Volunteers Running the Show:A Perspective from a ‘Participatory’ Museum

Jenny NewleyThornbury and District Museum

SW Fed Annual Conference 8 July 2015

Thornbury and District Museum

‘In my ten years in museums, I’ve not come across a volunteer-run museum with such high standards of collections management. They have a very cohesive and dedicated team there who are committed to maintaining standards in every aspect of the collections.’

~ Thornbury and District Museum Mentor.

Extracted from: Good Practice Case Study: Forward Planning at Thornbury and District Museum

by Alex Dawson (Collections Trust Programme Manager for Standards), published online by Collections Trust and Arts Council England, 9 Dec 2013

www.collectionstrust.org.uk/media/documents/c1/a922/f6/Thornbury_Museum_Case_Study-02.pdf

Also from the Collections

Trust case study…The museum…is an outward facing inclusive service, and deserves the description of a truly ‘participatory museum’

Thornbury

Thornbury and District Museum: collecting area

• Town of Thornbury and 14 surrounding parishes

• Next to River Severn in Lower Severn Vale

• In South Gloucestershire (not Gloucestershire)

• Traditionally farming, fishing, markets

• More recently, aerospace professionals

Thornbury and District Museum

• Founded 1986

• Registered Museum 2002

• Accredited through

MLA 2009 • Accredited through Arts

Council England 2013

Thornbury and District Museum

• Free entry• Volunteer-run• Independent• Trust (35-40 members), 10 trustees, management committee • Small grants from two local authorities• Supported by a Friends group • 70-80 volunteers • Run on a shoestring• Well-supported by MDO

We have attended SW Fed training on Volunteer Recruitment and Management

We have read guidance from ACE, the MA and AIM

We have had discussions with our MDO, our county Museums and Heritage Officer and our Museum Mentor

• … and we operate in a way that works for us…

Volunteers at Thornbury and District Museum

We have made use of the excellent Volunteer Framework for SW Museums (CD containing advice, information & many useful templates), customising it for our own use – Volunteer Agreements, Role Descriptions etc.

How do we ‘recruit’? very softly and gradually – ads rarely work

from small beginnings, especially for hardest to fill roles

with a light-hearted touch

by fitting the roles or tasks to the person

by encouraging people to develop existing areas of interest/expertise and gradually explore new ones

by being a community museum

How do we manage volunteers (when we too are volunteers)?

Volunteer agreements and informal inductions

Pairing/grouping with experienced volunteers

Regularly updated Manual – latest news and longer-term items (summaries of policies, emergency procedures, H & S issues)

Regular light-hearted newsletters

Frequent email contact (upcoming events, latest news)

By acting immediately on good suggestions from any volunteer

Channels for feeding ideas/problems back to management committee – all areas of work represented on the committee

By encouraging people to go on training courses

By organising social events (with which everyone helps)

Thornbury and District Museum: A Participatory Museum

Conversations Contributions

Interaction with local community

Co-Curation Collaborations

…near at hand…

Visitors asking questions

Visitors bringing in objects, documents and photographs

Visitors contributing information

People hearing their friends describe what they do for the museum

People attending museum-led community research group (monthly)

People attending museum-led community geology group (monthly)

People attending museum-led archaeology group (weekly in season)

Enquirers to ‘Thornbury Roots’, the museum’s sister website

Some of these people can be (and often are) gently reeled in …

… over time … and who knows how they’ll blossom…?

Conversations

Conversations

… can lead to unexpected contributions… …aerial shots of museum & surrounding area …taken with our camera by local construction manager

… far away…Conversations

…can lead to unexpected contributions too … and show that volunteers don’t have to be physically present in the museum

Tokyo

…and AHonolulu

Q…

Thornbury

Local people contribute items to museum exhibitions…

…or contribute other attractions, along with their time

Contributions

In turn, we contribute to other people’s endeavours:

with research

with volunteer time

in the museums sector, by sharing the fruits of our Accreditation experience

We give…. and in turn we receive…!

Contributions

With other voluntary-run organisations:

Thornbury Memory Café

Thornbury in Bloom

Thornbury Arts Festival

Severn Vale Art Trail

With local history societies

We look for ways to have a bigger impact than we could have acting alone.

Collaborations

• With other S.Glos. museums and heritage centres over joint exhibitions

Again, we look for ways to have a bigger impact than we could have acting alone.

Collaborations

With local Quakers, scouts, female dairy farmers, women’s groups, history societies, allotmenteers, a photographer of salmon fishermen….

We can supplement their research with our own

We can help to ‘shape’ their original work, if necessary

Where the material is already well shaped, we can help format it if necessary

We can supplement their research with museum objects, documents and photos

We can do whatever works…

We learn so much…

Co-Curation

We need to be realistic about our capabilities. We are a large group of volunteers but that in itself needs managing.

Although we are 70 -80 volunteers, the main burdens probably fall on 10-12 and administrative burdens on even fewer people.

We have to be prepared to say ‘No’ or ‘Not at present’. Sometimes, we can get involved in a new area of work only gradually.

We are in it for the long haul. We cannot afford to have people burn out.

So, we look for ways to use our precious time in meaningful ways…

…ways such as this…

BUT …

One specific collaboration…

…where the museum worked with The Castle School, a local secondary school, on what turned out to be a fascinating sculpture project. Here are the school’s own words:

“In February, Turnberries Community Centre contacted The Castle School to ask if we could produce a sculpture to be sited at the entrance to their building.

As the site used to be the old Thornbury Market we contacted Meg Wise at Thornbury & District Museum to find out more about the history.”

 

 

Photos of markets

Meg provided us with some amazing photographs …

“We contacted a local sculptor … After a farm visit to draw and photograph the animals…

A local brick company… 

 

 

 “Karen and the students then shaped, carved and moulded…

It took nine days of solid work to complete the larger than life sculpture.

  

“The intriguing process and technique which Karen has used with the students meant that the sculpture was then dismantled, brick by brick and taken back to Ibstock to be fired.

It will be recreated and installed at the entrance to Turnberries Community Centre with a grand ceremony in the autumn. A huge thanks goes to Karen Hilliard, Ibstock, Mr. W. Grey, Turnberries and Thornbury & District Museum, without whom this project could not have happened.”  

One specific collaboration…

And after that… A museum exhibition about the history of Thornbury

markets

The children’s preliminary artwork was featured

All concerned were invited to the launch

And when the sculpture was installed at the community centre, it was officially ‘opened’ by the Aardman animator of Shaun the Sheep

Relatively small input from the museum, big impact because of the scope of the collaboration…

Have good internal structures in place Make the most of external support structures,

especially MDO and excellent SW Museums Skills Training

Take a soft approach to recruitment … gently does it… have faith that people will grow into multiple roles, as they develop their strengths & discover new ones.

Be realistic about your capacity. Be prepared to say no.

But interactions with local community can reap big benefits.

Volunteers Running the Show: Conclusion

Thornbury & District Museum

www.thornburymuseum.org.uk