Opinion
Get your governance right and life gets a whole lot easier
Governance is a dull subject. Nobody questions its importance, but it hardly sets pulses racing. You only really start to appreciate its importance in times of difficulty. If your museum is doing well, then governance weaknesses are not noticed or fretted over. But if things are not going so well, poor governance can become a …
If you jump on a bandwagon, hold onto the reins
The United Nations has used International Years to raise awareness of global issues for half a century. Other organisations also use year-long themed campaigns to promote understanding of important concepts by responding to topical issues or by celebrating anniversaries of notable achievements, people or events. For museums, such campaigns can be a good focus for …
Kinship and culture: they go together
Arts and culture are a necessity for children and families. We know that taking part in cultural activities together helps to make families strong and stable, providing them with shared memories, history and happiness as well as resilience when times are hard. Such positive family experiences can be gained from a range of activities: a …
Good housekeeping for these dismal days
According to the Chinese proverb, “When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and some build windmills”. The winds are blowing hard these days. Cost-cutting and making savings seem to be the new dirty phrases, but on reflection, maybe this isn’t such a bad idea after all. Who would not like to have …
Letters
Come and try our tasty chicken soup I would like to respond to Sara Selwood’s review of the new Jewish Museum. Judging from her comments, she visited the museum soon after we opened, when there was an exceptionally high volume of visitors due to the tremendous positive media coverage ranging from the Times, Independent and …
Green shoots hampered by weedy efforts
It’s disappointing that, since the end of the Museums Association’s (MA) consultation on sustainability just over a year ago, museum support bodies have failed to do much to help museums go green. On the face of it, our consultation was a success. Our aim was to get people in museums thinking about sustainability. They did: …
Short-term box-ticking projects do not change lives
Five years ago the education department at Dulwich Picture Gallery became concerned about the poor standards of care for the elderly and wondered what we as a fine art museum could do about it. It was never in question that we should do something. Community engagement has been a passion for the past 20 years, …