Our CEO, Michael Rolfe was invited to talk at the Southern Highlands & Illawarra Chapter of Museums Australia AGM. Doreen Lyon kindly agreed to write the following blog about the talk:
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| Michael Rolfe talking at the AGM. Photo courtesy of Desmond Kennard. |
The Southern Highlands & Illawarra Chapter of Museums Australia held their AGM on February 17th at the Wollondilly Heritage Centre & Museum at The Oaks. The invited guest speaker after lunch was M& G NSW CEO, Michael Rolfe. Delegates from Berrima Museum & Archives, Campbelltown & Airds Museum, Mount Kembla Heritage Centre, Lady Denman Heritage Complex at Jervis Bay, Camden and Museums Advisor Desmond Kennard joined The Oaks Historical Society President Ben Lyon in welcoming Michael. As previously requested Michael structured his address to the changes to funding for museums through Arts NSW following recent reports.
The most recent of the reports ‘Future Frameworks; towards a strategic plan for NSW’ is currently affecting our state government’s response to our sector – especially the volunteer sector. Crucially, volunteers in small to medium museums are now seen to be part of the social capital of their communities and as such the report recommended that support is delivered through a social inclusion and community engagement model as opposed to a professional development model.
In addition, the findings underpinning the report indicated that not all museums are addressing the diversity of their communities or caring adequately for collections, so it was suggested that Centres of Excellence be explored which would support the regional collections by establishing their significance. In practice this would emphasise the involvement of the heritage sector and the local Aboriginal and ethnic communities and others who had a stake in the local culture. This model would locate significant objects in collections and highlight social inclusion and community engagement – and help to integrate museums, keeping places and galleries.
Michael responded to all the questions and comments and advised of the present priorities including Information & Communication Technology which could fund such items as video-conferencing equipment, apps, web development/design etc. He also suggested looking for digital volunteers among young people to develop digital databases, make videos for YouTube etc. M&G NSW are developing an interactive website to include museums and galleries with their own pages. After prompting from members, Michael also emphasised the key words which are equity, access and innovation.
Thank you Michael for your patience and courtesy.
- Doreen Lyon
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