Arts Council England Q1 Report (April - June 2016)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Royal Pavilion & Museums MPM Programme 2016-17 Arts Council England Q1 Report (April - June 2016) The following is a summary update of activity against outcomes, for the MPM Programme for the period April – June 2016 The report is laid out as per the Arts Council England 5 goals and includes data where appropriate For further information please contact: Florence Edwards Administrative Support Officer 4-5 Pavilion Buildings Brighton BN1 1EE 01273 292562 [email protected] http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/ Goal 1 Excellence Excellence is thriving and celebrated in the arts, museums and libraries Our projects under Goal 1 have two specific aims: - bringing arts and heritage together to engage and inspire new and more diverse audiences; and improving public access to RPM’s outstanding and Designated collections Agreed Outcomes: RPM’s collections are more accessible and relevant to audiences Audiences have greater depth of engagement with collections, they are inspired by them and have a stronger sense of shared ownership of the stories they tell Creative partnerships strengthen RPM’s work Audiences are increased and more diverse 1 Themed Programming Fashion Cities Africa The first major UK exhibition dedicated to contemporary African fashion opened at BMAG on 30 April 2016. It explores the global influence and diversity of African fashion in 4 cities; Casablanca, Johannesburg, Nairobi and Lagos, from couture to street style. The exhibition has been developed in consultation with African fashion specialists Hannah Azieb Pool and Helen Jennings and in collaboration with designers, photographers, and bloggers from each of the cities. Visitor quotes: ‘It was really great, informative and interactive!’ ‘We had so much fun at the exhibition that we have decided to come up with 10 reasons as to why this is a must attend and why this major UK event needs our support.’ – Island Chronicles, Instagram ‘Glad to have this cool exhibition in my city! If you’re ever in Brighton go check it out, it will make your day!’ ‘A worthy start to many long awaited conversations regarding Africa and all its art forms.’ ‘So many gorgeous things at Fashion Cities Africa’ ‘Incredible fashion at Fashion Cities Africa. Can I have it all please!!! The pale pink dress was a beautiful print with hand embroidered bugs in it. I always love that play of pretty with unexpected.’ For images of the exhibition and associated events see https://www.instagram.com/brighton_museums/ and also at http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/brighton/what-to-see/fashion-cities-africa/ Total admissions to exhibition in first 6 weeks: 7,747 Exhibition content and collaborators in numbers: o Number of loans – 61 o Number of lenders – 31 o Working in collaboration with: . 10 collaborators from Casablanca . 5 collaborators from Johannesburg . 5 collaborators from Nairobi . 14 collaborators from Lagos 2 Fashion Cities Africa: Brighton Stories A display of striking life-size portrait images revealing the unique fashion identities created by members of Brighton & Hove’s African diaspora communities is on display at Brighton Museum. 21 participants feature in the accompanying Look Book and 8 participants feature in the final display. The project has been developed in collaboration with photographers Judith Ricketts and Paul Jackson, and community leader Sarah Lee. Fashion Cities Africa and social media As part of Workforce Development, a front line member of staff has been responsible for developing and producing content for a museum Instagram account and Tumblr blog accompanying Fashion Cities Africa. The Instagram account has gone from 0 to 526 followers in 9 months and had 160 posts dedicated to the development and research; behind the scenes; and opening of the exhibition. (@brighton_museums) Responses to some of the posts include: ‘Your posts are tantalising. Do we get to see these things you snap?’ (@illustriousbrighton) ‘Lets’ go!’ (@veabrantuo) ‘Can’t wait to visit the exhibition! So excited!’ (@sarahmary.gee) ‘Girls weekend in Brighton on the cards methinks!’ (@Olivermoonphoto) ‘Look at those textiles!’ (@mixedcompanygame) ‘This is super cool, would love to see more’ (@Slicklordofficial) The Tumblr blog features more in-depth interviews with exhibition contributors and curators and behind the scenes insight into the research and development of the exhibition, written by our Workforce Development participant: http://fashion-africa-brightonmuseums.org.uk/. As part of Culture 24’s Let’s Get Real Young Audience project, we have also developed the Digital Ambassador scheme, whereby 10 young volunteers from Brighton Fashion Week and the Museum Collective with their own active social media accounts, were given Instagram training and behind the scenes access to the curators and exhibition installation and invites to the press launch and private view. They then posted individually on their own Twitter/Instagram and Blogs about the exhibition. One of these blogs (by Victoria Rodrigues) can be read here: http://victorydoll.blogspot.co.uk/ Quotes from some of the posts: @mollyraymer ‘Very excited to see the Fashion Cities Africa exhibition starting to take shape. So many amazing prints and patterns going on display.’ @vikkirodiguesod ‘Utterly in love with Yinka Ilori’s work and this whole set up #fashioncitiesafrica’ @emmanorth_ ‘fashion palz at FCA launch’ 3 @k_patten ‘Mannequin jungle #fashioncitiesafrica #preparation’ Outputs and performance measures: Interim and full statistical survey information to follow once statistically meaningful data has been collected and reviewed: % visitors coming to BMAG from BME communities (target of 26% via Digivey): 23% based on initial digivey survey (30 April – 12 May 2016, based on only 148 respondents) - full results to be drawn from final survey at end of exhibition. % resident visitors coming to BMAG from BME communities (target of 5% increase, via Digivey): insufficient data at this stage. % visitors coming to BMAG with an interest in fashion (target of 20 %, via Digivey, for Fashion Cities Africa): insufficient data at this stage. Museum Lab Collections Documentation - Number of CMS records created: 1,784 against a target of 1,000 There were some staff changes at end of last financial year, with some supporting posts namely Curator (Collections Management) changing due to end of contracts, and maternity leave. This has had an impact on Keeper (MuseumLab) post who has resumed responsibilities for collections management. Q1 has been spent refocusing work around backlog documentation, training and guiding curatorial colleagues on best practice and ways to increase capacity with volunteers to enter focus on entering Accession Register information onto CMS. Collections Documentation - Number of CMS records improved: 20,115 against a target of 10,000 Collections Assistants have continued to make inroads into the backlog documentation targets required for Accreditation, and their work moved into supporting the development of the Museum Lab events. The target figures show we continue to demonstrate progress against collections documentation resulting in improvement to records and creation of new records. Collections Care - Number of objects assessed and repacked: 1,289 against a target of 1,750 Collections care figures are being achieved with considered focus on Natural Sciences and Archaeology. As seen in the figures there has been a slight dip in achievement, mainly due to the staff who were focusing on re-storage being diverted to on research and develop a display and event. No of tailored and/or public programmes/events: 23 against a target of 4 The Museum Lab space is now starting to function, with some regularity, hosting researchers, staff and community groups to engage with and work on the collections. For the public the space is open on an events basis only, with planning in Q1 leading to greater public opening every Wednesday in Q2. Within Q1 MuseumLab was open to the public for 3 Discovery Days. These Discovery days are currently being piloted and pitched at different audiences but in general they are designed to be accessible family friendly, intergenerational opportunities for visitors to meet museum staff 4 and engage in close contact with collections. They are mostly held in school holidays. We are looking at scheduling and will test out Saturdays in Q3, and regularity of 1 per month, led by curatorial staff with input from volunteers and other partnerships. The Easter Discovery Day event focused around the natural sciences collection titled Dinosaurs & Dragons and complemented the Heritage learning project. The second in June ½ term focused on African textiles to complement the Fashion Cities Africa Exhibition. The third day was slightly different with a different audience focus, and an opportunity for locals and descendants of local soldiers to commemorating the centenary of the loss of Sussex men at the WW1 Battle of Boars head on 30th June 2016. The Boars head Discover Day linked directly to the 1st temporary MuseumLab display in the MuseumLab foyer. The display was the realisation of research undertaken by Amanda Scales, VSO as part of a workforce development opportunity working with curator Andy Maxted. 130 people attended the event, including visits from the Mayor, a number of Brighton councillors, the British legion and representatives of all of the families of the four Boar’s Head soldiers whose stories we told. Several other public events were held in the space during Q1 including; activities for Children’s Art Week, the now regular partnership open day on last Friday of month with Brighton & Hove Archaeological Society, and a Volks Open day- where members of the public were consulted and invited to view the plans for the Volks Railway HLF development. The MuseumLab also hosted several invited/ticketed events; including Members talk, Jaws & Claws (live animals) and a Fashion Cities Africa discussion. The space has also been used to support exhibition development for Fashion Cities Africa and for processing recent Egyptology loans to Two Temple Place, London, and for progressing partnership opportunities with University of Brighton around 3D scanning of museum objects.