County Report for:
Cornwall
Date:
7th Sept 2010
By:
Emmie Kell
Please remember that most of this report will be available on the Federation Website
on your ‘County’ pages. So please do write with this in mind. Any private issues for
the Committee only should be entered in last section named “Fed Eyes Only”
County Report
County Museum
Group
Has there been a meeting? What were main topics?
Was anything raised that should be brought to attention
of Fed Committee?
Write Your Report here
Cornwall Museums Group met on the 23rd July 2010 in Saltash. Items included:
MDF project 2010-11 – Marketing Cornwall museums, update from Mary Godwin of
the Museum Development Team
MLA funds projects each year on a county basis via the Museum Development Fund.
Last year was Valuing Volunteering – publicising selves to the community – but the
project only involved a few museums. This year the fund has allocated £25,000 to
Cornwall to promote the business end of museums. The Project - Marketing Cornwall’s
museums - won’t be yet another web site. Libby Buckley suggested plugging Cornish
museums into Culture 24 (originally the 24 hour museum). This is a website with
National interest currently doing a big deal with BBC who will buy data from them.
Journalists go to this for stories e.g. Geevor, recently. It’s about reaching beyond your
immediate doorstep. Yorkshire already has a museums home page. The big idea is to
create a home page for Cornwall (at the moment you can register you own museum
and put events on but it’s a challenge to keep it up to date – better a low profile up
to date site than high profile out of date info) with links to
www.museumsincornwall.org.uk and own museum websites. Future of CMG website
may need rethink.
As part of plan two student interns with a modest honorarium will be selected – one
Journalism student and one Marketing student.
Jo Warburton and Mary Godwin are working on this part of the project.
Jo Mattingly updated the group on the second part of the project - a History of
Cornwall in 100 objects. MDOs are working from a checklist of key themes and
possible objects Cornwall-wide. They intend to work closely with museums in selecting
a number of objects per museum from which a final choice can be made. Each
museum in the CMG should be represented by at least one object. The aim is to find
objects of all periods (not just 19th or 20th centuries) with interesting people stories.
There are likely to be linking themes between a number of museums e.g. inventors
and inventions. Natural history, geological specimens and archaeological items will
be included where appropriate. We are also looking for 100 objects related to Sport
in Cornwall for Visit Cornwall. The project will start next Monday 26 July 2010 and we
hope to finalise the object list shortly after the next CMG meeting in Truro on Thursday
October 21st 2010. Lucy Hill, a recent University College Falmouth photography
graduate, will be accompanying us on a series of preliminary visits next week. High
resolution photographs of the chosen objects will be taken at a later stage.
One follow up idea is to mount a Virtual Exhibition on the web and Helena Jaeschke
suggested a Google map showing where objects are with a click to see the object
button. Also, a History of Cornwall logo like the BBC History of the World in 100 objects.
Some money will be made available to help with the better display of 50 of the
selected objects. Audio labels are another possibility. Re the 100 objects related to
Sport in Cornwall – there will be a major sports exhibition at the Royal Cornwall
Museum in 2012.
The final strand of this years MDF project is Training. This will be arranged alongside SW
Federation training e.g. bringing the Exeter preparing textiles and costumes for
display day to Cornwall.
Anything Happened
Has anything happened in your County which other
reps and Fed Committee should know about?
Write Your Report here
Developments:
The Draft Cornwall Museums Improvement Plan has been circulated for comments
(posted on SWFed website and due by 10th Sept). Comments on this draft will inform
Cornwall’s Cultural Green Paper which was presented at an event in Wadebrige on
1st Sept and is also out for consultation at the moment
(www.cornwall.gov.uk/culturegreenpaper deadline 15th October). This is an important
development in the cultural sector in Cornwall which includes the formation of a new
Culture Board, comprising representatives from across the cultural sector. Feedback
from museum representatives attending the event on the 1st Sept indicates that
museums are concerned about their low profile within the document.
Heritage Kernow also has its strategy out for consultation until 17 th September
http://www.historic-cornwall.org.uk/heritagekernow/. Heritage Kernow is the sector
partnership representing museums, archives and the historic environment.
MAGnet – the revival of this group which had previously been led by staff at RCM
(who are no longer in post) was announced at the CMG meeting. Meetings will be
held on the same days as the CMG meetings to minimize admin.
Cornwall is bidding to host Manifesta in 2014 (a biennial touring international visual
arts exhibition), notification of the outcome of this bid is due in 2012.
Despite a slow start, many museums have now submitted bids for the new Cornwall
Museums Small Grants fund. Applications are currently being considered.
What training has been undertaken in last quarter and
Training
what is up-coming in next?
Write Your Report here
Successes
Any particular successes in county, including grant
applications, openings, awards, etc?
Write Your Report here
Problems
Any particular problems or challenges faced by
museums in your county?
Write Your Report here
Membership
Write Your Report here
Any new members? Any lost members?
Ideas
Any ideas from you or your membership to help the Fed
help you?
Write Your Report here
Any Web Links
Any Websites created by County members of interest?
Write Your Report here
Anything Else
Any other points that you wish to raise?
Write Your Report here
Images of Use for Fed
Do you have any images that might be of use to the Fed
or could be put up on the website?
Please send images separately to co-ordinator
Fed Eyes Only
Enter here any issues, topics or news for Federation
Committee only
Please feel free to keep report short and to the point.
If there is no news, don’t worry – just leave section blank.