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(Itp) 2016 at the British Museum, London, United Kingdom

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(Itp) 2016 at the British Museum, London, United Kingdom REPORT ON THE INTERNATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAM (ITP) 2016 AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM 18th July 2016 – 26th August 2016 BY: Dora Jok Curator of Ethnology & Collection Management Section Sarawak Museum Department, Kuching, Sarawak MALAYSIA Sponsored by: Sarawak Museum Department, Kuching, Sarawak MALAYSIA REPORT ON INTERNATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAM (ITP) 2016 AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM 1.0 INTRODUCTION I was fortunate to have been given the opportunity to attend the International Training Program (ITP) for year 2016 which was undertaken from 18th July 2016 to 26th August 2016. This year training is the Sarawak Museum Department (SMD)’s second year to participate which was made possible through MoU signed between the department and the British Museum on 24/6/2015. The MoU signing was witnessed by YB Encik Liwan Lagang (Assistant Minister of Culture and Arts, Sarawak) and Mrs. Lizzy Moriaty. The signatory for the British Museum was its Deputy Director, Joanne Mackle. One of the mutual agreements that were stated in the MoU was for staff from SMD to participate in international curatorial training programme which is to help SMD’s staff to acquire new museology and curatorial leadership. This training is also deemed important to expose the SMD staff to exhibitions and collections especially that originated from Sarawak kept at certain museums in the UK. Knowledge and learning from the ITP could contribute to the management and conceptualization of global exhibitions, marketing, programmes etc for the upcoming New Sarawak Museum which is expected to be opened by 2018. The following is a report on the expectations before, during and after attending the training and also highlights what I had learnt best during the training and what I have implemented after I came back from the ITP 2016. 2.0 EXPECTATIONS My specific goals are, firstly, I would like to expand my international networking with participants and the curators/staff at the prestigious British Museum. Through global networking, I may share ideas and solutions to issues or challenges that we are facing as curators of museums. This networking also could create long-term global partnership, joint-research, share ideas and information. Secondly, I would like to gain experience in international professional training at the British Museum which will increase my confidence level and also assert my leadership in museology. What I would like to gain from ITP is to have holistic view of the job of a museum professional which will covers Exhibitions, Education, Fundraising, Conservation, Marketing, Photography, Security, Collections database, Storage, Libraries & Archives, etc. ITP is a positive intervention in my working life which would definitely have extremely important impact on my career. 3.0. WHAT HAVE I LEARNED My expectations have been met and I have learned enormously from this training. I will highlight what I had learned best from the ITP 2016 and these are also my hopes that SMD could implement in future. Highlights of what I have learned most/best from the ITP 2016 were:- 3.1 Room 3 Project This assignment has compressed/combined what I’ve learnt most from ITP such as exhibition planning, curatorial skills, research, programing, labels, planning, public speaking, interpretation etc all into one project. I would recommend for SMD to adopt this approach which could train its curators to develop skills in exhibition, curatorial skills, programming etc. 3.2 Glasgow placement 10-days placement in a partner museum was one the best parts of this training. I am grateful and thankful to all Glasgow Museums’ staff for their hospitality, acceptance, kindness, guidance and sharing their knowledge etc. I also have learnt so much from John and Patricia, the two wonderful volunteers at the Burrell Collection, who gave us a fantastic guided tour and also impacted so much on me how volunteers could educate visitors about objects displayed in the museum. Below is my report/blog on my Glasgow placement:- Glasgow means “dear green place”, is currently the UK’s fourth largest city and home to fantastic museums and galleries. They are Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the Glasgow Museum’s flagship; the internationally known Burrrell Collection; the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), a contemporary art gallery; St Mungo’s Museum of Religious Life and Art; Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, a publicly accessible store; the Riverside Museum; and Kelvin Hall, a new coming-up storage with many public facilities such as gym, library, court, café and many more. In many ways, Glasgow Museums is a unique organisation. All those 9 museums and art galleries are managed by one management team. The collection is huge with 1.4 million items which ranging from world class collections of fine art, the largest art collection in Europe, one of the best arms and armour collections in Europe, natural history, social history, costumes, textiles, transport and world culture. I had a pleasant and sweet surprise when Patricia, the Ethnographer/Curator of World Cultures in Museums Resource Centre handed me a list of Bornean objects. There are 109 objects from Borneo mostly of weapons such as swords, shields and poisoned darts which had entered the collection since 1891. It was a privilege to see and touch the shield of Sarawak and also a very old Muslim prayer mat made of pandanus leaves with a native motif. Never had across in my mind I will ever found a single object from Borneo in Glasgow Resource Centre. With a fundamental philosophical idea of “museums objects belong to the people who make Glasgow”, the museum as a civic space, the museum as an open space for ideas and stories, Glasgow Museums have a long established commitment to engaging diverse communities in the city by reaching out to various audiences including groups and individuals who won’t come to visit museums due many social barriers. This initiative which is called the Open Museum (OM). Prayer mat made of pandanus leaves Dayak wooden shield with anthromorphic face figure to scare off enemy in battle The OM takes the museum collections beyond the museum venues to groups or individuals who cannot or do not visit museums. The museum objects were boxed into thematic boxes and travel to meet people in community centres, care homes, health centres, hospitals, prisons, shopping centres and festivals. These objects are used to support their own community-based work in the fields of mental health, literacy, social work, youth work, prison services, and many more while at the same time allowing Glasgow Museums to reach out to wider community. The OM initiative has been established for twenty years and it has proved that it has contributed to better understanding of people, creating personal identity, a sense of well-being, a sense of place, history, future and betterment of Glasgow city - the dear green place. Whisky bottle in Life Celebrations box. Some of the kits of Museum Open Whisky bottle is given to the bride in the Scottish wedding 3.3 Global networking It has been rewarding and exciting to work with museum staffs from different countries for 6 weeks. Each museum presented their uniqueness and strengths which I had learnt while interacting with them. I also learnt to appreciate their cultures and value their perspective highly. This training has created a global network of museums professionals. 3.4 Exhibition planning I have learned how to plan for an exhibition which may start with the concept (curatorial theme selection, object wish list), planning (artist agreement/contract, schedule and finances, work plan, conservation requirements), delivery (object preparation mount making, 2D layouts, 3D layouts (photographing), text writing, text editing, graphics production, installation, maintenance and de- installation. I also have learned that mirrors on top of showcase could give picture what inside the objects eg vase and also for younger/shorter visitor to view what inside the objects. International exhibitions with other museums. The exhibition needs to be accessible for visitors with impaired vision and hearing; not only for disabled visitors. 3.5 Work with volunteers Working with volunteers is important as they would help museums and also share their skills in curatorial work, help in engaging visitors, and making connections with more people. 3.6 Programming/working with communities I also have learnt that working with communities is not necessary just with school children but also with adults, infants and toddler (Ashmolean Museum), dementia people, and many more. Each groups of people has its own distinct programme such as for adult programs there are gallery talks, lectures, discussions, study sessions, workshops, performances, Friday ‘lates’ in the museum; for Infants and toddlers they may be about seeing, hearing and touching of the objects; dementia suffers may talk about paintings and other objects. 3.7 Digitization and imaging of each objects Each object in museums and in store should be digitized for future use, back-up and research. 3.8 Storage I also have learnt that, in Glasgow Museums their (Collection Centre) storage is opened to for visitors such as researchers, school children and the public. Activities for school children also were held there to exposed them on how things were made, what they were used for, who made it etc. I also have learnt that, museum staff could learn more about the objects from the visitors. 3.9. Interpretation activities It is important to make museum exhibition friendly for smaller/shorter kids by putting objects at lower level and or use stools for kids to learn about the objects. This will make it more valuable to them and they could learn to appreciate culture from the tender age. I also have learnt that, stools or benches are provided in the gallery for visitors to sit and rest but at the same time to learn more about the objects.
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