Our major projects for 2016-17
2016-17 is a big year for the Museum of Croydon. Throughout 2016, we will develop and submit our application for Accreditation for archives, with a decision expected from The National Archives in spring 2017. This process will guide and influence many of the projects we deliver and are able to support over the year and a successful outcome is key to achieving our vision and aims (see page 2) and improving people’s lives through innovative and enterprising use of available resources.
In addition to this major project, we will:
Grow a thriving and lively cultural offer by delivering our exhibition programme at Croydon Clocktower, including ‘Blasts from the past’ and ‘Your paintings our favourites’
Enable people of all ages to reach their potential by offering a year round programme of cultural events for schools, families and older adults
Enable more local people to access a wider range of jobs by providing work experience, trainee and apprenticeship opportunities
Help people from all communities to live longer, healthier lives through positive lifestyle choices by supporting Club Soda to deliver its arts participation programme, run for and by people with learning disabilities at venues around the borough and region
Create a place that communities are proud of and want to look after by providing 10,000 hours of volunteering opportunities and supporting local community groups to actively develop and promote culture and heritage in Croydon, including supporting the re-development of the Fairfield Halls, Croydon Art Society exhibitions, Croydon Heritage Festival, Open House London and the First World War Centenary commemorations
Develop digital services that meet the needs of local people by adding 400 more collections to our online catalogue at www.museumofcroydoncollections.com
Be open and transparent and put communities at the heart of decision making by developing new ways to access and engage with our collections, including the photographic, art and oral history collections.
Who we are and what we do
The Museum of Croydon exists to collect, conserve and interpret Croydon's cultural heritage, so that everyone can take part in creative and enjoyable learning experiences.
The Museum of Croydon is based at Croydon Clocktower. We are governed and funded by Croydon Council and work to support the ‘Ambitious for Croydon’ outcomes.
In particular we contribute to:
• Growing a thriving and lively cultural offer which engages communities and supports regeneration • Enabling people of all ages to reach their potential through access to quality schools and learning • Enabling more local people to access a wider range of jobs • Helping people from all communities to live longer, healthier lives through positive lifestyle choices • Creating a place that communities are proud of and want to look after • Digital services that meet the needs of local people • Being open and transparent and putting communities at the heart of decision making.
Our vision
By 2020, the Museum of Croydon is valued at local and regional level as a key cultural asset which delivers community, stakeholder and partnership outcomes.
It is widely recognised as an excellent and innovative organisation, particularly in the areas of contemporary collecting, community engagement and workforce development.
Our aims
• Develop our collections and services to ensure they represent the diversity of Croydon past and present • Strengthen our community engagement and stakeholder and partnership support • Diversify, develop and support our audiences and workforce
Our services
We programme 3 main galleries at Croydon Clocktower as well as supporting access to, and engagement with, our collections through the Research Room, our events and outreach projects and digital channels:
The Museum of Croydon Gallery reveals the history of Croydon from 1800 to Now, through the objects and stories of local people
The Riesco Gallery displays over 200 items from Raymond Riesco’s personal collection of Chinese ceramics, alongside more than 60 objects from our Roman and Anglo-Saxon collections
The Exhibition Gallery was re-opened in 2013 to increase access and engagement with the Croydon Art Collection. It features changing exhibitions focusing on specific themes, styles or artists represented within the collection
In the Research Room you can find out more about the history of Croydon, including your family, street and local community. You can also request to see items from our collections in store including the archives, oral history and art collections
Whether you’re a school group wanting to get hands on with history, or a family looking for creative ideas for the weekends and holidays, you’ll find something to inspire and engage in our events programme
Visit www.museumofcroydon.com or follow us on Twitter @museumofcroydon to find out more about our latest exhibitions, events and projects, view our collections online or get involved with our work.
Our team
The Museum & archives team consists of 6 professional roles, supported by c.35 volunteers:
Museum & archives manager – Rob Shakespeare Borough archivist – Lindsay Ould Arts participation officer – Olly Tipper (part-time) Interpretation & learning officer – Johanna Hayward (nee Gummett) Collections officer – Emily Lansell Collections access officers – Simon Barnett, Mandy Smith and Natalie Conboy (3x part- time roles) Front of house volunteer team – c.35 people offering 4 hours or more per week of their time to support public access to, and understanding of, our galleries and collections Project volunteers – individuals working on specific projects that develop our collections (e.g. digitisation of the Oral history collection).
What we achieved in 2015-16
In 2015-16, we:
• Delivered 4 major exhibitions at Croydon Clocktower, including: ‘Moving to London’; ’Art Now…Then’; ‘Croydon recreated’ and ‘Grange Wood remembered, Heathfield revisited’
• Launched our new online catalogue at www.museumofcroydoncollections.com (see case studies on page 6)
• Delivered 53 taught sessions for local schools, engaging 1501 students and 217 teachers
• Devised and ran 28 creative family workshops enjoyed by 776 people
• Programmed 16 tours or talks for adults, attended by 337 people
• Hosted 5 exhibitions developed by local community groups, including Croydon Airport Society and Croydon Art Society.
Together these achievements contributed to a total number of 24,714 people visiting the Museum of Croydon in 2015-16 (+6% on previous year).
In addition, Club Soda delivered 241 arts participation workshops and 8 major events run by and for people with learning disabilities. This led to 3,174 instances of engagement with arts and culture in Croydon.
As well as these headline achievements we also:
• Provided 8,943 hours of volunteering opportunities, strengthening our local community and supporting 6 volunteers to find paid work, including Simon and Mandy who joined the Museum & archives team as Collections access officers
• Reconfigured our Research Room and Exhibition Gallery, to improve the visibility of these cultural spaces within Croydon Clocktower
• Reorganised our local photograph collection, to ensure it is better preserved, easier to use alongside our map collection and prepare it for digitisation where appropriate
• Honoured the lives of 223 Croydon servicemen who died in #Croydon1915, through our #WW1 Roll of Honour tweets.
Case studies 2015-16
In November 2015, we opened our ‘Croydon Recreated’ exhibition. It was the culmination of a number of projects, which were developed to increase our own understanding of the collections and make them more accessible for local people.
The exhibition featured paintings by 'Evacustes' Arthur Phipson, photographs from the Photographic Survey & Record of Surrey and Ordnance Survey maps from the early 1900s, to explore what 9 locations around Croydon might have looked like around 100 years ago.
This free exhibition was displayed in the Museum of Croydon Exhibition Gallery at Croydon Clocktower, from 10 November 2015 to 9 April 2016
At the same time, we launched our online catalogue www.museumofcroydoncollections.com
Initially containing over 300 collections comprised of over 6,000 individual records, the catalogue will grow into an essential resource for anyone interested in researching the history of Croydon or locating items within our collections.
The successful launch of the catalogue in 2016, was an essential part of our preparations for Accreditation for archives, which we hope to achieve in 2016-17.
In 2015, we were approached by the V&A to take part in their Peter Brook Schools Project which was supported by the HLF.
The V&A, who had recently acquired the personal papers of theatre, opera and film director Peter Brook, developed six partnerships each comprised of a school, a museum and a theatre/venue. Each partnership then worked together to produce a one- act performance inspired by one of Brook’s key works.
The Museum of Croydon worked with Year 10 students from Harris Academy Beckenham, the Churchill Theatre in Bromley, Glenn Tillin (Theatre practitioner) and staff from the V&A. Inspired by the objects, stories and documents they had seen during their visits, and the idea of ensemble storytelling and choral sound scape used in Peter Brook’s Oedipus, the students created a new mythical story exploring the themes of fate, fear and gender.
The plot was inspired by the story of Georgina Somerset who was born intersex, and was brought up as a boy, before having corrective surgery in January 1957. She became the first woman to marry legally in an English Church following an official correction of sex.
One of the lines of the play was also inspired by the Archive material we showed to the group related to conscientious objectors from Croydon namely Mark Hayler and Charles John Cobb. Charles John Cobb died as a direct result of his treatment during the First World War, on his gravestone are the words “I do not follow the will of man, I follow the will of God.” This line is quoted in the dialogue of the play.
The Harris Academy students performed their work at the Churchill Theatre and the Museum of Croydon, before the finale performance of all six pieces at the V&A in South Kensington.
“We have been thrilled to be part of it and we are so proud of the students and the work they’ve produced. Thank you so much for offering this opportunity to our school. It’s been fantastic for the students to work with Glenn and perform in such a variety of locations.” Teacher at Harris Academy Beckenham
Ambitious for Croydon, Ambitious for Culture
There are ambitious plans for the re-development of Croydon, including the cultural offer at Croydon Clocktower and around the borough, and we want to play our part in delivering them. We know from experience that we are better when we work with our partners, stakeholders and local people to deliver cultural activities that will lead to positive benefits for everyone in Croydon.
In particular we work to support the aims and outcomes of:
Arts Council England’s ‘Great Art & Culture for Everyone’
The National Archives’ ‘Archives for the 21st century in action: refreshed 2012-15’
The Heritage Lottery Fund’s ‘Strategic Framework, 2013-2018’
Any individual or organisation that shares our ambitions for culture in Croydon, so please get in touch - we look forward to hearing from you…
Ways to contact and engage with us
Visit us in person Tuesday – Saturday 10.30am – 5pm (except public holidays), free entry
Croydon Clocktower Katharine Street Croydon CR9 1ET
Tel: 020 8253 1022 Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Find out more about all our work at www.museumofcroydon.com
Search our archive collections online at www.museumofcroydoncollections.com
Follow us on Twitter @museumofcroydon