BIG BANG! fair : Birmingham NEC - 19th March 2016

The Big Bang is a "A celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths for young people in the UK"

There were a large number of high profile exhibitors and I harvested their ideas while Phillip and Sean entertained themselves (mostly eating subway by the sounds of it)

I will just write up the highlights of what was most relevant to us here.

Operating Theatre Live

This was probably the most 'Thackray' of the exhibits.

 


There were 4 low tables set up at the front of their stand, two with a bissected head and brain to the side and two with a full digestive system. They were at child level with no barriers and they smelt really ripe (i was there at the end of the last day of the show). There were a couple of signs telling people to wash hands before eating, but nothing to stop people poking, licking or putting a bit in their pocket. There were staff there, but each table wasn't manned or monitored constantly. There were also NO signs saying what animal the organs were from - It was almost willingly allowing visitors to assume it was human. (not the head obviously - which is pictured below!)

Behind these tables was a replica operating theatre with several fake bodies (a bit like full body versions of Renaldo), with holes and animal organs inside. At set times, kids could put on gloves and aprons and take part in an 'operation'. 

It was incredibly immersive and used shock to good effect, but personally, I felt like the theatre of it devalued the learning a little bit. I don't know if I'm being a snob, but I would prefer to see a serious dissection where it is made clear that the organ comes from an animal and where the leaders are less like actors and talk to families more on the level.

They were getting an amazing response from visitors though, so I think I'm talking about personal preference here. 

NHS Careers Stand

This was amazing. It was sort of opposite to the operating theatre as it was quite dry, and you had to work a bit at engaging with the staff there, but they were so knowledgable and with a bit of digging they gave me some really fascinating information. 

They were also near the Institute For Physics in Medicine people who were great too. They had..

• One of those things for looking in your ear linked up to a big screen so you could see inside your ear
• a model fetus-in-tummy and ultrasound so you could do a scan and find out how the machine works
• an ambulance to look inside!!

British Psychological Society

This was also ace!

They had an experiment where you tried on different types of glasses that messed with your vision and then got you  to try and draw within the lines of shapes.

There was one brain trick which made you feel like your finger was being stretched, and one that made you feel like you had 6 fingers.

It was all better than I've made it sound here and I'm looking into getting some of the glasses.

Autism Friendly Cultural Venues : GEM NW and Curious Minds - 18th March 2016

This training event promised:

Steps to developing autism friendly cultural venues

Find out more about autism and how different cultural venues have developed programmes and projects to encourage and support visitors with autism to their venues.

The day will include an introduction to the work of the National Autistic Society, and case studies from venues such as Manchester Museum and Manchester Art Gallery, the Royal Air Force Museum, 42nd Street and an opportunity for networking and sharing best practice.

I have read a lot about ASD lately, as well as organising some in house training, so I wasn't sure whether this would offer anything new, but oh-my-god it was brilliant!

First was an introduction from a representative from NAS (National Autistic Society) about their (currently in redevelopment) Autism Access Award. I had already read about this award and have been aware that lots of the things we have been doing regarding ASD access lately are ticking a lot of boxes for this award. 

She also spoke about our responsibility to ensure accessibility, referring to legislation around making REASONABLE ADJUSTMENTS. She urged people to remember that this relates to hidden disabilities as well as obvious physical ones.

She was very enthusiastic about the way that museums have started making efforts to be inclusive and welcoming to ASD visitors. Her job involves signposting clients to the support they are entitled to and in this time of austerity she has less and less to offer those people who need some help. To be able to offer a positive thing, something uplifting is more important than we might realise. 

Lorna Downer & Nadia Peters : What Is Autism?

     

Lorna Downer : Autism For The Arts

     

Nadia Peters : Autism For The Arts

Nadia and Lorna are from an organisation called Autism For The Arts. Nadia is an artist with a background in social work and Lorna is a fashion designer with an autistic son, Shiloh. They both had a wealth of experience and it was a privilege to hear them both speak.

They talked about how many autistic people are visual learners. This makes museums ideally placed, as much of our learning happens through looking and interacting with objects.

Autistic people are also very creative. This is, in part, a result of the lives they have led. For them, many of the things you might do without thinking are problems that have to be solved creatively.

In the consulting they did for Manchester Museum, they conducted some research. They heard back from parents of autistic children that they do not go to museums and the reasons they gave were things like 'my child is noisy' and 'my child jumps around a lot'. Nadia found it sad that parents were seeing their children as the problem rather than the museums. She said that a wheel chair user would not say they didn't visit because of their wheelchair, they would say the reason was that the museum had no lift. It is the same with autism, the issues come from the environment at least as much as from the individual, so we must be as serious about adapting for them as we are about making sure we have a lift.

What Is Autism?

"A neuro-developmental difference. A lifelong condition"

It is a spectrum including Asperger's Syndrome, PDD, PDDNOS, Atypical Autism and Semantic Pragmatic Disorder. It is estimated that 1 in 100 people in the UK have some kind of ASD. That is 700,000 people in this country. (That's a lot of museum tickets by the way!)

It is traditionally thought that more boys than girls are on the spectrum, but current thinking is that this is probably not the case. It may just be that girls are better at 'passing', or disguising their difficulties. There may be cultural reasons, perhaps our society is more accepting of difference in girls.

They showed us a diagram. Theirs was slightly different from this one as they had put SENSORY issues in the centre. There is more and more focus on this and sensory factors are now considered to be one of the most important issues when considering autism and people's behaviours.

As well as the five senses we all know about, there are two more

 - Vestibular (balance)

 - Proprioception (perception of things - eg someone might walk strangely as they cannot take for granted that the floor will remain horizontal)

Some sensory seeking behavious might be risky, for example head banging or biting themselves.

Lorna said something very moving at this point. She said that she absolutely takes her hat off to anyone with autism now that she knows how much they have to deal with. She thinks that people with autism are here to teach us. They teach us not to be inhibited or to worry about being 'different'. They teach us about true honesty.

For some people, sensory discomfort can manifest as pain. Something like an itchy label can feel like physical pain to someone with SPD.

How Can We Make Our Museum More Autism Friendly?

Pre-Visit Information. A social story (we have one of those!) is really helpful. Generally people prefer that not too much is changed in the museum, but that each family is able to plan ahead for what they might see.

Families still want the same high quality programming that everyone else gets. There's no need to dumb things down, just allow people to prepare.

ALWAYS consider the sensory issues of the museum There may be things that can cause discomfort at any point in a museum (Eg hand dryers in toilets, coffee machines in cafe)

Less Verbal Communication. Some people with autism might just not see the point of communicating (we all know that feeling!). They might have problems understaning nuances and gestures. Always use visual information when you can as a way to minimise the amout of verbal communication.

Remember that it is ok to say no to someone with autism. If someone is doing something you don't want them to (perhaps something unsafe, or invading your personal space) you can say no to them. 

Just remember that the person might need a little longer to process what's being said. Go slower and leave a good pause (6 seconds) to allow them to process and reply.

Top Tips

Keep Language Simple and Clear

6 Second Response Rule

Don't Shout

Give Honest Feedback

Be Aware of Distractions in the Environment

Be Aware of How a Person is Reacting in an Environment

Use Social Stories

Be Creative About Your Interactions

Don't Give Up on Quiet Ones - try and find another way in. keep giving them time to process.

Consider Use of Visual Prompts and Cues.

Ellen Lee & Davin Keen : Case Study from RAF Museum

Ellen Lee : Learning Producer : Old Royal Naval College

Ellen spoke about the work she was involved with in her previous role as Education Officer at the RAF museum. She was involved in setting up the DCN (Disability Co-Operative Network), which ties together people and work going on in disability in museums. 

RAF museum was one of the first to go through the process of becoming an Autism Access Award holder (from NAS). 

First step was to self-audit. Then they did some consulting which led to changes including

A small quiet-room with a dimmer switch.

Staff trained in autism awareness

The creation of an SEN focus group, including those on the autistic spectrum and their siblings.

They found that a page on their website about autism specifically got over 3000 hits in a month (visitors had to click on the access page and then from there onto the autism page)

Our Museum: Communities and Museums as Active Partners @ Great North Museum - 14th Jan 2016

Communities and Museums as Active Partners was a one day seminar feeding back about the Our Museums project, which has recently concluded its third and final year.

"It explored how processes of organisational change can help organisations to embed community engagement and participatory ways of working into the core of their work."

 Regis Cochefert: Our Museum Project Summary

Regis Coquefert : Director, Grants and Programmes : Paul Hamelyn Foundation

Regis spoke about the key areas for participatory practice

• Governance
• Staff Professional Development (important to democratise decision making)
• How to engage with community partners
• Evaluation

He spoke about the importance of voices from outside the museum, in terms of deciding perameters for evaluation and for evaluation. 

He pointed us towards the Our Museums journey planner document on their website as a method for evaluating. The Maritime Museum has been using this framework for their evaluation, as has Hackney Museum. (I've actually struggled to find this online).

There are two more partd of this trilogy of publications to follow. One is an evaluation of the programme by Paul Hamelyn Foundation and the other is an evaluation of Paul Hamelyn Foundation's Management of the Our Museums Project!

Iain Watson: Museum Temporality

Iain Watson : Director : Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums

Iain opened with TWAMS' Mission: To help people determine their place in the world and define their identities, so enhancing their self-respect 

He is not dissatisfied with how well they are fulfilling their mission, but he talks about the challenge of moving from a resource-led to a needs-led programme.

Museums have log time-frames. It is important to change with the times, but also to keep an eye on the longer term.

He brought up the latest news of cuts to museum funding and emphasized that those who can't adapt won't survive.

He spoke about museum 3.0

Peter Latchford: 

Peter Latchford : Chief Executive : Black Radley

Peter discussed the perceived binary of Income Generation vs Widening Participation.

He said that there is a tension and that that isn't a problem. He asked, 'If there are conflicting priorities, must we solve them? Must we reach agreement?'. His emphatic asnwer was No! That tension is necessary to bring energy to a situation, but that they do need to be balanced.

If either drive takes full priority, things start to go wrong. His example was social housing. The tension is public funds vs public needs. If too much focus on economy is allowed, the end housing may not help social problems. If too mush emphasis is on the needs of people then we might go way over budget. (I think this was his point, it's been a while since I took these notes..)

Museum people come from the public sector, so they are driven by a desire to please the whole public. This will never work as you can't please everyone and you'll end up with a grey offer.

A focus on differing audience segments involves different costs and different incomes. It may be that to reach a difficult goupr of people, costs are high and cash income low. Some secments of society bring in lots of money by buying coffee in the cafe, some by attracting specific funding. The total profit from all these visitors determines whether we stay in business.

Austerity has meant that the more costly customers show more, a normal business would simply stop serving those who bring in less cash. Obviously museums judge on more than income, so hopefully we can continue to be a service for all types of people.

If you can't be clear about why a pound we spend on disadvantaged groups can do more than if it were given to a care home to spend (or a hospital or a breakfast club etc etc), you won't get it, and you shouldn't either.

He talked a bit about the relationship between business goals and social goals and how they interrelate. By having both types we end with a better product.

We must also make efforts not to be self-serving. We shouldn't be trying to do good in order to make people grateful or to make ourselves feel good. 

He said that the most successful museums seem to be those in working class settings. 

John Orna-Ornstein

John Orna-Ornstein : Director Museums : Arts Council England

John offered us some 'provocations'....

He questioned what we mean by the word community. He said there is no consensus and that it seems to mean

"Those people out there"

"Those who we want to get hold of and make their lives better"

His own definition is 'Users and non-users of a museum in line with the purpose of the museum'

He asked 'Who are we doing it for?' Why work with communities?' and He suggested that the drive to do so doesn't come from within those communities. He said he only knows of one survey that has been done with members of the public in town centres where they were asked what they thought the job of museums should be. The overwhelming response was that museums should provide for school trips and that they should quietly look after the old stuff. They WEREN'T wanting to participate.

So that drive for audience participation comes from the top - from the Labour government via HLF.

Museum people are in general agreement that we should widen audiences, but why should we? Does the use of public money have to mean that we do stuff for the WHOLE public? He pointed out that many public services only work for a narrow segment of society. 

Then he told us about his idea of the museum of the future.

It was a place with a fundamental focus on audience and needs NOT assuming what the public want. It involved being brave and doing things differently and being different from other museums.

He spoke about brave leaders in small museums being the future of the sector and that it is those people's job to make the rest of us feel uncomfortable.


Q&A

Someone asked how these future leaders would be found. John said they will discover themselves, particularly through brave funders like PHF. It will help if managers value and nurture difference.

Peter pointed out that leadership requires a set of skills rarely found all in one person, so he siggested that future leadership might be dispersed.

The panel settled on the term heretics to describe these bottom-up, unique leaders. They said that they need protecting as they are often seen as the enemy within. Apparently we need to be knowledgable and ready to fight our corner.

Overall I found a lot of the day quite combative and awkward. Personally, I don't feel that success has to be an overcoming of something or that we need to fight some higher power that is stifling everyone below. Perhaps this is a result of having a manager who isn't a nurb and working in a small museum where everyone is quite well listened to. Or maybe it's to do with lots of us being girls slowly working together to get places instead of trying to bash away at winning the whole time. I think that the whole idea of listening to people in the community to take on board their ideas of need and success and objectives is in direct opposition to the idea of leaders who aggressively innovate. If we are to respect communities then we shouldn't encourage leaders who stick up for them, we should evolve into organisations which are open and gentle with our audiences and potential audiences. moan over.