Jane Austen’s House Museum

We interviewed the Director of the museum, Lizzie Dunford, about the new Virtual Tour created during the lockdowns imposed during the pandemic, when visitors could no longer physically access the museum in person.

The Project was ambitious, and the quality of the output was undeniable. For this reason we felt that other museums could take inspiration from how Lizzie and her team broke down barriers to access to their museums, at a low cost, in a short time frame.

You can view the full video (9.45) below, or select individual chapters to watch by selecting ‘watch on YouTube’ and choosing from the chapters listed underneath the main video. The chapters are as follows:

• 00:00 Introduction
• 00:21 Part 1: The Virtual Tour
• 02:17 Part 2: Audience Reaction
• 04:20 Part 3: Cost VS Impact
• 05:55 Part 4: Lessons Learned
• 07:46 Part 5: Looking to the Future

Local Authority Devolution films by South East Museum Development.

A practical guide for local authority museum services that are considering a change/devolution of governance and how to manage the process.. We have divided the content into 10 sections plus an introductory film on the types of governance available.

Each video includes case studies from 3 case studies Banbury Museum Gallery, Hampshire Cultural Trust and Gunnersbury Park & Museum. Banbury and HCT moved to charitable trusts’ and Gunnersbury became a Community Interest Company (CIC). The films are in an interview format with their respective leaders at the time. Dr Janet Owen, Simon Townsend and David Bowler. Timings are indicated for each film.

PART 1: Introduction to each service and their leaders.

PART 2: Main factors for changing governance and the current arrangements at the start of the process.

PART 3: What were the options before a decision was made

PART 4: Getting a service ready for change and the challenges of developing a business plan

PART 5: The mechanics and process of a change in governance

PART 6: Trustees and changing the culture

PART 7: Milestones after the change of governance/reopening

PART 8: Financial impact and ongoing relationship with your local authority

PART 9: Pitfalls and how to avoid them

PART 10: Successes, advice and looking forward

Introduction to Devolution of Local Authority Museums – Past and Present with Adrian Babbidge

• History of museums changing governance 0.30 – 5.40
• Merits of museums going it alone versus larger trusts 5.45- 8.22
• Separate arrangements for museums versus larger trusts 8.30 – 10.00
• Which model to choose 10.05 – 13.55
• Jargon explanation 14.05 – 21.05
• Suitable governance types 21.18 – 28.39
• Characteristics for a successful outcome 28.55 – 33.11
• Money! 33.15 – 39.13
• Potential Pitfalls 34.20 – 43.00

Museum of Farnham

We interviewed Museum Curator Josh Godfrey at the museum about his team’s work in engaging new community groups with the museum, discussing both the challenges and the successes of their work. Josh also shares his top tips for creating new digital assets for community engagement, as well as how making community connections can benefit a museum service.

During the interview you can also learn about how integral museum development support was in the development of the museum’s community engagement aims, and find out more about how they co-curated an exhibition about the impact of the pandemic on their community in Farnham, Surrey.

You can view the full video (9.29) below, or select individual chapters to watch by selecting ‘watch on YouTube’ and choosing from the chapters listed underneath the main video. The chapters are as follows:

• 00:00 Introduction
• 00:15 What did we want to achieve?
• 00:50 Part 2: Digital Assets
• 02:22 Part 3: Top Tips
• 03:23 Part 4: Co-Curating
• 05:16 Part 5: Community Connections
• 06:59 Part 6: Museum Development Support
• 08:17 Part 7: Looking to the future

The Museum of Oxford

We interviewed Katy Hammond, Volunteer Engagement Officer at the Museum of Oxford, about their recent volunteer diversification work. Katy shares the key information about their involvement with SEMD’s Growing Volunteering Project, and how that led them to conduct a race equalities audit and further their aims to be more representative of their community.

During the video Katy also shares the key learning outcomes from this work, and details of how Katy and her team developed an entirely new approach to volunteer management, from recruitment, induction and professional development.

You can view the full video (10.19) below, or select individual chapters to watch by selecting ‘watch on YouTube’ and choosing from the chapters listed underneath the main video. The chapters are as follows:

• 00:00 Introduction
• 00:14 Part 1: Growing Volunteering Project
• 02:11 Part 2: Race Equalities Audit
• 04:13 Part 3: Volunteer Recruitment
• 06:18 Part 4: Volunteer Training
• 07:11 Part 5: Reflections
• 09:17 Part 6: Looking to the Future

The Royal Engineers Museum

We spoke with both Rebecca Nash, Director, and Danielle Sellers, Collections Manager at the Royal Engineers Museum, about their recent ‘Making African Connections’ Project.

Rebecca and Danielle shared with us how the Project came about, and discuss how they began to approach democratising their collections in collaboration with relevant community groups and their existing museum stakeholders.

Difficult conversations naturally arise from this kind of work, and they discuss how they approached these through their work democratising their Sudanese collections, and share their top tips for taking on challenging topics and embracing change positively.

You can view the full video (11.47) below, or select individual chapters to watch by selecting ‘watch on YouTube’ and choosing from the chapters listed underneath the main video. The chapters are as follows:

• 00:00 Introduction
• 00:15 Part 1: Making African Connections
• 02:54 Part 2: Decolonising the Collections
• 04:13 Part 3: Difficult Conversations
• 06:43 Part 4: Key Outcomes
• 07:45 Part 5: Reflections
• 09:09 Part 6: Looking to the future