Almost exactly a year since it launched Museums 2020, the Museums Association (MA) has published its vision for the sector’s future impact.
The Museums Change Lives report comes after a nationwide consultation with the sector, hundreds of written and oral responses, public attitude research, and discussion with stakeholders.
This final document focuses on how museums can build on their existing strengths and look to the future by putting societal impact at the heart of what they do.
According to MA president David Anderson, the director-general of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, these recommendations are more timely than ever.
“This report captures the pleasure that museums give to millions each year across our four nations,” Anderson says. “It also makes a powerful case for public service and social justice in a society scarred by extremes of affluence and deprivation. It is a report for our time, but also for the times to come.”
Attendance and public trust in museums are at an all-time high and there has been good work to improve access, but in a changing political climate, where budgets have been curtailed, the impetus on the sector to prove its value is greater than ever.
Museums Change Lives argues that museums must be more ambitious in terms of social justice. Museums that are isolated “islands of collections” should be ancient history and institutions must do more to reach out to potential audiences, make a difference to communities and address social problems, the report says. They need to develop fresh partnerships if they are to survive.
According to Maurice Davies, the author of the report and head of policy and communications at the MA, one of the key messages of Museums Change Lives is that: “Every museum is different but they can all find ways of maximising their social impact.”
The report also underlines numerous success stories. The first section of the report, which explores how museums improve people’s mental and physical health, singles out National Museums Liverpool’s House of Memories project, which uses the institution’s collections to help those living with dementia and their carers (see box).
Wellbeing
“Wellbeing is fundamental to everybody,” says Jocelyn Dodd, director of the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries at the University of Leicester.
“Museums don’t realise what amazing potential they have. They don’t engage with what wellbeing is and yet it’s incredibly significant for everybody.”
Going to a museum, by its very nature, is good for individual wellbeing, and participating in intense projects in small groups can improve skills and confidence. The report challenges museums to do more in this area as well as further improving access to maximise potential benefits to all.
Paul Camic, professor of psychology and public health at Canterbury Christ Church University, welcomes the focus on museums’ commitment and responsibility to the public, especially in the present economic climate. He recommends that museums partner more with healthcare and social care programmes, for example, in universities, to strategically think about wellbeing.
He adds: “Wellbeing needs to be targeted in the context of community. It’s not necessarily about special collections for these groups, but about hearing their voices in the present collections.”
Museums Change Lives says that museums must also do more to reflect demographic changes, widening a sense of ownership and stimulating cohesion to reflect communities in transition.
“There are lots of examples of good practice,” says Maggie Appleton, chief executive at Luton Culture and an MA board member.
"In terms of best practice it’s about pushing to the next level. How do we make sure we are properly embedded in our communities? Who are the people in your teams leading this? Our front-of-house teams reflect local communities, but it has to go further.”
Wider appeal
Appleton says that museums should think beyond good projects with small groups. “It’s about working harder with larger groups who aren’t minorities any more. It makes no sense to social justice or economically to be ignoring some of these huge swathes of people.”
As well as creating jobs and generating tourism, museums can help people learn lessons from the past about life today and how it could be different.
Museums can also help people understand that “change is constant” and that museums have an overarching ability to give perspective, says Appleton, who singles out Great Yarmouth’s Time and Tide museum for its ability to “use the past as a platform for the future through an engaging, interpretative means”.
The Museums Change Lives report concludes with the ability of museums to inspire people and generate ideas through learning, reflection and the promotion of social justice, and how they are able to tell stories with unique authority.
“Museums can give you a bigger view of the world,” says David Fleming, the director of National Museums Liverpool. “The problem with being a kid who is brought up in poverty with an educational system that’s not working for you is that it can be very horizon-limiting.
"You end up with multigenerational unemployment because aspiration can be ground away. Museums can become something that is entertaining and exciting but at the same time has educational value.”
Crunch time
Museums can use their collections to explicitly give information on contemporary issues, stimulating discussion and debate about a wide range of subjects. This can break down barriers between different groups. Increasingly, people are participating in museums – contributing their ideas, and sharing knowledge and experiences.
“It’s all about attracting people who would like to participate but don’t think it’s for them,” says Nick Merriman, the director of the Manchester Museum. “We are not attracting people from poor, mostly white backgrounds at anything near their proportion in the population. One answer is getting out into the community rather than expecting them to come to us.”
The report comes with supplementary information on the MA’s website and practical suggestions for how museums can tackle these challenges.
“This is big-challenge time for the MA,” concludes Fleming. “With cutbacks in public spending, museums have to stand up and wave the flag for their value. If you cannot demonstrate value, you’ve had it, especially if you’re public sector.
"In my experience it’s tougher now than it’s ever been. Producing something aspirational that’s value-based and persuasive is really important. That’s why this report is so significant.”
Rob Sharp is a freelance journalist
Launched in 2003 and organised in association with Weymouth College and Dorset Community Service Unit, this project worked with young offenders who were undertaking community service. This involved helping to restore historic army vehicles for one day a week.
Participants used their time to work towards engineering and other qualifications. The museum hopes that a cash boost from the Heritage Lottery Fund received last year will provide new facilities that will enable the scheme to grow, with the creation of a new 40,000sq foot vehicle conservation centre.
This 2008-09 exhibition, organised with homelessness charity the Connection at St Martin’s, displayed diaries, video, artwork, poetry and artefacts from life on the streets to help audiences understand the daily lives of the capital’s homeless.
The show aimed to look beyond the stereotypes to show that homeless people come from all walks of life. Among those featured were Paul Boston, who slept rough while working in a bar at night, and former air force pilot Samson Mel.
Launched in January 2012, the House of Memories scheme is a social reminiscence programme that helps to train social-care providers to work with people with dementia.
Actors are used to demonstrate case studies of dementia’s effects. As carers can help unlock memories, National Museums Liverpool gives them the tools to work with those affected, on “memory walks”, for example, past objects that can trigger memories among sufferers. Specially designed “memory boxes” are taken out to patients when museum visits are impractical.
The Museums Change Lives report comes after a nationwide consultation with the sector, hundreds of written and oral responses, public attitude research, and discussion with stakeholders.
This final document focuses on how museums can build on their existing strengths and look to the future by putting societal impact at the heart of what they do.
According to MA president David Anderson, the director-general of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, these recommendations are more timely than ever.
“This report captures the pleasure that museums give to millions each year across our four nations,” Anderson says. “It also makes a powerful case for public service and social justice in a society scarred by extremes of affluence and deprivation. It is a report for our time, but also for the times to come.”
Attendance and public trust in museums are at an all-time high and there has been good work to improve access, but in a changing political climate, where budgets have been curtailed, the impetus on the sector to prove its value is greater than ever.
Museums Change Lives argues that museums must be more ambitious in terms of social justice. Museums that are isolated “islands of collections” should be ancient history and institutions must do more to reach out to potential audiences, make a difference to communities and address social problems, the report says. They need to develop fresh partnerships if they are to survive.
According to Maurice Davies, the author of the report and head of policy and communications at the MA, one of the key messages of Museums Change Lives is that: “Every museum is different but they can all find ways of maximising their social impact.”
The report also underlines numerous success stories. The first section of the report, which explores how museums improve people’s mental and physical health, singles out National Museums Liverpool’s House of Memories project, which uses the institution’s collections to help those living with dementia and their carers (see box).
Wellbeing
“Wellbeing is fundamental to everybody,” says Jocelyn Dodd, director of the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries at the University of Leicester.
“Museums don’t realise what amazing potential they have. They don’t engage with what wellbeing is and yet it’s incredibly significant for everybody.”
Going to a museum, by its very nature, is good for individual wellbeing, and participating in intense projects in small groups can improve skills and confidence. The report challenges museums to do more in this area as well as further improving access to maximise potential benefits to all.
Paul Camic, professor of psychology and public health at Canterbury Christ Church University, welcomes the focus on museums’ commitment and responsibility to the public, especially in the present economic climate. He recommends that museums partner more with healthcare and social care programmes, for example, in universities, to strategically think about wellbeing.
He adds: “Wellbeing needs to be targeted in the context of community. It’s not necessarily about special collections for these groups, but about hearing their voices in the present collections.”
Museums Change Lives says that museums must also do more to reflect demographic changes, widening a sense of ownership and stimulating cohesion to reflect communities in transition.
“There are lots of examples of good practice,” says Maggie Appleton, chief executive at Luton Culture and an MA board member.
"In terms of best practice it’s about pushing to the next level. How do we make sure we are properly embedded in our communities? Who are the people in your teams leading this? Our front-of-house teams reflect local communities, but it has to go further.”
Wider appeal
Appleton says that museums should think beyond good projects with small groups. “It’s about working harder with larger groups who aren’t minorities any more. It makes no sense to social justice or economically to be ignoring some of these huge swathes of people.”
As well as creating jobs and generating tourism, museums can help people learn lessons from the past about life today and how it could be different.
Museums can also help people understand that “change is constant” and that museums have an overarching ability to give perspective, says Appleton, who singles out Great Yarmouth’s Time and Tide museum for its ability to “use the past as a platform for the future through an engaging, interpretative means”.
The Museums Change Lives report concludes with the ability of museums to inspire people and generate ideas through learning, reflection and the promotion of social justice, and how they are able to tell stories with unique authority.
“Museums can give you a bigger view of the world,” says David Fleming, the director of National Museums Liverpool. “The problem with being a kid who is brought up in poverty with an educational system that’s not working for you is that it can be very horizon-limiting.
"You end up with multigenerational unemployment because aspiration can be ground away. Museums can become something that is entertaining and exciting but at the same time has educational value.”
Crunch time
Museums can use their collections to explicitly give information on contemporary issues, stimulating discussion and debate about a wide range of subjects. This can break down barriers between different groups. Increasingly, people are participating in museums – contributing their ideas, and sharing knowledge and experiences.
“It’s all about attracting people who would like to participate but don’t think it’s for them,” says Nick Merriman, the director of the Manchester Museum. “We are not attracting people from poor, mostly white backgrounds at anything near their proportion in the population. One answer is getting out into the community rather than expecting them to come to us.”
The report comes with supplementary information on the MA’s website and practical suggestions for how museums can tackle these challenges.
“This is big-challenge time for the MA,” concludes Fleming. “With cutbacks in public spending, museums have to stand up and wave the flag for their value. If you cannot demonstrate value, you’ve had it, especially if you’re public sector.
"In my experience it’s tougher now than it’s ever been. Producing something aspirational that’s value-based and persuasive is really important. That’s why this report is so significant.”
Rob Sharp is a freelance journalist
Community Payback scheme, Tank Museum, Bovington
Launched in 2003 and organised in association with Weymouth College and Dorset Community Service Unit, this project worked with young offenders who were undertaking community service. This involved helping to restore historic army vehicles for one day a week.
Participants used their time to work towards engineering and other qualifications. The museum hopes that a cash boost from the Heritage Lottery Fund received last year will provide new facilities that will enable the scheme to grow, with the creation of a new 40,000sq foot vehicle conservation centre.
Homeless in the Capital, Museum of London
This 2008-09 exhibition, organised with homelessness charity the Connection at St Martin’s, displayed diaries, video, artwork, poetry and artefacts from life on the streets to help audiences understand the daily lives of the capital’s homeless.
The show aimed to look beyond the stereotypes to show that homeless people come from all walks of life. Among those featured were Paul Boston, who slept rough while working in a bar at night, and former air force pilot Samson Mel.
The House of Memories, National Museums Liverpool
Launched in January 2012, the House of Memories scheme is a social reminiscence programme that helps to train social-care providers to work with people with dementia.
Actors are used to demonstrate case studies of dementia’s effects. As carers can help unlock memories, National Museums Liverpool gives them the tools to work with those affected, on “memory walks”, for example, past objects that can trigger memories among sufferers. Specially designed “memory boxes” are taken out to patients when museum visits are impractical.