Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums’ (TWAM) mission has been much quoted in the museum sector. It says: “Our mission is to help people determine their place in the world and define their identities, so enhancing their self respect and their respect for others.”
Museums 2020 is the Museums Association’s project that will focus on the social impact museums could have by 2020, but what does this mean in practice?
We are familiar with the anecdotal, qualitative evidence for the success of our work. Recently, at a day school about TWAM’s Culture Shock project, two people came up to me at the end of the day to tell me how the project had changed their lives.
For one it had led them to get an academic qualification that they felt they would never have previously aspired to. For the other it had given them the confidence to pursue a course of action that they doubted they would ever have achieved without the project.
Experiences such as these reassure us that our work is valid. That it makes a difference.
We also need the hard evidence. As part of TWAM’s Culture Track project, 69 long-term unemployed people completed a programme and of these 16 achieved a Level 2 qualification, 19 volunteers secured employment, and 27 volunteers moved into further education or further voluntary work. Clearly museums can make a difference.
However, we must ensure that we don’t end up knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing. What lies at the heart of museums? What is it that allows us to make that difference?
One of the key things is stories. The Culture Shock project was about digital storytelling – using a new medium to engage one of the oldest human traits, the creation of meaning by telling stories.
Whether we’re entering a social prescribing model or assessing the impact of our work in terms of quality-adjusted life years, we need to look at how we use the resources available to us (collections, buildings, sites) in partnership with our communities in order to make a difference.
We must recognise that we are at best temporary trustees, that our curatorial interpretations are an alternative but not superior description, and that the social interaction which takes place in a museum is what it’s all about.
In some cases we may choose to say that objects speak for themselves, while in others, it is only when the story behind is revealed that meaning comes out.
This power of museums to explain the lives of others and to help us reflect on our own lives, to change how we think and what we do, to challenge attitudes and beliefs, to support individuals and communities to engage in civil society is why I get up in the morning and come to work. This is the work that TWAM does and will continue to do.
Iain Watson is the director of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
Museums 2020 is the Museums Association’s project that will focus on the social impact museums could have by 2020, but what does this mean in practice?
We are familiar with the anecdotal, qualitative evidence for the success of our work. Recently, at a day school about TWAM’s Culture Shock project, two people came up to me at the end of the day to tell me how the project had changed their lives.
For one it had led them to get an academic qualification that they felt they would never have previously aspired to. For the other it had given them the confidence to pursue a course of action that they doubted they would ever have achieved without the project.
Experiences such as these reassure us that our work is valid. That it makes a difference.
We also need the hard evidence. As part of TWAM’s Culture Track project, 69 long-term unemployed people completed a programme and of these 16 achieved a Level 2 qualification, 19 volunteers secured employment, and 27 volunteers moved into further education or further voluntary work. Clearly museums can make a difference.
However, we must ensure that we don’t end up knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing. What lies at the heart of museums? What is it that allows us to make that difference?
One of the key things is stories. The Culture Shock project was about digital storytelling – using a new medium to engage one of the oldest human traits, the creation of meaning by telling stories.
Whether we’re entering a social prescribing model or assessing the impact of our work in terms of quality-adjusted life years, we need to look at how we use the resources available to us (collections, buildings, sites) in partnership with our communities in order to make a difference.
We must recognise that we are at best temporary trustees, that our curatorial interpretations are an alternative but not superior description, and that the social interaction which takes place in a museum is what it’s all about.
In some cases we may choose to say that objects speak for themselves, while in others, it is only when the story behind is revealed that meaning comes out.
This power of museums to explain the lives of others and to help us reflect on our own lives, to change how we think and what we do, to challenge attitudes and beliefs, to support individuals and communities to engage in civil society is why I get up in the morning and come to work. This is the work that TWAM does and will continue to do.
Iain Watson is the director of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
