My Local Museum


During lockdown Museums are always looking for inventive ways to engage with their audiences. Over the last 12 months we have come to appreciate the benefit of regular social media to interact with people out there in virtual-land. Museums regularly communicate and talk to each other to look for opportunities to work together to promote the heritage sector. During November last year, a group of North Cumbrian Museums trialed using the hashtag #MyLocalMuseum, posting daily for a week to remind people of their local heritage. When reviewing the week of activity, we decided to contact other Cumbrian Museums and expand the initiative. With lockdown3, the idea was eagerly accepted by other Cumbrian cultural venues and a plan was put into place.

This time things were slightly different. We chose to focus on a set theme each week, and just on one day, with all participants using the hashtags #MyLocalMuseum and #CumbrianMuseums. Themes were agreed beforehand and allocated to specific weeks. We decided to start the campaign at the beginning of February and run it for two months. Now to think about what we could use to fit each theme.

So on the 2nd February, dawn broke and there I was poised at the laptop ready to write our first social media post connected to the theme of 'landscape.' Obviously, many Cumbrian Museums have collections that reflect the wonderful scenery within the County but our collections are a little different. However, Nick came up trumps and we have a wonderful black and white photograph of soldier climbing Napes Needle on Great Gable the Lake District in the late 19th century. Bingo! The new campaign had started. Now all we had to do was repost, retweet and comment on fellow Museums' posts and we had a day of virtual activity.

We are now five weeks into the campaign and it has really taken off. So much so that Museums outside of the County are also joining in the initiative, posting from their collections and using the #MyLocalMuseum hashtag. In fact, last week 59 Museums got involved for a day of interaction. This week the theme is 'food and drink.' The beauty of these themes are that you can interpret them how you will, be creative with your own collections and showcase your Museum. This week we are hoping to have more Museums join the campaign. A great way of Museums working together to highlight the wonderful culture people can find in their own locality. What is not to like about this idea?

So why not join in the fun every Tuesday...#MyLocalMuseum ...and support your local Museums!

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