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Image: Illuminated Brisbane sign at Southbank with Brisbane City backdrop |
The Museums Australia (Tasmania) Committee offered its members the opportunity to apply for a bursary to attend the The Museums Galleries Australia National Conference 2017. Amy Bartlett from the Queen
Victoria Museum and Art Gallery was one of the two recipients. This is her report.
The Museums Galleries Australia
National Conference 2017, with the theme Museums & Galleries in their
Cultural Landscapes, was the first MGA conference that I had ever attended. As
Senior Conservator at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, I have frequented
many conservation specific conferences or workshops and attending a general
museology event was an excellent professional development opportunity. I was
fortunate to be awarded a Bursary from Museums Galleries Australia (Tasmania)
and I received support from my workplace in order to go to the conference.
The Regional and Remote Day was
held at the State Library of Queensland on Sunday 14 May 2017. The plenary
session about young people in museums presented by Dr Dea Birkett (Creative
Director, Kids in Museums) was full of energy and was an inspirational start to
the conference. A number of programs were described and the comment 'small
changes make a big impact' has resonated with me. Other interesting talks
included exhibition delivery with minimal resources and collection management
systems. A presentation on de-accessioning attracted an audience of many with
professionals sharing stories about collections and storage during question
time.
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| Image: Chair John Waldron (President, MGA QLD) at the Regional and Remote Day |
The first event in the social
program was the Welcome Reception at the Queensland Museum. Songwoman Maroochy
of the Turrbal People performed the Welcome to Country and we saw a number of
noteworthy performances. The evening also provided an opportunity to meet other
museum professionals face to face that I work with on projects with such as
inward and outward loans.
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| Image: Museums Galleries Australia National Conference 2017 Welcome Reception |
The main conference was held from Monday
15 to Wednesday 17 May 2017 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The plenary speakers on each of the three days were well chosen and I found the
morning tea breaks interesting with attendees excited, full of discussion, and
ready to take back suggested improvements to their respective workplaces. I
found all of the sessions to be educative with key messages from museum
professionals and artists about how important stories are in order to connect
people with collections. In addition, the importance of data and the
appropriate use of technology in today's changing sector were highlighted.
I made sure I immersed myself in
the unknown during the concurrent sessions as this was the perfect learning
landscape to discover the inner workings of the myriad of behind the scenes
roles that take place in the cultural sector. Due to my interest in co-curating
an exhibition next year, I attended sessions on exhibition design, curatorial
decisions, and collaborative curating. I found myself taking notes on how the
examples given, often from institutions much larger than my own, could be
massaged to work for our exhibitions. I also attended education and learning
talks and those on digital access to collections. The importance of allowing
visitors to lead the museum experience was expressed, how education programs
can give participants a voice, how the physical environment impacts the sense
of belonging, and how digital collections and technology can be used
successfully. All factors in some way
led us back to the fact that stories are paramount to the success of the
physical museum and digital realm. Stories make collections come alive!
Overall, the conference was
stimulating and educational. My main objectives in attending were to broaden my
knowledge on other roles within the sector, develop some skills in
project/exhibition management, network and create contacts for
inter-institutional activities, and see how professionals Australasia wide are
responding to changing environments. These goals were achieved and I have
gained a significant number of ideas which I hope to translate into practice
during my upcoming role as Conservator and Co-Curator in 2018, in addition to
my day to day work.
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| Image: Snapshot of MGA TAS Facebook post about attendance at the conference - MGA TAS 2017 Bursary recipients Amy Bartlett and Erin Wilson |
My attendance at the Museums
Galleries Australia National Conference would not have been possible without
the generous support from the Museums Galleries Australia Tasmania branch and
support from my workplace. It was a fantastic opportunity and I am grateful. During
the conference I submitted a photograph of myself and Erin Wilson, as state
division Bursary recipients, for posting on the MGA Tasmania Facebook page to
express our thanks.
While I was in Brisbane, I made my
way to a number of the cultural institutions and spent a considerable amount of
time in the Queensland Museum and Queensland Art Gallery I Gallery of Modern
Art. This provided a chance to examine contemporary display methods and signage
that I could take back to my colleagues in order to evolve procedures for
continuous improvement. I also enjoyed looking at the exhibitions and wandering
the cultural site.
All of this information will be
delivered to other Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery staff during a joint
presentation in July, with Katrina Ross who also attended the conference. In
addition, I will be discussing the conference with fellow Tasmanian Conservators
from around the state at the upcoming Australian Institute for the Conservation
of Cultural Material Tasmanian Division branch meeting. These presentations
will enable me to share my professional development with others. Thank you
again for the opportunity.
Amy Bartlett
Senior Conservator, Queen Victoria
Museum and Art Gallery
