Reality check
Safe Exit at Toynbee Hall, London, is a partnership project created to improve services for women involved in prostitution. We have got involved in Jack the Ripper and the East End exhibition (15 May-2 November) at the Museum in Docklands to highlight the reality of life for women involved in prostitution in East London today.
Through contributing a talking head film clip to the exhibition, we have been able to draw parallels between the lives of local women selling sex today and 120 years ago on the very same streets.
Women are and were driven to it for similar reasons - addiction, homelessness, abusive backgrounds and coercion - and are tragically still very vulnerable to violence, rape and murder.
We hope that the Jack the Ripper exhibition at the Museum in Docklands will dispel any contemporary myths that prostitution is glamorous or that women selling sex on the street have positively chosen to do so.
Today, as many as 95 per cent of women selling sex have a crack or heroin addiction, not unusually exceeding £100 a day, and often work to fund a boyfriend/partner's drug habit as well. As a project, we believe that addressing the demand for prostitution is vital to reduce the negative and harmful impact on women and communities.
Safe Exit's work, including a diversion scheme that offers a supportive alternative to court fines, is crucial to developing partnership approaches to support the range of women's needs effectively. This will enable them to change and improve their lives. We hope that the exhibition will go some way to highlighting our work.
Ellen Armstrong, Safe Exit coordinator, Toynbee Hall, London.
www.toynbeehall.org.uk/safeexit
Jack the Ripper will be reviewed in the July issue of Museums Journal
Educating Worcester
With the science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) agenda high among political priorities, your "New scientists" article (Museums Journal May 2008, p28) was timely.
It was good to see the representatives from the participating organisations speak passionately about supporting science education, but we felt it was a shame that the discussion did not thoroughly probe the potential for museums of all shapes and sizes, not just the larger, obviously science-focused ones, to support science in education.
The history curriculum is the comfort zone of many museums, albeit with value-added, cross-curricular add-ons. Yet a reappraisal of the most common collections can discover strong links to the science and technology curricula and a way of offering something other than such standard topics as the Victorians or the second world war to local schools.
In Worcestershire we have been working with our local STEMNET contract holder and six small museums (Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings, the Carpet Museum Trust, George Marshall Medical Museum, the Transport Museum at Wythall, Tudor House Heritage Centre and the Worcester Porcelain Museum) on STEMWorcs, a STEM-based education and advocacy project.
The aims are to encourage local museums to think beyond the history curriculum when developing education packages, to support museums who are in the early stages of developing education plans, and to promote beyond the museum sector, especially to teachers, the potential for museums to support the STEM curricula.
Although the project is still in its infancy, each of the museums has started to develop some exciting resources and the project as a whole is building momentum. Small groups of science teacher trainees have spent some time with each of the participating museums, reviewing collections and helping to generate ideas.
We will be creating a CD aimed at education providers, sampling the resources produced by the museums as a way of advocating the use of local museums to science and technology teachers. And we hope to take the project further with a "recipe book" aimed at museums.
Karen Spry, museum development officer, Worcestershire; Sue Pope, education and outreach officer, Worcestershire County Museum Service
Working lives
It's easy to see why delegates at the Museums Association's (MA) Moving Up conference were "confused and angered" by the often inflated requirements for some entry-level jobs (Museums Journal May 2008, pg 9).
We all know it's not rare to see adverts in Museums Journal for jobs that are poorly paid, yet still require one if not two degrees. Some of these jobs could be done by people with fewer academic qualifications but with other skills and knowledge, helping to open up our workforce. Our sector really needs to get better at revaluating job-entry requirements - and be more realistic and transparent.
This is just one workforce issue that the MA, in partnership with Creative and Cultural Skills, is consulting the sector on to inform the development of a workforce action plan for the cultural heritage sector.
The other issues include the development of staff, leadership and the loss of sector specific skills. To find out more and contribute your views to consultation, which runs until mid-June, visit the MA's website.
Caitlin Griffiths, head of professional issues, Museums Association
Protecting Iraq
Regarding the "Lost treasures" article about Iraq (Museums Journal May 2008, p22). The story itself is fair and balanced and makes no reference to "Trigger happy?", (which appeared as a coverline), so the reasons for the caption are questionable.
The woman depicted in the foreground is Corine Wegener, who is an associate curator at the Minneapolis Museum of Art. She was a major in the Civil Affairs for many years and since retiring shortly after her last tour of duty in Iraq has become the founding president of the US Committee of the Blue Shield (USCBS).
She, and the soldiers shown behind her, are definitely not trigger happy and were detailed to the National Museum in Bagdad after the looting. Wegener worked incredibly hard, with the director and staff of the museum, with the military police and with others, to pr tect, preserve and organise the return of stolen collections holdings.
Wegener first contacted American colleagues in the conservation field immediately after assessing the damage to the National Museum holdings. She worked with a team from the British Museum and with representatives of the Italian government and American conservators.
On her return to the US, Wegener has tirelessly worked to improve training for Civil Affairs officers and military personnel. The USCBS is in the forefront of the efforts to ensure that the US ratifies the Hague Conventions, and Wegener has recently received an award from the American Association of Museums for her work in raising awareness and making every effort to protect cultural property in times of war.
You chose the wrong caption and the wrong officer/museum professional to impune by association.
Barbara Overton Roberts, conservator in private practice, USA
Wrexham wronged
I read with interest the news piece in your May issue by Partick Steel on the "funding crisis" in Welsh museums. I was particularly interested in the reference to Wrexham and the comment that there are "fears for the future of museums in these regions".
Could I correct the inaccuracy of the comments, as the position in Wrexham regarding the future of museum and heritage provision has never been stronger.
The authority has recently received a Stage One approval from the Heritage Lottery Fund for some £950,000-plus towards the first phase of a major enhancement of the county borough's museum and its heritage services. Most importantly, in the context of your reporter's comments, the authority itself has assigned some £1m of its own scarce resources for this development.
I would also point to the establishment of a heritage forum, which has brought together a myriad of local organisations committed to exploring the heritage of their respective communities.
We have also received approval in principle from the Legacy Trust for six-figure support for the creation by the museum of a major touring exhibition to record and explore Welsh people's experience of the Olympics which will open in 2010 and run up to 2012.
Other examples could be quoted. I think if this is a "crisis" and leads to "fears for the future", I would welcome such situations. The last 10 years has seen significant progress which will underpin continued performance in the next five years.
Alan Watkin, chief leisure, libraries and culture officer, Wrexham County Borough Council
Safe Exit at Toynbee Hall, London, is a partnership project created to improve services for women involved in prostitution. We have got involved in Jack the Ripper and the East End exhibition (15 May-2 November) at the Museum in Docklands to highlight the reality of life for women involved in prostitution in East London today.
Through contributing a talking head film clip to the exhibition, we have been able to draw parallels between the lives of local women selling sex today and 120 years ago on the very same streets.
Women are and were driven to it for similar reasons - addiction, homelessness, abusive backgrounds and coercion - and are tragically still very vulnerable to violence, rape and murder.
We hope that the Jack the Ripper exhibition at the Museum in Docklands will dispel any contemporary myths that prostitution is glamorous or that women selling sex on the street have positively chosen to do so.
Today, as many as 95 per cent of women selling sex have a crack or heroin addiction, not unusually exceeding £100 a day, and often work to fund a boyfriend/partner's drug habit as well. As a project, we believe that addressing the demand for prostitution is vital to reduce the negative and harmful impact on women and communities.
Safe Exit's work, including a diversion scheme that offers a supportive alternative to court fines, is crucial to developing partnership approaches to support the range of women's needs effectively. This will enable them to change and improve their lives. We hope that the exhibition will go some way to highlighting our work.
Ellen Armstrong, Safe Exit coordinator, Toynbee Hall, London.
www.toynbeehall.org.uk/safeexit
Jack the Ripper will be reviewed in the July issue of Museums Journal
Educating Worcester
With the science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) agenda high among political priorities, your "New scientists" article (Museums Journal May 2008, p28) was timely.
It was good to see the representatives from the participating organisations speak passionately about supporting science education, but we felt it was a shame that the discussion did not thoroughly probe the potential for museums of all shapes and sizes, not just the larger, obviously science-focused ones, to support science in education.
The history curriculum is the comfort zone of many museums, albeit with value-added, cross-curricular add-ons. Yet a reappraisal of the most common collections can discover strong links to the science and technology curricula and a way of offering something other than such standard topics as the Victorians or the second world war to local schools.
In Worcestershire we have been working with our local STEMNET contract holder and six small museums (Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings, the Carpet Museum Trust, George Marshall Medical Museum, the Transport Museum at Wythall, Tudor House Heritage Centre and the Worcester Porcelain Museum) on STEMWorcs, a STEM-based education and advocacy project.
The aims are to encourage local museums to think beyond the history curriculum when developing education packages, to support museums who are in the early stages of developing education plans, and to promote beyond the museum sector, especially to teachers, the potential for museums to support the STEM curricula.
Although the project is still in its infancy, each of the museums has started to develop some exciting resources and the project as a whole is building momentum. Small groups of science teacher trainees have spent some time with each of the participating museums, reviewing collections and helping to generate ideas.
We will be creating a CD aimed at education providers, sampling the resources produced by the museums as a way of advocating the use of local museums to science and technology teachers. And we hope to take the project further with a "recipe book" aimed at museums.
Karen Spry, museum development officer, Worcestershire; Sue Pope, education and outreach officer, Worcestershire County Museum Service
Working lives
It's easy to see why delegates at the Museums Association's (MA) Moving Up conference were "confused and angered" by the often inflated requirements for some entry-level jobs (Museums Journal May 2008, pg 9).
We all know it's not rare to see adverts in Museums Journal for jobs that are poorly paid, yet still require one if not two degrees. Some of these jobs could be done by people with fewer academic qualifications but with other skills and knowledge, helping to open up our workforce. Our sector really needs to get better at revaluating job-entry requirements - and be more realistic and transparent.
This is just one workforce issue that the MA, in partnership with Creative and Cultural Skills, is consulting the sector on to inform the development of a workforce action plan for the cultural heritage sector.
The other issues include the development of staff, leadership and the loss of sector specific skills. To find out more and contribute your views to consultation, which runs until mid-June, visit the MA's website.
Caitlin Griffiths, head of professional issues, Museums Association
Protecting Iraq
Regarding the "Lost treasures" article about Iraq (Museums Journal May 2008, p22). The story itself is fair and balanced and makes no reference to "Trigger happy?", (which appeared as a coverline), so the reasons for the caption are questionable.
The woman depicted in the foreground is Corine Wegener, who is an associate curator at the Minneapolis Museum of Art. She was a major in the Civil Affairs for many years and since retiring shortly after her last tour of duty in Iraq has become the founding president of the US Committee of the Blue Shield (USCBS).
She, and the soldiers shown behind her, are definitely not trigger happy and were detailed to the National Museum in Bagdad after the looting. Wegener worked incredibly hard, with the director and staff of the museum, with the military police and with others, to pr tect, preserve and organise the return of stolen collections holdings.
Wegener first contacted American colleagues in the conservation field immediately after assessing the damage to the National Museum holdings. She worked with a team from the British Museum and with representatives of the Italian government and American conservators.
On her return to the US, Wegener has tirelessly worked to improve training for Civil Affairs officers and military personnel. The USCBS is in the forefront of the efforts to ensure that the US ratifies the Hague Conventions, and Wegener has recently received an award from the American Association of Museums for her work in raising awareness and making every effort to protect cultural property in times of war.
You chose the wrong caption and the wrong officer/museum professional to impune by association.
Barbara Overton Roberts, conservator in private practice, USA
Wrexham wronged
I read with interest the news piece in your May issue by Partick Steel on the "funding crisis" in Welsh museums. I was particularly interested in the reference to Wrexham and the comment that there are "fears for the future of museums in these regions".
Could I correct the inaccuracy of the comments, as the position in Wrexham regarding the future of museum and heritage provision has never been stronger.
The authority has recently received a Stage One approval from the Heritage Lottery Fund for some £950,000-plus towards the first phase of a major enhancement of the county borough's museum and its heritage services. Most importantly, in the context of your reporter's comments, the authority itself has assigned some £1m of its own scarce resources for this development.
I would also point to the establishment of a heritage forum, which has brought together a myriad of local organisations committed to exploring the heritage of their respective communities.
We have also received approval in principle from the Legacy Trust for six-figure support for the creation by the museum of a major touring exhibition to record and explore Welsh people's experience of the Olympics which will open in 2010 and run up to 2012.
Other examples could be quoted. I think if this is a "crisis" and leads to "fears for the future", I would welcome such situations. The last 10 years has seen significant progress which will underpin continued performance in the next five years.
Alan Watkin, chief leisure, libraries and culture officer, Wrexham County Borough Council
