Shared Guardianship for Museums
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Shared Guardianship is good for the museum business (or why the Green Slime aren’t coming for you) Nick Poole, Chief Executive Collections Trust www.collectionstrust.org.uk
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Presentation to the 2013 American Alliance of Museums conference 'The Power of Story', looking at the opportunity of shared guardianship for museums.
Transcript of Shared Guardianship for Museums
Shared Guardianship is good for the museum business
(or why the Green Slime aren’t coming for you)
Nick Poole, Chief ExecutiveCollections Trustwww.collectionstrust.org.uk
Who am I…?
What do I do…?
“Shared guardianship” can be a little abstract, even threatening…
Some things changed…
People are differentExpectations are differentThe materials we collect are differentThe experiences we offer are differentOur expectations of scale are different
Some things didn’t…
People are the sameMuseums are trusted institutionsThings tell storiesThings are beautifulThings are importantPlaces matter
What kind of museum professional are you?
Objects Experiences
Facts Stories
Objects Experiences
Facts Narratives
“Our first duties are to collect, conserve and display material culture, to protect the nation’s treasures and to showcase the high points of human creativity”
Objects Experiences
Facts Stories
“Our first duty is to create an open, welcoming environment in which people can come and enjoy the experience of beautiful, inspiring things”
Objects Experiences
Facts Stories
“It is not the objects themselves, but the connections between them and the stories they can tell. Our duty is to weave stories and objects together to help people understand the world around them”
Objects Experiences
Facts Narratives
“Our first duty is to provide an authoritative record of the development of the natural and man-made world. We must collect and preserve type specimens and objects based on our authoritative and scientific knowledge.”
Objects Experiences
Facts Stories
All of these impulses (and many others) co-exist in museums. Shared guardianship is about engaging on equal terms with our users to keep these perspectives in balance.
The big challenges…
Get more visitorsDo more stuffMake more moneyBe loved by our supportersStay relevantStay interesting
…have big solutions
Be true to your valuesMake relationships, not propertyShare the workloadBe open to new knowledgeBe confident & excited about your role
The ethics of the museum profession are the ethics of shared guardianship.
This is not about doing something new, or different, its about getting back in touch with the values at the core of your museum and living by them.
Museums have to balance an ethical responsibility to collect and preserve with the imperative to facilitate access
Shared guardianship means taking joint ownership of this challenge
Why Shared Guardianship?
Because relationships scale and enclosure doesn’t
Te Papa and the iwi
Shared guardianship is the manifestation of our commitment to accountability
M-Shed
Among the highest repeat visit rates of any museum in the UK
The Rijksmuseum is open…
“Opening up access to our collections is not just something we do. It’s what we are”
Looting in Iraq
Shared guardianship =
The Mission StatementThe BoardThe BudgetThe Exhibition programmeThe building designThe Marketing PlanThe Product DesignCollections Acquisition & DisposalInterpretationDigitisationCataloguingCollections StoresConservation
You don’t have to abandon professional practice to give people a stake in what your museum does, it’s all a question of language…
Will you embrace shared guardianship?
1. Look at your Mission/Vision
2. Look at your acquisitions process
3. Symbolically ‘hand over’ your collections
4. Assert the public right of access
5. Go out and tell the world
Thank you!
Find out more: www.collectionslink.org.uk
Nick Poole, Chief ExecutiveCollections Trust@NickPoole1
