Interesting Museum Stuff

March 18, 2018

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Interesting Museum Stuff

We have put together what we think is a really interesting collection of reports, think pieces reviews and so on looking at museum experiences from around the world.

We hope that they will provide some useful ideas as our readers think about what they want to say to the Council – what kind of museum should Tauranga have, how should it work with its communities, which audiences matter most? Old people, young people, tourists, business people, tangata whenua?

For each of our selections, we give a brief overview of what it’s about and then the URL so you can go and have a look at it.

Tauranga research

The Council itself has done a lot of background research as part of considering the establishment of the museum. You can access its reports at: www.tauranga.govt.nz/our-future/projects/heart-of-the-city/cultural-facilities/museum-and-central-library-proposal/museum-strategy

Some great English case studies

This is a really fascinating piece of work put together by the UK Museums Association looking at the different ways in which museums have brought about really positive change in the communities they serve. Read this and you’ll never think about museums the same way again. You can get it at: www.museumsassociation.org/museums-change-lives

Future thinking from US museums

Each year the Director of America’s Centre for the Future of Museums puts out Trendswatch, an overview of some of the more innovative work taking place in the world’s museums. The 2017 edition looks among other things at what museums are doing to close the empathy deficit (a critical issue in social cohesion), the rise of the intelligent machine and reshaping the world, the impact of migration. It’s very much about the role of museums as major enablers in social innovation. See the latest issue of Trendswatch at: www.aam-us.org/resources/center-for-the-future-of-museums/projects-and-reports/trendswatch

Museums in Europe

Perhaps you would simply like to know where to find out information about museums to visit. Europe has thousands and the challenge is sorting out which ones and where you want to spend your time.

Museums.eu is the gateway to virtually every museum of any significance across the whole of Europe. As well as general museums, you will find museums dedicated to all sorts of specialties. You could visit Moscow’s museum of perfumes, or the decorated bread museum in Cyprus!

Most museum organisations internationally produce an annual report. Like most annual reports they generally look back over the year just gone, talk about what has been achieved and perhaps say a little bit about the future.

A report from 2040

A year or so ago the American Association of Museums decided it would do something different. As well as producing an annual report for the year just gone it decided it would produce an annual report for the year 2040. Why? The AAM thought this would be a great way of visioning what might happen with museums over the next quarter-century.

The report looks at a range of different activities and involvements which the Association could see starting to emerge and expects to be significant in the years ahead. Quite a range of things was covered including museums’ involvement in education but most importantly museums’ involvement in the health and welfare of their communities. This page ‘reports’ museums’ achievements in health and welfare.