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Annual Report 2018/19 Mission Statement

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ANNUAL REPORT 2018/19 MISSION STATEMENT To inspire and share knowledge and understanding with global audiences about humanity’s many ways of knowing, being, creating and coping in our interconnected worlds by providing a world-leading museum for the cross- disciplinary study of humanity through material culture. Cover image: Lama Jabb, Baiqu Gonkar, Thupten Kelsang and Clare Harris discussing Nyema Droma’s exhibition ‘Performing Tibetan Identities’ at an event for the public on 27 April 2019, with the installation of her work enlivening the main galleries of the Pitt Rivers Museum. © Photograph by Ian Wallman. Designed by Oxford University Brand & Design, Public Affairs Directorate Photographs and text are copyright of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, unless otherwise stated Pitt Rivers Museum South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PP Email: [email protected] Tel: 01865 613000 www.prm.ox.ac.uk 2 | PITT RIVERS MUSEUM Contents 1 Chair’s foreword ................................................. 5 9 Museum and community .............................34 Adults and communities and public 2 Director’s introduction ....................................6 engagement with research............................. 34 Young people .......................................................... 36 3 The year’s highlights ........................................8 Secondary-school activities and further education.................................................................... 36 4 Permanent galleries and exhibitions .....10 Primary-school activities .................................. 38 Permanent display work ....................................10 Family activities ...................................................... 38 Special exhibitions (temporary, long gallery and archive case) .................................. 11 10 Supporting the Museum ...............................39 The Friends ................................................................ 39 5 Highlighted projects ......................................18 Development ...........................................................40 Beyond the Binary ................................................18 Labelling Matters ..................................................18 11 Running the Museum .....................................42 Multaka ........................................................................19 Administration – people and organisation 42 Lande: The Calais 'Jungle' and Beyond . 20 Equality, diversity and inclusion....................42 Windrush .....................................................................21 Staff engagement .................................................42 Health, safety and well-being ....................... 43 6 Higher education teaching and research 22 Visitor services ....................................................... 43 Public engagement with research ............. 26 Commercial activities ........................................ 43 Balfour Library ..........................................................27 Buildings and maintenance ............................ 43 7 Collections and their care ...........................28 12 Appendices .........................................................44 Object collections ................................................. 28 A: Pitt Rivers Museum Board of Visitors Photograph, manuscript, film and sound as of August 2018 .............................................. 44 collections ................................................................. 28 B: Museum staff by section ............................. 44 Oxford University Internship C: Finance ...................................................................46 Programme ............................................................... 29 D: Visitor numbers, enquiries, research Conservation work ................................................ 30 visits and loans ...................................................47 E: Interns, volunteers and 8 Digital innovations ...........................................32 work experience ................................................. 49 New website .............................................................32 F: New acquisitions .............................................. 49 Local Action Plan ....................................................32 G: Staff publications .............................................50 Open Cabinet ...........................................................32 DCMS Wolfson ........................................................33 GLAM Labs: Plastic Fantastic ........................33 ANNUAL REPORT 2018 TO 19 | 3 4 | PITT RIVERS MUSEUM Chair’s foreword © Ian Cartwright, of Archaeology Institute useums are currently re-inventing themselves to have celebrated textiles and their making, a vital and major be seen not as passive reflections of the cultures element of human history too often ignored. Min which they are situated, but as active forces in Behind the scenes much scholarly work continued, as well those cultures locally and indeed globally. The Pitt Rivers as a range of talks and press engagements. The Museum has Museum is at the forefront of this movement, as immediately also played a crucial role in considering issues of repatriation obvious from a perusal of this Annual Report. Many (indeed and helping draft guidelines against which repatriation cases most) exhibitions focus on issues of real importance to the can be judged. An incredible 80,000 objects were moved from people involved, whether this be questions of identity for the so-called Osney Power Station and in the process much contemporary Tibetans, issues of migration and the Calais research was carried out on the items, as well as marked Jungle or the interest that the Maasai people have in aspects increases in the quality of their physical care. And, as ever, of their material heritage found in far-away Oxford. Short- huge numbers of people visited the Museum, many of them listing for the Art Fund Museum of the Year was a public taking part in organised activities, which are extraordinarily acknowledgement of the achievements of the Pitt Rivers popular. and the general esteem in which the Museum is held. On the On a personal note, I am now stepping down as Chair night of the presentations, I know many people hoped that of the Visitors of the Pitt Rivers Museum. It has been a the Pitt Rivers would win. great privilege to play a minor part in the exciting new Six of the Museum’s most important collectors and developments in a museum in which the quality of its curators were the focus of the Intrepid Women exhibition collections is only matched by that of its staff. and from working in the same area as one of them, Beatrice Blackwood, I know something of the range, depth and sympathy of her contribution. Collaboration continues with LGBTQ+ communities concerning the hitherto hidden histories of gender and sexual orientation within the Museum’s collections. Given the range of textiles within the Professor Chris Gosden Museum, the Multaka exhibition and the activities around it Chair of the Board of Visitors Opposite: Maasai visit to Oxford, November 2018 Above: Professor Chris Gosden 1 ANNUAL REPORT 2018 TO 19 | 5 Director's introduction t has been an extraordinary, exhilarating and at times change on Pacific Islands, queer histories and A (critical) exhausting few months… Extraordinary because of the Caribbean Tea Party. So much was happening that day Iamount of work (summed up in this Annual Report) that that the two film crews present (one from the Art Fund to is being done at the Museum and the social impact that it prepare a short film and one from BBC Indonesia following has. A rich programme of exhibits and projects received rave the Indonesian ambassador who was visiting) didn’t know reviews in both national (Guardian) and international (The where to start filming first. Economist, Neue Zürcher Zeitung) press and the Museum Not only were we finalists for this important UK Art is repeatedly ranked amongst the best. This year, the special Award, we also won five other awards and were runner- exhibits attracted the highest percentage of visitors any of up for two more: Multaka-Oxford – a project to create our special exhibits has ever received (nearly 18% of the volunteering opportunities for forced migrants – won overall visitors). The Intrepid Women exhibit, appealed to Volunteer Team of the Year at the 2019 Museums + Heritage a large audience and was brought to life beautifully by co- Awards, and won the Collections Trust Award 2019. It was curator, Julia Nicholson on BBC Radio 4's Woman’s Hour. also runner-up for Partnership of the Year Museum and Nyema Droma’s Performing Tibetan Identities reinvigorated Heritage Awards. Pitt Rivers Museum also won Best Family the Museum in unique ways and features on the front page of Attraction at the Muddy Stilettos Awards 2019. We won this year’s report. One needs only to take a quick look at our two Vice-Chancellor’s Public Engagement with Research social media to see how the deeply touching Lande: the Calais (PER) Awards, one for Building PER Capacity at the Pitt 'Jungle' and Beyond, has consistently received feedback from Rivers Museum and one for the Kwibuka Rwanda project. visitors saying 'Stop-you-in-your-tracks powerful', 'moving', We were highly commended for the Messy Realities Project 'political, nuanced, beautifully written & curated'. As one too. I haven’t even mentioned all the amazing other things visitor wrote on the feedback wall:
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