The uses of audience research

A few weeks ago, I attended a conference on ‘Understanding Museums’ in Germany. It was about researching museums and researching audiences, with a particular focus on new and innovative methods [1]. In the final plenary session, the organiser for the museum research aspect of the conference expressed his hope that the focus on researching audiences … Continue reading The uses of audience research →

Integration goes both ways: Current practice in Germany

I am really intrigued by how German cultural institutions, including museums, appear to be contributing to the efforts of integrating refugees into German civic society. This announcement of an upcoming exhibition about 14 projects in Berlin notes what seems to be a conscious shift away from narrowly focusing on refugees’ stories toward integrative projects that … Continue reading Integration goes both ways: Current practice in Germany →

The German MA’s Recommendations for Representing Migration

A couple of weeks ago, the German Museums Association (Deutscher Museumsbund) published recommendations for museums on how to include and represent migration and cultural diversity in their work. I was really impressed by two key concepts that frame the entire document: Migration is the Norm This is a fact that is evident when we burst … Continue reading The German MA’s Recommendations for Representing Migration →

Have museums already become irrelevant?

In her latest blog post ‘Following up on Ferguson’, Gretchen Jennings mentions that several museum people told her that they had been specifically forbidden from answering visitor questions or commenting on social media about Ferguson [1]. Having worked in local authority museums in the UK and knowing from my work here as a consultant the … Continue reading Have museums already become irrelevant? →

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 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 →

Are we inclusively excluding people from museums and heritage sites?

I’ve recently read English Heritage’s consultation on under-represented heritages [1] and it got me thinking, yet again, about target audiences. Here are some of the points that struck a chord with me: We don’t want [insert under-represented heritage here] sites In fact, one respondent called this idea ‘horrible’ (p. 10). In other words, they didn’t … Continue reading Are we inclusively excluding people from museums and heritage sites? →

Community Engagement at Museums and Heritage Sites

Last week we had to cancel a training day on community engagement because of low uptake [1]. The training co-ordinator suggested that community engagement may still not be seen to be important to the work of museums. He may be right, but I very much hope he isn’t. After all, there is, and has been … Continue reading Community Engagement at Museums and Heritage Sites →

Interpretation Needs More Self-Criticism

I know I keep writing about how we need more research and critical self-analysis in interpretation. But when I recently read Dr Bernadette Lynch’s report ‘Whose Cake is it Anyway?’ (2009) and Skibins, Powell and Stern’s 2012 ‘Exploring empirical support for interpretation's best practices’ I didn’t feel validated. I felt depressed. Lynch researched ‘the real … Continue reading Interpretation Needs More Self-Criticism →

Objects don’t equal objectivity, or: The pitfalls of object-driven interpretation

Last week I was back in Germany finishing up the visitor interviews at Museum und Park Kalkriese for my doctorate research. One interview in particular struck a note with me. A visitor was very upset about what they felt was a major lack of balanced representation. They felt that there was little to nothing about … Continue reading Objects don’t equal objectivity, or: The pitfalls of object-driven interpretation →