Tschüss Deutschland, Sutmae Cymru

I’ve been wanting to write this post for a while now, only the wonderful news it contains have also made my life incredibly busy these past two months. So first things first: I am exceptionally happy and proud to have been appointed Head of Museum at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, Wales. I start on 1 February and I am buzzing.

Amgueddfa Cymru’s Strategy 2030 resonates with everything I have been passionate about [1]. The National Waterfront Museum offers many exciting opportunities, being both a national museum and one that is deeply rooted in the local community of Swansea who are a partner in it. Most importantly, I get to work with an amazingly creative, committed and professional team that deeply care about the museum and the stories of Wales it tells. I cannot wait to shape the future of the museum together with them all.

Everyone has a right
to feel they belong,
to make sense of their past,
and to see a path to a better future.
As we embrace the challenges of our age,
we can be a place of hope
for people everywhere.
By sharing creativity and curiosity,
on new journeys
of discovery, debate and joy,
we all become part of Wales’ story.

Amgueddfa Cymru Strategy 2030, p. 5

Looking back
But this is also a time of goodbye and reflection. Five years ago, I made the conscious decision to leave the museum sector. It pained me deeply, but my values of participation and visitor-focus simply were not shared widely in the German museum sector.

The intervening years at the Volkshochschule Aalen have been incredibly rewarding. I have had the absolute honour to work with a great team. Together, we’ve done projects that were innovative, daring, sometimes even ahead of their times. I’m thinking TikTok, Third Space, Education for Sustainable Development (including as part of basic literacy programmes in a diverse neighbourhood of our town). We never stopped reaching for new opportunities: just before Christmas, we got confirmation that our application to build a certification programme for Mentors for Parents with Migrant Roots has been approved.

I have learnt and grown a lot by working in adult education within the tradition of the German Volkshochschulen. Just as many of my museum skills were directly applicable to my role as director of a Volkshochschule, much of what we did in Aalen is also directly relevant to my coming role at the Waterfront Museum. I take that with me with pride and also with the deepest gratitude.

From home to home
I am sorry to leave Aalen, this small town on the Swabian Alps where I felt immediately, instinctively at home. On this blog, I have often wondered aloud what home means in an age of ever increasing migrations. After coming to Aalen, my thinking on this moved toward a progression perhaps from home to heritage to Heimat.

The Swabian Alps are undeniably my Heimat. I needed this time here, to better understand where I’m from and who I am. I will miss this place, its landscape and its people. I am a part of them. They are a part of me.

But now it’s time to go back. Back to my chosen home, and back into museums and heritage [2]. I’ve never lost my connection to the UK and the museum sector there. My journey toward the National Waterfront Museum so far has been just as positive and reaffirming as my journey to Aalen had been. Swansea felt just as familiar. Coming back to Wales felt just as natural.

Now I simply cannot wait to arrive [3]. 

Notes

[1] Incidentally, it also reminds me of the vision and mission statements the team and I have developed at the Volkshochschule Aalen. And that means a lot to me.

[2] Another time I am sure I will blog more about returning to the UK well and truly as an ‘immigrant’.

[3] This is one expression from German I will take with me: “Ich bin angekommen.” It means more than just getting to a place, it means settling into your life there, becoming and feeling part of it.