As the shortlist for the Art Fund Prize is announced this week and we head towards the final announcement in June, spare a thought for those whose hopes were raised and then dashed. After all that effort, it is just one museum or gallery that will walk off with the £100,000 cheque….and all the glory! But not quite. Now in its ten year, the reputation of the Art Fund Prize (until 2007 the Gulbenkian Prize) has grown exponentially to the point where those on the longlist, and now on the shortlist benefit almost as much as the final winner, except for the large cheque, of course.
Chaired by the indefatigable Viscountess Cobham, Penny Cobham, the Museum Prize Trust (and I am one of the trustees) has ensured that over what seems quite a long period when the judges visit all the museums, the museums can participate in an extensive programme of PR and marketing. Research commissioned by the Art Fund, the sponsor of the Prize, showed that this worked well for the majority of museums who didn’t win. They benefited in terms of local and national publicity, enthusiasm among staff and supporters, and in many cases increased visitor numbers.
So to all the six who didn’t make the shortlist this year, and to those now facing a month of uncertainty before the final announcement, don’t despair but take advantage of the interest and enthusiasm that the Prize generates.
And who are the four…..
The four chosen museums for the shortlist are the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, the Hepworth Wakefield, the Watts Gallery near Guildford and the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter. Your blogger is not even going to try and guess who the judges may choose from this extraordinarily strong list. We all have to wait till 19th June. More about the shortlisted entries and the judging panel at www.culture24.org.uk
What about the six……
So there are six museums no doubt feeling a bit sore today about not making it to the shortlist. But that’s the nature of competitions and no reflection on their level of excellence or innovation – just that not everyone could go through. Let’s hear about some of those excellent entries.
As you know from my last blog, I was rather taken with all the Scottish entries. The Riverside Museum Glasgow has created probably the world’s first fun transport museum in a dramatic building which inside reminded me of the Guggenheim Bilbao except it was filled with trams, train carriages, cars, bikes and ship models. Everyone was having a good time. And in Edinburgh very few spaces in UK’s national museums can now match the restored Grand Gallery at the National Museum Scotland.
I was also rather taken with the glass extension at the Holbourne Museum Bath – some people have apparently been rather up in arms about what they see as a desecration of a historic building. But it works beautifully and gives the museum not just a wonderful café but more space and light throughout the building.
The Turner Contemporary also on this year’s longlist is a lovely gallery in a rather dismal town….but it’s on the up, so we are told. Let’s hope it happens for Margate this summer!
The MShed has proved itself with the locals and is an excellent place to expand your knowledge of Bristol, past, present and future. And at Bletchley Park, the Alan Turing exhibition is adding value to one of the more unusual visitor attractions in the UK. Well worth the trip!
And don’t forget Museums at Night….
Coming up this weekend is the magic opportunity of exploring museums and galleries around the country out of normal opening hours. Special events, tours, gigs and sleepovers abound. This year is another record with some 550 events at over 400 venues – too much to cover in this short blog, so go to www.culture24.org.uk and find just the event for you.
Hundreds of museums around the UK are now preparing their contributions to Nuit des Musees – Museums at Night which will take place over the weekend 18th to 20th May. A selection of eager participants was invited to the launch at No 11 Downing Street, no less, to a reception hosted by Frances Osborne, wife of the Chancellor. Perhaps sensing the presence of illustrious past and present ministers, Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, kept his speech short and to the point….ie not much of a story but lots of good wishes.
Storytellers sprinkled around the grand stateroom overlooking Horse Guards Parade added interesting angles on the building’s history including the cartoons on the staircase leading up to the first floor. Each chancellor gets to add one, but all of course wants one which is nice to them! There was also something about spooks – presumably previous Chancellors wandering through the building at night worrying about the budget aftermath. There was also a lot of jelly but somehow I missed the plot there after tasting one full of gin …but I think a very large jelly is going to appear somewhere…..
Adding an artistic connection and a sleepover or two…
Each year there is a new twist to Museums at Night. This year ten artists are creating installations or performing at museums around the country (that’s where the jelly comes – all around the SS Great Britain in Bristol “in a night of anarchic fun”). Hm…. You may want to head for something less squashy like bedtime reading by author John McGregor at Discovery Point Dundee.
If you wanted to join a sleepover, it’s probably too late, as these are some of the most sought after events – every parent’s dream ie the children out of the house for the night! My choice would be somewhere really comfortable like the 300 year old Great Bed of Ware which has just left the V&A to spend a year at Ware Museum in Hertfordshire (where it came from). In its early years, the huge bed was frequently moved between rival inns as a visitor attraction. It could sleep up to 12 people – just right for a sleepover with a few friends! (But I have a feeling it’s not going to be available).
It all started in France as Nuit des Musees and this year there will be events across Europe check out www.nuitdesmusees.culture.fr/ CachedMore about some of the more unusual events in my next blog or if you want to choose something right now go to www.culture24.org.uk
Touring Scotland with Art Fund Prize Judges …
Your blogger was privileged to join some of the judges on a tour of three long-listed museums in Scotland. The red carpet was rolled out first at the Riverside Museum in Glasgow, then at the National Museum of Scotland and lastly at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. We had a break in Edinburgh, enjoying dinner together, when we (ie our chairman, Lord Smith) were spotted by Alex Salmond, First Minister, delighted apparently that Scotland features so strongly in this year’s Art Fund Prize.
The pressure is now on the judging panel who have to get the list of ten* down to four… Lord Smith, Chris Smith, is in charge, and will have the unenviable task of uniting the team of seven judges on their final list. Your blogger, being also a trustee of the Museum Prize Trust, can’t of course express an opinion, but the refreshments were good in all three museums we visited – with a particular mention of the famous scones at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. On the day it re-opened after 2 years of refurbishment, the first man across the doorstep headed straight for the café and ordered one or more of the delicious scones with his cup of tea!
*The seven additional museums on the long list are Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter; Holburne Museum, Bath; Watts Gallery, Godalming; The Hepworth, Wakefield; Turner Contemporary, Margate; the M-Shed, Bristol and the Life and Work of Alan Turing at Bletchley Park.
To find out which four museums are going forward to the next stage, tune into BBC Front Row on Monday 14 May or check the website, www.artfundprize.org.uk or Culture24 as above.
And who’s our unsung heroes?
A special award for this, the tenth year of the Museum Prize (earlier known as the Gulbenkian and then the Art Fund Prize) will go not just to one volunteer or special museum employee, but to ten! Nominations have been received from across the UK (someone in Ireland got carried away by this as well!) and are now being assess by the trustees of the Prize. There are some great stories of dedication and hard work to be told and I am sure we’ll have trouble getting the numbers down to ten worthy individuals. They will be featured in June Museum Journal and will also receive an an invitation to the Prize Giving Reception at the British Museum in June, as well as a few other special treats.
Your blogger is a Trustee of the Museum Prize Trust, chaired by Penny Cobham (Viscountess Penelope Cobham), which runs the prize, sponsored by the Art Fund. The Trustees, as administrators of the prize, make sure that everything runs smoothly but it’s up to the judges to take the difficult decisions. The shortlist of four will be announced on 14 May and the winner in June.
First to Scotland …
Three major museum developments in Scotland are on the longlist for this year’s Art Fund Prize, together with another seven from the rest of the country – more of them below. Leading the Scottish charge in Edinburgh is the National Museum of Scotland which re-opened with a great fanfare in July last year after a three-year, £47.4 million redevelopment, showcasing 16 brand new galleries. Also on the Edinburgh team are the National Galleries of Scotland with their Portrait of the Nation – a major redevelopment of the Portrait Gallery which opened in December, following an ambitious £17.6m restoration project and with an entirely new presentation of its world-famous collection. On the opposite side is Glasgow’s Riverside Museum – the much lauded £74 million Museum of Transport in a dramatic new building by Zaha Hadid (her first public commission in the UK). 3,000 objects are on display, some climbing up the walls!!
Joining from England…..
There is plenty of competition from south of the border for the four coveted shortlisted places, let alone the £100,000 for the winner. How about the beautifully restored Watts Gallery in its own grounds just outside Godalming, or the perfectly expanded Holburne Museum in Bath? And not just for the “geeks” – the Bletchley Park exhibition on the life of Alan Turing is a knockout. For something more modern, try Turner Contemporary in Margate or the Hepworth Wakefield, in Wakefield of course, both celebrating famous British artists as well as contemporary art. Heading west, there are two contenders to consider, the new M Shed in Bristol, and the revitalised Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter – both ambitious developments based on local collections.
So who are the judges….
The impressive panel of judges is led by Lord Smith of Finsbury, otherwise known as Christ Smith, and former culture secretary. He was a moving force and behind the prize in the first place and it is appropriate that he should be chair now that it is in its tenth year. He is joined by Professor Jim Al‐Khalili, theoretical physicist, Charlotte Higgins, Guardian arts journalist, Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces and popular TV presenter; Sir Mark Jones, former director of the V&A, Rick Mather, architect and Lisa Milroy, artist.
Quite a challenge for the judging panel and, as Chris Smith emphasised on Front Row announcing the longlist, there is an equal chance for everyone – size doesn’t really matter.
Let the battle begin….
The judges will now travel round the country visiting the shortlisted entries. Another group of judges will consider the longlisted entries for the Clore Award for Museum Learning, part of the Prize. More about those entries in my next blog.
Your blogger is a Trustee of the Museum Prize Trust, chaired by Penny Cobham (Viscountess Penelope Cobham), which runs the prize, sponsored by the Art Fund. The Trustees, as administrators of the prize, make sure that everything runs smoothly but it’s up to the judges to take the difficult decisions. The shortlist of four will be announced on 14 May and the winner in June. Let the battle begin!
More at www.artfundprize.org.uk
What are the prospects for UK’s tourist industry in 2012? This week, pundits gathered at the annual Tourism Society meeting to make their forecasts. And they were deeply divided - some foresaw nothing but doom and gloom while others predicted a fantastic year with media and tourism opportunities showcasing the Queen’s Jubilee and the London Olympics. One thing nearly everyone was agreed on: there won’t be a massive extra influx of staying tourists from July onwards. The displacement effect is real but no one at this stage knows quite how it’s going to work out in practice.
So what are people planning now?
BDRC who sponsored the evening’s event at the Copthorne Tara presented some up to date figures which showed that the staycation is here to stay. 45 per cent of those interviewed at home are planning a UK holiday and 28 per cent have already booked. Half agreed that the Olympics had affected their holiday plans. Liz Hall from PWC gave details of a global survey which showed that only 18 per cent of consumers thought they’d be worse off this year – in the UK that figure was 37 per cent! So quite a few people won’t have a holiday at all. It was also clear from her presentation that as far as the hotel industry is concerned it’s all about value for money. While London hotels start the year from a relatively strong 2011 and can look forward to a good year, outside the capital it’s going to be a tougher story.
So who’s coming for the Olympics?
Ken Robinson predicted that there would be some 300,000 Olympic visitors at any one time in London – organisers, sponsors, those on special packages etc and staying in hotels – but that the majority of those coming for events at the various venues will be day visitors, or staying with friends and relatives. Most tickets have apparently been sold to people in London or within easy travelling distance. (Your blogger can confirm that her study is fully booked and her vfrs are overflowing to nearby friends!)
There was a long discussion about what people will do – will they just go to their ticketed session or will they explore London’s many attractions? Opinions were divided. Based on the experience of other destinations attractions did not on the whole benefit from Olympics visitors, although the Commonwealth Game in Manchester had showed a slightly more encouraging picture. Bernard Donghue now in charge of ALVA – Association of Leading Visitor Attractions – highlighted the strong start to the year made by London’s museums and galleries with blockbuster exhibitions including Da Vinci at the National Gallery and Hockney at the Royal Academy. There is more to come with the Queen’s Jubilee and the Cultural Olympiad. We will be overflowing with events and activities to stimulate sporting enthusiasts and entice those who don’t know Usain Bolt from Victoria Pendleton to London and other city centres.
Now for some of the bad news….. Why with the most exciting year in London’s tourism ever has its main tourist information centre closed down? That was a very pertinent question from the floor. The London Britain Visitor Centre in Regent Street operated by VisitBritain closed last year as part of the cutbacks in VisitBritain’s budget. Described as a “tourism embassy” by one of the panel members, this was the only place in London for unbiased tourist information not just about London but also about the rest of the UK. It featured changing exhibitions and promotions highlighting lesser known attractions around the country. Now it’s still an “I” on most tourists’ map but the door is closed. Will I-phones, I-pads and internet access in hotels fill the gap? Thousands of London Ambassadors employed for the Games could perhaps be helping tourists throughout the year! Or let’s have a Britain visitor centre back.
What about the paradox of thrift…. David Edwards of VisitBritain and Geoffrey Lipman, who chaired the discussion, outlined some of the factors which will influence international markets this year. Although WTO is forecasting a record of one billion international travellers in 2012, this according to Geoffrey, is threatened by the economic climate worldwide, the US elections, China in transition, oil prices rising and the Arab spring turning into a winter of discontent! David Edwards took a slightly more optimistic view but highlighted the danger of the paradox of thrift. I think we have just seen the results of that in the UK as the economy shrinks.
On balance an optimistic evening, but the jury is out not only on the immediate benefits of London 2012 to the economy in general and London’s tourist industry in particular but also on the legacy. The proof of the pudding ….., as they say, so we’ll have to wait to see the results of this massive investment in infrastructure, sports, culture, and London and the UK’s image for the future.
Vietnam is moving rapidly up the international tourism charts and your intrepid blogger set out to explore over Christmas and New Year. The tour organised appropriately by Explore, the tour company, also included a short stay at Siem Reep, Cambodia.
Impeccably organised, there were no hitches on the 15 day tour with five different hotels, and five internal flights including to Cambodia. In addition to the heritage sites and war memorials, a number of new products have been developed including cookery schools, cruising junk hotels, and traditional music dinners in ancient buildings – just some of those sampled by us on this tour.
Service in the hotels was excellent although some buildings – mostly very new – were better than others. Northern Vietnam is quite cool and damp this time of the year but hotels were generally constructed with only cold air conditioning and single glazed windows.
Thumbs down when it comes to traffic…..
The majority of the population use scooters and motorbikes and up to two adults and two children are allowed on each! That’s in addition to transporting goods of every kind from sheets of glass to live fish (which swam hopelessly across the carriage way in one of the accidents we saw). Public transport seems limited to a few buses and intermittent gridlock is surely in prospect as more cars are added to the mix. Although we drove along the main railway line from north to south for several hours, we never saw a train. Pedestrians are bottom in the pecking order, with pavements used for parking scooters. So you take your life in your own hands when crossing the road!
Ha Long Bay – best and worst….
Ha Long Bay – a World Heritage site – is glorious even when it’s overcast and rather cool. It wasn’t such a good experience for some passengers on one of the many touring junks last Spring which suddenly started sinking during the night; 12 people lost their lives including 10 foreign tourists. So we had a safety briefing before we sailed on board our Indo China Sails junk with handy life jackets on deck and in the cabins. The food was superb food and the scenery impressive.
It was a shame that our sightseeing tour on board a Dragon boat on the Perfumed River in Hue a few days later did not include safety briefing and no life jackets were in sight. On the Mekong day cruise – another highlight later in the week– we could see the life jackets but had no briefing. Hopefully these boat operators won’t wait for an accident. We all know what happened on the Thames all those years ago – and just this weekend on board a Mediterranean cruise liner.
Memories of the War….
In Vietnam, it’s known as the American War (as opposed to the French War, Chinese War, and warring with other neighbours – and between North and South). But it’s the Vietnam War, the most recent, which has left its mark on the country with more than 3 million people killed. There are war memorials and cemeteries along main roads, and in Saigon there is the War Remnants Museum in the city and just outside the Chu Chiu tunnels. Your blogger who was based in Hong Kong during the final years of the war has vivid memories from that time.
The transformation of Vietnam into a society where English is spoken everywhere and where the American dollar is the “second” currency is therefore truly amazing. But the War Remnants Museum and the introductory film at the Cu Chi tunnels tell a different story of invasion, bombings, destruction, torture and killings with the Vietnamese as the victims. The Museum was created soon after the war ended in 1975 and was originally known as the War Crimes Museum. And that is still its general message with some powerful exhibitions including one of photographs by international photographers.
The Cu Cchi Tunnels were built over 21 years and stretched for 200 km to hide the Viet Cong, first from the French and then the Americans. Visitors’ first experience is a hard-hitting film which tells the story using archive footage. There is a trail through the previously demolished landscape, now a pleasant woodland, which explores what is left of the tunnels. Tunnel openings, underground rooms and other spaces have been exposed to view. And there is an opportunity for visitors to try entering one of the narrowest of openings and crawl through some of the tunnels. This unfortunately turns the visit into something of a theme park experience….not what was intended, I am sure.
And then Cambodia….
Siem Reap a small town growing fast thanks to the nearby Angkor Wat is a delight to visit, calmer traffic, and control on buildings which cannot be higher than the famous temple, and in traditional style.
Much controversy has been caused by the new Angkor National Museum (opened 2008) housing many of the individual sculptures from the many temples in the area. This is what we might call a PFI arrangement built with Thai money and managed by them commercially on a 30 year lease. Locals apparently abhor the Thai style building (there is history, of course, between the two nations). I found the museum a delight – fantastic displays in large, cool rooms including an impressive audio visual of Angkor Wat, a nice little café, and a beautiful shop.
I emailed the museum to say how much I enjoyed the visit (it’s a bit empty as there is $12 admission charge – no concessions). I have just had a response to say that they are planning an additional “complimentary” gallery to give visitors a taste of the golden era of the Khmer empire.
And what can one say about the fantastic Angkor Wat and the many temples in the area known as Angkor Thom? You just have to go and find out for yourself!
Held to ransom by social media?
Can the customer take over the role of the hotel inspector? Should we abolish the rating systems of stars maintained by AA, RAC and VisitEngland? Is it enough to scroll through the comments on Trip Advisor or similar websites before booking a business trip or holiday? Or are we being held to ransom by social media?
This was the hot issue for discussion at the Tourism Society’s President’s debate this week. The President himself, Lord Thurso, chaired without favour to either side – those who trusted the amateur reviewer on the one hand and on the other those who’d rather rely on inspectors or assessors.
It was during the preparation of the latest DCMS Tourism Strategy that this topic became a hot issue, when the Tourism Minister, Jeremy Penrose MP, suggested that as a saving Visit England could abandon its hotel and other accommodation rating scheme as customers were doing such a good job reviewing hotels online.
Since then we have had a spate of stories, a television documentary and legal cases against review websites which have been accused of hosting malicious comments, destroying businesses, and turning a blind eye to favourable reviews posted by professionals on behalf of hotels.
So what’s the argument?
Four protagonists took the stand; Alison Rice as a journalist defended the right of customers to use social media. She also suggested that people don’t really understand the star system. Jeremy Brinkworth of Visit England, agreed that there had been a lot of perhaps confusing changes in the rating system over time but that currently the systems in the UK were well integrated – 76 percent of people interviewed most recently had said that they trusted the rating system – although there was a problem with self-classifying hotels.
Karen Plumb on behalf of Trip Advisors quoted the millions of consumers using their services and added that there was an average of 32 reviews per hotel on the site. Reviews did not replace the rating system, she said, but added those “feel-good” experiential factors which made a holiday special.
Mandy Lane of Live Tourism endorsed the importance of rating. She has extensive experience of the hotel rating business, including overnight stays in some less salubrious hotels in London. However, with 25 per cent of London’s hotel accommodation (establishments) found to be sub-standard in a survey carried out by Live Tourism for the former VisitLondon (ie they didn’t meet the minimum standards of the VL Marque), it was clear, said Mandy, that the rating system by itself did not necessarily improve the quality of accommodation overall, as it is voluntary.
A lively discussion followed
Here are a few chosen comments:
In conclusion, the audience voted for the retention of a star or similar rating system for the accommodation sector while recognising that review sites such as Trip Advisor or Reevoo play an important role in filling in the gaps.
More on www.tourismsociety.org
It’s not right just because you can….
One of the arguments in the debate was for social media per se. Just because it’s possible for every jo bloggs to blog (like me) or tweet or file a review on Trip Advisor or similar, we must put up with it even if it’s wrong or harmful to some businesses. BUT we must not be held to ransom by social media! Trip Advisor and similar websites are responsible for the content on their websites legally and morally, and should control and delete malicious, out of date and other non-genuine comments.
And individuals who use the power of the internet to extract a discount on their hotel stay or a freebie, should just as journalists usually do, own up to their readers that they enjoyed a free meal, or a reduction in price before they wrote a review (or blog!).
For example, your blogger paid for her attendance at the Tourism Society debate.
AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
TO ALL MY READERS!
Should museum websites be more like IKEA?
That was one of the questions raised by Mark O’Neill, recently appointed guru at the all-encompassing Government Digital Service. Just a small outfit he assured a conference of museum geeks – we’ll only have around 140 staff max. Museum IT specialists working mostly in groups of two or three were suitably impressed. Mark introduced the audience to his theme – making official websites more user friendly by learning from others. So he put museums to the test by surfing museum sites for vases and then comparing them to shopping online at IKEA. We would all agree that an IKEA online experience is at least twenty times better than the real thing ie shopping in person at IKEA (except that the meatballs are cold) but is it also better than most museum websites?
As someone who is always searching for something online, I was prepared to agree with Mark. He used two American museum websites for his experiment in which IKEA did much better in terms of choice, narrowing the search and clarity. But I thought I would do the same thing with a simple search for “vase” on the BM website – a collections search brings up 10,000 images – and yes, you can refine your search. On the new rather flashy V&A website more than a 1,000 images are available in the collections search, and you can narrow your search by material, style etc. So Mark’s starting point is probably right – government websites can learn from museums. Everyone was invited by Mark for lunch (meatballs, of course!) so he and his team could learn more. http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/
The innovative museum – a step too far?
At the Imperial War Museum, the innovative museum is taking a step forward with a new NESTA funded project, designed to be “agile”, as it will change as it develops. The idea is to introduce social media directly into the museum experience by inviting visitors to comment in the gallery, online and through mobile applications on specific exhibitions and objects and sharing these comments with others. Their views which will not be moderated will, it is suggested, add context to objects and stimulate discussion inside and outside the gallery experience.
As Jane Finnis of Culture24 asked in her presentation to the conference of “Let’s Get Real” Action Research into social media – “Who is it for?” The research suggests that most social media projects are unfocused and ignore the fact that the “conversation stays in the channel”. This project financed under the NESTA R&D project may be able to prove the opposite ie that insightful comments by visitors add value to the exhibition experience.
(See NESTA link below) www.culture24.org.uk www.iwm.org.uk
Is social media diverting resources from long term projects?
How much of their limited resources should museums and galleries spend on strategic digital development and how much on quick fire social media initiatives? In difficult times, choices have to be made and sometimes management and trustees might prefer some flashy new media work – another app for example – rather than the slow and laborious building of databases and digitising of images.
Museum of London is a case in point with a history of outward facing websites and apps built on shaky foundations. This is all changing with a new collections online delivery system which makes it possible to bring all this information into one database, integrating information and images and improving functionality. At the Museum Computer Group conference the MoL team demonstrated the impact of this on its educational information websites. More will follow.
However, that hasn’t stopped the museum’s development of apps. The successful Streetmuseum is being followed by Dickens: Dark London, coinciding with the opening of the Dickens and London exhibition – on 9 December (2012 is the 200th anniversary of Dickens’ birth). This ambitious new iPhone and iPad app will take users on a journey through the darker side of Charles Dickens’ London. “Drawn from a selection of his short stories featured in Sketches By Boz, Dickens: Dark London will be published monthly throughout the run of the exhibition to echo how Dickens himself released his writings. All editions of the app will be brought together on an 1862 map of London, overlaid on a modern satellite map of the capital, allowing users to compare the city that Dickens knew with the London of today.” (www.museumoflondon.org.uk).
In view of this, your blogger was interested to note that one of the NESTA’s recent R&D grants for £70,000 went to the Exhibition Road Cultural Group to create a new CultureApp that will invite users to go on a digital cultural journey across London. The first journey will be ‘DigiDickens’, a contemporary journey across the capital inspired by the life, work and interests of Charles Dickens. (The members of this group as the name suggests are based around South Kensington – not exactly Dickens’ heartland – but for this project they are working with the newly re-opened Charles Dickens Museum in Doughty Street.) www.nesta.org.uk www.exhibitionroad.com www.dickensmuseum.com
With so much going on in 2012- it’s good to get some of these Dickens projects off the ground early, before they are crowded out by ….you know what!
Message from Seb Chan – from Downunder to the Big Apple
Those of you familiar with the BOOK (plug – details below) will know that I am a great fan of Seb Chan’s who is quoted at length in the BOOK on the subject of new media and where we are headed, or not, as the case may be. He’s got a great following on Culture24 as well, having led several successful seminars. So you’ll be interested to hear from Seb, as follows:
Today (a few weeks ago) I’m leaving the Powerhouse after a long stint to take up a new role as Director of Digital & Emerging Media at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York. I’ll be starting at the Cooper-Hewitt on November 28 (2011). I’m looking forward to the new challenges and also the opportunities that I hope will flow from being part of the larger Smithsonian Institution whilst being in the cultural epicentre that is New York. I’m especially excited to be working for the Cooper-Hewitt with its high calibre exhibitions, and well established national education projects. I’m continuing to write Fresh & New so don’t fret about any loss of signal. It will just be from a different timezone – and possibly, over time, a slightly different set of spelling conventions.
Follow Seb at http://www.freshandnew.org/
I hope this means we’ll see more of Seb in the UK – only a short hop away now, so no excuses!
Marketing and Public Relations for museums, galleries, cultural and heritage attractions (Ylva French and Sue Runyard) published by Routledge. www.routledge.com
Is London becoming a campsite….?
Mystified tourists wander among the tents outside St Pauls and take photographs of dilapidated banners at Parliament Square. Most write it off as another sign of British eccentricity which they have heard so much about. But allowing people to pitch tents opposite the Houses of Parliament for almost ten years does seem strange even to the average member of the British electorate.
Parliament Square that oasis of green surrounded by traffic remains just that -reinforced by high metal fences. This is far from the vision of the World Squares for All steering group. Remember them? Their plan called for a partly pedestrianised Parliament Square with fountains and seating accessed directly from St Margaret’s Church and Westminster Abbey. In 2008, Boris Johnson, new Mayor of London, pulled the plug on the £15m project. Would it have made a difference to the current rather sad situation where no one can access the square itself? Or maybe it would have allowed for a much larger camp as when the Tamils took over the square?
At St Paul’s it’s difficult not to sympathise with the so called “citizens of a new world”. However, perhaps they could direct their talents and influence in a more constructive way – at the party-political system, at the electorate (many of whom don’t bother to vote when they have a chance) – as well as at the bankers. At the moment it looks as though it’s just the Church of England that’s taken a hit, while tourists pass by on top of their sightseeing buses.
More money for promoting Britain…
This week, London will welcome some very special tourists. They are the world’s tourism and travel organisers in London for the annual bash – World Travel Market. While the event itself is held at London’s Excel, many will spend time in shops and restaurants, enjoying the low value sterling and boosting London’s
economy.
Today at World Travel Market, Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, launched yet another GREAT promotional initiative to cash in on UK’s bumper year – 2012.
“I am delighted that the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt, has today announced that the Government is investing up to £40 million in promoting Britain overseas for business, study and tourism,” said Sandie Dawe,
VisitBritain’s chief executive.
VisitBritain will receive £27 million of this sum to mount an image campaign in selected priority markets. This will be in addition to the existing four-year, £100 million match-funded marketing campaign they are running to capitalise on the international attention Britain will receive during 2012. In total this amounts to the largest tourism marketing campaign in our history! (www.visitbritain.org.uk)
We know already that a big event like London 2012 will be a huge promotional opportunity for Britain as a whole. But it’s clear that the usual mass of tourists is unlikely to head for London during July and August. While the city will be groaning under the weight of VIP cars for officials and dignitaries (according to some), those going to and from the various events will be walking, cycling, but mostly cramming into tube trains, kept going by overpaid underground drivers. It will all be great fun! And I do like the posters!
In our dire economic circumstances, it’s GREAT that the Government has realised that tourism is an important contributor to the economy, but that it is competitive worldwid so Britain has to fight for its share, and that means supporting the tourist industry through VisitBritain.
What about social media
Why spend millions on advertising when you can use “free” social media, some people are asking? Well, as my co-writer and I found when writing our book on marketing, nothing is for free even social media requires resources and measuring. And mostly social media is more about awareness than “bums on seats”. In a recent survey by IBM, marketing chiefs admitted that they were overwhelmed by the growing volume of customer data on websites like Facebook and Twitter, and while they realise its potential value they consider themselves ill-equipped to harness it.
A few top consumer brands, such as Coca-Cola , Nike and Starbucks — are using high-profile social media campaigns to great effect to find out what their customers want and to communicate with them.
But most CMOs are struggling to prove that investments in social media marketing would yield returns. “The perfect solution is to serve each consumer individually. The problem? There are 7 billion of them,” said one CMO at a consumer-products firm in the survey.
Culture24’s Action Research on social media found very much the same. While social media is effective and raises profile, it’s unlikely to translate immediately into visitors, or even visits to websites. Social media is what it is – yet another layer in the many faceted communications cake. (see www.weareculture24.org.uk for more details on “Get Real”, Culture24’s Action Research).
Thanks to our contributors
“Given the fast pace of change, it’s ambitious to attempt to provide a handbook for students and practitioners to use that will have a decent shelf life. But….the writers…have a wealth of knowledge and the breadth of quotes and case studies from others in the sector is impressive. (Emma Parsons writing
in Museums Journal November 2011 about our book – Marketing and Public Relations for museums, galleries, cultural and heritage attractions (Ylva French and Sue Runyard) published by Routledge. www.routledge.com
Thanks again to all our contributors (over 80 of them) who provided quotes and case studies for the book.
While museums agonised about cuts at their conference in Brighton on Monday, the institution which had carried their name in one guise or another for some 80 years bit the dust. Monday 3 October was the date when MLA (Museums Libraries and Archives) was formally wound up and Arts Council England took up the guardianship of English museums…and libraries. The irony was further underlined by the “nations” of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland taking the opportunity to boast about their national strategies for museums…and dedicated museum bodies.
In Brighton the sun must have been too much for English museum delegates who buried their heads in the sand …No, no we don’t need our own strategy…. Yes, we will be fine within the “arts” council…. with a budget for programmes cut by more than half, the hallowed Renaissance budget already partly raided to maintain services, and the Arts Council itself losing a large chunk of its own funding.
Liz Forgan, intrepid chairman of the Arts Council, ended the first day feeling “joyful” at the prospect of the extra responsibility. And endlessly flexible, cheerful and adaptable museums people applauded.
So what’s the history….
The original (Standing) Museums and Galleries Commission was established in 1931 following a Royal Commission on national museums and galleries and the development of a strategy! The MGC was made permanent in 1981, later becoming Resource – incorporating libraries - and was then renamed Museums and Libraries and Archives Council. So there is a long and mostly distinguished history of museums and galleries having their own “arms-length” body. But not quite….the national museums were never part of the responsibilities of MGC or MLA and will not be part of the Arts Council’s brief for museums. And, as I said earlier, there’s no appetite from the new museums department at the Arts Council to tackle a national strategy for England. Attempts were made, starting in 2005 and drafts remain buried on hard discs and memory sticks. In his speech Ed Vaizey, minister for the arts, indicated that this was not a priority.
So there we are – museums are now part of the “arts”.
www.artscouncil.org.uk
After lunch speaker…..
Tim Smit of the Eden Project is certainly more than just an “after-lunch” speaker. His enthusiasm for everything, particularly Eden, brought the audience to their feet – or was it just the sprinkling of four letter words?
Get rid of negative people, take risks, be political, look after your suppliers, put yourself in jeopardy, and think big… These were just some of the many of the words of wisdom offered up in Tim’s presentation. His next big thing after the “big lunch” is a TV music charity channel. And yes, he would work with museums (although he made one or two rather derogatory comments about some institutions), if they were prepared to be brave, take risks, and do something out of the ordinary.
“Give me a call”, he said to loud applause.
Money, money, money….
The popular ABBA tune haunted Vanessa Trevelyan, President of MA, as she ended the first day by challenging the minister and the government to “get real” about the cuts. Earlier in the day, Ed Vaizey had outlined a whole bevy of new galleries and buildings which have opened this year. Vanessa with her feet very much on the ground could only see cuts in opening hours, public events, education programmes and staff.
“How much more can the sector bear?” she asked.
Find out more at www.museumsassociation.org
Culture24 welcomed some 100 delegates to pre-conference drinks at their Brighton office! There was no crisis talk here as people enjoyed themselves on a warm Sunday evening… .www.culture24.org.uk
Getting real in Bristol…..
Culture24 held its first major conference in Bristol this week with the focus on online metrics! No don’t turn off! It gets exciting, I promise, and it’s a very important subject as we move further into the online world. In museums and the attractions world generally, we know all about counting visitors as they come through the door. We might not do it very accurately, at least not where admission is free, but over time we get a good idea of trends and visitor patterns and which marketing activities really work.
So online metrics is just that – measuring virtual visits to your website, apps or social media pages. It’s also about getting an idea of how visitors use your website, where they come from to your site or page, and whether they go on to find out more, and visit your museum or gallery. Some of that you can find out from regular visitor research but an amazing amount of data about your online visitors is available and some of that is free – through Google analytics.
For a year Culture24’s project team which included IT and communications people from museums and other attractions from around the country, considered what they were doing now in terms of measuring, what they should be doing in the future and what to recommend to others. Just counting “hits” and “page-views” is not enough when making strategic decisions on future development and budgets, particularly in the fast-changing area of social media.
Read all about it in the report: Let’s get real, available on Culture24’s new sector-facing website, http://weareculture24.org.uk/projects/action-research/
Failing forward….
“It seemed like a good idea at the time….”. This was the introduction by five speakers brave enough to talk about their failed social media and website initiatives in a conference session called Failing Forward. They included a photographic competition on Flickr and top tips on Four Square neither of which made any kind of impact on potential visitors. This session was about lessons learned for the future and the common factor appeared to be the lack of strategy at the start of each project ie setting clear objectives (or building a model….see next section).. But it was also about expecting too much from social media.
Research for the Let’s get real project showed that Twitter and Facebook users were unlikely to click through to the main websites of museums and attractions. Social media is about socialising with your friends and colleagues as Nancy Proctor said in your blogger’s book – details below:
What I object to is using Social Media “simply” as a marketing tool – as another set of platforms from which to broadcast traditional marketing campaigns – as digital billboards. SM is fundamentally about having a conversation with the museum’s audiences; to misunderstand that is not only to miss an incredible opportunity to connect with audiences in new and powerful ways, but also potentially to damage the museum’s brand by coming across as a social media spammer.
Nancy Proctor, PhD, Head of Mobile Strategy & Initiatives, Smithsonian Institution,WashingtonDC
Looking to the future….
Two blue sky thinkers Tom Uglow of Google and Matt Locke of Storythings challenged some of our ideas about the future. “Nothing is going to be simple again” said Matt. The longed-for convergence of multimedia platforms and communications tools and channels is still some time off. Global technology and communications giants are locked in fierce competition and development of new products and platforms continues apace.
As an example of multi-tasking, Matt mentioned that an estimated 60-70 per cent of under-25s watched television with their laptop or iPhone, participating in programmes such as the Million Pound drop (Channel 4), checking texts and emails, tweeting and updating their Facebook page.
So how do marketer or IT communicators keep a clear head and keep up to date? Tom and Matt had a few tips:
Read more here at Culture24 – www.weareculture24.org.uk
And for a strategic approach to marketing and PR incorporating social media, check out “Marketing and PR for Museums, Galleries, Heritage and Cultural Attractions” by Ylva French and Sue Runyard, published June 2011 Routledge. www.routledge.com
