The ongoing first world war commemorations have helped the National Army Museum (NAM) to record its best ever year for visitor engagement, despite its home in Chelsea, London, being closed until next spring for a £13m refurbishment.
A million people engaged “face-to-face with staff” at exhibitions and events across the country last year, as part of the museum’s outreach programme to mark the centenary, according to Genevieve Adkins, the assistant director of public programmes at the NAM. The number of people engaging with the museum’s online collection and social media hit the three million mark.
Before its closure, the museum attracted between 220,000 and 240,000 visitors a year, including school trips. Adkins says the impact of the commemorations, and the closure of its London home, have transformed the museum and the way in which people regard its work. This period has also allowed it to “rediscover” its own collection.
“So many people think we are just the voice of the army, but we are the voice of the people,” says Adkins. “Our first world war activities have shown how open we are to discussing issues such as whether strategies were right or wrong.”
National event
Speaking ahead of the Battle of the Somme’s centenary on 1 July, Adkins says the world war one commemorations are a “national event that seeps through to a local level”. She adds that the Somme anniversary is a great example, as it touches communities across the UK.
The Imperial War Museum (IWM) marked the centenary with an evening event on 30 June aimed at a younger audience, featuring poetry, film, immersive theatre and pop-up bars.
The IWM’s head of national and international learning, Gina Koutsika, says: “We have worked hard to create a programme that inspires and engages young adults not traditionally interested in commemorations, while enabling them to reflect on the war and its relevance today.”
The IWM is leading the commemoration through the First World War Centenary Partnership, a network that offers resources, expertise and marketing to venues seeking to join the initiative. Koutsika launched the partnership in 2010 and still leads it today.
She says there has been “a lot of great activity in the UK and internationally” through new partnerships, projects and programmes, such as the IWM’s Somme event, aimed at engaging new audiences.
“As professionals and organisations, we are learning and improving the offer from year to year,” she says.
According to Koutsika, the www.1914.org website, which offers a centralised calendar of commemorative events, listed 4,775 events between October 2013 and the end of May across 3,259 venues, 493 of which were outside the UK.
“Front-end evaluation of our First World War Centenary Programme has shown us that it matters to a huge number of people, and there is a tremendous appetite to engage with the centenary on a personal level,” she adds.
Adkins says visitor fatigue is “an obvious challenge” for a commemoration lasting from 2014 to 2018.
“How do you keep public interest in something that was utterly shattering at the time, but one that we cannot really understand in the same way now?” she asks.
The NAM is focusing on a different theme each year, starting with Outbreak in 2014 and working through Commonwealth and Empire, Conscripts and Volunteering, Women at War, and Aftermath.
“The themes came naturally to us,” says Adkins. “It is not about commemorating the war because we are telling the story of the army, and it has a unique story.”
Diluted interest
A case study on the First World War Centenary Programme, part of The Art of Partnering research carried out by King’s College and the BBC, found some partner organisations suggested the scale of the initiative, its ambitions and the programme had made it hard to manage, and the sheer number of events taking place had diluted interest.
But Koutsika believes the length of the commemorations has allowed the partnership to evolve and develop.
“Spanning over four years has provided a chance for us to experiment, take risks, explore different angles, reveal untold stories, learn from mistakes and still have time to make things right,” she says.
A million people engaged “face-to-face with staff” at exhibitions and events across the country last year, as part of the museum’s outreach programme to mark the centenary, according to Genevieve Adkins, the assistant director of public programmes at the NAM. The number of people engaging with the museum’s online collection and social media hit the three million mark.
Before its closure, the museum attracted between 220,000 and 240,000 visitors a year, including school trips. Adkins says the impact of the commemorations, and the closure of its London home, have transformed the museum and the way in which people regard its work. This period has also allowed it to “rediscover” its own collection.
“So many people think we are just the voice of the army, but we are the voice of the people,” says Adkins. “Our first world war activities have shown how open we are to discussing issues such as whether strategies were right or wrong.”
National event
Speaking ahead of the Battle of the Somme’s centenary on 1 July, Adkins says the world war one commemorations are a “national event that seeps through to a local level”. She adds that the Somme anniversary is a great example, as it touches communities across the UK.
The Imperial War Museum (IWM) marked the centenary with an evening event on 30 June aimed at a younger audience, featuring poetry, film, immersive theatre and pop-up bars.
The IWM’s head of national and international learning, Gina Koutsika, says: “We have worked hard to create a programme that inspires and engages young adults not traditionally interested in commemorations, while enabling them to reflect on the war and its relevance today.”
The IWM is leading the commemoration through the First World War Centenary Partnership, a network that offers resources, expertise and marketing to venues seeking to join the initiative. Koutsika launched the partnership in 2010 and still leads it today.
She says there has been “a lot of great activity in the UK and internationally” through new partnerships, projects and programmes, such as the IWM’s Somme event, aimed at engaging new audiences.
“As professionals and organisations, we are learning and improving the offer from year to year,” she says.
According to Koutsika, the www.1914.org website, which offers a centralised calendar of commemorative events, listed 4,775 events between October 2013 and the end of May across 3,259 venues, 493 of which were outside the UK.
“Front-end evaluation of our First World War Centenary Programme has shown us that it matters to a huge number of people, and there is a tremendous appetite to engage with the centenary on a personal level,” she adds.
Adkins says visitor fatigue is “an obvious challenge” for a commemoration lasting from 2014 to 2018.
“How do you keep public interest in something that was utterly shattering at the time, but one that we cannot really understand in the same way now?” she asks.
The NAM is focusing on a different theme each year, starting with Outbreak in 2014 and working through Commonwealth and Empire, Conscripts and Volunteering, Women at War, and Aftermath.
“The themes came naturally to us,” says Adkins. “It is not about commemorating the war because we are telling the story of the army, and it has a unique story.”
Diluted interest
A case study on the First World War Centenary Programme, part of The Art of Partnering research carried out by King’s College and the BBC, found some partner organisations suggested the scale of the initiative, its ambitions and the programme had made it hard to manage, and the sheer number of events taking place had diluted interest.
But Koutsika believes the length of the commemorations has allowed the partnership to evolve and develop.
“Spanning over four years has provided a chance for us to experiment, take risks, explore different angles, reveal untold stories, learn from mistakes and still have time to make things right,” she says.