One of the side-effects of the recession and the public sector spending squeeze is that a lot of us are being asked to do more, or at least the same amount, for less.
It’s the same at the Museums Association (MA), which is one of the reasons that I now find myself responsible for programming the association’s annual conference. The conference can only ever be as good as its key constituent elements: the people who take part and the ideas that are discussed.
The call for session proposals is now open on the MA’s website and we are looking for ideas that are timely, lively and a little bit spiky. Think about the debates, discussions and presentations that you would like to hear and take part in.
We’ve all been to conferences that have turned out to be a mixed bag of tedious case studies, dull and over-long presentations and death by Powerpoint.
If you are going to submit a proposal, remember what doesn’t work and use that to create something that is different and could work.
Humour helps, especially in these financial times. Injecting some genuine wit into proceedings will make for a better session. And don’t be afraid of being controversial. Too often, museums and galleries avoid the tricky subjects that everyone else is talking about.
Museums and galleries should be all about ideas, creativity, different perspectives and debate – and that needs to be reflected in the conference.
The themes this year are: working in partnership; whose museum is it anyway?; and showing off. But proposals don’t need to relate to a theme, so if you’ve got a good idea, if there’s a hot topic that you and colleagues can’t stop talking about, submit a proposal.
It’s difficult when there’s pressure on time and resources to justify having the space to think and debate, but that’s all the more reason to do it.
Sharon Heal, editor