Archive for the 'News & Notices' Category

News Update 8 May 2013

Published May 9, 2013 News & Notices Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , ,

Kia ora,

MTG Hawke’s Bay (formerly Hawke’s Bay Museum and Art Gallery) are beginning their move back into the Marine Parade/Herschell Street suite of buildings in Napier. After nearly 3 years away, the new $18 million building is being handed over so the staff can prepare for reopening this September. Four months seems like luxury compared with the tight timeframes experienced by some other redevelopments lately, but I expect it will fly by. We’re looking forward to seeing the new spaces as we begin planning for the MA14 conference.

MTG Hawke’s Bay Director Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott and MTG Staff start the process of moving into MTG Hawke’s Bay.

MTG Hawke’s Bay Director Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott and MTG Staff start the process of moving into MTG Hawke’s Bay.

ANZAC Day was commemorated around the country and attracted a good deal of media coverage for museums. There is increasing interest in WW1 and its centenary years 2014-2018, within our sector and more broadly across agencies and among the general public. It seems that since those with the last living memories have passed on, successive generations are wanting to find out about the people and events whose legacy we remember on ANZAC Day. For resources and what is happening, see the notice below and visit the New Zealand WW100 website.

Having completed and reported on the 2012 Museum Sector Survey, and run the 2013 national visitor survey, we are looking forward to other research this year. The next piece of work is a survey of individual members through Australia-based Survey Matters in partnership with the Australasian Society for Association Executives. Associations Matter – 2013 State of the Sector Study will give individual MA members the opportunity to tell us about your needs, preferences and requirements. Because this study is being run across a wide range of associations throughout Australia and NZ, we will be able to gain a better understanding of why people join associations such as ours, what we can provide to our members and how. Other participants include LIANZA and Museums Australia. The invitation to participate will go out to individual MA members in the next few days. Later in the year, Survey Matters proposes conducting a similar study of industry bodies, which would cover our museum members. We’ll keep you informed as this study and our wider research progresses.

Here in the dying city of Wellington, government policy work continues – I wonder what will happen to all the public servants when the government moves to Auckland? DIA is consulting on proposed changes to Lotteries Community Committees. Consultation is still open about financial standards, and this and other policy changes is outlined in the MAQuarterly which will be in the mail to you next week. As we build up towards the local council elections in October, we will all need to think about ensuring our sectors’ interests are understood by our candidates and voters. We’re keen to hear your suggestions and advocacy needs – please email or call us (04 499 1313) any time.

An immediate opportunity to raise profile is International Museum Day, which falls next Saturday, 18 May. With the theme of Museum (culture + memory) = Social Change, the field is wide open for interpretation in any museum context. Many museums choose this date to offer behind the scenes tours, and this year Museums Wellington are going one further – they’re taking people by bus to visit their off-site Collection Store. What are you doing on 18 May?

Nga mihi,
Phillipa and Talei

News Update 8 April 2013

Published April 17, 2013 News & Notices , Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , ,

Kia ora,

While we’ve been working towards this week’s MA13 conference on Hamilton, other things have been happening around the country. Te Papa has made a splash, opening a re-vamped art exhibition space for ‘Nga toi: Arts Te Papa’.  The opening by Minister Chris Finlayson, was up-beat, with CE Mike Houlihan and Board member Evan Williams both sharing their excitement for  refreshed and expanded art programme at Te Papa.  After all the recent re-vision, shake-up and changes there, it will be good to see some positive, outward-looking activity.

Radio New Zealand continues to give excellent coverage of museums and gallery matters. Listen online to the Easter interview with CE Mike Houlihan on changes at Te Papa, MA13 panel convenor Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, and Christchurch Art Gallery Director and MA Board member Jenny Harper interviewed by Lyn Freeman on The Arts on Sunday.

Some of you may remember Miri Young, who worked with Museums Aotearoa on the MA10 conference in New Plymouth, and received a Mina McKenzie Scholarship when she went to the USA on a Fulbright fellowship in 2010. Miri has sent links to two projects she worked on/is working on in New York which were profiled on the front page of the New York Times Weekend Arts section this week: Judd’s 101 Spring Street and Whales from Te Papa at the American Natural History Museum. Miri proudly thanks everyone who supported and encouraged her on either or both of these projects. It’s great to see Miri doing such interesting work, and we look forward to her eventual return home to bring her experience back to our museum profession.

Meanwhile, some of our advocacy work has paid off.  Earlier in the year MA asked the Ministry of Education for some clarification on LEOTC funding.  Their proposed review of LEOTC seemed to have stalled, and many museums were in the dark as to what might happen when current contracts expire.  In answer to our request for information, we were told by MoE that, “The Ministry will be offering providers the opportunity to extend all current LEOTC contracts through variation to June 2014, as it considers future options for the LEOTC programme as a whole.” All current providers were to be notified by the end of March. While this is not a satisfactory situation looking forward, at least they have acknowledged that providers are entitled to be kept informed. We will continue to press the MoE for engagement and progress, and invite MA members to advise us of any changes or information that affects their LEOTC funding.

We’re looking forward to seeing many of you in Hamilton this week.  Note that all MA staff will be at the conference so may not be checking emails and the like until next Tuesday 16th April.

Nga mihi, Phillipa, Talei and the MA13 team

News Update 1 November 2012

Published November 1, 2012 News & Notices Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kia ora,

Recent weeks have seen news of a wide range of shows and activity around the country. Dunedin Public Art Gallery has staged music and ‘exhibition’ snooker, the Muka Youth Prints continue their annual tour, The Kauri Museum has planted 127 heritage roses and celebrated their 50th anniversary, and ‘yarn-bombers’ have given a new look to the statue of CJ Monro outside Te Manawa and the Rugby Museum. The Police Museum is getting international attention after one of its 100-year-old criminal mugshots went viral on social media as a ‘babe’. Waikato Museum is negotiating the tricky business of a Lindauer painting being revealed as a fake.

The famously good looking criminal from the Police Museum website.

Auckland has been celebrating Art Week with a huge number of events. The Walters Prize has been awarded to Kate Newby, whose winning work you can still catch at the Auckland Art Gallery until 11 November. Lopdell House has been hosting the 2012 Portage Ceramic Awards at The Cloud with Jim Cooper receiving the Premier Award.

Toitu Otago Settlers Museum is gearing up for re-opening in early December. Arrowtown has celebrated 150 years since the discovery of gold in fine style, with Lakes District Museum’s David Clarke and others growing beards for the occasion. Meanwhile, in Timaru, South Canterbury Museum’s Philip Howe has had his beard and hair shaved off for a child cancer fundraiser. We also note SCM’s ‘Downtown’ exhibition reported in the Timaru Herald, with photos of Timaru and Timaruvians as they used to be. We love the public toilets camouflaged with native plants for the royal visit in 1954!

Not fit for the Queen’s eyes? The men’s toilets on the corner of Strathallan and Stafford Streets, decorated for the visit of the Queen in Jan 1954.
South Canterbury Museum image, 2004/232.10

Work has begun on the new War Memorial Park in Wellington. The park is being built in preparation for New Zealand’s First World War Centenary (2014-2018) commemorations http://WW100.govt.nz/ and is due to be complete by Anzac Day 1915.  There has been speculation about what might be found during excavations for the park, and archaeologists and historian are looking forward to finding out.

War Memorial Park Turf Turning Ceremony on Monday in Wellington

In the political arena, rumbling continues over local government amalgamation, with a proposal for a ‘Lord Mayor’ for Wellington Region. The government’s Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill, which will pave the way for further mergers, has just been reported back by the Local Government and Environment Select Committee. The Committee was unable to agree that the bill be passed, and has only recommended amendments on which all committee members agreed. There was no agreement on changing the statutory purpose of local government, which would remove the ‘four well-beings’. The different party views are explained in the Select Committee Report. Apparently to counter some of the government’s changes to local government legislation around council responsibilities, costs and transparency, Labour is introducing 3 Member’s Bills, including one to prevent councils from charging for basic public library services. This bill is due to have its first reading in Parliament before the end of the year. LIANZA is supporting the bill with a ‘keep libraries free campaign’.

Directory of New Zealand Museums and Galleries 2013
All museums and associates should have received a copy of their entry to confirm their details. Thank you to those who have already sent their response. If you have not received your listing details please contact directory@museumsaotearoa.org.nz ASAP.

Museum Sector Survey out this month
A reminder that our sector survey is currently running until the end of this week. If your organisation has not yet not taken the time respond we would encourage you to do so. Whether you are a large organisation or a small volunteer run museum your participation is important as it will enable us to gain a thorough understanding of the sector and the issues that museums face, and it will ensure your organisation is included in the information available to help lobby the government for greater support and recognition of the sector. We are interested in understanding the diversity within the sector and the range of issues that museums and galleries face. Your contribution will help provide a more comprehensive and accurate picture of New Zealand’s museum sector.

If your organisation has not received an invitation by email, or you have any queries, please contact the MA office.

MA13: Hamilton, 10-12 April 2013
We are still looking for speakers for the MA13 conference. We would love to hear from you with any contributions, ideas and suggestions – all welcome! You can download this information as a pdf, and please telephone, email or come and visit us with your ideas.

For your online enjoyment, check out the wide range of museum Hallowen activities, especially on Facebook MOTAT, Puke Ariki, Whanganui Regional Museum. And we were intrigued with Mark Johnson’s technique of photographing time.

Nga mihi, Phillipa & Talei

News & Notices, 24 July 2012

Published July 24, 2012 News & Notices Leave a Comment

Kia ora,This week is Maori Language Week – Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. The theme this year is ‘Arohatia te Reo’ – ‘to cherish the language’. While a few National Radio listeners may still complain about being greeted in te reo, it is great to hear at least a few words becoming part of our everyday lives. There is much that museums and galleries can do to encourage and reinforce the use of Māori language, and many museums around the country putting in a special effort. Some examples that have attracted our attention are City Gallery in Wellington which is having an evening of te reo Māori debates; Puke Ariki, in collaboration with Te Reo O Taranaki, have put together a great programme of events to celebrate Taranaki’s unique reo and Te Papa has produced some YouTube videos where staff and Kaumātua (elders) talk about their favourite Māori word and what makes these words special to them.

Local news is still simmering with council planning decisions. Budgets are tight everywhere. Whanganui District Council has postponed making decisions on redevelopment and/or strengthening of the Sarjeant Gallery, and in Whangarei, opponents and supporters of the proposed Hundertwasser Art Centre have taken to Facebook to air their views. On one hand, public debate has a vital role in council decision-making. On the other, councils need to take a more strategic approach than individuals, and make informed decisions on behalf of their communities, not just respond to whoever’s voice is loudest. Central government wants to make local councils more effective, efficient and transparent, as outlined in Better Local Government (March 2012), and in various other local government reform activities.

A Bill to amend the Local Government Act 2002 is currently going through parliament, with submissions due this week. Among other things, this Bill will change the purpose of local councils, removing the ‘four well-beings’. It also makes provision for council amalgamations, government intervention and specific ‘fiscal responsibility’ requirements. It has been argued that the new purpose clause is unclear and is likely to make council decisions more open to challenge through the legal process rather than the democratic process. It has also been argued that the aim of reining in council spending is based on an erroneous assumption that increased council expenditure is the result of expanding activities, when it has already been shown that the primary causes are increased compliance and infrastructure costs – the core activities on which central government requires councils to focus.

The UKMuseums Journal reports that the Heritage Lotteries Fund – which distributes 375 million pounds in grants annually – has made access to digital content a precondition of funding for all of its projects. This is being applied across the board to all projects, and access must be free for non-commercial use. See this and other UK stories on the Museums Association website.

Te Hono ki Aotearoa in Leiden

We are intrigued by Jan Bieringa’s film Te Hono ki Aotearoa, which follows the commissioning, making and handover of a waka on permanent loan to the Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden. This film is ideal for museums and their audiences, exploring new ways of thinking about collections and partnerships. It has been shown at Pataka, and Jan will make it available to museums around the country.

And we hope to see many MA members and colleagues at the museum and galleries session which is being held during the Diversity Forum in Auckland on 20 August.

Nga mihi o te Wiki o te Reo Māori ,
Phillipa & Talei

News Update 10 July 2012

Published July 12, 2012 News & Notices Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kia ora,

The last fortnight has seen more council planning and funding decisions reported, and more controversies. When resources are tight, there will always be some who see museums and galleries as soft targets for cuts – and unfortunately such decisions are often made in ignorance of – or in spite of – the consequences.

In Ashburton, objectors to the new museum/gallery project are staging a mini-version of the Auckland Art Gallery controversy, invoking the RMA and Environment Court. While the scale is rather different, the delay and wrangling will inevitably be costly in time, energy and dollars. Invercargill is also gripped with frustration over development plans for Southland Museum & Art Gallery, now calling for a ‘review’ of their proposed $24.6m project. In Auckland the final outcome has been even better than anticipated, and the Auckland Art Gallery has now carried off yet another prestigious architecture award, claiming one of the 12 international awards from the Royal Institute of British Architects. We can only hope that Ashburton and Invercargill come out of it all with great new facilities.

Further north, Marcus Boroughs is leaving Aratoi to be head of Public Programmes at Auckland Museum in the midst of very public stone-throwing at governance level, and now their Board Chair has stepped down as well. In Wellington the Museums Trust is under fire from its Maritime Friends for the Museum of Wellington deaccessioning a model of the Titanic. And announcements are finally being made of Te Papa’s new vision and structure.

The National Whale Centre has launched their Virtual Museumand blog this month. The creation of the National Whale Centre is the result of many years of research into the creation of a Picton Foreshore attraction which addresses the unique position of New Zealand as an ocean nation with a 172 plus years history of whaling and subsequent shift to more sustainable aquamarine industries and associated ecotourism ventures. You can see their site and blog here.

Statistics survey development
Accurate and detailed information is essential for planning and for advocacy. We have already mentioned that Museums Aotearoa is developing a comprehensive sector statistics project to gather and share data about museums and galleries around the country. This is taking shape now, and we expect to roll it out in August.

Staff moves
With the latest announcement that Cam McCracken will be taking over as Director of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, and Marcus Boroughs departure from Aratoi, there are some interesting vacancies around the country. Alongside changes proposed at Te Papa and underway in other institutions, and a record number of vacancy advertisements coming through in the last few weeks, we are clearly in a period of ‘churn’. So for museum professionals looking to advance your career, now is the time to consider your options and look at taking on a new challenge.

Nga mihi,
Phillipa & Talei

News Update 14 June

Published June 14, 2012 News & Notices Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kia ora,

There have been consultations and announcements about council funding around the country, and most councils seem to be continuing to support culture and heritage – although not always as much as we would hope. In this financial climate just holding the status quo can be seen as a victory. The newspapers are covering museum and gallery activities around the country, and the latest news can be read by members on our website here. In other news, we were delighted to hear that Mana Recovery won the Green Gold category at the Wellington Gold Awards last week. Mana Recovery employ people with disabilities, and made our wonderful recycled banner bags for the MA12 conference. The Gold Awards also recognised Denis Adam, whose Adam Foundation has been very supportive of the arts. And a reminder that you can listen to Radio NZ broadcasts via the internet, including an interview with Aotea Utanganui’s Cameron Curd on last week’s Arts on Sunday and an item on the proposed Hundertwasser Arts Centre in Whangarei the week before.

Statistics and research
Museum organisations should have received an invitation from Strategic Pay to participate in this year’s museum sector remuneration survey. Now in its third year, this survey is providing extremely useful information. MA worked with Strategic Pay to set up the survey, and reviews it each year. The report is available for purchase by participating organisations. If you are interested, or your museum has not received an invitation, please contact Strategic Pay or the MA office.

We are working on an expanded museum sector research project. This will provide a comprehensive overview of the museum sector, identify and measure sector trends, and inform and assist with advocacy and strategic and business planning. We will be contacting museum organisations shortly to explain the project and seek information.

Philanthropy
Philanthropy is top of mind at Creative New Zealand these days. They have recently appointed Jean Goodband in the new role of Manager, Private Giving and Partnerships Programme and are hosting the Guy Mallabone Sessions on fundraising. They will shortly be launching a new philanthropy programme to help the arts sector to identify and develop alternative sources of funding. “There is huge potential to grow a culture of giving to the arts in New Zealand and this programme will be key to realising this,” Jean says.

New Zealanders and the Arts
Creative New Zealand has also recently made available online the reports from its research New Zealanders and the Arts: Attitudes, Attendance and Participation in 2011. This project aims to provide insights that help the arts community and its supporters identify new trends in a changing environment and take up new opportunities. The research was conducted by independent research company Colmar Brunton. It builds on previous research in 2005 and 2008. A full report of the national results and a video of New Zealanders talking about what the arts mean to them are available on the Creative New Zealand website.

MCH appointments
As well as moving their office down the street – to almost opposite MA – the Ministry for Culture and Heritage has just made appointments to three new staff positions. Dr David Butts will move from Tairawhiti Museum to the role of Manager Heritage Operations in July, and Ralph Johnson will be Manager Heritage Policy. Bev Hong has joined the Cultural Policy Branch as Senior Adviser, Cultural Sector Research – we will be working with Bev and Murray Costello on our museum sector statistics project.

Mystery Item
Karel Kaio, Collections Manager at Kiwi North (Whangarei Museum and Heritage Park) was searching through some unregistered museum dental items and has come across one that has her stumped. Can you help identify this tool?

Dimensions are : 225mm (L) x 880mm (W) x 50mm (H). Materials: Bone (handle) and Brass

CONTACT INFO: Karel Kaio, Collections Manager, Kaitiaki Taonga P: +64 9 438 9630 ext 3 E: karel@kiwinorth.co.nz

 

Nga mihi o Matariki,
Phillipa & Talei

Reflections on MA12 – Andrea Hemmins

Published May 22, 2012 News & Notices , Special Updates Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Over the next few days we will be posting some reflections from people about their experiences at MA12, starting today with Andrea Hemmins from The Kauri Museum.

Collaboration For Success while Maintaining Integrity

The Museums Aotearoa 2012 conference theme of collaboration was very timely and encouraging. With challenging times for Museums and Galleries now and ahead, keynote speakers were positive, realistic and some truly inspiring. The sharing and exchange of ideas and experiences was enhanced by being in Wellington, and at Te Papa, the heart of New Zealand’s culture and heritage. There was a mutual awareness of the current financial challenges and how adaptions can be made to overcome pressures facing most GLAM sector institutions.

The view from Te Papa

This was highlighted and reinforced by the Stick it to the Man campaign. A bold and honest move by Te Papa to urge the public to have their say about Te Papa today and Te Papa tomorrow. A simple but very effective campaign where a life-sized cut out of Director Michael Houlihan invites visitors to stick a ‘post it’ with their opinion on various walls throughout the galleries. The day before the conference a few ‘post its’ graced the walls, by Friday layers of colourful opinions and ideas sprung fourth and became part of the Te Papa experience. A clever method of empowering New Zealanders with a voice about their/our Te Papa; and most importantly creating a feeling of coming together for the greater good. Also an example of how the visitor can participate as collaborator. This all done at a time when media announcements were being made about budget cuts and limitations.

The reality is, no matter what industry you’re in, today there are now limitations we may not have experienced yesterday. Knowing that we’re in it together and can find ways to utilise each others resources and skills is a useful way to uphold staff morale, visitor experience and overall understanding. Being creative about overcoming restrictions and celebrating team achievement empowers everyone to a higher level.

Speaking of teamwork and celebration, Jock Philips kicked off the conference with an overview of his travels during the New Zealand Festival and Rugby World Cup to discover What is Real NZ? He frequented a multitude of small and large museums and outdoor celebrations from Invercargill to Auckland, drawing up a variety of conclusions in a blog along the way. He commented that the most successful places provided an ‘urgent relevance to the world around’ and that successful celebrations were where communities centred the activity, naturally bringing people together in a hive of activity and enthusiasm; whereas towns that sent visitors in different directions to the outskirts tended to dilute the atmosphere.

Jim Marchbank, previous CEO of Science North in Ontario Canada, provided very good practical advice for museums and galleries seeking collaboration with outside commercial and non-commercial partners. He spoke of collaboration for survival, and the need to remain true to mission statements and brand identities while fulfilling the mutual benefits for all parties involved. ‘Use your strengths and pursue win-win’ he stated. Though he was also quick to point out the importance of flexibility within your own organisation to cater to the requirements of an external party so as not to halt progress. He raised how expectations on both sides of a collaboration should be made clear in the beginning and that major decisions be shared so empowerment is equal and encouraged. A sense of pride on both sides is an indicator of success.

Umberto Crenca’s presentation was truly charismatic and inspirational. His presentation The Art of Community, about the complete turnaround of the city centre of Providence, Rhode Island, through the use of art, foresight, and pure determination, gave us all a reminder of why we love what we do. Whether museum, library or gallery based, GLAM professionals generally have a heightened social conscience, his work setting up the AS220 organisation to revive the city centre and install a sense of place through community participation for social improvement was commendable. This was recognized by the resulting applause. Each of us facing challenges of our own could relate to his vigor and drive to strive on for social awareness, education and facilitating overall greater good for communities.  

Umberto Crenca

The final segment was dedicated to Christchurch, with the museums and art galleries discussing how they came through the earthquakes, and how their futures look. A discussion involving emergency policies and procedures was very informative. On the panel, Coralie Winns Gap Filler project aiming to raise the morale of Christchurch residents through community projects in empty spaces around the city was greatly inspiring.

In summary, the conference relayed the importance of new and long term close working relationships for mutual gain; togetherness; and the power that can be harnessed by individuals and communities while upholding original long term personal and/or institutional goals. In the words of Victoria University student Shannon Wellington, in reference to collaboration ‘risk anything except your institutional integrity’ and put eloquently by celebrated maori language educator Mereana Selby, ‘behave in a mana enhancing way’.

Andrea Hemmins
The Kauri Museum

News Update 15 May

Published May 16, 2012 News & Notices Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

International Museum Day – museums in a changing world
IMD is this Friday, 18 May.  Museums around the country are using IMD as an opportunity to add something different to museum and gallery programming.  Museums Aotearoa has put out a media release to the larger newspapers, television and radio stations today.  You can download our MA media release here - contact your local media if you have more activities to highlight.

Kauri Museum – happy 50th birthday
A cake, a visit from the PM, a certificate and free entry for local residents – staff and volunteers of The Kauri Museum have been celebrating 50- years since its establishment in 1962.  The Kauri Museum is proud to be the first certified carboNZero museum, recognising their commitment to a sustainable future by managing and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  Well done to all the team at The Kauri Museum!

Volunteer Awareness Week – 17-23 June
With a theme of ‘building communities through volunteering’, this is especially applicable to museum organisations. Our communities are our best advocates, especially with local funders. Make sure you acknowledge and support your volunteers all year round, and especially during the week of 17-23 June. This may also be a good time to recruit new volunteers in your community.

Optimise – CNZ resource for arts marketing online
If you’re interested in online marketing ands use of social media, and aren’t sure how to start or what it could do for your organisation, then check out Creative New Zealand’s Optimise programme and resources.  You can sign up to their occasional e-newsletters, Optimise Insight, for information, trends and helpful tips. I’ve just been finding out about the rising popularity of Pinterest, a recent social network where people link and upload images, and found a whole lot of pinboards by the virtual Girl Museum.

MA Board – Tuesday 22 May
The MA Board will meet next week in Wellington.  Elected Board members are:

Thérèse Angelo, Director, Air Force Museum (Chair) 
Eric Dorfman, Director, Whanganui Regional Museum
Michelle Hippolite, Kaihautu, Te Papa
Jenny Harper, Director, Christchurch Art Gallery
Greg McManus, Director, Rotorua Museum

We will be looking at priorities and activities for the remainder of 2012, feedback from MA12, and planning for MA13 in Rotorua.  Members are welcome to contact the office or a Board member about any MA matters.

Nga mihi,
Phillipa and Talei

News Update 2 May 2012

Published May 7, 2012 News & Notices Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

It has been a busy few weeks in the MA office.  Last Friday we farewelled Sophie de Lautour Kelly, who has been our Museum Membership Manager for the past two years.  On Monday Sophie flew out of Wellington on the first stage of her international adventures – first stop Australia, and then the world!

Yesterday we welcomed Talei Langley to MA.  Talei comes to us from a varied background in marketing, communications and general office support.  More recently, Talei has completed Honours in Art History and is planning a Masters thesis. There is still lots of catching up for us to do after the conference, and we’ll be working on a backlog of admin matters as well as planning activities for the remainder of 2012.  When Talei applied to MA, she said she works well under pressure and loves a job with plenty of variety – she’s sure to get all that as our Museum Membership Manager. 

MA12 papers and feedback
We’re gathering up presentations and videos from MA12 conference and getting them formatted to put up on our website.  There will also be some write-ups in the next MAQ later this month.  In the mean time, you can listen to our Canadian keynote speaker, Jim Marchbank as interviewed by Kim Hill on Radio NZ.  We would also love to hear your feedback on MA12 and any suggestions you have as we begin planning MA13 in Rotorua.  We have set up a feedback survey here.  If you didn’t attend, we’d be interested to hear your perspective too, and any suggestions for making it the annual conference easier to get to.

More events coming up 
There are lots more great opportunities on the horizon for getting together and professional development.  This week was the second in the Te Papa / Victoria University museum studies seminar series,  Conal McCarthy kicked this off last month by exploring the meaning and context of ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ in museum and university research.  He highlighted the positive and negative characteristics of each, and held out a challenge for research to be more collaborative across the museum sector.  Yesterday Claudia Orange and her team picked up the museum side of the challenge in a multi-player presentation titled Curating for the future: how museum research develops scholarship in the arts, sciences and humanities to shape research opportunities for researchers and museum audiences. This evoked an interesting discussion about who and what museum research is ‘for’.  Look out for the next in this series on Monday 21 May, when David Luoni will share his Masters research into leadership in museums.

Putting collaborative theory into practice, VUW is offering a one-day ‘Wananga Taonga’ to introduce professionals to Maori perspectives on museums and heritage.  This course is in Wellington on 1 June.

And a reminder of two Medallic Management Workshops this month in the South Island: Otago Settlers Museum on Tuesday 15 May and Air Force Museum on Wednesday 16 May.  There are some other useful National Services Te Paerangi workshops in June. See listings below for details. 

International Museum Day 
IMD is on 18 May, with a theme of museums in a changing world.  Falling on a Friday this year, IMD is a great opportunity to add something different to museum and gallery programming.  It could be as simple as letting visitors know that there is an international museum community.  Or you could offer back-of-house or late tours, relate the theme to your exhibits in some way, ask visitors for their views on our changing world, or link up with a distant museum.  The possibilities are only limited by your imagination…  MA will be putting out a media release around 14 May - please let us know how your museum is planning to mark IMD.

If we’ve missed any vital information, or you have other ideas and suggestions for MA, we’ll be delighted to hear from you.

Nga mihi,
Phillipa and Talei

News update 24 April 2012

Published May 7, 2012 News & Notices Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Phew! It’s been a very busy fortnight for MA staff and helpers as we made all the preparations and then immersed ourselves in last week’s MA12 conference, Collaboration in Practice. And it truly was a collaborative few days. We were joined by international speakers, and guests from outside the museum and gallery world, to explore and reflect on the ins and outs of the collaborative process – in cultural terms, for financial goals, and through programming.

A huge thank you to all who attended, supported, presented and participated in the MA12 conference. We will be adding conference material to our website and producing a bumper conference/awards issue of MAQuarterly in May.

2012 Museum Awards
Congratulations to the award winners announced at the celebration dinner at City Gallery Wellington last week. And congratulations too to all the finalists and others who entered and were not placed this time. The record number and high quality of entries shows that the NZ Museum Awards are giving recognition to the best of the best of museum and gallery achievements. Established five years ago, we have had sponsorship from Story Inc for the last three years which has enabled the programme to grow. We look forward to continuing to develop the Awards programme and promote excellence in all aspects of our profession.

AGM 2012
The Annual Accounts and Annual Report for 2011 were presented at the AGM, and can be downloaded from the members’ area of the website here. A hard copy will be posted to members in May.  The next Board meeting will be in Wellington on 22 May.

Ministry for Culture & Heritage
MCH has announced publicly the establishment of a government Heritage Forum. This will bring together heritage interests across various government agencies, and is a good step towards better engagement and communication with the wider sector. MCH has also advertised two new senior heritage positions which will be part of this new approach to sector engagement. Click through to read about the Hertitage Forum and visit the MA vacancies page.

Later this week Sophie de Lautour Kelly, who has been managing membership services for MA for the past two years, heads off to explore the world beyond Aotearoa New Zealand. We thank Sophie for her dedication and inspiration, and especially keeping MA current and active. One of her goals was to set up and develop a presence for MA in the world of social media. We are on Twitter and our Facebook community has just reached a milestone of 400 friends. This will be a great way to keep in touch with Sophie on her travels!

Nga mihi,
Phillipa

Museums Aotearoa Tweets

Join Museums Aotearoa

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 658 other followers