Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery reopening speech
Tuesday 22nd October 2024
As far as I am aware BMAG hadn’t closed since the second world war (which my daughter asked as im old, if I was there).
We really hope this is the last time we fully close for 100yrs Since opening in 1885 (and no I wasn’t around for that kid)
Over 100 million people have visited the museums we care for and a chunk of that was people visiting here at BMAG.
Museums were never just vessels for staring at art. They are places for people. People to feel something. People just being people in all their glory. Where you may take your first steps, Where you take your first date, a place to see wonder, a place to discover something old and something new… a place for a wee and free wifi.
We proudly have famous art, stuffed animals, vehicles of every type, old maps and even hats.
People who just like to wander the world in a gallery we got you.
You are amongst the first 500 people to breath life back into us.
We are most concerned with those who don’t have a voice.
We are attempting something that has never been done before. Both inside the organisation and with the public.
We need to work much harder for the public.
We need to be relatable and democratic and not be shy of continuous improvement
You are our heroes. the tiny sparks that are breathing life back into the museums lungs.
We need you.
The city needs you.
A hero can be anyone.
Heroes leave 5 star google reviews – I want 100 reviews by tomorrow!
If the museum could talk I think it would say:
Electrical wiring forced our closure but still i rise
Covid comes and knocks me down but still i rise
Global conflict and a cost of living crisis but still i rise
Section 114 declared our city bust but hey guess what, still i rise
AUDIENCE participation: After 3 shout “Still I rise”
As Mike Skinner [Birmingham born] from the streets said “ Let’s push things forward shall we?
Good enough for now, safe enough to try
A principle to live by.
Introducing The Citizens’ Jury
Museums have been run successfully for over 100 years. However even museums need to move with the times. Being more useful to more people is a phase I say a lot here at BMT. One of my core principles is placing “user needs” at the heart of what we do.
In addition to the typical methods of asking existing visitors what they need from us we are experimenting with a Citizen Jury throughout the second half of 2024.
We have written about how The Citizens’ Jury works on our website.
In short the Citizens’ Jury are 25-30 representive people chosen from a lottery of 5000 people across the City. They will will deliberate our initial question:
“What does Birmingham need and want from its museums, now and in the future; and what should Birmingham Museums Trust do to make these things happen?”
Special thanks to NLHF for funding this activity.
Art Funds 2024 Directors research
Important reading at a critical time.
Using Basecamp to communicate across the organisation
I get asked from time to time how we work across nine with people scattered across the world at any given time (hey I’m writing this over the Atlantic).
Here at BMT we use a tool called Basecamp to support our communication. It is a tried and trusted tool used by thousands of people. We use it because effective communication is critical yet very hard to do at scale. We use it for both internal communication and working with partners on our products and services.
You can read about it’s tools etc on their website so I won’t repeat it here. In short the reason we don’t just use email like everyone else is because email across 150+ people is asking for trouble. Instead we choose a different path.
Basecamp is purely for communicating.
We need to share announcements, proposals, decisions and such like to group’s or globally across our organisation via our HQ group which every person is part of. Using Basecamp makes it the go to place for this.
Over time Basecamp becomes a form of corporate memory. When did we decide X? Answer check Basecamp. Why did we decide Y? Answer check Basecamp. People may leave but their comments remain. Clever huh.
Doing effective meetings is difficult and time consuming. Often times people just want to know the outcome. Share your proposal to a group(s) and get their feedback. To make it sweeter, get their feedback or approval when they are ready. Why wait for a meeting in two weeks when you can make it a simple proposal and get approval. One of our strategic aims is to support working anywhere at any time and this underpins our ability to do so.
Get it on your desktop or mobile if you choose.
We can make as many groups as we need and share with external partners.
Does Basecamp work well? Yes very much so.
However getting us all to use it effectively is a game of patience!
If I had to pick the biggest gripe people have with the tool it is confusion around managing notifications. When you normally post a message by default the setting notifies everyone in the group. It is easy to change but isn’t a behaviour most use/understand is possible.
My personal experience too is that writing with clarity is the key and that’s a skill most of us need to continually hone.
How’s it going in Birmingham?
Every biography of a successful person has that line, “And then, things took a turn for the worse.”
We need to talk about Class
https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/museum-worlds/11/1/armw110105.xml by Serena Iervolino and Domenico Sergi
BMW i7 forwardism
A car advert using Salvatore Dali reference
Got a desk?
I propose that “we” make available our internal hotdesk spaces for others within the sector. We advertise where/when/how and make every effort to reduce the friction to make mi casa es su casa. The results could be to foster new connections, reduce isolation, help each other out and start to make the future of work a reality.
I want to… book a temporary space to work at for a few hours or a whole day at a time at a relateable organisation such as a museum.
So that… I don’t have to work alone at home all the time or because I happen to be out of town.
As a… regular traveler across the UK
When… i happen to be in another town or city with the need to work
Because… I can’t afford to hire a private co-working space or hover in a noisy high street cafe (at least not most of the time).
A boiler plate set of terms and conditions to cover fire evac, desktop workstation assessment and shared values to abide by would keep everyone happy. Oh and let’s have an agreed wifi host name and password.
The “we” above can be any organsiation so that we scale up a network that could be anywhere in the world.
I am part of an action research project with Culture24 looking to how we use the opportunities of hybrid for good purposes. Birmingham will be the first flag of hopefully many.
See you in Birmingham?