Museums
Museums, art galleries, libraries and archives have a long tradition of being involved in informal adult and community learning (ACL). A high proportion of Transformation Fund projects involved one or more of these organisations in their partnership, and a number were led by a museum, gallery or library.
Approaches included:
- opening up a range of cultural institutions to new audiences, including people with disabilities, by making access easier and building confidence - Just the Ticket; Time Trackers Museum Clubs
- opening "pop-up" museums in the heart of communities, focusing on local culture and heritage -Stretch, Our Place - Blackburn
- celebrating creativity in the community and creating oral history material for a local museum - Our Kingston Our Future
- engaging local communities in restoring artefacts, interpreting collections through audio/visual media, or cataloguing specialist archives and making them accessible- Nottingham Museums and Galleries - Brough Superior; Thackray Museum - Medicine at the Movies; Mining Durham's Hidden Depths; The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery
- promoting reading and writing for pleasure, through hosting book groups in libraries - Hertfordshire Learning Revolution
The network of museums, galleries, archives and libraries reaches into communities throughout England and has enormous potential for supporting informal adult and community learning (ACL). Organisations such as the University of the Third Age (U3A) already make good use of these facilities for their self-organised learning programmes.
However many people have grown up thinking that these cultural institutions are "not for them" and that they would not feel at home there. The Transformation Fund projects demonstrated:
- the potential for imaginative partnership working between these cultural institutions, local adult and community learning providers and "front-line" organisations working with excluded groups and disadvantaged communities, to engage new learners;
- the power of taking objects, that are usually shut up in museums, out into local community settings so that people can experience what a museum has to offer;
- the value of involving people in exciting initiatives which enable them to actively contribute to a local collection or archive and learn new skills, creating a sense of ownership of these local institutions; and
- the importance of breaking down barriers to access.
Participants in these projects indicated that they now recognize what these facilities have to offer and want to carry on using them, or get involved in helping out as volunteers. However for some people this will be difficult now that the projects' work of removing barriers of cost and access has come to an end.
Partnership working is key to successful informal ACL involving museums, galleries, libraries and archives. Staff working in these settings have a thorough knowledge of what they have to offer. ACL providers, and front-line organizations in the community, have the contacts with potential learners, a knowledge of their interests and needs, and access to skilled tutors who can engage and inspire them. Local arts organisations can also have an important role to play.
Working together you can:
- consult potential learners about their knowledge of the museum, gallery or archive, and assess barriers that you need to break down;
- select a relevant topic that relates to the community and its history, as a "hook" to engage new learners;
- work out how you can create a "hands-on" learning experience, which will enable participants to acquire new skills and also contribute to the local collection or archive, creating a sense of ownership;
- evaluate the impact of the work through its learning outcomes and social outcomes; and
- build in "progression routes" so that people can continue their learning or get involved as volunteers as appropriate.
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and other intermediary bodies have a key role to play in harnessing the potential of cultural institutions to contribute to informal adult and community learning. They are able to promote new initiatives, share good practice, and build capacity among organisations in the cultural sector and their staff and volunteers. Through their 'Inspiring Learning for All' project the MLA has developed a valuable planning and assessment tool to identify learning outcomes and social outcomes from adult and community learning initiatives based in museums, libraries and archives. Several of the Transformation Fund projects made good use of this to assess the impact of their work: http://www.inspiringlearningforall.gov.uk/
Web Links
MLA: Building Learning Communities
A free download from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), exploring the role of museums, libraries and archives in supporting individuals and families through the effects of recession.
Developing and supporting family learning in museums and galleries
A practical resource for museum and gallery staff, family learning tutors and managers and for early years practitioners - Free Download
