LEGACIES

Transforming practice in museums and galleries post-2017 ∞ Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, 7 March 2018 The Old Courtroom, 118 Church Street (side entrance) Brighton, BN1 1UD

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

10.30 Registration & refreshments at the Old Courtroom

11.00 Welcome: Janita Bagshawe, Director, Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove

11.05 Introduction and overview: Matt Smith, artist and curator, Guest Lecturer at Konstfack Stockholm, Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of Leicester, School of Museum Studies. session 1

11.15 Mirjam Sneeuwloper and Maik Mirkovic on Transmission (2015-16) and Trans*Objects (2017) at Amsterdam Museum, an exhibition for the public, but actually a process of inclusiveness with the involvement of various transgender communities, networks and individuals. https://www.amsterdammuseum.nl/en/exhibitions/transmission

11.35 Mark Wilson and Vivien Walsh on Never Going Underground at the People’s History Museum, Manchester, a community-focused, long-term approach to telling the story of the fight for LGBT+ rights. A series of exhibitions, events and learning programmes during 2017 exploring the past, present and future of LGBT+ activism, all co-produced with the LGBT+ community. http://www.phm.org.uk/about-us/never-going-underground-the-fight-for-lgbt-rights/

11.55 Ellie Newland and members of the project’s Youth Team on Wear it Out: Queer Looks at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, a project opening in mid-2018, exploring the cultural heritage of dress of LGBTQ communities in Sussex 1917-2017, looking at how dress is used to express identities and sexualities of individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ https://brightonmuseums.org.uk/2017/11/02/wear-it-out-and-queer-looks-project/

12.15 Panel discussion

12.30-13.30 Lunch in Brighton Dome

session 2 (the old courtroom)

13.30 Rachael Lennon on Prejudice & Pride (National Trust UK), a year-long exploration of LGBTQ heritage across the National Trust’s properties, the first in a series of National Trust ‘Challenging Histories’ programmes designed to actively challenge, to unpick and to look again at the histories we inherit as curators. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/exploring-lgbtq-history-at-national-trust-places

13.50 Beth Asbury, Clara Barker and Jozie Kettle on Out in Oxford (GLAM Oxford), an LGBTQ+ trail of the University of Oxford’s Collections, developed in response to Professor Richard Parkinson’s call for more explicit, not implicit, LGBTQ+ representation in museums. Launched during LGBT History Month 2017 with a series of events co-curated by the project’s volunteers, Out in Oxford was shortlisted for a Museums + Heritage Award. https://www.glam.ox.ac.uk/out-oxford

14.10 Charlotte Keenan on Pride & Prejudice: Bringing Stories Out of the Closet at Liverpool Museums, looking at the development and delivery of the research project Pride & Prejudice, revealing Liverpool Museums’ approach to retrospectively researching the LGBT+ histories in its collection and how this information has been presented to its audiences. The presentation reflects on the way the project has influenced the Museums’ approach to LGBT+ programming and projects, including its impact on the ground-breaking exhibition Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender & Identity. http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/collections/lgbt/index.aspx

14.30 Panel discussion

14.45 Afternoon break with refreshments session 3

15.15 Alice Cox on Refracted at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, Bournemouth, looking at the benefits of working with the local community to curate an exhibition, and exploring the challenges of arriving at an exhibition to commemorate an LGBT+ anniversary with collection that is not hugely representative of this community. https://www.bournemouth.com/russell-cotes/refracted-opening-weekend/ https://www.artfund.org/what-to-see/exhibitions/2017/05/13/refracted-collection-highlights-exhibition

15.35 Clare Barlow and Eleanor Jones on Queer British Art, Tate Britain, on the legacy and impact at Tate of the first exhibition in the UK looking at the history of queer British art, within the context of a large institution. http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/queer-british-art-1861-1967

15.55 E-J Scott on the Museum of Transology at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. Consisting of over 200 objects, this is the world’s largest collection of the material culture of trans lives. This presentation will argue that the Museum of Transology’s model of ‘collect-ivist curation’ – the practice of community collecting as an activist intervention, designed to interject overlooked narratives and halt the erasure of neglected histories in museums – is transferable across the broader museum and heritage sector. http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/brighton/exhibitions-displays/the-museum-of-transology/ https://www.facebook.com/MuseumofTransology/

16.25 Panel discussion

16.45 Chair’s summary and reflections – Matt Smith

17.00 Close of conference

17.15 Drinks reception in Brighton Museum with the opportunity to see the Museum of Transology and Gluck: Art and Identity exhibitions.

18.30 End