the national archives isobel hunter

Isobel Hunter19 March 2014

Stories of the World

Mainstreaming equality and diversity

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Stories of the World: what was it

• Major programme of the UK’s culture programme for Olympic Games “Cultural Olympiad”

• Nearly 70 museums involved, 130 exhibitions, 3 million exhibition audience, 5000 events

• Largest ever youth participation programme for museums. Involved 22,000 young people as “co-curators” to design major exhibitions

• Worked with world collections, explored UK’s links with the world

• Connected collections with communities, and reinterpretation process

Stories of the World: examplesLuton’s Pakistani truck

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Stories of the World: examplesPreston: contemporary fashion and 19th century

Indian textiles

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Stories of the World: examplesMuseum of London: My Londiunium 2012

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Stories of the World: examplesBrighton: new gallery of world stories

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Stories of the World: examplesColchester: loan exhibition from China

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Stories of the World: why?• UK bid for Olympics included an ambitious culture programme• Themes of 2012 Olympic Games:

o Welcoming the worldo Young peopleo “Like never before”

• The right moment!o Museums working well with families and schoolso But “missing” generation 14-24 year oldso World collections and Britain’s imperial past. Desire for

reinterpretation and richer understanding• We wanted to change museums forever

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Dressing London, Horniman Museum

Imagine if people of all backgrounds from every part of the UK could work as curators of the collections and objects held in our museums, libraries and archives. Imagine if they had the chance to come up with new ways of representing this material, then put on their own series of exhibitions.

imagine...

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Stories of the World: what did we do?• Began with youth consultation• Clear programme criteria for participation• Project Board: challenged the museums and set high ambitions • Core methodologies• Training• Conferences and celebrations• Youth steering group• Museums recruited their own young people including homeless,

young offenders, MA students, drama groups. Massive range!

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Stories of the World: how?

Two core methodologies:• Hear By Right, National Youth Agency

o Audit of policies and procedures across the museumo Self-improvement toolo Changes how young people participate and are involved in

decisions

• Revisiting Collectionso How to work with communities to explore collectionso How to capture their understanding in museum catalogueso Changes how knowledge is created and shared

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What did the evaluation say?YOUNG PEOPLE was a success“Stories of the World has led to a significant shift in the ambition and

quality of museum’s participatory work with young people”

“ … in many cases these changes are being embedded. There is a commitment to continued co-curation with young people and to widening this work out to other audiences, in some cases backed up by restructuring, rewriting of strategies and policies and continued facilitation of advisory panels of young people”

The programme had positive impacts on young people, museum practice and enthused and energised staff, institutions and collections

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The revolution is here! My favourite moments• Spontaneous dancing in a private

view at the Geffrye Museum

• “My home town is a dump. The only good thing in it is the museum and the Moorcroft pottery collection”

• Two girls came into Leeds museum on a Saturday to tell them they wanted to do a sponsored run in aid of the museum

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Success in 2012, but ….• Curators felt work with collections not totally successful. Too much

loaded into one programme?• Could not embed new knowledge in catalogues due to catalogue

access• Some change embedded, eg new posts, revised policies, youth panels

and youth programming• However, youth programmes now hard to find on websites – not as

prominent as in 2012• Financial squeeze and changes in Renaissance programme funding –

fewer staff and smaller resources• Strategic leadership from government and ACE – focus has changed• No shared target• Has the change really been embedded?

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LESSONS LEARNED• High profile + high risk = high priority• Keep things simple and have one set of objectives• A mass movement can help individual institutions• Change takes time• Collections have the power to excite in a digital age• All staff need to be involved• Money helps, as this work needs expert people• Leadership is essential to drive change and support ongoing work • Participation brings real benefits to the institution – not just to

the participants• You unlock one door, and find … more locked doors

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Isobel Hunterisobel.hunter@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk

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