MusLi (Museums Literacy) - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

Collective Conversations: A model for Community Engagement
Partner organizations:
Renaissance North West
www.mla.gov.uk/what/programmes/renaissance/regions/north_west
Greater Manchester Coalition for Disabled People
www.gmcdp.com
SureStart Children’s Centres
www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/earlyyears/surestart/
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust
www.racearchive.org.uk
Women Asylum Seekers Together
www.wast.org.uk
Wai Yin Chinese Women Society
www.waiyin.org.uk
MusLi - No qualifications needed: museums and new audiences
Kind of experience proposed: Collective Conversations gives participants an opportunity to explore
the collection, spend time with museum staff discussing objects they are interested in and
then choosing objects they want to discuss to camera. Often it is the first time people have come
into the museum and through this in-depth process of engagement it is used a space in which learning,
and sharing experiences and knowledge can take place. The final encounter is filmed and then
edited and displayed in the galleries and put on YouTube for audiences and visitors to enjoy. The
Museum uses the films to enhance interpretation of the collection within displays and exhibitions
and on-line users comment on the films positively re-affirming their cultural heritage.
Activities:
The aim of Collective Conversations is to work collaboratively with communities and academics to
explore the meanings and responses to the collection. It is to break away from the traditional role of
the museum as the single voice of authority and to build an understanding of the knowledge inherent
in communities. Taking the concept of the Contact Zone as the meeting point between cultures
and opinions, the Museum recreates this engagement in a non-threatening environment where all
voices have the ability to be heard. The Museum is attempting to create reciprocal and sustainable
relationships with communities based on mutual understanding and shared interests and benefits.
As one sociologist recently remarked, ‘Who gets to tell the story is the thing’.
Since June 2004, the Museum has worked with diverse groups and individuals including local migrant
communities, researchers, enthusiasts and academics to uncover hidden meanings and responses
to the collection. It is integrated into staff training and development, so that curators across
all collection areas can begin the work of building-in community collaboration into the interpretation
of all collections and exhibition and design staff may integrate the outputs into gallery development,
temporary exhibitions and the Museum’s website.
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