerships.
Chair:
Andrew Stokes, Chief executive, Marketing Manchester
Speakers:
Nick Brooks-Sykes, Director of tourism, Northwest Regional Development Agency
Catherine Holden, Director of marketing and development, National Museums Scotland
Kate Farmery, Head of services, Manchester City Galleries
Leadership lessons for women
(60 places only)
Charter 3
This session for aspiring women leaders is an opportunity to hear leadership tips from senior women working in museums and galleries.
Around 25 members of the Women Leaders in Museums Network will be contributing to this session in addition to the main speakers. Places are limited so please arrive early.
Chairs:
Janet Vitmayer, Director, Horniman Museum & Gardens, Anne Murch, Consultant
Speakers:
Maria Balshaw, Director, Whitworth Art Gallery
Vanessa Trevelyan, Head, Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service
Kate Brindley, Director, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art
What no Kylie?
Charter 2
The National Portrait Gallery’s Gay Icon’s exhibition went from generating the headline ‘What no Kylie or Judy?’ to being voted number one gay and lesbian hit of the year in Time Out.
This session explores the exhibition’s evolution including the challenges and new opportunities it offered.
Chair:
Pim Baxter, Deputy director, National Portrait Gallery
Speakers:
Peter Funnell, Head of research programmes, National Portrait Gallery
Lindsay Taylor, Exhibitions officer, Harris Museum and Art Gallery
Helen Whiteoak, Head of participation, National Portrait Gallery
The democratic exhibition
Charter 1
Museums are supposed to hold objects and collections in trust for the public, but when was the last time it was consulted?
University College London (UCL) recently asked its audience what it thought about its collections, and gave them a chance to contribute to decisions about their management.
This workshop gives delegates the chance to put forward ideas on how to integrate audience opinion into collection decision-making.
Chair:
Subhadra Das, Cultural property adviser, UCL museums and collections
...Love Museums
Exchange 1
How good are museums at making their case or simply making friends and influencing them?
Through its recent …Love Museums campaign the MA has been working with museums to improve their advocacy skills and to get out there and sell themselves.
This session showcases some innovative approaches that museums are using to generate support and recognition for their work.
Chair:
Stacey Arnold, Advocacy associate, MA
Speakers:
John Munro, Campaigns manager, National Campaign for the Arts
Steve Miller, Chief executive, Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust
Katie Cavanagh, Collections officer, Stockport Museum
10 minutes to save your museum...
Exchange 4
We consider ourselves to be creative and imaginative in overcoming the difficulties of overburdened staff, wavering political support and the threat of reduced funding or even closure.
This year’s Social History Curators Group conference tackled these problems and provided a platform for resourceful and creative solutions.
This session allows ten-minute slots for the presentation of the best of these ideas.
Chair:
Michael Terwey, Exhibitions and displays manager (acting), National Media Museum
Speakers:
Steph Mastoris, Head, National Waterfront Museum
Vicki Slade, Curatorial officer, Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum
Georgina Young, Collections and learning manager, Museum of Croydon
1330-1400
Keynote address
Neil MacGregor
Exchange Auditorium
The BBC’s A History of the World in 100 Objects series has provided a platform for partnerships with museums across the UK and for a farreaching programme of activity.
Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum and author and narrator of the programme, explores the development of the project and its legacy, as well as the potential for national/regional collaboration and the role that international partnerships can play on a global stage.
Neil MacGregor has been the director of the British Museum since August 2002. He is also chairman of the World Collections Programme – a Department for Culture, Media and Sport-funded initiative to establish partnerships between six major cultural institutions in the UK and institutions in Asia and Africa.
He sits on the board of the National Theatre and the International Advisory Board of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and he was formerly the editor of the Burlington Magazine and director of the National Gallery.
Chair:
Vanessa Trevelyan, Head, Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service
1400-1530
Concurrent sessions
Knowledge is key
Exchange 1
Knowledge is key to museums, not just knowledge about objects, but research about communities and engagement.
Learn how museums have worked successfully with academics to develop their own knowledge and understanding, engage audiences and improve their offer to visitors.
Chair:
Iain Watson, Acting director, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
Speakers:
Julie Milne, Curator, Laing Art Gallery
Rhiannon Mason, Senior lecturer, International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies, Newcastle University
Hazel Edwards, Museum manager, Discovery Museum
Rachel Pain, Reader in human geography, Centre for Social Justice and Community Action, Durham University
Creativity in an age of evaluation
Charter 3
We live in an age of strategic initiatives, audience sectors, front-end evaluation, measuring outputs and avoiding risks.
Yet museums and galleries live or die through their creativity and innovation.
How can today’s directors, curators and managers square this circle?
This session explores how to ensure that you are spending money wisely and aiming at the right audiences without sacrificing your institution’s creative juices to the gods of efficiency.
Chair:
Ken Arnold, Head of public programmes, Wellcome Trust
Speakers:
John Newbigin, Freelance cultural consultant
Keith Wilson, Artist and sculptor
Michael John Gorman, Director, Science Gallery, Dublin
Museums as campaigners – human rights
Charter 2
Can museums take on the role of campaigner? National Museums Liverpool (NML) firmly believes that museums need to take their social responsibilities seriously and have a duty to be active campaigners for social justice.
The NML is leading an international initiative to establish the Federation of International Human Rights Museum. This session looks at how museums can become the voice of an issue, dealing with sensitive and controversial subjects.
Chair:
David Fleming, Director, NML
Speakers:
Victoria Dickenson, Chief knowledge officer, Canadian Museum for Human Rights Carol Rogers, Executive director, education, communities and visitors, NML
Claire Benjamin, Head of communities, NML
Kate Craddey, Director, Galiica Jewish Museum
Going global
Exchange Auditorium
This session reviews the achievements and the legacy of one of the most ambitious public service partnerships ever undertaken in the cultural sector – between the British Museum, the BBC and more than 350 UK museums – to tell a history of the world through man-made objects.
Chair:
Frances Carey, Senior consultant for public engagement, British Museum
Speakers:
Jane Ellison, Commissioning editor, BBC Radio 4
Andrew Caspari, Head of speech radio and classical music – interactive, BBC Audio and Music
Jamie Rea, Executive producer, CBBC
Seamus Boyd, BBC project lead, A History of the World in the Nations and English Regions
John Ryan, Managing editor, BBC Radio Manchester
Tim Manley, Head of marketing and audience development, Manchester Museum
The apprentice
Charter 1
Who would make the perfect apprentice for your museum and make you say ‘you’re hired’?
Drawing on the experiences of museums that have hosted apprenticeships, and the apprentices themselves, delegates get an insight into the benefits and practicalities of taking part in these schemes.
Create your perfect apprentice and compete with other delegates to see whether your apprentice is worthy of being hired or fired.
Chair:
Catherine Price, Human resources manager, Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum
Panellists:
Jennie Godsalve, Industry engagement advisor, Creative & Cultural Skills
Lauren Haycox, Learning coordinator, Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum
Angus Gunn, Head of learning resources, NML
1600-1630
Keynote
Ed Vaizey
Exchange Auditorium
Ed Vaizey is minister for culture, communications and the creative industries. He was elected as the member of parliament for Wantage and Didcot in May 2005.
After working as a political researcher, a barrister and the director of a public relations company, in 2004 he became a political speech writer.
Before the election he was the shadow culture and creative industries minister between 2006-2010.
Chair:
Stuart Davies, President, MA
1630-1730
The great debate
Exchange Auditorium
It’s the BBC’s year of science and the 350th birthday of the Royal Society, yet more column inches are devoted to the Cultural Olympiad and the Turner Prize.
Have we forgotten the technical genius and scientific method that has for half a millennium created the industrial prosperity that enabled our national elite to collect its (largely foreign) art in the first place? The great debate is entitled ‘This house believes that science is more important to British culture than art.’
Chair:
Nick Winterbotham, Chief executive officer, Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum
For the motion:
Ken Arnold, Head of public programmes, Wellcome Trust
Ian Simmons, Science communications director, Centre for Life, Newcastle
Against the motion:
Stephen Snoddy, Director, New Art Gallery Walsall
Giles Waterfield, Writer and consultant
1800-1900
Off-site session
North West Survival Strategy launch
Manchester Art Gallery
The heritage sector is facing significant changes to the way it operates in order to remain sustainable.
Measures include reducing energy use, energy costs and CO² emissions. Join Renaissance North West and find out more about how to reduce energy use and costs.
Speakers:
Tim Whitley, Associate director, Arup NorthWest
Amanda Wallace, Head of asset management and development, Manchester Art Gallery
Nicola Walker, Head of collections care and access, Whitworth Art Gallery
2100-0100
Revolution
Manchester Museum of Science & Industry
Come to a proper Manchester party!
This year, Manchester Museums Consortium is inviting everyone ‘back to theirs’ after dinner.
The evening includes an eclectic mix of music by top Manchester DJs, a chill-out room where you can chat, live performances and a chance to explore the museum’s new displays.
To download a conference guide, please click here (pdf)
Delegate registration desk 08:00 - 17:30
Conference sessions 10:30 - 17:30
Exhibition 09:30 - 17:00
0830-1000
Off-site session
Breakfast on Oxford Road
Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester Museum
This off-site breakfast session takes place at two university venues on Oxford Road.
Breakfast is followed by an opportunity to tour exhibitions, learn about the museums’ community work and take part in discussions on sustainability.
1030-1100
Keynote address
Victoria Dickenson
Exchange Auditorium
Victoria Dickenson’s keynote address focuses on museums and human rights. She explores why Canada decided to create the world’s first museum dedicated wholly to the subject of human rights.
She also addresses the current funding models and the evolving direction of museum development in a country whose institutional traditions reflect those of both Europe and the United States.
She also reflects on the ‘Canadian model’ of public-sector reform and shares her experience of how it has affected museums in Canada.
Victoria Dickenson is the chief knowledge officer of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. She was formerly executive director of the McCord Museum of Canadian History in Montreal.
She is adjunct research professor of history at both Carleton University and at the University of Manitoba and has over 35 years’ experience working in international museum communities.
In 2003 she was chosen by the Canadian Museums Association as a recipient of the Commemorative Medal for the Golden Jubilee in recognition of her contribution to Canada’s museum community.
Chair:
Sharon Heal, Head of publications, MA
1100-1230
Concurrent sessions
Capturing the cultural tourist
Exchange Auditorium
Are you being asked to find more visitors with less money? Canny museum services are reaping the benefits of new ways of working with the tourism sector.
This session invites you to pick the brains of tourism industry leaders who are already convinced of the benefits of working more closely with the cultural sector.
Hear from regional and national museum colleagues who have established ground-breaking cultural tourism partnerships.
Chair:
Andrew Stokes, Chief executive, Marketing Manchester
Speakers:
Nick Brooks-Sykes, Director of tourism, Northwest Regional Development Agency
Catherine Holden, Director of marketing and development, National Museums Scotland
Kate Farmery, Head of services, Manchester City Galleries
Leadership lessons for women
(60 places only)
Charter 3
This session for aspiring women leaders is an opportunity to hear leadership tips from senior women working in museums and galleries.
Around 25 members of the Women Leaders in Museums Network will be contributing to this session in addition to the main speakers. Places are limited so please arrive early.
Chairs:
Janet Vitmayer, Director, Horniman Museum & Gardens, Anne Murch, Consultant
Speakers:
Maria Balshaw, Director, Whitworth Art Gallery
Vanessa Trevelyan, Head, Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service
Kate Brindley, Director, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art
What no Kylie?
Charter 2
The National Portrait Gallery’s Gay Icon’s exhibition went from generating the headline ‘What no Kylie or Judy?’ to being voted number one gay and lesbian hit of the year in Time Out.
This session explores the exhibition’s evolution including the challenges and new opportunities it offered.
Chair:
Pim Baxter, Deputy director, National Portrait Gallery
Speakers:
Peter Funnell, Head of research programmes, National Portrait Gallery
Lindsay Taylor, Exhibitions officer, Harris Museum and Art Gallery
Helen Whiteoak, Head of participation, National Portrait Gallery
The democratic exhibition
Charter 1
Museums are supposed to hold objects and collections in trust for the public, but when was the last time it was consulted?
University College London (UCL) recently asked its audience what it thought about its collections, and gave them a chance to contribute to decisions about their management.
This workshop gives delegates the chance to put forward ideas on how to integrate audience opinion into collection decision-making.
Chair:
Subhadra Das, Cultural property adviser, UCL museums and collections
...Love Museums
Exchange 1
How good are museums at making their case or simply making friends and influencing them?
Through its recent …Love Museums campaign the MA has been working with museums to improve their advocacy skills and to get out there and sell themselves.
This session showcases some innovative approaches that museums are using to generate support and recognition for their work.
Chair:
Stacey Arnold, Advocacy associate, MA
Speakers:
John Munro, Campaigns manager, National Campaign for the Arts
Steve Miller, Chief executive, Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust
Katie Cavanagh, Collections officer, Stockport Museum
10 minutes to save your museum...
Exchange 4
We consider ourselves to be creative and imaginative in overcoming the difficulties of overburdened staff, wavering political support and the threat of reduced funding or even closure.
This year’s Social History Curators Group conference tackled these problems and provided a platform for resourceful and creative solutions.
This session allows ten-minute slots for the presentation of the best of these ideas.
Chair:
Michael Terwey, Exhibitions and displays manager (acting), National Media Museum
Speakers:
Steph Mastoris, Head, National Waterfront Museum
Vicki Slade, Curatorial officer, Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum
Georgina Young, Collections and learning manager, Museum of Croydon
1330-1400
Keynote address
Neil MacGregor
Exchange Auditorium
The BBC’s A History of the World in 100 Objects series has provided a platform for partnerships with museums across the UK and for a farreaching programme of activity.
Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum and author and narrator of the programme, explores the development of the project and its legacy, as well as the potential for national/regional collaboration and the role that international partnerships can play on a global stage.
Neil MacGregor has been the director of the British Museum since August 2002. He is also chairman of the World Collections Programme – a Department for Culture, Media and Sport-funded initiative to establish partnerships between six major cultural institutions in the UK and institutions in Asia and Africa.
He sits on the board of the National Theatre and the International Advisory Board of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and he was formerly the editor of the Burlington Magazine and director of the National Gallery.
Chair:
Vanessa Trevelyan, Head, Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service
1400-1530
Concurrent sessions
Knowledge is key
Exchange 1
Knowledge is key to museums, not just knowledge about objects, but research about communities and engagement.
Learn how museums have worked successfully with academics to develop their own knowledge and understanding, engage audiences and improve their offer to visitors.
Chair:
Iain Watson, Acting director, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
Speakers:
Julie Milne, Curator, Laing Art Gallery
Rhiannon Mason, Senior lecturer, International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies, Newcastle University
Hazel Edwards, Museum manager, Discovery Museum
Rachel Pain, Reader in human geography, Centre for Social Justice and Community Action, Durham University
Creativity in an age of evaluation
Charter 3
We live in an age of strategic initiatives, audience sectors, front-end evaluation, measuring outputs and avoiding risks.
Yet museums and galleries live or die through their creativity and innovation.
How can today’s directors, curators and managers square this circle?
This session explores how to ensure that you are spending money wisely and aiming at the right audiences without sacrificing your institution’s creative juices to the gods of efficiency.
Chair:
Ken Arnold, Head of public programmes, Wellcome Trust
Speakers:
John Newbigin, Freelance cultural consultant
Keith Wilson, Artist and sculptor
Michael John Gorman, Director, Science Gallery, Dublin
Museums as campaigners – human rights
Charter 2
Can museums take on the role of campaigner? National Museums Liverpool (NML) firmly believes that museums need to take their social responsibilities seriously and have a duty to be active campaigners for social justice.
The NML is leading an international initiative to establish the Federation of International Human Rights Museum. This session looks at how museums can become the voice of an issue, dealing with sensitive and controversial subjects.
Chair:
David Fleming, Director, NML
Speakers:
Victoria Dickenson, Chief knowledge officer, Canadian Museum for Human Rights Carol Rogers, Executive director, education, communities and visitors, NML
Claire Benjamin, Head of communities, NML
Kate Craddey, Director, Galiica Jewish Museum
Going global
Exchange Auditorium
This session reviews the achievements and the legacy of one of the most ambitious public service partnerships ever undertaken in the cultural sector – between the British Museum, the BBC and more than 350 UK museums – to tell a history of the world through man-made objects.
Chair:
Frances Carey, Senior consultant for public engagement, British Museum
Speakers:
Jane Ellison, Commissioning editor, BBC Radio 4
Andrew Caspari, Head of speech radio and classical music – interactive, BBC Audio and Music
Jamie Rea, Executive producer, CBBC
Seamus Boyd, BBC project lead, A History of the World in the Nations and English Regions
John Ryan, Managing editor, BBC Radio Manchester
Tim Manley, Head of marketing and audience development, Manchester Museum
The apprentice
Charter 1
Who would make the perfect apprentice for your museum and make you say ‘you’re hired’?
Drawing on the experiences of museums that have hosted apprenticeships, and the apprentices themselves, delegates get an insight into the benefits and practicalities of taking part in these schemes.
Create your perfect apprentice and compete with other delegates to see whether your apprentice is worthy of being hired or fired.
Chair:
Catherine Price, Human resources manager, Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum
Panellists:
Jennie Godsalve, Industry engagement advisor, Creative & Cultural Skills
Lauren Haycox, Learning coordinator, Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum
Angus Gunn, Head of learning resources, NML
1600-1630
Keynote
Ed Vaizey
Exchange Auditorium
Ed Vaizey is minister for culture, communications and the creative industries. He was elected as the member of parliament for Wantage and Didcot in May 2005.
After working as a political researcher, a barrister and the director of a public relations company, in 2004 he became a political speech writer.
Before the election he was the shadow culture and creative industries minister between 2006-2010.
Chair:
Stuart Davies, President, MA
1630-1730
The great debate
Exchange Auditorium
It’s the BBC’s year of science and the 350th birthday of the Royal Society, yet more column inches are devoted to the Cultural Olympiad and the Turner Prize.
Have we forgotten the technical genius and scientific method that has for half a millennium created the industrial prosperity that enabled our national elite to collect its (largely foreign) art in the first place? The great debate is entitled ‘This house believes that science is more important to British culture than art.’
Chair:
Nick Winterbotham, Chief executive officer, Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum
For the motion:
Ken Arnold, Head of public programmes, Wellcome Trust
Ian Simmons, Science communications director, Centre for Life, Newcastle
Against the motion:
Stephen Snoddy, Director, New Art Gallery Walsall
Giles Waterfield, Writer and consultant
1800-1900
Off-site session
North West Survival Strategy launch
Manchester Art Gallery
The heritage sector is facing significant changes to the way it operates in order to remain sustainable.
Measures include reducing energy use, energy costs and CO² emissions. Join Renaissance North West and find out more about how to reduce energy use and costs.
Speakers:
Tim Whitley, Associate director, Arup NorthWest
Amanda Wallace, Head of asset management and development, Manchester Art Gallery
Nicola Walker, Head of collections care and access, Whitworth Art Gallery
2100-0100
Revolution
Manchester Museum of Science & Industry
Come to a proper Manchester party!
This year, Manchester Museums Consortium is inviting everyone ‘back to theirs’ after dinner.
The evening includes an eclectic mix of music by top Manchester DJs, a chill-out room where you can chat, live performances and a chance to explore the museum’s new displays.
To download a conference guide, please click here (pdf)
