Future Plus….. Dreams and Other Ideas – NSW Museums & Galleries Planning Day

Amanda Lawson presents survey research to NSW museum and gallery representatives.

Monday 20th June was a very busy day at Museums & Galleries NSW's office with over thirty people from across NSW coming together to look at future plans for the sector. Representatives from regional galleries, regional museums, volunteer managed museums, state government, cultural centres that incorporate a range of activities including museums, galleries, local history research not for profit organisations, Artist Run Initiatives

The first half of the day was a presentation and workshop by Professor Amanda Lawson (University of Wollongong), Professor Shirley Veitch (Swinburne Universit of Technology), Deborah Ely (Bundanon Trust) and Amanda Reynolds who are part of the team currently undertaking work for Arts NSW on a Strategic Plan for the Visual Arts and Museum Sector for more information on the background to this project, please go to the Arts NSW website here.

The project is being undertaken by a six person team and aims to provide preliminary recommendations to Arts NSW about how best to support the museum and gallery sector over the next 5-10 years, including key priorities and approaches to sector support. Their work has included:

• A literature review of national and international issues and trends
• Phone interviews from key representatives of the industry
• Distributing and analysing a survey with the sector focusing on 10 key areas (provided in online and hardcopy formats to over 600 organisations across NSW)
• Collating written submissions
• Presentation of the workshop on 20 June for feedback on the survey and input into the future of the sector

The final report is due with ArtsNSW on July 15th 2011

Amanda's team received over 200 responses to the survey with the majority being filled out online. The regional community were well represented in the responses with 74% of respondents being from regional areas. Over 30% of responses came from historical societies with museums with a further 20% from museums, just over 10% from regional museums and just under 10% from regional galleries. Over 40% of respondents were managed by volunteer committees, 20% local government, 15% incorporated associations and 5% state government. The majority of respondents were from well established organisations with just under 45% being established between 1961 and 1990. The team has found that there are a variety of needs and focus across NSW, which reflect the diversity of organisations that make up the museum and gallery sector within NSW.

Following Amanda's presentation on the outcomes of the survey the group were divided into four teams and Professor Veitch led a session workshopping a purpose statement for the gallery and museum sector in NSW. This was a really interesting approach to strategic planning that asked participants to step outside their specific organisations and look more broadly at how the museum and gallery sector is perceived and what it should broadly focus on in the next five years. Shirley asked participants to look at:

• Inspirational dream (why we exist)
• Spirit (who we are)
• Beliefs (what we stand for)
• Attributes (our character)
• Greatest imaginable challenge (what we are going to achieve over the next 5 years)
• Focus (what we'll focus on)

The outcomes of this session will feed into the work Amanda et al will present to Arts NSW on 15th July.

Following this, Michael Rolfe presented the preliminary work on M&G NSW's 2012-2014 strategic plan to members of M&G NSW's three reference committees (Visual Arts Reference Committee, Museums Reference Committee and Volunteer Reference Committee), including an outline of the proposed new staff structure. We also presented a series of ideas for possible workshops and seminars over the next three years to get a sense of priority areas for ongoing learning within the sector.

If you would like more information about our future planning please contact Michael Rolfe on 9358 1760 or free call 1800 114 311