Thanks for all of your incredibly useful advice and pointers, both through the MCG list and private messages. I’ve taken this long to reply just because I’ve had to digest so much new information!

The consensus seems to be to work closely with interested people to figure out what they want to get out of whatever we do, but also to be clear exactly what we want to achieve as the museums.

I know from our survey that almost all participants are interested in giving back to the community and that money is not a motivation. What’s also missing in Reading is neutral ground where different maker, tech and creative groups/individuals can meet and collaborate – as well as having an excuse/project to meet for in the first place. One thing MERL will be particularly useful for is being a bridge between the town and the University, as the former regard the latter as a bit of a closed fortress. Drawing in our network of useful people in Architecture, Art, Geography, Agriculture, Archaeology etc. for future events is probably one of the most valuable things we can offer.

The museums can provide the excuse and free meeting places, but also a programme of workshops and events along the lines of what’s in the Creative Museum’s toolkits (some of which we’ve already done or are working on, which is heartening!). What we get out of it is a way of making more agile experiments using tech and ideas we don’t have enough experience in, but also fulfilling our local missions of widening access, engaging with younger audiences and fulfilling our digital strategy.

I’m the only person whose job justifies exploring this at the moment, but if I can influence our upcoming shared Youth Strategy then that would bring more staff time and money to it. There are also some local/Thames Valley groups who do similar things but just for tech communities (Connect TVT, Reading’s Geek Night, Grow at Green Park) who we’d ideally collaborate with rather than be at odds with. Considering we’ve already made friends with people in the local maker and artist communities, it’ll be easier to have frank discussions about how best the museums can fill gaps and position themselves.

Mike, you’ve hit the nail on the head when you talk about bridging between geeks and normals, as I think museums are ideal for this. What’s also really useful is the idea of the museum/s as ‘resource/facilitator/inspiration’, which is definitely the best way of putting it, Don, and I think I’ll have to email you about your experience with the Creative Museum!

It’s also interesting that you mention Pervasive Media Studio, Ben, as our senior management teams from Reading Borough Council and the University of Reading visited them with me a few months ago. Our management would like to see something similar in Reading, but I think my job is showing that getting there requires small but ambitious beginnings…

Our current Arts Council project ends at the end of April, after which our ACE NPO consortium funding begins. I’ll be making the case for this kind of work in the consortium to achieve the digital and youth strategy bits of the first year business plan. I’ll update you all when/if I’ve made any progress, and thanks again!

Cheers,

Adam Koszary | Project Manager, #digiRDG: Town and Country
The Museum of English Rural Life and Reading Museum

01183788660
@adamkoszary
@TheMERL
@readingmuseum

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