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| The Oaks Jan Noakes & Jacqui Finley with Arts NSW Executive Director Mary Darwell |
Nominations open for 2011 IMAGinE Awards
With Nominations open for this year’s IMAGinE Awards we thought we would catch up with a past winner – Doreen Lyons from The Oaks Historical Society Inc.
Has winning an IMAGinE award had a positive impact on your volunteers?
DL: Yes the education group volunteers, Jacqui & Jan, were so surprised to win the award and so excited at being part of the ‘big picture’ event at the MCA. More importantly though, the rest of the team which turns up every Thursday to work at the museum’s Hands on History day were so proud of Jan and their own place on the team. It also increased that team of 10 volunteers to 12!
In what ways do you communicate your win? (ie. Letterhead, website)
DL: The award is covered that week in the local press. It is put on our web site and letterhead and in the Newsletter and the various promotional material we give out to coach tour groups and local Council. We have also committed one display case to showcasing our various awards. This is kept in the Community Room which is where we have our meetings and where we show our a/v presentation to visiting tour groups so it is regularly seen
How do you think the IMAGinE awards can assist volunteer museums?
DL: The award can help to lift the work of small museums into the bigger picture of the museums and galleries sector. Museums who work in isolation in remote areas seldom get the chance to showcase their work and this is one way to do that in the museum community. One suggestion on the actual Awards night would be to have a short film session actually showing those museums who won awards. Very few if any people who attended the awards night would actually come to our museum to see what we do. Receiving the award also helps to lift the profile of the museum with local Council and funding bodies. However, the “IMAGinE Awards” tag is not easily recognised outside the museums and galleries sector – especially with the Tourism Industry. Tourism is often the only way that Museums can remain financially viable. Perhaps a specific section within the Award could recognise this? I am pleased to see that MGNSW are now working with the NSW tourism industry to address this fact because at a local level many small museums like ours have been involved at a local and state level in marketing our museums to the tourism industry.
With Nominations open for this year’s IMAGinE Awards we thought we would catch up with a past winner – Doreen Lyons from The Oaks Historical Society Inc.
Has winning an IMAGinE award had a positive impact on your volunteers?
DL: Yes the education group volunteers, Jacqui & Jan, were so surprised to win the award and so excited at being part of the ‘big picture’ event at the MCA. More importantly though, the rest of the team which turns up every Thursday to work at the museum’s Hands on History day were so proud of Jan and their own place on the team. It also increased that team of 10 volunteers to 12!
In what ways do you communicate your win? (ie. Letterhead, website)
DL: The award is covered that week in the local press. It is put on our web site and letterhead and in the Newsletter and the various promotional material we give out to coach tour groups and local Council. We have also committed one display case to showcasing our various awards. This is kept in the Community Room which is where we have our meetings and where we show our a/v presentation to visiting tour groups so it is regularly seen
How do you think the IMAGinE awards can assist volunteer museums?
DL: The award can help to lift the work of small museums into the bigger picture of the museums and galleries sector. Museums who work in isolation in remote areas seldom get the chance to showcase their work and this is one way to do that in the museum community. One suggestion on the actual Awards night would be to have a short film session actually showing those museums who won awards. Very few if any people who attended the awards night would actually come to our museum to see what we do. Receiving the award also helps to lift the profile of the museum with local Council and funding bodies. However, the “IMAGinE Awards” tag is not easily recognised outside the museums and galleries sector – especially with the Tourism Industry. Tourism is often the only way that Museums can remain financially viable. Perhaps a specific section within the Award could recognise this? I am pleased to see that MGNSW are now working with the NSW tourism industry to address this fact because at a local level many small museums like ours have been involved at a local and state level in marketing our museums to the tourism industry.
Click here for nomination forms or more information about the 2011 IMAGinE Awards.
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