In May 2012, the National Museums Directors’ Council
(NMDC) published a short paper, World
Collections, which illustrated the breadth and impact of our members’
international work [see image 1]. We wanted to show that working
internationally has become business as usual for many museums, and that there
is a huge variety and depth of engagement taking place. You might be aware of
the high profile loans which attract headlines but there are hundreds of
projects beyond those. There are scientists at the Natural
History Museum (NHM) working with colleagues across the world to study
specimens to learn more about disease-bearing insects. Teams from the British
Museum spend weeks in Nigeria
and Kenya providing training on how to pin coins, fold textiles and
re-build storage facilities. At any time within the walls of UK museums there
are worldwide
visitors from museums, universities, arts organisations and specialist
organisations (like archaeological societies), leading workshops, studying
collections, giving lectures, assisting with exhibitions and community
programmes and being trained in collections management. Similarly, people from
UK museums are visiting colleagues across the world to take part in the same
sort of activities.
Some of this I knew already. Between 2008 and 2011 I was the International
Manager at the British Museum and part of my job was to run the World
Collections Programme. This was a £3m DCMS-funded project to developing
long-term projects in Africa and Asia using six of the UK’s largest
collections: the British Museum, British Library, Tate, Victoria & Albert
Museum (V&A), NHM and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.
1. Science Museum re-developed its
popular hands-on interactive gallery
Launchpad in 2007, the exhibits were donated to the Unizul Science Centre in South
Africa. Following the success of the Launchpad Outreach Programme in the
UK, the Science Museum entered into a partnership with the Unizul Science
Centre.
Image courtesy of NMDC World
Collections publication.
At the British Museum I found
that getting to know colleagues who were working on similar projects was
crucial when working somewhere new or trying to do something particularly
tricky. For example, when I was working on negotiating the loan for Afghanistan:
Crossroads of the Ancient World I used the network created by the World
Collections Programme to make contacts and pick the brains of those who had
worked in Afghanistan [see image 2]. I met helpful British Embassy staff and
found someone in the Afghan Embassy in London who could help me translate
letters into Dari. It was a mutually beneficial group. For quite a while I knew
exactly how much it cost for an Iraqi curator to get a UK visa (78 Jordanian
dinar), the best flight route from Basra to London (via Amman) ad what to write
in a letter to persuade the relevant Iraqi Ministry to let a museum director
come to the UK. Unless these were likely to be the answers to my million pound
question on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, it was pointless keeping this
information to myself. We would co-host visitors with the British Library –
Iraqi, Kenyan and Ethiopian scholars and curators who we knew would be
interested in each other’s collections. These sorts of experiences have
influenced the second aspect of NMDC’s international project: to find ways to
better share knowledge and experiences across the museum sector.
2. This object is one of the
illicitly traded Begram Ivories which the British Museum helped repatriate to
the National Museum of Afghanistan (they very recently have been shipped back
to Kabul).
The picture is "Begram Ivories: Duck Walking to the Left"
from Begram, Afghanistan.
Image courtesy of the
National Museum of Afghanistan
International work is, by nature, complicated and any
step that can be taken to make it less so is surely a good thing. So, in these
straightened times, if a museum wants to develop a partnership in China or
apply for EU funding, doesn’t it make sense to talk to someone who has already
done it? If a museum spent 18 months being the first UK institution to mount a
large touring exhibition to Indian venues (as the V&A
has) then they are likely to have learnt a great deal about the most
effective ways to negotiate, the best couriers for that environment and where
the decent hotels are in Mumbai. Thankfully the V&A are keen to share the
answers to these sorts of questions.
Developing international partnerships is no longer
the preserve of the very largest London-based cultural institutions. There are
hundreds of international partnerships involving museums of all sizes across
the UK. For that reason, the V&A and NMDC are organising a session at this
year’s Museums Association Conference (Thursday 8th November, 12.20pm – 13.20pm)
to discuss the practicalities of developing partnerships with museums in India.
We have participants from the V&A, National Museum of Scotland, the British
Library, Indian museums and the British Council, and the
focus of the session is on sharing good practice and steering clear of trouble.
Given the large Indian community in London, the opportunities for working with
Indian museums and the wonderful Indian objects in London museum collections, we
really hope it will be helpful to London museums whatever their size.
In the meantime and in the spirit of sharing, I
thought I’d finish with a list of five things I learnt – some of it by luck rather
than judgement:
- Sustainability - No-one likes to have a project done ‘to them’, so forming long-term
partnerships in which you can invest will probably yield the greatest
success;
- Do something
achievable - Don’t start big – work up to something. Get to
know people and how they work with something smaller;
- Ask for advice - The British Council is a great source of
in-country guidance and there are many other organisations who work in
specific countries or on different art forms and academic subjects. Look
up from your project and think who else would be keen to know you are
doing this;
- A little tip - Blue is a neutral colour for wrapping
diplomatic gifts; books relating to your collection, museum or London make
good gifts...
- Shopping - almost every delegation or visit I arranged
wanted time off and directions to Primark. I decided this was one part of
the trip they could do unaccompanied!
If you have any questions about international work,
please see my offer on the Share London website.
Author: Katie Childs, Projects and
Policy Officer, NMDC and LMG member.
