Case Studies

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This selection of Case represent the breadth and depth of work that the Museum Development Programme is involved with, from smaller one-off projects on collection care, through to larger governance related work. The Case Studies here are all from the ACE-funded period of 2012 onwards.

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Isle of Wight Hidden Heroes - partnership in action

See what museums and arts partners can achieve when they get together.

Carisbrooke Castle Museum ‘Island Memories’ Oral History Project

Developing an archive of oral testimony of older people on the Isle of Wight

Petersfield Museum - Interpreting heritage through dance

Working in partnership with Dance Up, Petersfield Museum produced an innovative and unusual approach to heritage interpretation through dance, in addition to the more conventional exhibitions on offer at the museum

Carisbrooke Castle Museum - Developing an outreach service for elderly people in our community

Carisbrooke Castle Museum used museum resources (objects, pictures, and the skills and knowledge of staff) to enhance the quality of life of older people living in residential and nursing care

Fort Nelson Staff and Volunteers Experience Crime Scene Technology Training

Royal Armouries staff and volunteers were recently awarded a Training Bursary to learn how to use a portable X-ray fluorescence analyser (XRF), to enable the collection of forensic evidence from the collection of Artillery held at Fort Nelson. Conservator Matthew Hancock tells the story.

Sea City Museum making improvements, saving time and money with Lean Systems Thinking

After taking part in a one-day 'Lean Systems Thinking' workshop in March 2015, Southampton City Council's Sea City Museum bid for the opportunity to have a day's intensive in-house support from consultant Debbie Brown, which took place in June. The management team chose to split the consultancy day in to two; utilising the morning for an objective and impartial review of the Front of House service; leading to a feedback and training session in the afternoon. Overall their aim was to ‘gain an understanding of where there may be opportunities for improvement at the point of delivery within public venues; whilst challenging the thinking and working methods of the team.’

Hampshire Cultural Trust making improvements, saving time and money with Lean Systems Thinking

After taking part in a one-day 'Lean Systems Thinking' workshop in March 2015, Hampshire Cultural Trust bid for the opportunity to have a day's intensive in-house support from consultant Debbie Brown, which took place in June. A cross section of staff from the two museums came together as part of Lean Systems Thinking workshop to understand how the change methodology could be used to improve their retail process.

St Edward’s School Western Front Living History Project: Highclere Castle Living History Project Link

St Edward’s is a Roman Catholic BESD (Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties) boys' school in Hampshire. The school's Western Front Living History Project uses a unique and extensive collection of First World War artefacts to to empower the boys to attend to their learning with renewed confidence. The project is now Working Towards Accreditation. Head of History Stephen Whelan took part in a South East Museum Development Programme supported networking event. This opened up an exciting, multifaceted partnership with Highclere Castle that is having lasting benefits.

Petersfield Museum participation in GEM Conference 'People Power: Realising the potential of volunteers, communities and partners'

Back in 2013, Amanda Harwood of Peterfield Museum was awarded a Training Bursary to take part in Group for Education in Museums (GEM) annual conference ‘People Power: Realising the potential of volunteers, communities and partners.’ Find out how this has delivered lasting benefits to the museum 18 months on, with better utilisation of volunteer support and increased partnership working with local schools and community groups.

Training Bursaries: MA 'Sorted' Seminar

In September 2013, staff from four Hampshire Solent Hampshire Solent museums were awarded training bursaries to attend the Museums Association seminar ‘Sorted: New approaches to collections rationalisation.’ We've updated this case study with information from a long-term evaluation carried out in May 2015. Find out how the Training Bursary recipients are continuing to make a difference 18 months on.

'Emergency Preparedness' Peer Development Group

Five Hampshire Solent museums with a common interest in Emergency Preparedness worked together to learn more about it. The members identified a common starting point: as Accredited museums they all had Emergency (or Disaster) Plans, their key focus was to ensure that these plans are live documents, owned and understood in their organisations, rather than something that sits neglected in a drawer.

'Collections Care' Peer Development Group

How a group of Hampshire Solent museum staff and Trustees set out to work together to learn more about a topic of common interest. The group learned about Collections Care through a series of study visits to members’ museums, attendance at a Collections Trust seminar and a visit to Novium, Chichester.

‘Audience Development’ Peer Development Group

How five Hampshire Solent museums created a structured, supportive community of people with a common interest in Audience Development so that they can work together to learn more about it. The group learned about Audience Development through a series of study visits to members’ museums and a commissioned a successful training session ‘How to create an effective Audience Development Plan’.

Hampshire Solent museums’ ‘Orphan Collections’ project in partnership with Portsmouth University’s School of Law

In 2013-14, the Hampshire Solent Museum Development Programme brokered an opportunity with the University of Portsmouth’s Masters in Corporate Governance and Law programme, whereby postgraduate students volunteered in museums, working with staff and trustees work to identify priority collections with unclear ownership or loan arrangements, to conduct relevant research to establish title, and to help the museums to fully understand the legal parameters and their possible courses of action in relation to their orphan objects.

LAInet digital technology research trip to the Museum of London

LAINet members organised a research trip to the Museum of London to learn about simple, cheap and effective digital technology that can make a museum gallery, or education workshop interactive.

Geology and Palaeontology Curatorial Training

Placement at the Natural History Museum enhancing standards of care, display and documentation at Dinosaur Isle.

Documentation and Collections Management at King John’s House

Delivering significant improvements to collections management at King John’s House and Heritage Centre, a small museum in Romsey, Hampshire.

Isle of Wight museums’ access audit peer network development

Establishing a skilled, well-resourced peer network of Isle of Wight museums for mutual support with access audits.

Titanic Study Exchange

Study exchange between Titanic heritage venues focuses on commercial operations, including retail, catering, and visitor income.

HMS Warrior Ship's Player's Youth Theatre

Video case study of HMS Warrior's 'Ship's Players' youth theatre.

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