The Right Stuff: involving the community in a collections review
Between 2019 and 2023 Bridport Museum Trust carried out an innovative collections review project called ‘The Right Stuff’ (TRS). Supported by an Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund grant managed by the Museums Association, the project was designed to make the museum and its collection more sustainable and more relevant, and had the involvement of the community at its heart.
With the current collections store reaching the end of its useful life, and an ambition to create a high-quality, community-focused collections centre to complement the refurbished museum, there was a pressing need to undertake a review and establish future capacity needs. The vast majority of collections work at Bridport Museum is undertaken by volunteers, and the grant provided additional paid capacity for the duration of the project and to engage the community with the process.
The museum delivered a wide range of activities which encouraged visitors to identify the objects they valued and respond to broader questions about the collections. They encouraged the community to consider some of the curatorial challenges around managing and developing historic collections and placed voting tubes near key objects, a portable ‘Museum Selfie’ frame, and a ‘Mini Museum Inspector’ trail for younger visitors.
The project resulted in the development of new Collections Development Policy and a Collections Assessment Guide that the museum estimates around 10,000 people helped to inform through engagement activities.
More importantly, the museum discovered how willing people were to engage with the process, and the level of understanding that emerged around the challenges faced by museums in caring for the collections they hold on behalf of their communities.
