#wam19

[sophiecorrigan]

I'm honoured to have my daft pug on @safely_endangered's wall 👍👀🖤 Blimey! 😊 Thanks to all who came to say hi and appreciate my Christmassy elf ears at the @_openculture #WinterArtsMarket2019 yesterday! Need to sleep but up bright and early for another London trip tomorrow morning... 💚🎄 #WAM19 (at Liverpool Cathedral) https://www.instagram.com/p/B50djZXJvZ5/?igshid=1vmksbqepmp39

[stanford-and-co]

Finally all ths yearning & dreaming has paid off... got ourselves down early doors for @granbystreetmarket so we could get to @granbyworkshop open store & it did not disappoint... 2 x ceramic lampshades for our upstairs bedroom + beautiful tiles for maybe the mini hearth or our kitchen + a wee gift for a mate Also got to hangout with @wonder.land.craft & @lizharrydesign as a double double bonus before heading over to #WAM19 @_openculture #buylocal #shoplocal #socialenterprise #handmadeproject #smallbusinesssaturday (at Granby, Liverpool) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5yHicZHszm/?igshid=yiay3dfvlokr

[sophiecorrigan]

We're all set up at Liverpool Catherdal for the Winter Arts Market! 🎄💚 #WAM19 WinterArtsMarket19 https://www.instagram.com/p/B5xHhTdpy_6/?igshid=1ip4o7iaazp5

[sophiecorrigan]

🎄 I'll be at the Winter Arts Market in Liverpool Cathedral all day tomorrow selling my stuff in the most lovely festive setting, alongside a couple of special guests! 👀 (Not foxes though, sadly) 🦊 #WAM19 #WinterArtsMarket2019 (at Liverpool Cathedral) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5ueG8xJzpw/?igshid=3dlxuswi2kxc

[sophiecorrigan]

Things are getting festive (and crazy-scary-busy in my shop!) 🎄🐷 I'll be selling my wares at @_openculture #WinterArtsMarket next weekend on Saturday 7th December at Liverpool Cathedral! ❄ Let me know below if I'll see you there, and if so, if there's any prints you'd like me to bring just for you! 👀 #WAM19 (at Liverpool Cathedral) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5a7PSkJOj4/?igshid=35l1cl9qs4ji

[ah-network]

We Are Museums 2019 - Notes from a Non-Attendant

We Are Museums 2019 annual conference took place last weekend in Poland.  I was unable to attend but stalked the #wam19 twitter feed from the comfort of my sofa, which lets be honest, comes a close second to attending.  I’d always recommend to anyone conference stalking via social media - you can still participate and there’s still alot of takeaways.  My notes are below.

We are a movement of museums good for people and the planet, empowered by innovation.

We Are Museums 2019

Evaluate your resources. Are they sustainable? Kind? - to people and the planet?

Sustainability starts with internal change before looking outward.  Look after the wellbeing of employees and create your own sustainable community

Embrace activism, don’t reject or cower from it - it promotes positive change, encourages new ways of thinking and encourages engagement

Invite conversation and make it easy - offer opportunities for feedback - a post-it wall, thought provoking questions in the exhibition design. Keep it simple and be generous.

Listen and take it slow.  Nothing of great quality or impact happened by rushing.

Work towards glueing society together

Encourage empathy and don’t shy away from emotion. People aren’t robots.

Adopt a startup mentality - innovate and identify problems - what can be made better, different, more interesting, more fun? But also, back it up with evidence, not a whim.

Don’t stay in your own lane - Work outside the silo

Tell a story and tell it well - look at podcasts to help illustrate these stories, if you can’t create your own, signpost to others - they will make the museum human.

Explore museotherapy and make your museum a comfortable space. Connect to your audience and embrace lived experience - curate lived experience and show appreciation for it.

Act with intention - museums are not neutral spaces. And that’s ok.

”Story makes sense out of a confusing universe by showing us how one action leads to another. It teaches us how to live by discovering how our fellow human beings overcome the challenges in their lives. And it helps us discover the universals that bind us to everything around us.” Jack Hart - Storycraft

THINK ABOUT YOUR COMMUNITY

Do you represent your local community - in diversity? In ability? In socio-economic status? Are you inter-cultural? Don’t ask them to use an iPad, if they are struggling to make a living.

To better engage the community understand their language, values and talk to them as people, not ‘visitors’ or numbers/footfall - everyone likes a cuppa - have a roundtable, community engagement group, or community coffee morning.  Get to know one another to better work together.

Act as an enabler rather than a service - enable connections, communication, resources, space, time, and inspiration

Consult, consult, consult

Co-create - UNPOPULAR OPINION - curators are not always experts. Engage ‘young consultants’ and empower them.

“What would happen if museums put relationships at the heart of their operation?

What would happen if they treated visitors not as a passive receiver of predefined content, but as an active member of a constituent body, whom it facilitates, provokes, inspires and learns from.” 

The Constituent Museum