Effective Collections project takes to the stage
Geraldine Kendall, 26.07.2011
Derby Museum furnishes DJ lounge at London vintage festival
A project funded by the Museums Association’s (MA) Effective Collections scheme makes a high profile appearance this weekend at the Vintage at Southbank Centre festival in London, which is expected to attract over 50,000 visitors.
Earlier this year, Derby Museums Service won a special project grant of £19,000 for an innovative proposal to use objects from its stored collection to dress sets for music nights in Derby and beyond, in partnership with the production company Charity Shop DJ.
This weekend sees the project’s most prominent appearance to date, with the museum providing objects for Down the Back of the Sofa, a specially created 1981 DJ lounge at the Royal Festival Hall.
The set recreates a lounge filled with vintage treasures such as record players, gramophones and ghetto blasters, as well as old records, magazines and bric-a-brac hidden under beds and on top of wardrobes. Much of the material will be on display for the first time.
The project aims to give visitors a glimpse into the UK’s “inglorious domestic past” and inspire them to reflect on their own memories and responses to the artefacts.
Activities like The Five Minute Curator let visitors create their own exhibitions, share their personal stories and explore their pasts. The museum plans to incorporate these visitor reactions into its own future displays.
A line-up of guest DJs will perform in the space throughout the festival, which runs 29 to 31 July.
According to Derby Museum, the project aims to "reach people who might not visit a museum and get them to think about museums and their collections in a different way".
MA collections project assistant Gina Evans said: “We’re really pleased to be supporting Derby Museum in a project that shows how museums can use their collections in weird and wonderful ways.”
The final round of the MA’s Effective Collections grant programme closed earlier this year. The scheme, which was funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, facilitated a total of 35 projects in which museums found innovative ways to use or dispose of their stored collections.
Although the scheme has ended, museums with ambitious collections-based projects in mind can now apply to the £800,000 Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund. The next deadline falls on 31 October.
The festival project in Derby Museum's own words (pdf)
To read more about the Effective Collections scheme, click here
For more details on the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund, click here
Earlier this year, Derby Museums Service won a special project grant of £19,000 for an innovative proposal to use objects from its stored collection to dress sets for music nights in Derby and beyond, in partnership with the production company Charity Shop DJ.
This weekend sees the project’s most prominent appearance to date, with the museum providing objects for Down the Back of the Sofa, a specially created 1981 DJ lounge at the Royal Festival Hall.
The set recreates a lounge filled with vintage treasures such as record players, gramophones and ghetto blasters, as well as old records, magazines and bric-a-brac hidden under beds and on top of wardrobes. Much of the material will be on display for the first time.
The project aims to give visitors a glimpse into the UK’s “inglorious domestic past” and inspire them to reflect on their own memories and responses to the artefacts.
Activities like The Five Minute Curator let visitors create their own exhibitions, share their personal stories and explore their pasts. The museum plans to incorporate these visitor reactions into its own future displays.
A line-up of guest DJs will perform in the space throughout the festival, which runs 29 to 31 July.
According to Derby Museum, the project aims to "reach people who might not visit a museum and get them to think about museums and their collections in a different way".
MA collections project assistant Gina Evans said: “We’re really pleased to be supporting Derby Museum in a project that shows how museums can use their collections in weird and wonderful ways.”
The final round of the MA’s Effective Collections grant programme closed earlier this year. The scheme, which was funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, facilitated a total of 35 projects in which museums found innovative ways to use or dispose of their stored collections.
Although the scheme has ended, museums with ambitious collections-based projects in mind can now apply to the £800,000 Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund. The next deadline falls on 31 October.
The festival project in Derby Museum's own words (pdf)
To read more about the Effective Collections scheme, click here
For more details on the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund, click here
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