Culture Syndicates CIC

   31st May 2017  In  Collections ,  News And Opportunities Bassetlaw Museum Stores In preparation for Bassetlaw’s Museums at Night event (19 th  May), I was given the opportunity to delve into the collection stores and explore what geological specimens the museum has. Currently, Bassetlaw does not have any geology specimens permanently on display. Therefore, the Museums at Night event was deemed the perfect opportunity to show case the ‘Hidden Gems’ of the collection. In the stores, I found specimens of Rocks, Minerals and Fossils that explain the geological evolution of the local area and wider world. Here are a couple of items that we decided to put on display at the ‘Hidden Gems’ event:   ‘Hidden Gems’ – Museums at Night Event The ‘Hidden Gems’ were brought out of the stores and displayed especially for the Museums at Night event on the 19th May. Visitors took an interest in the items and even used a magnifying glass to get a closer and more detail...

   23rd May 2017  In  Reviews As my internship draws to a close, I still feel as though I haven’t seen as much of Rutland as I would have liked (after working here for 6 months). It is such a beautiful county, with a unique heritage. Therefore, I’m going to write about the heritage options around England’s smallest county and then I’m going to try to visit the ones I’ve yet to see. A Few Rutland Facts Rutland has an area of 151 square miles It was reinstated as a county in 1997 after being part of Leicestershire from 1974 It is the only county not to have a fast food chain The National Leg Wrestling Championships are held in Oakham each year, during the late May bank holiday   Rutland County Museum, Oakham Obviously I’m biased as I work there, but this museum is so great and unique. It tells the story of the county, mostly through archaeological collections and social history. The museum is very large and includes a vast number of large agricultural / rural obje...

   18th May 2017  In  Training And Employability The first rule of mentoring? Don’t give advice. As Mentoring For All mentors, we were told to expect times when our mouths will engage before our brains. Inevitably, there will be times when we hear ourselves saying things like “if I were you…” and “perhaps you should…” It came as a surprise to many of us to learn how unhelpful and ethically fraught this can be. So what should a mentor do? Good mentoring involves supporting the mentee to build their developmental plan and decision-making framework, rather than advising on what they might do. We’re there for  process  rather than  content . We talked about the difference between a  manager:employee  relationship and the  adult:adult  relationship that the scheme would involve. A mentor is an equal; we are not there to lead our mentees but ask key questions to help reflection. At Culture Syndicates, we have spent the last 6 months train...

   16th May 2017  In  Exploring History The BHI Museum is currently undergoing some exciting changes to its branding and identity. Along with this, we have been thinking about how to enhance the museum’s interpretation to make it more user-friendly and engaging for visitors. In particular, I have been working on developing new interpretation panels for the Speaking Clock Gallery, which contains all three of the General Post Office’s speaking clocks up until 2001. Updating the Speaking Clock Room There has been a lot to consider with regards to how the interpretation panels should be written, where they should go and how they could be incorporated with other interpretation, such as audio and video. I have experience of writing interpretation panels from my work on some temporary panels the museum used during its Spring Forward event. These new panels would be permanent, and an important addition to the Speaking Clock Gallery, which is one of the most popular with visi...

   10th May 2017  In  Health And Wellbeing Monday 15 th  May sees the start of  Deaf Awareness Week  and it has reminded me why I wanted to move jobs and work within the Museum and Heritage sector. Whilst working as a Sport Development Coordinator, I completed my Level 1 and 2 British Sign Language (BSL) qualifications. My fascination with this visual language was one of the instigators for starting my Masters and had a big influence over the direction of my dissertation, focusing on engagement and accessibility for audiences with varying levels of hearing in museums and art galleries. Over 11 million people in the UK experience some form of deafness, from mild to severe, [1]  so assumptions when generalising the term “deaf” or “deafness” should be avoided; not all those who are deaf use Sign Language or wear a hearing aid. There are also different dimensions to deafness and identity, including Deaf with a capital D, deaf with a lower case d, and ...

   9th May 2017  In  Training And Employability We had some drama this month at Ayscoughfee, when a baby grey squirrel fell from his home tree in the hall gardens. Despite making several attempts to retrieve her little one, the mother squirrel eventually gave up and returned to the rest of her brood. An onlooker in the gardens fetched the head gardener, who was then able to warm and rehydrate the now orphan baby. Apart from a slight bloodied nose from his fall, the baby seemed in fairly good health, but needed feeding every hour or so with a pipette to make sure he didn’t dehydrate – and this became my main duty for the day! There was now the question of what to do with the little thing. Grey squirrels are not native to the UK; they were introduced in 1876 and are widely accepted as the main reason for the decline of the red squirrel. They are regarded as an invasive non-native species. This meant complications for our baby, affectionately named ‘Scrat’. On further r...

   First Posted: 3rd May 2017  In  Industry Trends And Critical Analysis Accessibility [noun: accessibility definition: the quality of being able to be reached or entered]  ‘Accessibility allows us to tap into everyone’s potential’ – Debra Ruh (founder of  TecAccess  providing accessible software and advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities). According to government statistics, by 2012 the number of disabled people in the UK had risen to over 11 million. This makes up a substantial proportion of our population, our public. When viewed as organisations aiming to engage and enrich the lives of this public, it then follows that museums need to work on becoming more accessible to everyone – working to overcome any potential barriers people may face. Ayscoughfee Hall Museum and Gardens During my time at Ayscoughfee, I have had the chance to engage with a number of access projects. The ‘11 Million Reasons to Dance Project’ worked to encourage div...

   First Posted: 2nd May 2017  In  Reviews What I learnt on a free walking tour of New York… On a recent trip to New York, I went on a free walking tour of Greenwich Village, and it turned out to be one of the best things I did on my holiday. Free walking tours are incredibly popular with tourists now, taking place in many cities around the world every day! It got me thinking… Are walking tours an important and perhaps overlooked part of the heritage sector? Whilst museums are great at preservation and showcasing the past in a way that educates and entertains, walking tours can be just as educational, and draw our attention to lesser known stories; often ones which are maybe still too recent to be told within the context of a museum. They also have the potential to change perceptions of an area, and therefore to contribute to the continued changing identity of a place. Greenwich Village Before the walking tour of Greenwich Village, my perception of the area was of an...