Leading a Digitally Literate Museum
Bookings now open!
Is your museum leadership team confident when it comes to digital? Are they as digitally literate as our fast-changing world requires? The opportunities around digital culture can be huge but it is a multi-layered environment that is a challenge for many museums to exploit, particularly in the current climate.
In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, museums more than ever need a digitally literate workforce that understands the ways in which digital technologies, content and culture can best serve their mission. It is down to museum leadership to create the right conditions to meet those challenges. This three part workshop from Culture24 will combine strategy, theory and expert insight with practical advice and peer support.
Who should attend?
This course is specifically designed for museum leaders at executive and board-level with responsibilities across the museum’s strategy and operations (i.e., not the digital team leaders). This includes chief executives, directors, board members and senior leaders.
Two members from each participating museum should attend to ensure that they are able to enact and embed change more effectively within their organisation.
Participants must be working or volunteering in a non-NPO, Accredited museum in the West Midlands region.
Schedule
This online course will encourage active learning and plenty of discussion for a small group of up to 18 delegates from nine museums across the Midlands and South West. You will join three online sessions, each lasting two hours and spread across a period of one month. You will be asked to undertake a small piece of self-led coursework in between sessions.
Learning objectives
By the end of this course, you will have:
- improved your own digital literacy and understanding
- a fuller understanding of the opportunities around digital culture for your organisation
- a range of inspirational yet pragmatic and relatable case studies
- practical next steps to implement in your organisation
- a new network of peers all tackling similar issues
- signposting to free online resources to support you going forward
Course leads
Anra Kennedy is Culture24’s Partnerships Director. Anra works with museums, galleries and heritage organisations across the UK and internationally. She specialises in digital literacy and skills development, digital publishing and cultural education, all with a view to supporting organisations’ resilience, impact and social purpose. She brings extensive experience of training and mentoring museum leaders and practitioners, to build their confidence and empower change in their working practice.
Jane Finnis is CEO of Culture24. She is a cultural entrepreneur with a highly successful track record of dynamic leadership, cross sector partnership building and creative production work. Jane brings her recent experience as part of #CultureisDigital – a conversation between Government, the cultural sector and tech companies in order to better understand the creative potential of technology and boost the capability of cultural organisations.
This course is provided as part of Culture24’s Arts Council England-funded Sector Support programme.
Support towards Museum Accreditation
Organisational Health:
2.1 An approved forward or business plan which covers the current and subsequent planning year
Once you have booked on and it is confirmed that your museum is eligible, you will be sent a link for the second delegate to book their place.
Two delegates per organisation. Delegates must be from non-NPO and non-National museums in the West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.
Digital Access
These events will be auto captioned. If you would benefit from any other form of access support, please 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 events. 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.
Leading a Digitally Literate Museum
Wednesday 22 February, Wednesday 1 and Wednesday 8 March 2023, 10am-12noon
WM Trustees Network Catch-Up: Energy and Cost of Living Crisis
The WM Trustee Network Catch-Up this autumn will focus on the energy and cost of living crisis. It’s an opportunity to share your experiences with other trustees from across the region, and hear how other museums are responding to the challenges we face.
Feedback from the meeting will help shape further WMMD trustee support.
This session is open to all Trustees who have joined our WM Trustee Network. To join the network please complete the expression of interest form. You will then be sent details of how to join the meeting.
WM Trustees Network Catch-Up: Energy and Cost of Living Crisis
Monday 26 September, 1pm-2pm
Online
Digital Storytelling with a Collections Focus
Is your museum making the most of its digitised collections content online?
Finding the right channel, tone, voice, and techniques to reach and connect with audiences online isn’t easy. This course will explore the specific tensions and challenges that digital storytelling can pose. It will focus on the many advantages that museums and collections offer in this space.
In this three part workshop from Culture24, participants will explore both the practicalities and strategic considerations of digital storytelling using collections content, looking at content on websites and social channels. There will be examples from museums, galleries and beyond, giving you plenty of food for thought, practical tips, and ideas to take away and try.
Who should attend?
This online course is aimed at anyone based in a small or medium-sized museum who is tasked with creating content for online platforms yet isn’t a digital content specialist.
Two members of staff from each participating museum should attend to ensure that they are able to enact and embed change more effectively within their organisation.
Participants must be working or volunteering in a non-NPO, Accredited museum in the West Midlands region.
Schedule
This online course will encourage active learning and plenty of discussion for a small group of up to 18 delegates from nine museums across the Midlands and South West. You will join three online sessions, each lasting two hours and spread across a period of one month. You will be asked to undertake a small piece of self-led ‘homework’, designed to help you experiment with digital storytelling ideas in your own unique setting.
Learning objectives
By the end of this course, you will:
- understand how to use your collections to create digital content
- be able to create an engaging story through your digital content
- be aware of the platforms that you can use to share your collections online
- understand the strategic considerations of digital storytelling with collections content
- gain practical tips for creating engaging digital content using your collections
- be confident in how to use your collections to engage audiences online
Course leads
Richard Moss is editor of the award-winning Museum Crush and brings hard-learned and current practical experience of digital storytelling with collections. He also teaches and mentors museum colleagues around the UK, supporting them with digital content creation and reach.
Alec Ward is the Digital Skills Manager at Culture24. Alec’s career has focused on building capacity and confidence for smaller cultural organisations by providing digital skills and literacy support. He has extensive experience of developing training around practical digital skills development, from video editing to creating 3D digital models, and focuses that training through a wider organisational strategic context.
This course is provided as part of Culture24’s Arts Council England-funded Sector Support programme.
Support towards Museum Accreditation:
Users and their experience:
- 8.1 To understand who uses your museum, and who doesn’t
- 8.2 To use information to assess your users’ needs
- 8.3 To have a plan for developing your range of users
- 9.1 To provide stimulating learning and discovery activities, including exhibitions and programmes based on your collections
- 9.2 To communicate effectively with users and potential users through a range of access, marketing, and promotional activities
Two delegates per organisation. Delegates must be from non-NPO and non-National museums in the West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.
Digital Access
These events will be auto captioned. If you would benefit from any other form of access support, please 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 events. 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.
Digital Storytelling with a Collections Focus
Tuesday 8, Tuesday 15 and Tuesday 22 November, 2pm-4pm
Online
“Winter is Coming”: Maintaining collections care standards during an energy crisis
As energy costs rise, and the pressure of higher bills grows, how can museums ensure that they safely maintain their collections?
Join Jane Thompson-Webb, Conservation Team Leader at Birmingham Museum Trust for this two hour online session. Jane will look at some of the steps we can take in our collection stores, exhibition spaces and offices to reduce our energy consumption whilst continuing to protect collections.
The session will be live captioned by MyClearText.
Places are limited, no more than 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.
All participants will receive an email containing a Zoom link prior to the event. The email will be sent to the email address used for booking. If you have not received an email by the day before the event please contact us.
If you can’t see the booking button the event is fully booked. To join the waiting list please email wmmd@ironbridge.co.uk
“Winter is Coming”: Maintaining collections care standards during an energy crisis
Tuesday 4 October, 1.30pm-3.30pm
Online
Museum Energy Management: Preparing for the winter (workshop and surgeries)
This two hour workshop with energy management specialists Pilio will explore low and no cost interventions to help save energy in preparation for winter. We’ll cover energy management; energy monitoring; boiler settings; internal temperatures; fabric and drafts; lighting; night use minimisation and the use of environmental sensors.
A limited number of follow-up surgeries will be available to attendees; details of how to arrange a surgery will be shared during the event.
The session will be live captioned by MyClearText.
Places are limited, no more than two delegates per organisation. Priority will be given to attendees from non-NPO and non-National museums in the West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.
All participants will receive an email containing a Zoom link prior to the event. The email will be sent to the email address used for booking. If you have not received an email by the day before the event please contact us.
If you can’t see the booking button the event is fully booked. To join the waiting list please email wmmd@ironbridge.co.uk
Museum Energy Management: Preparing for the Winter
Wednesday 28 September, 2pm-4pm
Online
Carbon Literacy training March 2023 – sessions 2 and 3
Our final round of Carbon Literacy training for 2022/23 is now open for bookings from museums across the Midlands.
West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) and Museum Development East Midlands (MDEM) are partnering to deliver several rounds of training, using the Carbon Literacy for Museums Toolkit developed by Museum Development and the Carbon Literacy Trust as part of the national Roots and Branches project.
What is a Carbon Literacy course? The Carbon Literacy course will give you an understanding of what climate change is, the scale of its effects, and how museums fit into the global, national and local picture to address climate change. You become Carbon Literate by making an individual pledge, and an organisational pledge to take back to your museum, of what you can do, and is in your power to achieve, to make a significant difference to your carbon impact.
Who can attend? Anyone – we welcome all trustees, managers, volunteers and paid staff who want to understand the part they can play in tackling the climate emergency.
What’s involved? The course is made up of four modules – the first module is pre-recorded and there are three Zoom sessions:
- Tuesday 7 March 2023 – the pre-recorded module will be sent to you. It lasts 1 hour 30 minutes
- Tuesday 14 March 2023, 10am-12.30pm – Zoom session 1
- Thursday 16 March 2023, 10am-12noon – Zoom session 2
- Thursday 16 March 2023, 1pm-3pm – Zoom session 3
Attendees will be certified as Carbon Literate once they’ve successfully completed the course. Therefore, it is essential you are able to attend all three Zoom sessions.
Maximum two attendees per organisation. Priority will be given to delegates from non-NPO and non-National museums in the East Midlands and West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.
Accessibility
This event will be auto captioned through Zoom. If you would benefit from other forms 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 the booking page doesn’t appear these training sessions are fully booked. Please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk to join the waiting list.
Carbon Literacy training March 2023
Our final round of Carbon Literacy training for 2022/23 is now open for bookings from museums across the Midlands.
West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) and Museum Development East Midlands (MDEM) are partnering to deliver several rounds of training, using the Carbon Literacy for Museums Toolkit developed by Museum Development and the Carbon Literacy Trust as part of the national Roots and Branches project.
What is a Carbon Literacy course? The Carbon Literacy course will give you an understanding of what climate change is, the scale of its effects, and how museums fit into the global, national and local picture to address climate change. You become Carbon Literate by making an individual pledge, and an organisational pledge to take back to your museum, of what you can do, and is in your power to achieve, to make a significant difference to your carbon impact.
Who can attend? Anyone – we welcome all trustees, managers, volunteers and paid staff who want to understand the part they can play in tackling the climate emergency.
What’s involved? The course is made up of four modules – the first module is pre-recorded and there are three Zoom sessions:
- Tuesday 7 March 2023 – the pre-recorded module will be sent to you. It lasts 1 hour 30 minutes
- Tuesday 14 March 2023, 10am-12.30pm – Zoom session 1
- Thursday 16 March 2023, 10am-12noon – Zoom session 2
- Thursday 16 March 2023, 1pm-3pm – Zoom session 3
Attendees will be certified as Carbon Literate once they’ve successfully completed the course. Therefore, it is essential you are able to attend all three Zoom sessions.
Maximum two attendees per organisation. Priority will be given to delegates from non-NPO and non-National museums in the East Midlands and West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.
Accessibility
This event will be auto captioned through Zoom. If you would benefit from other forms 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 the booking isn’t visible these training sessions are fully booked. Please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk to join the waiting list.
Carbon Literacy training January 2023 – sessions 2 and 3
Our next round of Carbon Literacy training is now open for bookings from museums across the Midlands.
West Midlands Museum Development (WMMD) and Museum Development East Midlands (MDEM) are partnering to deliver several rounds of training, using the Carbon Literacy for Museums Toolkit developed by Museum Development and the Carbon Literacy Trust as part of the national Roots and Branches project.
What is a Carbon Literacy course? The Carbon Literacy course will give you an understanding of what climate change is, the scale of its effects, and how museums fit into the global, national and local picture to address climate change. You become Carbon Literate by making an individual pledge, and an organisational pledge to take back to your museum, of what you can do, and is in your power to achieve, to make a significant difference to your carbon impact.
Who can attend? Anyone – we welcome all trustees, managers, volunteers and paid staff who want to understand the part they can play in tackling the climate emergency.
What’s involved? The course is made up of four modules – the first module is pre-recorded and there are three Zoom sessions:
- Tuesday 10 January 2023 – the pre-recorded module will be sent to you. It lasts 1 hour 30 minutes
- Tuesday 17 January 2023, 10am-12.30pm – Zoom session 1
- Thursday 19 January 2023, 10am-12noon – Zoom session 2
- Thursday 19 January 2023, 1pm-3pm – Zoom session 3
Attendees will be certified as Carbon Literate once they’ve successfully completed the course. Therefore, it is essential you are able to attend all three Zoom sessions.
Maximum two attendees per organisation. Priority will be given to delegates from non-NPO and non-National museums in the East Midlands and West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.
Accessibility
This event will be auto captioned through Zoom. If you would benefit from other forms 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 the booking page doesn’t appear these training sessions are fully booked. Please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk to join the waiting list.
The Museum as a Resource – day 2
The annual conference for the Society for Museum Archaeology.
Thursday 15 September, 1.30pm-6.30pm and Friday 16 September, 9.30pm-5pm
The University of Nottingham Museum of Archaeology NG7 2RD and online
The Museum as a Resource
The annual conference for the Society for Museum Archaeology.
Thursday 15 September, 1.30pm-6.30pm and Friday 16 September, 9.30pm-5pm
The University of Nottingham Museum of Archaeology NG7 2RD and online
