Museum From Home




Even though I am furloughed, I watch with interest what is happening out there in the big wide world with regards to Museums and the Arts. Social media has enabled organisations to expand their contact in the virtual world and Cumbria's Museum of Military Life is out there too thanks to the hard work of Nick, our remaining member of staff.

 So I was excited to see that the BBC and Museums Association were promoting Museum From Home today. Yes I know another hashtag, but times are tough in the cultural world with online interaction an essential mechanism to engage with audiences and promote Collections. The concept of Museum From Home is simple - encourage Museums to run a series of social media posts throughout the day focussing on their Collections and the activities they would normally hold. Enable virtual visitors to gain an insight into the wonderful world of Museums. Sounds easy...but with limited staffing and remote working, easy it ain't!

 However, never one to miss out on a promotional opportunity, we discussed this as a team, shared ideas with Nick who put together a programme of scheduled activity for the day. This morning at 0730, the first post highlighted what our intentions were and introduced us via the hashtag to the wider Museum world. Crucial to have a variety of activity, Nick has scheduled posts throughout the day. This was CMoML out there in the big wide Museum world, in with the big boys such as the Tate, British Museum and the Victoria and Albert. We may be small but we can punch above our weight! So this is not only a promotional opportunity but can show folk just how good we are.

 I am writing this at 1530hrs having just checked twitter to see how we are getting on. There is a lot of tweeting going on under the MuseumFromHome # and we are holding our own and getting retweeted. (Hope everyone is keeping up here!)  Our posts are also going up on our facebook page, from highlighting our family research offer to mystery objects, showcasing the varied activities we do and are doing. Fascinating to see the online traffic giving the Museum world a big promotional push. And some really interesting stuff going on too. I am now slightly distracted by Egyptian artefacts, and the National Poo Museum (who ever knew such a place existed!) and want to spend the afternoon at the laptop reading everything that is being posted. From Hull Museums to The Rifles (good to see a fellow military museum out there!), the variety of Museum interaction is heartwarming.

 What all Museums want from today is to keep their visitors engaged, widen awareness of their great Collections and encourage more people to get involved. Like alot of organisations, the Arts and Cultural sector is struggling through this lockdown and some Museums proabably won't reopen. What today highlights is what a loss it would be if Museums disappeared from our world. Not only would we lose wonderful Collections and insights into the past but the great work Museums do. Obviously I am biased. Today gives us the opportunity to do something about this in these troubled times, so support your local Museums. They certainly need it.

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