Recognised collections and the Perth Museum and Art Gallery

Museums Galleries Scotland manage a program that identifies and recognises collections of national significance to the people of Scotland that are held outside the national museums and galleries of Scotland. The Recognition process is extremely thorough and involves the organisation that owns the collection submitting a thorough report outlining not only why it is of national significance but why the theme of the collection is of importance to the people of Scotland. This is then assessed by experts and MGS staff and if it is felt to be an eligible collection it is submitted to an assessment panel who will then make the final decision.

To date there are 37 Recognised collections across Scotland ranging from archaeological material, through mining to the national football collection. Once a collection is recognised the organisation that owns it is able to apply for special funding to assist with the care, display and promotion of the collection.

One such collection is held by the Perth Museums and Art Gallery, located about an hour by train from Edinburgh. Perth is a beautiful town and I visited on a fairly rainy day- nothing like Perth in Western Australia. The museum is located in a purpose built 1930s building but the collection goes back to 1786 with the establishment of the Literary and Antiquarian Society of Perth, followed by the Perthshire Society of Natural Science in 1867. The collection has an incredibly broad scope and includes an enormous oil painting and watercolour collection, decorative arts (with a focus on local glassmakers and silversmiths), ethnography (including Australian Aboriginal and New Zealand Maori material from the early nineteenth century), a strong costume collection, natural science specimens (including some fairly recent road kills) and social history.

In the 1993 Perth suffered a major flood which included much of the collection area (493,000 gallons of water entered the building). When I was walking by the river the wall reminded me a little of the walls that have been installed around Murwillumbah for similar reasons. Within the museum, there was much work done in the collection areas to improve storage and reduce the number of opportunities for water to enter the building (including special seals on doorways including the lift).

As the space in the building is quite tight, the museum and gallery have been given funds through the recognition scheme to install numerous compactus units to increase the amount of collection they are able to store on site.

A large collection of works by Scottish colourist artist John Duncan Fergusson was acquired by the museum and gallery in 1990. An old water tower was refurbished to house the collection and opened in 1993 as the Fergusson Gallery. In 2010 a large collection of work by his partner, the dancer and choreographer Margaret Morris was donated to the gallery. Her collection includes paintings, costume and set designs, costume and an extensive photographic collection. Some of this was on display when I visited as it's the 100th anniversary of the Margaret Morris dance movement.

During my visit we discussed the value of being a recognised collection to the museum and gallery. It was felt that this status was really helpful not only by providing access to specific funding but because it helped the museum and gallery to highlight the significance of the collection to the council. A civic reception was held when the museum and gallery received Recognition and this status is highlighted on the museum and gallery's website.

Chat with Jane Robinson, Head of Museum Development

During my time at MGS I have been privileged to have one on one discussions with many of the staff members. Today I had a great chat with Jane Robinson, Head of Museum Development who outlined many of the projects and some of the future plans that MGS have for Museum Development.

Many of the MGS staff have been focused for the last week on the planning of an upcoming project Skills for the Future. This is an internship program that will see people with tertiary level education from a range of backgrounds undertaking internships with museums and galleries across Scotland. The program includes both workplace training and a series of one day workshops and it is hoped will be the beginning of a new generation of museum workers.

Like Australia, Scotland has recently developed a new curriculum. Interestingly, where Australia is working towards a national curriculum, Scotland is working on a curriculum somewhat different to that delivered in other areas of the UK. The curriculum is developed through Learning and Teaching Scotland and apparently puts the learner at the centre of the curriculum and has four key outcomes- confident individuals, responsible citizens, successful learners and effective contributors. MGS are using these concepts as a focus for museums where learning is seen as lifelong. LTS Scotland has developed an intranet for teachers and other educators called GLOW and museums are being encouraged to collaborate on material for this website.

MGS is working through a digital content strategy which focuses on four key areas- sharing, creating, delivering and preserving. This year they have focused on effective collection management systems for large industrial museums and website based issues for museums and galleries operating within local government. As is often the case in Australia, Scottish museums and galleries based within local government are confronted with a range of issues when developing websites or engaging with social networking. To work through some of these issues, MGS will be hosting a meeting with key local government museum and gallery representatives and local government IT staff. It will be interesting to hear of the outcomes of this meeting.

Earlier this year, Adrian Babbidge was the guest speaker at MGS's AGM. Adrian is a museum consultant who has done a lot of work with the Association of Independent Museums including a research study on Volunteering in Independent Museums. Adrian's study and the speech he gave at the AGM, Changing Times, Changing People outlined the changing face of volunteering, encouraging museums not to keep looking for volunteers like themselves but thinking outside the square. His research found that there are approximately 4 "groups" or generations over an 80 year period and provided an outline of the attitudes, character and values of these different generations and how they might approach volunteering. There is much food for thought with Adrian's work.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh

Over the weekend I visited the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Gardens. The gardens were filled with the rich reds and yellows of nature's autumnal palette. It was delightful to sit at the top of a hill within the gardens and look across at the Old Town of Edinburgh.

The recently completed John Hope Gateway building is located at the western entrance to the Botanic Gardens. The building is designed to promote sustainbility through the use of sustainable materials, energy saving measures and the production of renewable energy. It houses a wonderful array of exhibitions, restaurant, shop and education centre. A newly planted Scottish biodiversity garden surrounds the centre which has the feel of a highland meadow.

The exhibitions are beautifully presented and focus on biodiversity both in Scotland and across the world. There are a range of activities for children, some within an activities room and others within the exhibition area. A small tent type structure has been completely covered with children's drawings inspired by the exhibitions.

The main exhibition was on the surprising topic of fungi! Exploring everything from mushrooms to athlete's foot the exhibition looks at the role of fungi in mythology, medicine, brewing and as a hallucinogen. A very neat hand held audio guide is provided for free. The audio is activated using infra red light at various points through the exhibition.

The Gardens have worked closely with artists on a range of projects. A project with a local design school was on display- the students designed screen prints for tights, inspired by plants preserved in the Herbarium. In conjunction with the Fungi exhibition is "The Secret Sounds of Spores" a project supported by New Media Scotland . The project uses a video camera attached to a microscope to record the release of spores from a series of mushrooms. The recording is displayed on a screen adjacent to the Fungi exhibition. Alongside the screen are a series of microsopes where visitors can examine a range of fungi.

Children in museums

Over the weekend I visited a number of museums and was struck by a couple of simple approaches to children's activities. The National Trust of Scotland have two properties in Edinburgh- Gladstone's Land is a property bought and developed by Thomas Gledstanes in the early seventeenth century. Typical of properties in the Old Town of Edinburgh it is a six storey building which housed shops on the ground floor with a series of dwellings on top, accommodating people of various levels of society.

The Georgian House is a late eighteenth century property located within the New Town, developed in response to the desperate need for greater space within Edinburgh. This was the home of John Lamont, the 18th Chief of the Clan Lamont and an example of the much more expansive lifestyle that was possible with the development of New Town.

The National Trust have developed a program for children based around a dog called Gnasher. Cut out copies of Gnasher are positioned in various corners of the properties and children are encouraged to seek out Gnasher. Initially I did wonder what the cartoon cutouts of a dog were doing in a National Trust property but it was great to see the children noting Gnasher on their treasure maps as they went through the property. The Georgian House has a children's room on the top floor which had dress ups, a table of objects they could handle and a table where they could try their hand at writing with a quill. There were a number of couches in the room which no doubt provides a comfortable area for families to rest and withdraw from the more formal areas of the property.

The National Museum of Scotland has small activity tables and booths throughout their exhibition areas which I thought was a great idea. The museum is vast and by having small activity spots scattered discretely through the exhibition areas there are opportunities for children to engage with quite powerful collections in a way that makes sense to them. I particularly liked the addition of mirrors next to each dress up zone, allowing children to truly admire their new Viking self!

Choices for Change

I'm including some general view from around Edinburgh in this post as it's not a particularly image strong topic.

As you will have no doubt heard, the Arts Community, including museums and galleries, are dealing with a greatly changed environment across the UK. Whilst the Scottish government has yet to announce its budget for the coming year, there is great concern about the impact of budget cuts on museums across Scotland. Museums Galleries Scotland have been approached by a number of museums, galleries and local governments over the past 6 months who have been exploring alternative mechanisms for managing the museums and galleries under their care.

Museums and Galleries Scotland have responded to this by preparing a toolkit called Choices for Change, which provides a means for museums, galleries and local government with a self assessment process to analyse what services museums and galleries are delivering to their local community and their local government. While it aims to provide an opportunity to look at alternative operational models, it is equally useful for museums and galleries who want to outline to their local government the sort of services they are providing to their community. In this manner there may be information that could be drawn from this process to inform council's cultural/social planning or overall planning processes. Equally it could be useful for museums and galleries who need to outline their services/operation in situations where council is looking to change their operational structures.

Certainly this model has been developed for a Scottish environment which is somewhat different to the Australian environment, but there may be information that could be adapted for Australian situations.

Scottish Storytelling Centre

The John Knox House mentioned in a previous blog is located adjacent to the Scottish Storytelling Centre, a wonderful light and airy contemporary space nestled within the ancient buildings of Edinburgh's Royal Mile. The Centre opened in 2006 and provides a space for both storytellers and those who want to develop storytelling skills. I was drawn in by a chair positioned by the large window at the far in of the main space- it was an Orkney chair, a hand made chair from the Orkney Islands, where my father was born.

The main space is a large flexible room with a vaulted ceiling and a long wall that is used for small temporary exhibitions. An ingenious movable wall is filled with small vignettes that display a range of stories for all ages from William Wallace (Braveheart) to the Grufallo. Small doors reveal some of the vignettes whilst in other areas children are invited to explore inside and discover small puppets from stories such as Hairy Mclarey. When pulled out, the wall allows a small intimate storytelling space to nestle behind it, with a large chair for the storyteller to sit in and a box of dress up clothes to play with. When the wall is pushed back in the space opens up for larger events.

The Centre houses a wonderful cafe that is open to the main space and looks out over the Royal Mile (I can recommend the apple pie) adjacent to this is a wonderful bookshop with a range of books focusing on stories for all ages.

At present there is an international storytelling festival being held at the centre which this year has an eastern focus with storytellers from China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and India. The adjacent exhibition are a series of painted scrolls by Gurupada Chitrakar- a master stoyteller from Bengal whose paintings illustrate the song lyrics of Patua storytellers including some more contemporary stories about Scots who have come to Bengal.