Centre for Museology Seminar – Piotr Bienkowski, ‘Developing a radical vision for the North West’s museums’ 21/2/11

Nothing will ever be the same, according to Piort Bienkowski. The museum sector as we know it is gone, for good. The only way to move forward is to radically change how we think about museum funding, museum services, and perhaps, even the definition of the museum itself.

As chairman of the North West Fed, Piotr Bienkowski has been at the heart of an effort to create a strategic ‘visioning document’ to guide North West museums through tough times. Since 2009, the North West Fed has worked with the MLA, Renaissance North West, National Museums Liverpool and a wide range of other bodies to execute a herculean consulting process aimed to create their new vision.  With the disappearance of MLA and Renaissance looming on the horizon, the NW Fed is hoping to take a leadership role in the North West, and the creation of their interactive manifesto is certainly a strong step in the right direction.

The basic rationale behind the ‘vision’ as it is called, was to identify the top priorities of funders and local councils and see how museums could become essential in achieving those goals. For Bienkowski, the museums of the past have been lazy, relying on generous funding without pushing themselves to achieve the next generation of best-practice. The NW Fed’s suggestions are not for the faint-hearted. Developed along 5 key priorities, the document emphasises the creation of meaningful partnerships in unexpected places (ask not what you can do for the museum, but what the museum can do for you). Furthermore, Bienkowski is passionate about the need for museums to contribute to the creation of a skilled workforce, encourage community well-being (both physical and mental), and contribute to a sense of place. As a final priority, museums must undergo a radical change in their business models based on staff re-structuring, collection transferring, and even scenario-planning which anticipates museum closure and provides ‘living wills’ for key objects.

To me, this overall sounds pretty good. I think in recent years most museums have acknowledged the need for community engagement, creating a local identity, and the ability for museums to have positive impacts on mental health. But for the NW Fed, this vision goes so much farther. It rejects the notion that collections are primary and that stewardship for the future is the essential goal of the museum. Collections, for Bienkowski, should be used for the benefit of the community, and projects that don’t deliver this will never be funded. Gone are the days of traditional exhibition planning, because without meeting these standards demanded by local government, the museum as we know it will be obsolete. Also the ‘building centric’ focus of museums needs to go, adapting to digital technology and opening the doors for distributed museums. Many buildings won’t survive this transition, many jobs will be lost, but what will rise are museums who know better how to make and save money, how to build strong networks, and know how to use the value of their brand.

Branding? Loss of collections? Forget stewardship? I’m just a museums studies student and even the thought makes me cringe.  We all know that we are in a new wave of museum practice, but surely questioning the value of preserving collections for future generations is not the way forward. Some collections will never really be that relevant. Not too many people feel a deep personal connection with Bronze Age axes. But does that mean they should be de-accessioned? No one likes to think of the museum as an authoritative and encyclopedic history of the world, but a museum that doesn’t provide some scope of history is what? A community centre with a handling collection.

I don’t want to be a museum professional who ‘sticks their head in the ground’ and ignores the profound changes that the sector is facing, but are we not meant to be making wise choices for future generations? Bienkowski would no doubt rebuttal with the question, how will you afford to keep these collections housed when you can’t meet the funding requirements? The vision hopes to shift museums from being about something, to being for someone. But should that someone be a local council checklist? Pandering to funders, especially corporate ones, has always been an ethical taboo in the museum community, and now it seems to be what we are facing.

There is no doubting that much of NW Fed’s ‘vision’ is indeed visionary: long-term partnerships replacing short-term community projects; a volunteering programme that provides skills accreditation to a work force in need; and a real commitment to using museums for social justice. But must we lose our collections focus to achieve these goals? The visioning document might be a push in the right direction, but I struggle to believe that we will make such a radical departure from the core of ‘traditional’ museum ethos.

But perhaps I am just one voice of a dying generation, and NW Fed’s vision truly is the way forward. Only time will tell.

Decide for yourself by exploring the interactive vision document at http://www.nwfed.org.uk/thinkpieces/rethinking-the-museum

Can the museum be an engine for social change?

The museum is an institution that critics love to hate. Repressing minority histories, excluding counter-hegemonic discourse, and dictating public culture from the perspective of the elite are all charges that the museum has been guilty of at one point or another. But Victoria Dickenson, the Chief Knowledge Officer of the soon to be opened Canadian Museum for Human Rights, sees a bright future ahead, one where the museum can morph from a cold Ivory Tower to a space where people can collaborate to change social discourse.

In her seminar, “Re-forming the museum, or can you put new wine in old bottles” given at the ICP on October 4, Dr. Dickenson presented her persuasive argument that the old form of the museum can be adapted to play a useful (even positive) role in contemporary society. She is certainly an authority in this field. Her work with First Nations and aboriginal communities in her native Canada demonstrate her commitment to dialogue at a grass roots level which will make the Museum for Human Rights unparalleled: a collection based on oral histories and personal reflections rather than objects.

Out of the many examples from her career, one story I found particularly fascinating concerned her work on the exhibition ‘Souvenirs d’Ici’ (Souvenirs of Here) at the McCord Museum in Montreal in 2007. The exhibit focused on the experience of the local Chinese community who have been Montrealers for generations through photography. Comments from the exhibit made clear that many Canadians did not view their neighbors of Chinese ancestry as ‘real’ Montrealers, even though they may be 4th generation. By giving voice a population not as outcasts but as an integral part of Montreal history, a marginalized community was brought into public history. Far from a staid institution, the museum became a place for redemption and dialogue.

For Dr. Dickenson, the ‘new wine’ she hopes to fill the proverbial old bottle with takes innovative forms: the telling of stories, as we just mentioned, but also, the elegantly simple concept of happiness. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the museum became a place where we could encourage societal happiness through learning and understanding? In a world where productivity is king and general well-being is usually ignored, I think the ability of the museum to make us happy has been completely overlooked. Economists are now moving to measure a country’s wealth not by Gross National Product but by Gross National Happiness. Museums were founded to be spaces where anyone could come to be both entertained and enriched by the world’s treasures. Combined with a notion of restorative justice though dialogue, I think Victoria Dickenson has come across something profound. I can only hope her particular brand of wine will catch on in the museum community.

For more information about the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, please visit: http://humanrightsmuseum.ca/