CyMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales
Museums Current Awareness Service - Bulletin 123
Information about the Museums Current Awareness Service can be found on CyMAL’s pages on the Welsh Assembly website.
http://www.wales.gov.uk/cymal
WELSH GOVERNMENT - CYMAL
Museums Accreditation Adviser, Aberystwyth
£25,700 - £33,200, 3 year fixed term contract, with possibility of extension.
Key tasks:
- To take responsibility for the management of the Museums Accreditation Scheme in Wales and in particular to ensure that local museums receive the support they require to enable them to participate in the UK Standards scheme;
- To quality check and assess all applications submitted by Welsh museums to the Accreditation panel, ensuring that all applications, and subsequent bi-annual returns, submitted are of high quality and submitted to the central Accreditation Team based at Arts Council England (ACE) team in a timely manner;
- To advise potential new entrants from Wales to the Accreditation Scheme, working closely with colleagues in CyMAL.
- To contribute to the delivery of A Museums Strategy for Wales 2010-15 in general, and in particular to those areas related directly to the improvement of museum services identified as core Accreditation elements.
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR WALES
Short Debate: Heritage - Our Past and Future (13 June 2012)
http://tinyurl.com/d8kgqxr
UK GOVERNMENT
Lords say DCMS failing to lead heritage science community
The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has called upon the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to provide adequate leadership for heritage science. In its report Science and Heritage: a follow-up the Committee cites research that heritage tourism contributes £7.4 billion a year to the UK economy and supports 195, 000 full time equivalent jobs. The Committee argues that sustaining that contribution requires the UK to have the heritage science capacity to maintain the UK’s movable and immovable heritage such as museum, library, archive and gallery collections and historic buildings.
FEDERATION OF MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES IN WALES
Income Generation Toolkit
The Museum Partnership N.Wales has created an income generation toolkit. The toolkit is deigned to provide some objective guidance and aide memoirs as to how to increase visitor numbers, maximise revenue and save costs. A Welsh version is also available
MUSEUMS ASSOCIATION
Six museums awarded £390,000 by Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund
The Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund (EFCF), administered by the Museums Association, has awarded a total of £389,447 to six museums to enable them to develop their collections. The successful projects included a £31,943 Natural History Museum project to gather, analyse and share data on seaweed, a £63,000 programme of guest curatorships to research and interpret the collections at Woodhorn Museum and Northumberland Archives, and a £100,000 project to link natural science collections in Wales run by the Federation of Museums and Art Galleries of Wales.
Museums should be more proactive on the big issues
The latest contributors to the Museums Association’s Museums 2020 debate show a consensus that museums should be more proactive in addressing civic and environmental issues and campaigning for human rights and social equality. The debate is part of the MA’s ongoing campaign to establish a bold vision of the kinds of impacts museums can have in future.
22% of museum services close sites
The Museums Association’s 2012 survey into cuts to museum services has laid bare the devastating impact that budget reductions are continuing to have across the UK. Out of 114 museum services and individual institutions that responded, 51% reported a cut to their budgets and almost a quarter have been forced to reduce public access by closing whole sites or parts of sites permanently or temporarily. 11% have closed whole sites permanently.
ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT MUSEUMS
Vacancies On AIM Council
We are seeking to appoint new members to AIM Council who can help us deliver an ambitious programme of activity and advocacy to support and raise the profile of independent museums across the UK. Council members play an active part in AIM' s work; contributing their expertise and helping us to connect with regional members as well as with specialist groups and other national bodies. Council meets four times a year. Its work is supported by five sub-committees which manage our grant schemes and advise on policy and advocacy issues, as well as membership and communications. Interested? If so, please contact: Matthew Tanner, AIM Chairman at SS Great Britain Trust
Great Western Dockyard, Bristol BS1 6TY, email: [log in to unmask] or Sam Hunt, AIM Executive Director on 01460 75222, email: [log in to unmask] for an informal discussion
PROMOTING MUSEUMS
Open survey: what are the barriers to participating in Museums at Night, and should we change the date?
Museums at Night project manager Nick and myself would like to thank all the venues who ran a Museums at Night event for giving us their feedback in the 2012 Venue Survey. Now we’d like to turn our attention to museums, galleries, libraries, archives and heritage sites who weren’t part of Museums at Night in 2012. Perhaps your venue has never run a Museums at Night event, or maybe you chose not to participate this year. We’d like to know more about the main barriers to participating - lack of time, money, staff, or something else?
Finally, and possibly most contentiously, we are considering moving the days of the Museums at Night festival. It will still take place around International Museums Day (18th May), but instead of running over Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings we are considering running over Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. We know that there are some strong feelings about this, and we don’t want to make a decision without finding out your views - so please help us shape the future of Museums at Night by filling in our 5 minute Date Change Survey!
HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND
HLF says digital content must be free
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) will make access to digital content a precondition of funding for all of its projects from today. The announcement is part of the HLF’s new strategic framework for 2013-2018, which says that digital content must be free of charge for non-commercial uses; “usable” for five years from completion of the project; and available for 10/25 years depending on the size of the grant. HLF also announced support for digital-only projects such as websites and apps for the first time.
http://tinyurl.com/c2o47dw
http://www.hlf.org.uk/news/Pages/HLFannouncesnewcommitmenttodigitalheritage.aspx
Rising to the challenge - creating a stronger and more resilient heritage economy
The Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has pledged to work with heritage organisations and other partners across the UK to build a resilient heritage economy. Dame Jenny Abramsky set out HLF’s plans for investing £375m a year of lottery money over the next five years and announced new funding streams and initiatives designed to enable a strong, robust sector to respond in new ways to the conditions it now faces. In addition, she said that HLF would listen to the 2,000 responses to its consultation, which called on HLF to use its long experience and considerable influence to stimulate new ideas and approaches, share best practice and to act as a strong voice for heritage.
http://www.hlf.org.uk/news/Pages/Risingtothechallenge.aspx
HLF first major funder to require carbon footprints in funding applications
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has today that it is to become the first major UK funding body to require all large projects to undertake carbon footprinting as part of their application. Announced as HLF sets out its new strategic framework for 2013 - 2018, HLF will now ask all applicants requesting funding above £2m to measure the carbon footprint of their projects. With so many HLF-supported projects involving building expansion and a growth in visitor numbers, HLF’s Board of Trustees felt it was increasingly important that calculating the environmental impact of projects should form part of their decision-making process.
http://www.hlf.org.uk/news/Pages/HLFfirstmajorfundertorequirecarbonfootprints.aspx
Heritage Lottery funding boost for Gwynedd’s Heritage
Plans to develop the Gwynedd Museum and Art Gallery in Bangor have been given a huge boost, following an award of £158,000 development funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project entitled ‘Engaging Collections: Widening access to Gwynedd’s Heritage’ will provide funding to develop a project that will eventually transform the current museum and gallery in Bangor and Gwynedd, make collections more accessible and the communities of Gwynedd becoming more involved in the collections and their interpretation.
http://www.hlf.org.uk/news/Pages/GwyneddMuseumsRoundOne.aspx
COLLECTIONS
World Collections report explores wider impact of museums' international activity
World Collections, a new paper by NMDC, illustrates the breadth of museums' international work and explores its wider impact. UK museums are able to build on long-standing international relationships and the stories which can be told by objects in their collections, to deliver work which has an impact on every region of the world. The paper looks at how there are positive consequences of this activity as it supports economic growth and investment, encourages cultural exchange, encourages the preservation of memory and exploration of identity, and can be a form of diplomacy.
http://tinyurl.com/cwnjsdf
http://tinyurl.com/cdvya74 (PDF)
Online first for the Egypt Centre’s Ancient Egyptian Artefacts
Swansea University’s Egypt Centre is the first museum in Britain to have its whole collection go online on the Culture Grid - a searchable database for museum collections, using Modes Complete. The Egypt Centre is the first UK institution to use the latest Modes Complete Collections Management software to connect to the Collections Trust’s Culture Grid and joins hundreds of other UK organisations who are sharing their collections through the Grid, amounting to approximately 2 million records.
http://www.egypt.swansea.ac.uk/index.php/the-collection-01/494-culture-grid
CONSERVATION
National Conservation Education & Skills Strategy
Icon's National Conservation Education and Skills Strategy was launched on Friday 27 April 2012. This strategy deals with the conservation of cultural heritage. The term conservation is used here to refer to the full range of activities associated with the restoration and preservation of our material heritage: analysis, assessment, treatment, documentation, protection, etc. The term cultural heritage is used here to refer to movable material heritage - including elements of buildings, such as wall paintings and stained glass windows but not the buildings themselves - as well as the intangible values associated with the material heritage.
EVENTS
Open Doors 2012
Open Doors is Wales's biggest celebration of architecture and heritage. Part of European Heritage Days, it takes place throughout September. In 2011 More than three hundred sites took part. See below for details on what happened last year! There were over five hundred events, supported by 1,800 or more volunteers. We are currently registering entries for this year's programme and developing our database of events. The 2012 programme will appear in Welsh and English on 1 August. In the meantime, follow us on Twitter @CivicTrustWales for sneak previews of places, events and activities that will feature in the 2012 programme.
http://www.civictrustwales.org/ehd/
TRAINING AND CONFERENCES
Stakeholder Engagement Conference - Tredegar, 13 September 2012
Registration is now open for the conference 'For Them and By Them: Involving Stakeholders and Communities in Interpretation' at Bedwellty House and Park. Heritage interpreters know it’s important to involve communities and stakeholders when planning and creating interpretation - but how do we go about it? This conference brings together policy makers, researchers and practitioners to examine current practice and share insights into the challenges and benefits of involving stakeholders and communities in interpretation. It offers a good mix of presentations that look at policy, community engagement standards and practical examples of interpretive practice.
http://www.bedwelltyhouseandpark.co.uk/blog.php?id=17
AHI Annual Conference - Shrewsbury, 17-19 October 2012
Put the dates and venue in your diary! We’ve now confirmed that the 2012 Conference will take place from 17th to 19th October, at Hawkstone Park, near Shrewsbury, Shropshire. The theme will focus on visitor experience - and what makes a ‘great’ or ‘successful’ experience. The programme is still being finalised, but will include a visit to the award-winning Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site.
http://www.ahi.org.uk/www/news/view_detail/96/
Costumed Interpretation - Hampton Court Palace, 28 September 2012
After a hugely successful workshop on Costumed Interpretation in Edinburgh last year, we will be running a similar event in London in September. Jackie Lee has organised an action-packed day of sessions around why and how interpreters use costumes to bring their subjects to life. There will be an opportunity to observe the acclaimed costumed interpreters at Hampton Court and to hear about their method.
http://www.ahi.org.uk/www/events/event_details/68/
ACCESS, LIFELONG LEARNING AND SOCIAL INCLUSION
Transforming children’s lives: the role of cultural organisations in tackling child poverty - Cardiff, 17 July
Join us for a one day conference at National Museum Cardiff on the 17th of July to discuss how cultural organisations can help to tackle child poverty. Amongst the speakers will be Huw Lewis, Minister for Housing, Regeneration and Heritage; Keith Towler, Children's Commissioner for Wales and David Anderson, Director General of Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales. Further details to follow, and booking will be open from next week. The conference will be free to attend.
http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/home/
FUNDING AND AWARDS
Nominations for Guardian Public Service Awards 2012
Nominations are open for the Guardian Public Services Awards 2012. The awards are open to all organisations involved in commissioning or delivering public services, whether from the public, private and voluntary sector. There are a new set of categories for this year's awards, which aim to recognise innovative approaches that have been developed across public services and create a forum for sharing new ideas and best practice. The deadline for nominations is 13 July.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/publicservicesawards
All Our Stories
All Our Stories is an opportunity for everyone to get involved in their heritage. With our funding and support you could plan activities that help you explore, share and celebrate yours. You can request funding for the following types of activity to explore and learn about heritage:
- Visits to places like historic buildings, landscapes, parks, burial grounds, museums, archaeological sites or industrial heritage sites like railways.
- Using collections like archives, libraries and museums, including collections held by people in the community.
- Talking to people who know about heritage or holding workshops, talks and sessions exploring people’s memories.
- Recording things like people’s memories or local wildlife; scanning old photographs and documents; archaeological digs or surveying historic buildings.
http://www.hlf.org.uk/HowToApply/programmes/Pages/Allourstories.aspx
CHARITIES AND VOLUNTEERS
Charity Commission consults on information review
The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has launched a public consultation about the information the Commission collects from charities, most of which is published on its online Register of Charities.
Register of Charities: a review of information collected from charities:
http://tinyurl.com/7cg69bp
PUBLICATIONS AND RESEARCH
Measuring the economic benefits of arts and culture
This report, written by BOP consulting, aims to provide arts and cultural organisations with clear guidance about undertaking or commissioning studies into the economic benefits of their work. The guidance will help organisations choose appropriate and robust methodologies and uses case studies to illustrate the benefits and limitations of different approaches to measuring economic contribution.
Libraries and Museums in an Era of Participatory Culture
The Salzburg Global Seminar and the Institute of Museum and Library Services announce the publication of "Libraries and Museums in an Era of Participatory Culture." The report details the events of the October, 2011 convening of fifty-eight library, museum, and cultural heritage leaders from thirty-one countries. Together, the participants developed a set of recommendations to help libraries and museums embrace new possibilities for public engagement that are made possible by societal and technological change. The deliberations identified "imperatives for the future" including accepting the notion of democratic access, placing a major emphasis on public value and impact, and embracing lifelong learning.
http://tinyurl.com/cf7reel
http://www.imls.gov/assets/1/AssetManager/SGS_Report_2012.pdf
Key Trends In Museums Of The Future survey
One of NEMO’s partner projects, LEM - The Learning Museum, has issued a Key Trends In Museums Of The Future survey. NEMO would be thankful if you participated in the survey and gave feedback and your view on the trends in the future in museums!
RESOURCES
Guardian Culture Professionals Blog - Museum development officers: put storytelling at the heart of your job
What do you get when you bring 40 or so Museum Development Officers (MDOs) together to share ideas? A lot of energy, that's for sure....
NEWS - WALES
Queen’s Birthday Honours
Congratulations to Michael Freeman, former curator of Ceredigion Museum Aberystwyth, on the award of an MBE for services to Heritage in Ceredigion and to museums in Wales.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_202127
Swansea University Egyptian Centre acquires relics
A collection of over 30 ancient Egyptian artefacts, some up to 3,000 years old, has gone on show in Swansea. Swansea University Egypt Centre has taken possession of the objects, which include scent bottles, figurines and amulets, on a 10-year loan. The collection has been loaned by Woking College, Surrey. The Egypt Centre's curator, Carolyn Graves-Brown, said it was extremely unusual for a museum of Egyptian antiquities to acquire new objects. The artefacts include two glass bottles from late in Egyptian history (c100BC - AD200), around the time of Cleopatra.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-18337395
Royal Welsh Regimental Museum appeal to improve display
A military museum hopes to put a number of rare and highly valued artefacts on display as part of plans to breathe new life into the building. The Grade II-listed Royal Welsh Regimental Museum in Brecon has pieces from the Anglo-Zulu War as well as 17 Victoria Crosses. It also has the Union flag raised over the battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879, which still bears the bullet holes. But the museum says it needs to raise £1m to make it happen.
Curator Bill Cainan said the flag from Rorke's Drift - which formed the basis of the classic 1960s film Zulu - was hanging in a corner of the museum. "The appeal is being launched to preserve and enhance our most precious of artefacts, together with many others that deservedly ought to be presented in a more appropriate manner.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-18331023
New BBC Cymru Wales arts series The Exhibitionists
What happens when a national museum opens its stores of treasures to members of the public and challenges them to curate their own art exhibition for the very first time? A new BBC Cymru Wales programme reveals exactly what as it collaborates with Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales in a ground-breaking TV series launched at the Hay Festival, Hay on Wye. Soon to be broadcast on BBC Two Wales, The Exhibitionists is a four-part series which follows five individuals with no formal art background as they are set a series of tasks. It is the first time a museum has allowed such extraordinary access to its important art collection for members of the public to handle, discuss, and put on show.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/walesarts/2012/06/new_arts_series_exhibitionist.html
Haverfordwest Tudor trader home opens at St Fagans museum
A trader's house from 16th Century Pembrokeshire has been rebuilt piece by piece at St Fagans: National History Museum near Cardiff. The Tudor building, which included a store for goods, was originally built against a steep wooded bank behind Quay Street in Haverfordwest. The group of young apprentices who dismantled the small house in the 1980s have reassembled it 30 years on. It was opened to the public following a ceremony on Monday.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-18664538
NEWS - SCOTLAND
Historic Lewis Chessmen returning to Western Isles
Six Lewis Chessmen are to be displayed long-term at a new museum on the Western Isles, where more than 90 of the historic pieces were found. An agreement has been reached between Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) and the British Museum. The British Museum will loan the six pieces to the new museum at Lews Castle, in Stornoway, from 2014. Figures from the Lewis Chessmen have only previously been displayed on the islands on a short-term basis.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-18429790
NEWS - NORTHERN IRELAND
1.5m historic artefacts 'not in museums'
Many artefacts are not available for public display in places such as museums. Nearly 1.5m archaeological objects uncovered by commercial companies in Northern Ireland have not been passed on to local museums, the BBC has learned. It means items such as pottery, metalwork, glass or human remains cannot be assessed for their historical value, or put on display. On Monday, assembly members will debate how the culture and environment departments should close gaps in the policy covering historic artefacts.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18664191
Elizabeth Bennett & Carol Whittaker
Current Awareness Service
Inclusion of third party information in the Museums Current Awareness Service does not constitute an endorsement by CyMAL. CyMAL takes no responsibility for the quality of third party events, products or services featured in this Newsletter. Whilst every care is taken to provide accurate information, neither CyMAL nor the editor undertakes any liability for any error or omission.
If you know anyone who would like to be added to the circulation list, or would like a ‘hard copy’ of the main mailing, or if you don’t have access to the internet and need prints from the sites listed - please contact Carol Whittaker. People who currently receive hard copies will continue to do so.
Welsh and English versions of the bulletin will remain separate in response to requests from readers.
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Elizabeth Bennett
CyMAL: Amgueddfeydd Archifau a Llyfrgelloedd Cymru - CyMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales
Llywodraeth Cymru - Welsh Government
Rhodfa Padarn,
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Ceredigion,
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