Vox pop - Museums Association

Conference 2024: The Joy of Museums booking open now – Book before 31 March 2024 for a 10% discount

Conference 2024: The Joy of Museums booking open now – Book before 31 March 2024 for a 10% discount

Vox pop

What are your New Year's resolutions for museums?
Museums Association
Share

Vanessa Trevelyan, head of Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service

“The usual wishes for New Year’s resolutions revolve around health, wealth and happiness. My resolutions for museums in these challenging times are to stay healthy by being outgoing and developing productive partnerships.

Although revenue funding is being squeezed, the museum sector is still comparatively wealthy in many ways. Capital and project funding is still available for aspirational programmes and I would urge museums to resolve to maintain the high quality of what they do, even if they have to deliver less.

Happiness is important for the people working in museums. Rather than dwelling on what can’t be done, staff should look forward, seize the opportunities that are available, and embrace new ways of working.”

Ros Westwood, Derbyshire Museums manager

“I shall go on telling everyone how amazing museums and their collections are. Museums will host dynamic exhibitions (best on a shoestring budget!); feed the press with positive, quirky stories; encourage visitors to drop in, spend time, have fun, and to
come again.

An authoritative single voice will represent the sector, promoting museums’ diversity, innovation and inspirational roles. We will work out how to measure the benefit of this unique engagement with museum objects for people’s lives. We will respond to the current challenges with creative solutions.

Most of all, we will find the paths through the new landscape and map them to our advantage.”

Stephen Deuchar, director, the Art Fund

“Our resolution for 2011 is to form greater and deeper partnerships (with acquiring institutions, trusts and foundations, the public, corporates and other funding bodies) to continue to do what we do best – help get great works into public collections all across the UK.

And, while we can’t tell museums themselves what to wish for, we hope they will resolve to keep supporting us and our members too.

Let’s shrug off the gloom and make 2011 a year of amazing museum acquisitions.”

Dea Birkett, director, Kids in Museums

“Start thinking in days, not decades. These are fast-changing times, and museums work far too slowly. There’s no need for something simple to take an age, it’s just a culture that they do so. 

Make meaningful partnerships outside the sector. At Kids in Museums, we’ve approached a large number of family and children’s organisations and not one has links with a museum. They think it’s odd to work with them. It’s the museum sector’s job to convince them it isn’t.

Get a grip on your USP. Too often, a museum markets itself as just another community resource. What makes a museum’s job unique? What makes your museum unique?

In a climate of competition for limited funding, museums need to figure out what they alone can offer.”


Leave a comment

You must be to post a comment.

Discover

Advertisement