Traditionally, conversations about museums ‘acquisitions’, i.e. what they bring into the collection or not, take place within a small group of museum staff. In this project we wanted to learn more about how our collections are perceived and find out if we could become more collaborative in our acquisition of new collections.
Working with small group of community participants, we examined the role of the museum and explored how acquisitions might play a part in making the museum a more inclusive place. In a series of workshops we reviewed existing collections, talked about the collections acquisition process, and discussed what other stories the group think we should be telling through our collections.
You can read more about the project in this blog post by project participant Rob Hales Making Connections Through Collections blog post
This project was funded through the Collections, Connections, Communities Participatory Research Funding.
Anasuya, Isaac, Jade, Jacqui, Kath, Rick, Rob, Sue, Susan and Tim
Habda Rashid, Senior Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art
Ruth Clark, Learning Associate Inclusion
David Farell-Banks, Participatory Research and Impact Co-ordinator
Kate Noble, Senior Research Associate Museum Learning
Jo Vine, Head of Research
The results of this project will be shared with the Museum’s Collections Development Group (the group that makes decisions on acquisitions). Results may also be included in project reports, presentations and publications.
We hope that the results of this project will allow us to develop future projects focused on our collections and acquisition processes.
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