Breathing new life into the old at Amgueddfa Cymru

‘Amgueddfa Fyw’, in Welsh, means a living Museum. That’s how we define ourselves at Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales.

We want the seven museums in our care to be alive in the fullest sense: dynamic and interactive, vibrant and inclusive, telling stories in ways we’ve never done before.

One of our museums, St Fagans National Museum of History, has always done a great job of this. Its founder, Iorwerth Peate, aimed to create the world’s “greatest living museum” and we got a step closer in 2019 when it was awarded the Art Fund’s Museum of the Year prize.

So why am I sharing all this? We’re currently looking to fill what Carling might describe as “probably the best job in the museum sector” – our Director of Collections and Research.

This role will be charged with bringing life to the 5.3 million objects in Wales’ national collection ranging from internationally renowned fine artworks to miners’ helmets; from medieval pigsties to 400-year-old clams.

We are looking to draw on these collections to celebrate the life, culture and heritage of Wales in ways never previously considered, not just at St Fagans, but across all of our sites.

The story of Wales is a rich one, grounded in simple life, toil and endurance, but also in inspiration, creativity and ideas. We’re a nation of world firsts: did you know that the equals sign was conceived here? The co-operative movement? The first manned flight? The first passenger rail journey?

Our collection is rich in such stories and we see no reason for Wales to stop with historical world firsts - we’d like to create a few new ones ourselves. We’re setting ourselves a high benchmark. In 2027 we celebrate our centenary, and yet we’ve only just begun.

Our collections are central to this. We’re blessed to have a wealth of objects spanning disciplines from natural sciences to history and from archaeology to art, not to mention a rich library of oral history and audio-visual records. When friends ask what we do, I say we look after everything from Monets to molluscs.

But our collection isn’t only about objects. We also play a vital part in maintaining Wales’ intangible cultural heritage. This involves safeguarding and sharing Wales’ living traditions - performing arts, social practices, crafts and oral traditions - through collections, exhibitions and community engagement.

There are a number of traditional Welsh crafts at risk of becoming extinct: clog making, wool-weaving and slate-splitting, to name but a few. As Wales’ national museum, it’s our role to ensure this living heritage is safeguarded for the future.

We have ground-breaking legislation here in Wales that means all public bodies have to consider the needs of future generations in every decision they make. As a result, we are constantly thinking not only of what we need to preserve from the past to pass onto the future, but also about what we need to capture from the ever-changing present.

Our rapid-response-collecting means our collections are constantly evolving, reflecting societal shifts around Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ+ and many more. This is another way in which we are a living museum - this is how we tell the story of Wales.

And this is also one way in which we enable the people of Wales to share their stories and to shape both the collection and the way we use it.

That’s all just the beginning. We’re also committed to a research strategy that adds depth and richness to our interpretation and experiences. We are investing time in creating an impact framework that will enable us to understand the difference we are making, and how we can be better.

We’re using data to understand who isn’t visiting our sites and why, so that we engage people more meaningfully and make sure that anyone, from any community, feels represented here. We want Wales’ living museum to reflect all lives in Wales, not just the privileged few.

And we are working with a range of international partners to take Wales to the world and bring the world to Wales.

Our future is bright, bold and exciting. We are striving to be truly world class in the work we do, and we’re looking for someone who shares that level of ambition and energy to join our team as our Director of Collections and Research.

Perhaps it’s you? You can find out more about the role on the Museums Association’s Find a Job page. 

Jane Richardson is the chief executive of Amgueddfa Cymru