During the last few weeks, I’ve been privileged to speak at two really fascinating conferences, one the Group for Education in Museums was in Norfolk, the other hosted by Museums and Galleries Scotland in Edinburgh. Both looked to challenge museums to think hard about the characteristics of a resilient organisation, and the behaviours required by museum people to ensure their organisations were relevant and sustainable.
I was asked to speak about what influenced the Museum of East Anglian Life’s decision to consider itself a social enterprise and how it addressed the competing or complimentary demands (depending on your viewpoint) of being a museum. I was also indulged and able to talk about MEAL’s side project, The Happy Museum, which advocates that all museums should aim to be high-well being, sustainable organisations. I galloped through my influences, including Sue Clifford from Common Ground; George Ewart Evans, the historian; EF Schumacher and Richard Layard, the economists and Edgar Cahn, lawyer and social activist.
The text of the paper is called Conflation of GEM and MGS keynote chats and the presentation is on SlideShare
Under 7s growing in MEAL's Walled Garden
blessings be on you Tony!! hope the audience liked it..
am still trying to find other ‘examples’ and good practice in order to make convincing arguiments for non-rural places…hope the Happy Museum project will soon help with that
All the Happy Museum projects are great – keep an eye on the ones from Godalming and Cinema Museum, Lambeth. in particular