Conference and Exhibition

Sharon Heal
Editor, Museums Journal

06.09.2010

By the time this blog is posted I will be sitting by a pool/on a beach not thinking about Conference at all.

Ok, well, maybe just a tiny bit.

As part of my recent tour of the North West Frontier (well Preston, Manchester and Liverpool) I managed to get some Conference business done.

First stop was the Whitworth to see director Maria Balshaw who is coordinating the Showing Off theme. Sessions in this strand will look at the sustainability of big capital projects and the future of blockbuster exhibitions – all very prescient considering the straitened times we live in.

Next I dropped in to see Tony Hill, director of MOSI, and host of the Tuesday evening Conference party. Work continues apace on the new galleries. I am a sucker for a hard-hat-tour and this proved to be no exception. By the time the MA Conference arrives in town the party spaces will be finished and there will be a chance for delegates to get a sneak preview of the new Revolution MOSI gallery.

After that it was across town to the Imperial War Museum North where director Jim Forrester is the Partnership theme coordinator. Sitting in the café that overlooks Salford Quays, the Lowry and the evolving MediaCity development, it was pretty obvious why partnership is on the Conference agenda – as separate entities these bodies might struggle; working together they form a critical mass.

One session in this strand is Capturing the Cultural Tourist – timely considering the prime minister’s recent call for more emphasis on heritage tourism and for a new tourism strategy.

As is to be expected, all of my North West discussions inevitably turned to cuts. But despite the fact most of us are already ankle-deep in blood that doesn’t mean to say we have to stop thinking, being creative and generating ideas.

And Conference is just the place to do that.













Maria Balshaw 
Director, Whitworth Art Gallery

31.08.2010

This posting finds me in the final stretch of submitting the Whitworth’s stage two application to the Heritage Lottery Fund, for a capital project to extend the gallery into our surrounding park and to refurbish the existing building. 

Our marvellous architects MUMA have done a fabulous, Tardis-like job and are giving us a 100% increase in our public spaces, whilst only extending the footprint by a third.  You might ask what this has to do with the MA conference, but it has clear links in that one of the key themes in my strand is about how we proceed in times of adversity, what we mean by success, and the risks and opportunities of expansion.

I think this is something we are all asking ourselves.  At the Whitworth, we are working incredibly hard to make sure that we get the spaces we need, with a budget that is modest and firmly fixed.  The days of a project starting out as a £10 million pound redevelopment and gradually becoming a £20 million one are long gone.

I can’t help thinking this might not be a bad thing, especially as we having to make strong arguments to government about the value of museums and the importance of continued investment in them.

And I only have to step outside my office, or visit one of my peer museums in the city, to see the enthusiasm on the part of visitors for a rich cultural offer that is free.  Our visitor numbers this summer have been higher than they have ever been and it is a similar picture across the city. 

In tough financial times the £100 for a family ticket to Alton Towers or the £20 for a family cinema visit looks really expensive compared to a lively afternoon of activities at a gallery or museum.  Or at least that is what 1,100 visitors thought for our family film day.  So, questions about the benefits and downsides of massive popular success, which I will explore in my sessions, and the thorny question of charging, which will inevitably come up at conference, all seem the right things to be considering.

And finally, in a time of austerity for organisations large and small, I am pleased to say that this bit of the Manchester museum sector is doing its best to allow more delegates to afford to come to conference by hosting 3 colleagues, from the North East, East Anglia and London, in the spare bedrooms and pull-out sofa (the short straw!) of my house.  Manchester welcome guaranteed.

Click here for more details, and to book for Manchester 2010

Jim Forrester
Director, Imperial War Museum North

23.08.2010

Little brings comfort to a museum director’s soul quite like a wet August: that steady stream of eager families - some with grandparents, some with parents and carers in the lead – all seeking cultural sanctuary.

But then of course the real challenge starts: can we hold the youngsters’ attention? Is there enough in the programme mix for the whole age range including teenagers? Will they go away feeling that it was good value for time (and leaving behind a bit of cash either through trading or, best of all, as a donation in the boxes)? Will all those young people feel broadly positive about museums and galleries going forward?

Maybe strangely, I feel this whole discussion to be yet another facet of partnerships: I reckon it’s a partnership between our audiences and us. There is no way my branch of the Imperial War Museum could work without the active stimulation provided by the parents, carers, teachers and group leaders: they take our initial efforts and lift them to new heights.

As for the young people themselves, their enthusiasm for learning has to match our own creativity and keenness to deliver, and I don’t believe one can work without the other.

So if they are key players - partners even - perhaps we should acknowledge our visitors’ role in helping museums work well and give them a proper place at the planning table.

Could this really work or is it just touchy-feely stuff of the woollier kind? I’m not sure yet, but I intend to use Conference to think about this and other provocative ideas around partnership.

Click here for more details, and to book for Manchester 2010

Caitlin Griffiths
Head of professional issues, Museums Association

16.08.2010

August always used to be one of my favourite months at work, everyone would disappear off on holiday, a quiet calm would descend across the MA offices and if you are in the mood you can enjoy a nice drink after work in the sun.

Not so this year. It seems that no matter how hard you try, conference madness and organisation is never far behind. Oh well, it's all worth it though; the sessions are being given their final fine-tuning, the last of the speakers are being chosen and we are picking out the wine for the evening dos.

Of course the one good thing about August, which luckily doesn't change, is some temporary respite from planet government and the endless speculation about what is in store for museums and galleries in the months to come. Let's face it, given the last few months I am sure everyone can do with the break.

Hopefully this should mean that everyone is refreshed and ready for the next round of speculation just in time to hear Ed Vaizey give the opening address on Monday at this year's conference. For a sector seeking answers, our expectations of what he is going to say are high.

Monday is also the opportunity for the MA's new president to set out their vision of the future for the sector and for the MA, and this year it will be Vanessa Trevelyan whose successful appointment as president was recently announced.

Congratulations Vanessa - once she has given her presidential address it's off to the People's History Museum for a chance to have a peek at the new museum as well as the all-important networking.

I am ashamed to admit I always seem to find that networking takes over at these occasions and I never really get a chance to see the museums. It's the same during the whole of conference; I have good intentions of visiting all the local museums but once things kick off there never seems to be a right time to leave the conference centre.

The great thing this year is that we have some dedicated time to visit Manchester's fantastic museums on the Monday and three of them (IWM North, People's History and Manchester Art Gallery) are laying on tours just for delegates, so maybe just this once I will be leaving having successfully got plenty of museum visits under my belt. See you there.

Click here for more details, and to book for Manchester 2010












Sharon Heal
Editor, Museums Journal

02.08.2010

It will be interesting to see what emerges from the smouldering ashes of the bonfire of the quangos that was lit last week.

All indications are that responsibility for museums (and Renaissance in the Regions, assuming it survives) will go to the Arts Council England after the abolition of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

There is understandably some nervousness about this. Not having a distinct body that understands museums and what they do, and is capable of championing them direct to government, could be a disadvantage.

There are worries also that museums will get lost amongst all the other things that ACE does, and there’s a bit of reticence about getting stuck with the “luvvies”.

But in the absence of a separate agency to represent museums, the arts council might not be such a bad home. Regional museums and galleries that already have a relationship with ACE are fairly flattering about how it works for them.

The early stages of any relationship always can be a bit nerve-racking but for those museums and galleries new to ACE, finding your way around a new structure and forging new connections needn’t be that scary.

But the deal’s not signed yet and it’s probable, taking into account the summer recess, that nothing firm will be announced until autumn. So that makes it great timing for Ed Vaizey, the minister for culture, to be giving the opening address at the Museums Association conference in Manchester this year.

It will be an opportunity for him to reassure people who work in museums that he takes their concerns seriously, and to outline some future policy direction. It’s also your chance to tell the minister what you want from government. Don’t miss it.

Click here for more details, and to book for Manchester 2010












Jim Forrester
Director, Imperial War Museum North

26.07.2010

When I last blogged, we all knew plenty more was to come from the down-sizing of arts and culture but, along with everyone else, had little idea quite how this would unfold. Today we hear that the MLA is to be wound up by 2012 and the massive question that begs is what will happen to Renaissance in the Regions (RiR).

I have been really impressed by the new partnerships that have sprung up as a result of the RiR injection of cash into the regions. Whilst it was in itself fantastically useful in making a number of front-line initiatives possible, it has also been used to encourage and lever funds from others.

In Manchester city-region, we managed to unlock substantial match-funding from the Regional Development Agency (another demise there too) for the promotion of the combined cultural offer. A session on this at Conference will show how, after years of willing and enthusiastic talk, we were able to create Creativetourist.com, a website to promote the culture of the city, and to work with the city and regional tourism teams to make more of our efforts.

The message from that experience was that there is strength in numbers, and pooling our resources where practicable has got to be the right way forward. We may need to find and woo some new partners but we have already picked up some of the language of successful partnerships: this is a language we all need to learn to speak quickly and fluently.

Click here for more details, and to book for Manchester 2010












Caitlin Griffiths
Head of professional issues, Museums Association

21.07.2010

Its been communities, communities, communities for me over the last few days as I have been doing some work for the MA's .....Love Museums campaign, trying to pull together some facts and figures about communities.

It seemed to be a natural fact sheet for me to do as it chimed so well with the 'whose museum is it anyway' theme at Conference, which not only talks about how communities engage with museums, but how far can we put them in the driving seat.

After impending cuts, this theme is obviously is the hot topic at the moment: I see Cameron has been up in Liverpool this week outlining his new vision for community engagement and empowerment with troops of volunteers keeping our museums open...

But don't be misled into thinking this theme is all about community working, it isn't. As well as looking again at the thorny issue of who owns collections, one of the sessions will give delegates food for thought on the extent to which museums can champion issues or causes, taking on some of the more controversial or difficult topics.

Another session in this theme will be looking at museums championing human rights, so I was thrilled to find out that Victoria Dickenson from the Canadian Museum of Human Rights is going to be the key note on Tuesday morning.

The museum is due to be opened in 2012, so the keynote should give delegates a great insight into the vision and role for the museum - all of which will be a fantastic precursor to the session later that day.

The early bird discount for delegate fees ends in a few weeks so make sure you book now and join me and the other theme co-ordinators for what is shaping up to be a very thought-provoking conference.

Click here for more details, and to book for Manchester 2010













Sharon Heal
Editor, Museums Journal

12.07.2010

Museums across the UK are being asked to “model” cuts of up to 30 per cent from next year. On the face of it “modelling” sounds like an enjoyable pastime: trying on something new to see how it fits and then sashaying around in front of a mirror.

Somehow though I don’t think this version of modelling is going to be anywhere near as much fun. If all the cuts are directed at staff (and staff costs are often the biggest single item of expenditure in museums and galleries) we are going to be in for a bloody time.

Discussion at this year’s MA conference will no doubt focus on the cuts and the looming spending review that is due to be delivered just days after the conference takes place.

But is there anything we can do to prepare for the worst? Bottling up anxieties and/or burying our heads in the sand won’t help. But there are some things, many of which are on the conference agenda, which might.

1) Sharing. Bit touchy-feely this one, but hearing that you’re not alone and swapping ideas can help. The Ten Minutes To Save Your Museum session will give delegates invaluable tips on how to cope in a crisis.

2) A sense of perspective. In Survival Of The Fittest, museum directors from a range of institutions will hammer out what they think it will take to ride out the storm.

3) Humour. The great debate this year is This House Believes Science Is More Important To British Culture Than Art – a little light-hearted break from the gloom should cheer us all up.

4) A party. Being together and networking with friends and colleagues is the perfect antidote to the misery and isolation that cuts can bring.

And of course for a good party you need good music. I’ve got every faith that our friends in the north will put on a good shindig but please, please, no Smiths.

Click here for more details, and to book for Manchester 2010












Maria Balshaw 
Director, Whitworth Art Gallery

06.07.2010

Last week the Art Fund prize was awarded to the Ulster Museum. I could not be more delighted for them. All the shortlisted museums and galleries seriously impress but I am particularly pleased to see a museum win for a project that is as challenging in its interpretation and in the issues it tackles as in terms of its new building and spaces.

At £17.2m for its redevelopment, it is also by no means the biggest of the nominated projects. Yet, looking at a truly grim public funding context in the next five years, I can't help thinking we won't see projects on this scale for much longer.

But will this matter as much as we think? Do we need to be bigger and bolder in order to be better? Or will we find ways to continue to enrich and extend our heritage assets even in the present bleak times?

This is one of the key issues that Showing Off, my theme at conference, will explore. It is time, I think, for us to look honestly at the legacy of capital investment in our sector - and talk through the gains and the millstones this kind of expansionism has given us.

All the colleagues who have put forward papers for my theme have pledged to speak not just about the jolly stories but also the horror stories - and the legacy of 'grand' projects that we are still learning to live with.

I hope we have a debate that looks forward positively to doing things differently: not just in terms of having less money but also in terms of doing more with less, making less impact on the environment and reducing our sector's long term consumption of all kinds of resources.

But mostly, I hope we focus just as much on what we do in our buildings and spaces and with the collections we hold, as the built infrastructure that we do or don't have.

On a different matter Sharon mentioned putting her 'hands up in the air'. Can I just whet your appetite by saying the music at the Manchester conference party will be more Mancunian (and a lot better!) than that particular song. Watch this space...


Click here for more details, and to book for Manchester 2010

Jim Forrester
Director, Imperial War Museum North

28.06.2010

There are days that drift by and others that are remembered as milestones – I’ve a feeling budget day is going to go down in history as the latter, especially as we hear more detail from the Treasury about public funding over the next four years.

What I’ve heard so far isn’t pretty. And yet, when we have absorbed the shock of the raw figures, we’ll pick ourselves up and keep trying to do significant stuff with not quite enough funding.

We’re used to doing that after all, and there are two ways of looking at a crisis. So you could look at the strand of the MA conference about partnerships in much the same way: either it is hopelessly mistimed because we haven’t the time or patience to work on new partnerships, or maybe, just maybe, it is a zeitgeisty moment.

New ways of working with new partners could help us all to overcome hand-wringing inertia; this is the time to spring out with surprising, even breathtaking, creative programmes that will knock the socks off potential funders and make new audiences look in our direction.

As someone who is quite a bit older (could 58 ever really be the new 38?), I’ve seen what recessions can do to museums. In no way wanting to belittle the hardship that can arise for some people, the longer-term outcome is that museums and galleries honestly seem to get better after a period of downturn and adjustment.

We have the luxury of being able to flex our style and intensity of delivery along with theatres or concert halls. We can work with new people, use our buildings and collections as canvasses for new projects. The National Trust has done so with its approach to interpreting Seaton Delaval: imagination, stamina and courage might be a chunk of what we need as we look again at partnerships in hard times.

Click here for more details, and to book for Manchester 2010












Caitlin Griffiths
Head of professional issues, Museums Association

21.06.2010

It has taken me seven years of working at the MA to get to Conference in Manchester and the anticipation for this year's event has built up to a fever pitch.

People are constantly telling me that Manchester conferences are the best, not only because of the fantastic museums but also the legendary Mancunian welcome.

We should all get a great chance to experience this hospitality on the Tuesday night at the Revolution Manchester shindig being thrown by our colleagues up there.

And we can also see how the Manchester museum folk match up to other famous Mancunians’ legendary ability to throw a party. Can’t wait!

It’s obviously a year of firsts for me: my first Manchester conference and first time as a theme coordinator.

I am putting together the Whose Museum Is It Anyway theme, which promises to get delegates debating the pros and cons of handing over decision-making power to the masses.

In light of the government’s up-coming, once-in-a-generation, summer of consultation it will be even more of a hot topic.

I never really got the Big Society thing during the election, being pretty much of the mind that nurses and teachers know far better than us how to run hospitals and schools… but maybe the public do know a bit about how to make museum services better. Let’s hope the discussions at conference will reveal some answers.

We are diving in at the deep end with the first session of the theme, Ultimate Participation, which should be a good scene-setter and will ask the all important question: are museums really built for this kind of approach?

If, in the meantime, you want some help to make the case for your museum and ensure your visitors tick the ‘Fund museums’ box during the government’s consultation, don’t forget the MA’s …Love Museums campaign.

Not only can you check out the growing resources on the web, you can also come to the conference session to find out how museums are actually getting on and doing this.

Click here for more information about …Love Museums

Click here for more details, and to book for Manchester 2010












Sharon Heal
Editor, Museums Journal

14.06.2010

Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air…

In the gloom surrounding the sector as we wait for the cuts to sink in there is one glimmer of light on the horizon… the Museums Association conference in Manchester in October.

This year I’m putting the programme together and so far the ducks are lining up nicely, mainly thanks to the enormous number of session proposals to pick from and the hard work of the theme coordinators.

Maria Balshaw from the Whitworth, Jim Forrester from IWM North and Caitlin Griffths from the MA are doing the thinking, chivvying and chasing to get the sessions licked into shape.

Having previously turned up to the MA conference, chaired the odd session and then gossiped my way round the evening dos, I hadn’t given much thought to the amount of organising that goes into the event. Boy is there a lot.

The holy grail at this stage is THE GRID, which is the equivalent of the briefcase at the end of Pulp Fiction: it glows brightly and mysteriously but so far I’m not quite sure how it works or what’s in it.

THE GRID is the map of the conference programme where all sessions, events and seminars are allocated a date, venue and time. In the run up to the conference, myself and the theme coordinators will be using this blog to update you on the highlights of THE GRID as they reveal themselves.

The things that I am looking forward to so far are the parties – naturally. On Monday evening there’s a bash at the People’s History Museum (we’re working on the ale cocktails and mushy peas canapés) and then on the Tuesday evening Manchester have promised to host a proper party with top DJs at MOSI.

Think about it: can you afford to miss out on high-level debate, topical discussion AND the sight of 500 museum revellers throwing their hands up in the air?

Click here for more details, and to book for Manchester 2010