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Digital Volunteering Forum

VocalEyes’ Digital Volunteering Forum aims to address the growing trend of digital and remote volunteering in the arts and heritage sectors and beyond.

Event speakers will bring the expertise that they have gained through running successful digital volunteering projects, and will offer advice and answer questions on best practice. Through a mixture of presentations and panel discussions, VocalEyes seeks to empower organisations to explore a range of aspects of digital volunteering, how make it inclusive and accessible, and question the future of volunteer engagement in their sector.

Sign up for the Digital Volunteering Forum

Digital Volunteering Forum
Thursday 23 February, 9.45am-2.15pm
Online

All Inclusive: Championing Accessible Museums

​​​​​​​All Inclusive on Wednesday 26 April is the Museums Association’s annual one day conference exploring how museums can become truly inclusive spaces and representational platforms, and champion equality at every level.

Disabled people are under-represented in the museum workforce, on boards and in our audiences, and the lives, contributions and perspectives of disabled people are still under-represented in our collections and exhibitions.

This event elevates the perspectives of D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people as part of this event.

Through provocations, case studies and panel discussions, this event is for anyone who is working towards diversity and inclusion at a museum or relevant organisation.

Find out more about the conference and book

Exceeding Visitor Expectations 

The Exceeding Visitor Expectations course, delivered by Tourism South East, has been designed specifically for visitor attractions. It combines the expertise of VisitEngland’s Visitor Attraction Quality Scheme and the experience of the renowned Welcome to Excellence training programmes to help staff and volunteers avoid the pitfalls of customer service. This short online course is suitable for staff and volunteers engaging with visitors.

Exceeding Visitor Expectations will help participants to:

Tourism South East will deliver the session via Zoom using a range of exercises and interactive features, including Breakout Rooms and Polls. Participants are encouraged to ask questions and actively participate in discussion. If you have any concerns about accessibility or usability for these features please contact wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk

Maximum two delegates per organisation. Priority will be given to delegates from non-NPO and non-National museums in the West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.

This event will be auto-captioned through Zoom. If you would benefit from any other form of access support, including live captioning, please answer ‘yes’ to the access requirements question on the booking form and email the WMMD team as early as possible stating the support you require.

All participants will receive an email containing a Zoom link to the training prior to the event. The email will be sent to the email address used for booking. If you have not received an email the day before the event please contact us.

Exceeding Visitor Expectations
Monday 13 March, 10am-12noon
Online

If you can’t see the booking button below this event is fully booked. To join the waiting list please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk

Stimulating Memories

A course aimed at heritage staff/ volunteers or carers/ activity coordinators on best practice in collecting, sharing and recording people’s memories.

Run by Julia Letts. www.lettstalk.net Julia is an oral historian and accredited trainer for the Oral History Society. She has also worked as a trainer with the Association of Dementia Studies and runs intergenerational projects every term in a local Worcestershire care home.  

This course is for heritage professionals/ volunteers, activity coordinators, care professionals or carers who want to learn more about:

You do not require any previous experience to join this course, but places are limited, and we would expect people to commit to the session and be prepared to join in. The course would particularly suit people who want to develop their professional practice, learn new skills or share their existing experience in this field.

The course will be held online via zoom and participants are expected to have cameras on and engage in the practical sessions.

To book please email julia@lettstalk.net

0930 Introductions

0945 Who? Working with different communities including older people, children and people living with dementia.

10.00 Why? The therapeutic importance of stimulating memories. Differences between reminiscence, oral history and life story gathering. Examples and case studies including the ‘Life Stories Herefordshire and Worcestershire’ platform.

1015 Practical: discussion in groups about challenges. Feedback and solutions.

1045 Break

1100 Getting started. Formal and informal memory collection. Different ways of engaging people. Example – making use of the platform ‘Know your Place Worcester’

1130 Practical: using objects as a prompt. Practice story gathering in pairs in break out rooms. Evaluation of practical.

1215 Using collected memories. Examples of effective ways of sharing what you’ve collected.

1245 Review and questions.

 

Who should sign up to this course?

This course will be aimed at heritage professionals/ volunteers, activity coordinators, care professionals or carers who want to learn more about:

You do not require any previous experience to join this course, but places are limited, and we would expect people to commit to the session and be prepared to join in. The course would particularly suit people who want to develop their professional practice, learn new skills or share their existing experience in this field.

The course will be held online via zoom and we would expect participants to have cameras on and engage in the practical sessions.

The course will run from 0930 to 1245, with a break in the middle.

Coffee and Chatter

Grab your morning cuppa…

Join WMMD and guest speaker Fiona Woolley from AIM to learn more about AIM’s grants and how to apply.

It’s also the perfect opportunity to share what’s happening at your museum, exchange ideas with colleagues across the region and hear about the latest sector guidance and news.

10.30am-11.30am

Zoom details:

https://zoom.us/j/99254865285?pwd=R2xiUlUzOFdWMGJFQXpyL0E4cHpNQT09

Meeting ID: 992 5486 5285
Password: 579046

Coffee and Chatter will be auto-captioned.

Deaccessioning and Disposal

Museum Development East Midlands and West Midlands Museum Development are running three Midlands-wide workshops with Collections Trust.

This scenario-based discussion session will explore deaccessioning and disposals, examining a variety of disposals issues and themes including collections management and documentation, legal and ethical considerations.

By the end of this session attendees will:

Once you book a place you will have an opportunity to submit a scenario for the workshop. Selected scenarios will be anonymised.

This session will complement the Collections Review event on Thursday 9 February.

Maximum two delegates per organisation. Priority will be given to delegates from non-NPO and non-National museums in the West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation. 

If you would benefit from live captioning or any other form of access support, please answer ‘yes’ to the access requirements question on the booking form and email the WMMD team as early as possible stating the support you require.

All participants will receive an email containing a Zoom link to the training prior to the event. The email will be sent to the email address used for booking. If you have not received an email the day before the event please contact us.

If you can’t see the booking button the event if fully booked. To join the waiting list please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk

Deaccessioning and Disposal
Wednesday 15 February, 2pm-4pm
Online

Collections Review

Museum Development East Midlands and West Midlands Museum Development are running three Midlands-wide workshops with Collections Trust.

This session will explore the Spectrum secondary procedure Collections review and how collections reviews can be used as part of good collections management practice.

By the end of the session you’ll understand and be able to apply the Spectrum Collections review procedure.

We’ll discuss how a collections reviews can help you to understand the significance of your collections, identify opportunities to develop under-used collections and understand what your users find interesting. This information is a valuable first step to inform forward planning, your collections development policy, and help shape future rationalisation projects.

Attendees will learn:

Before the session attendees should look at:

Maximum two delegates per organisation. Priority will be given to delegates from non-NPO and non-National museums in the West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation. 

If you would benefit from live captioning or any other form of access support, please answer ‘yes’ to the access requirements question on the booking form and email the WMMD team as early as possible stating the support you require.

All participants will receive an email containing a Zoom link to the training prior to the event. The email will be sent to the email address used for booking. If you have not received an email the day before the event please contact us.

If you can’t see the booking button the event if fully booked. To join the waiting list please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk

Collections Review
Thursday 9 February, 10am-12noon
Online

From Couch to Accreditation: get ready for your museum’s return

Back by popular demand, this practical workshop will provide an overview of the 2018 Museum Accreditation Standard. You’ll gain an overview of the 2018 standard, the online application system, and accompanying guidance documents. The workshop is also peppered with practical exercises that will help you plan your return.

The workshop will be delivered in two parts (morning and afternoon session) with sufficient breaks to allow you to step away from your computer screens.

About Jennie

This workshop is delivered on behalf of WMMD by Jennie Crawford. Jennie is a freelance consultant in the museum and heritage sector. She has extensive knowledge of the museum Accreditation standard having worked as an Accreditation Adviser with ACE (2011-15) and MDNW (2018-22).

Maximum two delegates per organisation. This is for all museums in the West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.

The webinar will be auto captioned through Zoom. If you would benefit from any other form of access support, including live captioning, please answer ‘yes’ to the access requirements question on the booking form and email the WMMD team as early as possible stating the support you require.

All participants will receive an email containing a Zoom link to the training prior to the event. The email will be sent to the email address used for booking. If you have not received an email the day before the event please contact us.

If you can’t see the booking button this event is fully book. To join the waiting list please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk.

From Couch to Accreditation: get ready for your museum’s return
Friday 17 February, 10am-12noon and 1.30pm-3.30pm
Online

Coffee and Chatter

Grab your morning cuppa…

WMMD is pleased to announce that Museums Worcestershire is delivering Revealing Hidden Histories in 2023/24. Join WMMD and Museums Worcestershire to learn more about the programme and how it can help you explore your collection and engage with audiences.

It’s also the perfect opportunity to share what’s happening at your museum, exchange ideas with colleagues across the region and hear about the latest sector guidance and news.

10.30am-11.30am

Zoom details:

https://zoom.us/j/99254865285?pwd=R2xiUlUzOFdWMGJFQXpyL0E4cHpNQT09

Meeting ID: 992 5486 5285
Password: 579046

Coffee and Chatter will be auto-captioned.

Co-curation and Decolonisation: Mythbusting

This training session is delivered by Isilda Almeida and Maurice Davies. The training will provide you with an overview of the principles of co-curation and tackles the topic of decolonisation within a museum context. Isilda and Maurice will also discuss how you can begin to consider creating an EDI Action Plan.

Guest speakers Nicola Bird, Community Engagement officer for Oxford University Museums Partnership and Rawz., artist, youth worker, teacher, will discuss co-curation with underserved communities.

Between them, Isilda and Maurice bring knowledge, professional and lived-experience, current approaches to Equity and Inclusion, contextualised by historical and political events that have shaped how museums got to where they are.

This event is being delivered in partnership by WMMD and South East Museum Development (SEMD). It is the second in a series of three events linked to the WMMD Inclusive Museums programme. Other events in the series are Museums and the Legacy of Imperialism and Involving Volunteers in your EDI Journey.

Trigger warning
Content and activities in this session may be triggering. We ask that if you feel the need to stop and take a break, please do. If you need to reach out, please private message one of the facilitators and they will see you in a breakout room or start a separate call.

Isilda and Maurice will deliver the session via Zoom using a range of exercises and interactive features, including Breakout Rooms. Participants are encouraged to ask questions and actively participate in discussion. Some activities will also involve the use of Padlet. If you have any concerns about accessibility or usability for these features please contact wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk

Maximum two delegates per organisation. Priority will be given to delegates from non-NPO and non-National museums in the West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.

This event will be auto-captioned through Zoom. If you would benefit from any other form of access support, including live captioning, please answer ‘yes’ to the access requirements question on the booking form and email the WMMD team as early as possible stating the support you require.

All participants will receive an email containing a Zoom link to the training prior to the event. The email will be sent to the email address used for booking. If you have not received an email the day before the event please contact us.

If you can’t see the booking button this event is fully booked, please email wmmd@ironbridge.co.uk to join the waiting list.

Isilda Almeida and Maurice Davies deliver tailored approaches to increasing inclusive and equitable practice in the cultural sector, including training, advice, strategic planning, service review and community engagement.

Isilda Almeida, works as an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Consultant in the culture sector and brings with her over 20 years’ experience of the UK heritage sector. Isilda will be supported by Maurice Davies, who brings nearly 40 years’ experience in UK museums and galleries as a policymaker, leader and curator. He has championed equity and inclusion since the 1990s when he was editor of Museums Journal. He has advised organisations such as the Greater London Authority, the National Museum Directors Council and the National Trust on aspects of heritage and race. Most recently he has helped Museum Detox with an organisational review and, with Isilda, delivered training on museums, equity and inclusion.

Co-curation and Decolonisation: Mythbusting
Thursday 23 February, 10am-12.30pm
Online