Museums and Political Debate, Or: Why I Need You To Take A Stance

Over recent months, living as an immigrant in Britain [1], I have gone through a process that leaves me feeling increasingly alienated from museums and heritage sites in this country. In still-used museum discourse terms, I'm probably becoming one of the ‘hard-to-reach’. I feel let down by British museums. You see, these days, I daily … Continue reading Museums and Political Debate, Or: Why I Need You To Take A Stance →

Awards for Interpretation: Are We Sending the Right Signal?

The Association for Heritage Interpretation (AHI) in the UK has recently announced the re-launch of their awards scheme for interpretation. AHI have yet to publish their rationale and criteria for the awards, so the following are my thoughts on their published information to date. The Ambition AHI want their awards to be a ‘prestigious badge … Continue reading Awards for Interpretation: Are We Sending the Right Signal? →

Qualified Teacher Status: A Requirement for Museum Educators?

In a piece on The Conversation UK earlier this month, Jacqueline Baxter of The Open University argues that all teachers should have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) [1]. Her piece reminded me of the fact that in many museums, QTS is the required qualification for museum educators – the people that deliver the programmes for schools. … Continue reading Qualified Teacher Status: A Requirement for Museum Educators? →

The Scottish Referendum and the Reactivation of Heritage

A few years ago, I read Marta Anico’s essay on representing identities at local municipal museums [1]. In it, she discusses the heritage activation process [2]. Over recent months, while Scotland was in the grip of the referendum campaign, the concept came back to me. Not quite as Anico described it [3] but rather as … Continue reading The Scottish Referendum and the Reactivation of Heritage →

The uses and limitations of target audiences and segmentation

Target audiences are meant to do two things: guide our practice as we become more visitor focused, and increase visitor numbers. I’ve come to believe that in both areas, target audiences actually do more harm than good – at least the way we’re currently using them. In general, audiences are segmented by the following: age, … Continue reading The uses and limitations of target audiences and segmentation →

Commemorating the First World War: A delicate balancing act

Last week the media and Twitter were full of news about the impending centenary of the start of the First World War - including images of exhibits and, yes, ‘reenactors’. When I saw what I believed to be ‘yet another WWI image’ I was just about to switch off mentally, when with a start I … Continue reading Commemorating the First World War: A delicate balancing act →

The moral obligation of interpretation

In Britain, we’re experiencing interesting social and political times at the moment [1], which raises the question again what role museums, heritage sites and by extension, interpretation should play in response to this [2] – if any. I’ve argued previously that it is a dangerous myth to think especially of museums as apolitical spaces – … Continue reading The moral obligation of interpretation →

Richard III Revisited, or: Is this the heritage industry?

Last week, three high court judges dismissed an application for judicial review and thus paved the way for Richard III’s remains to be buried at Leicester Cathedral. There are three key things that strike me about this whole process. The Authorized Heritage Discourse at work The basis for the applicant’s claim (that they are relatives … Continue reading Richard III Revisited, or: Is this the heritage industry? →