This is the new community website for the University Museums Group (UMG).
Some news and events are posted privately. UMG members should log in here.
University of Brighton, Grand Parade, Brighton, UK
June 21 -22 2012
Heritage Impact 2012 is the sixth international symposium on socio-economic impact and strategies for change in cultural heritage to be organised by the CUBIST Research Group, part of the University of Brighton Business School. The symposium aims to bring together speakers from across Europe and further afield to consider the impact of heritage sites on society and the economy.
Heritage sites are facing an unprecedented threat. The long-term erosion of funding sources coupled with the current economic climate has the potential to change the heritage landscape. The concept of the ‘Big Society’ places an increasing reliance on the ‘community’ for funding, either through traditional fundraising or innovative crowd funding campaigns. But these threats are coupled with new avenues of engagement with the community. Communication through various social media channels, mobile applications and other digital means has the potential to enlarge the so-called community to become a potentially global audience. Increased access to digital heritage resources is one a number of mechanisms leading to the democratisation of heritage.
Heritage sites are coming under increasing pressure from funders to measure their benefit to society, to add value to their offerings and to increase self-sustainability. All this comes at a time when resources for assessing impact are under threat and the scope of impact becomes ever more diverse. And yet, as ever, there is little evidence for the impact of heritage on the community and society. Heritage Impact 2012 aims to bring all this information together coherently in one place.
The symposium will explore the processes that influence impact at heritage sites. Assessing the value of cultural heritage and determining its impact on society and the economy, is crucial for the future of the heritage sector. As the heritage community begins to understand the processes that influence impact, the sector will be in a better position to influence positive future outcomes. Furthermore, if the heritage community can provide evidence of why certain strategies are successful, this information can be put to direct use by heritage sites to exploit their assets most effectively and influence decisions at a policy level.
The organising committee invites both practitioners and academics to submit papers that explore the following complementary themes:
- Measuring impact
- Changing impacts through strategy, marketing and policy
- Heritage as a regeneration tool
- Sustainability issues for heritage
- Community heritage and the ‘Big Society’
- Community engagement in a digital world
Detailed information can be downloaded here:
Detailed information on call for papers
Great North Museum, University of Newcastle, 7th February 2012
We are now able to circulate details of the UMG Annual Conference to be held at the Great North Museum (GNM). GMN opened in 2009 following a £26 million redevelopment project incorporating collections from the Hancock Museum and Newcastle University’s Museum of Antiquities, the Shefton Museum and the Hatton Gallery (http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/greatnorthmuseum/about/).
We are delighted that the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement, who are lead experts in this field, have agreed to co-host this event with us. Full details of the programme are attached.
The event is aimed at any museum staff and academics who are interested in learning more about research impact and its evaluation, particularly in public contexts such as museums. The programme has bee designed to cater for people with all levels of experience of evaluation, from complete beginners to fairly expert. Please forward this information to any colleagues or networks who may be interested in this event.
1. Directions to the Great North Museum
http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/greatnorthmuseum/makingavisit/
2. Accommodation
For delegates wishing to stay overnight Accommodation at the 4 * Sandman Signature Hotel (http://www.sandmansignature.co.uk/find-hotels/newcastle/) is available on 6th February 2012 at the special discounted rate of £75 including breakfast. To book at this special rate please contact 0191 229 2600 and quote ‘UMG/NCCPE Event: Impact and Evaluation: Learning Together’.
3. Event Booking
To book please use the following link to an online booking system:
https://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/nccpe/impactandevaluation/
4. Case Study Taster Session
As part of the UMG joint conference with NCCPE we will be holding a case study taster session, which is an opportunity for delegates to present and share a project they have developed and/or worked on with a small number of people in a round table discussion (of around 6-8 people). We would like to invite applications, particularly from UMG and UMIS members and from academics with relevant experience of working with museums, interested in presenting a short informal case study of evaluation in practice.
Expression of interest to participate Case Study umg-nccpe event
Contact Kate Arnold-Forster ( k.arnold-forster@reading.ac.uk ) or Lisa Adlington of NCCPE (Lisa.Adlington@uwe.ac.uk)
The UMG AGM and annual conference will take place on 7th February 2012 at the Great North Museum in Newcastle. We are delighted that the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement, who are lead experts in this field, have agreed to co-host this event with us.
Case Study Taster Session
As part of the UMG joint conference with NCCPE we will be holding a case study taster session, which is an opportunity for delegates to present and share a project they have developed and/or worked on with a small number of people in a round table discussion (of around 6-8 people). We would like to invite applications, particularly from UMG and UMIS members, interested in presenting a short informal case study of evaluation in practice.
For more information, please download this Expression of Interest document.
Expression of interest – Case Study UMG-NCCPE event
The UMG AGM and annual conference will take place on 7th February 2012 at the Great North Museum, Newcastle. Please note the change of date.
This year’s theme will be evaluation, particularly in relation to impact. As an increasingly relevant and important issue for university museums, this will be an opportunity to develop knowledge and understanding of how to approach evaluation in our own institutions and in the wider HE sector, as well as to share good practice. We are delighted that the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement, who are lead experts in this field, have agreed to co-host this event with us.
Further details will be made available during autumn 2011.
27 and 28 October 2011
The Kelvin Gallery, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow
This year’s University Museums in Scotland (UMIS) conference aims to explore the current and potentially changing relationship between universities and museum and gallery services; and to clarify emerging challenges and future strategic directions. In addition to a focus on the dynamic situation of university museums in Scotland, the programme will also draw on the current experience of colleagues from counterpart institutions elsewhere.
Scottish university museum and gallery services need to remain core business to their parent organisation and main funding source. In the brave new world of REF (Research Excellence Framework), university objectives are beginning to shift from what were once diverse agendas towards a greater focus on research excellence and the impact of public engagement activities. University museum and gallery services may need to align themselves with this changing strategy and demonstrate their impact more explicitly in terms of research and teaching engagement, through enhancing the student learning experience and by creating a distinctive cultural strand to the university’s global identity. However, whilst our institutions are expected to be dynamic and innovative in their programmes, they are also being asked to make deep cuts in their infrastructure. How do they balance this contradiction and continue to develop their role as a core university service?
For more information on the programme and bokoing instructions go to http://www.umis.ac.uk/conference2011/new_rules.htm
Dear all
I am posting to seek advice/guidance on the handling of controversial materials in university museums.
Within the Theatre Collection, the Live Art Archives contain a certain amount of ‘controversial’ material, such as footage of performances which may include nudity and self-harm (I use this term loosely as the artists do not view it as this in the context of their work).
We are currently working on a project to make the video material from the National Review of Live Art archive which is part of the Live Art Archives available online – permissions allowing. As a result we are refining and developing our access policy so that we are quite clear what material we are allowed to put online under UK legislation, but also within the University regulations and other guidelines which we should adhere to.
For the material which we do make available online from the National Review, ‘controversial performances’ or not, we intend to have an over 18 log in (we abide by this age restriction/accompanying etc with visitors in person), however, because of the strong feelings surrounding censorship of this type of art, we are having to tread very carefully to ensure that we maximise the research potential of the online resource, deliver the best outcomes of the project to the funders (AHRC) and also maintain our good relationships with the artists involved, in addition to upholding the reputation of the University of Bristol. Therefore – I’m currently trying to gather as much information as possible around the law and other institutions’ policies and experiences in similar situations.
Any advice you can offer would be very much appreciated. As you can imagine, it’s a bit of a minefield ….. I get the impression that although other institutions are also beginning to tackle this issue no one has actually solved it yet, but I may be wrong – please let me know!
Please email me at bex.carrington@bristol.ac.uk (obviously posting to the list too if you wish).
I have already trawled through other guidance such as our own uni ethics policy, BBC/iplayer, Youtube, BBFC, plus the MA, MLA and CILIP, plus all the jolly interesting reading (!) around the Obscene Publications Act, Video Recordings Act etc.
Many thanks
Best wishes
Bex
Speaking at a gathering of senior figures in politics, higher education and museums in Westminster this week, Ivan Lewis, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, drew attention to the nationally important collections held by musuems in the UK’s universities and highlighted the international importance of institutions such as the Ashmolean, the Fitzwilliam, the Courtauld, the Sainsbury Centre and the Manchester Museum, all of which are part of universities.
Ivan Lewis giving his speech
Mr Lewis noted that the significant role played by university museums and galleries in the cultural life of the nation was insufficiently recognised, and that core funding through universities and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) had transformed their performance in recent years.
‘Although they comprise only 2% of museums in the country, university museums look after over 30% of collections designated as nationally or internationally important’, he said. ‘Over the last five years, university museums have increased public visits by 95%, schools visits by 57% and their use by further and higher education by 186%. This is a fantastic achievement that deserves to be better known’.
At a time of funding cuts, university museums are a beacon of success.
While in the past, universities sometimes felt their historic collections to be burdens, they are now seeing them as major assets in the competition to attract students, and as gateways to engaging with their local communities.
Some, such as the Ashmolean at Oxford University, have undergone major capital redevelopments, opening them up to much larger audiences, while others, such as UCL’s Petrie Museum, have developed a reputation for innovative work engaging hard-to-reach audiences.
Also speaking at the event, Dr Kate Pretty, Chair of the Joint Museums Committee at the University of Cambridge, said “in some areas, like mine, the university museums are almost the only museums in the region. Across the UK, the provision of free exhibitions in university museums enhances public knowledge, appreciation and enjoyment – the museums are accessible in all senses of the word – and it is clear that we would do more with enhanced funding for outreach and informal education”.
Mr David Sweeney, Director of Research at HEFCE, said “we are proud to have provided core funding over the last twenty years for the country’s most important university museums and are delighted at their increased determination to reach beyond their own university base to researchers, students and the public more generally. Higher Education nationally and internationally is enormously enriched by their contribution.”
The event, held on 4th May, was organised by the University Museums Group to draw attention to the key role played by university museums and galleries within higher education and the wider community and to highlight the importance of the £10.45million in core funding currently provided by HEFCE to support these museums. The briefing document provided to all those who attended can be downloaded here.
Briefing on University Museums and Galleries May 2011
For further information contact Dr Nick Merriman, Chair of the University Museums Group, Director, the Manchester Museum (0161 275 2649; nick.merriman@manchester.ac.uk)
A series of four discursive events co-organised by the UCL Mellon Programme and UCL Centre for Museums, Heritage and Material Culture Studies
Wednesdays 6pm, May 4, 11, 18, 25, 2011 University College London
From being perceived as a collective resting place for mute objects and a silent, ocular-centric space to showcase them, the museum is increasingly called upon to account for the voices in its midst. Objects are now widely understood to tell stories, speaking in different ways to different constituencies. In turn, the voices of visitors, source communities, curators, collectors and makers – whether in the form of reminiscence, testimony, storytelling, myth or song – play an increasingly prominent role in determining the museum’s approach to knowledge production and dissemination.
This series of oral interventions – by architects, artists, curators, historians, musicians, theorists, and writers – aims to understand how the voices emanating from objects and subjects in the museum impact the institution’s traditional remit of researching, collecting and displaying objects. How do these voices condition the visitor’s affective and sensory experience? How do the narratives told by the museum through objects change over time? Which voices have been suppressed, and why? What can museums do to preserve the immaterial traces of the voice? And what new technologies and outreach strategies will be required to listen to and broadcast voices both in and outside of the museum?
Speakers include: Sarah Byrne (UCL Mellon Programme)
Debbie Challis (UCL Museums and Collections)
Emma Poulter (British Museum)
David Toop (London College of Communication)
Colin Fournier (UCL Bartlett School of Architecture)
Marysia Lewandowska (Konstfack, Sweden)
Sarah Lowry (Foundling Museum, London)
Steve Cross (UCL Public Engagement Unit)
Toby Butler (University of East London)
Paul Elliman (Yale School of Art)
Seph Rodney (The London Consortium)
Imogen Stidworthy (Jan van Eyck Academy, Maastricht)
Jack Maynard (Tate)
Linda Sandino (V&A and UAL)
Susan Hawkins (Kingston University London)
Hillary Young (Museum of London)
For more information visit: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/mellon-program/events/voices
Or contact Sarah Byrne: s.byrne@ucl.ac.uk; Anthony Hudek: a.hudek@ucl.ac.uk
On 10 December 2010, the University Museums Group organised a seminar ‘Life Without Air Conditioning?’ at the University of Cambridge, which involved over 100 museum and gallery professionals, including senior figures in conservation and collections care in national museums and galleries, university museums and galleries, universities and consultants. The seminar was aimed at reviewing the current evidence provided by conservation science on the appropriate standards for the exhibition, loan and storage of museum and gallery objects. This is because in order to achieve current standards, it is necessary to specify the installation of air conditioning in all galleries which receive loans, which is undesirable at a time when we are more concerned about energy costs and the environment.
The papers and discussions at the seminar reviewed research over the last 15 years and recent discussions through the Bizot group and others (to download presentations see ‘Case Studies’). At the conclusion the attached declaration was made and approved by all participants (save one abstention). UMG seminar declaration Dec 2010
Participants agreed that the declaration should be circulated for comment and that other organisations should be invited to adopt it and implement it if they see fit.
Please email any comments to Nick Merriman, Chair of the University Museums Group, at nick.merriman@manchester.ac.uk by 1 February 2011.
“Lessons in Learning” is a free to download publication by UCL Museums & Collections relating to outreach in primary schools. It covers themes including Higher Education, Science and methods for success in engagement and aspiration raising.
This publication is the result of an evaluation study – carried out by Culture:Unlimited -into the Primary schools outreach programme offered by UCL Museums & Collections. It will be of interest to universities, museums and other institutions that engage in outreach programmes with schools. It can be found here: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/learning/he
It is a good practice guide for working with primary school children particularly in science, including the strategic background to such projects. The key to outreach that is effective and engaging is discovery-based learning, developed from an exploratory model. Concepts of Higher Education (HE) are poorly understood among Primary-aged children but it is both possible and appropriate for universities or museums to introduce such concepts at this level through hands-on interactive workshops in schools.
If you have any questions please do get in touch with Celine West
Head of Learning and Access, UCL Museums & Collections. tel 020 7679 2151 (core hours Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 9.30-3.00)
