Ta'Ziyah Jarrett’s Post

We tend to assume that museums are one of several groups of things that in some way belong to us all - part of our ‘commons’ perhaps. It’s only when stories like this hit the news that we wake up and realise that they and their collections are often just private property. A registered museum would have policies in place for handover to other institutions. I don’t know what the status of the Shipwreck Museum is, nor what the famous landowner’s motives are. What safeguards would put the ‘myth of the commons’ into reality? How do other cultures manage this kind of thing?

Of course!!

There is an old Welsh saying: "Nerth gwlad, ei gwybodaeth, the strength of a nation is its knowledge." Museums and galleries are central to the nation, and when they are threatened, we are threatened.   It's not hyperbole to say that if the National Museum, Cardiff closes it will be a tragedy. At the very least big job losses are coming down the track for Wales' National museums, at worst there will be closure for some real cultural gems.   In Higher Education we are seeing Universities ending a swathe of courses in the humanities - in philosophy, anthropology, journalism and the arts more widely. Big job losses at my old University, University of Kent as well as institutions like Goldsmiths University in London. Many more Higher Education providers are under pressure to make cuts too.   In recent years there has been lots of debate about the role of the museum, particularly the British museum where artifacts were stolen from lands far and wide. In Wales's case, our National Museums are places of living history, of cultural preserve and places to celebrate art old and new. They are places to escape to, relax in and enjoy. They are places to commune with the past and imagine the sort of world we would like to see in the future.   A couple of weeks ago I saw a loaned self portrait of Vincent van Gogh. For the museums more widely, Saint Fagan's is a place close to my heart - it's where my partner and I sat under an ancient oak talking about life, and it's where our relationship really started to flourish. It's the place I take all my friends and family to when they visit. It's uniquely Welsh, it's essential to understanding Wales and it's history.   Over its history Wales has often been the victim of machinations from across the border in England. Its language, its natural resources, autonomy and people have often been exploited for the glory of others.   I ask this to the people who say there isn't enough money for the arts, for culture, heritage and the humanities. Who writes the books you read? Who created that painting on your study wall? Who designs and inspired the expensive clothes you wear? Who trained the artist that performs on stage whilst you watch from your box at the opera? Who makes the films and television shows you binge watch at home?   These things don't just magic themselves out of nowhere. They are made, and crafted, designed and brought to life by creative professionals who love what they do. They are not made by the free market, enterprise or through trade and boardroom deals - they are made by artists, thinkers, philosophers, dancers, writers, makers, poets, actors, directors, designers, and preserved by historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, conservationists and museum workers.   Cuts like this should scare us. Cuts like this should shock us and make us angry. We should do everything we can to preserve museums. If we lose them, they are gone forever.

Half of the most-visited museums worldwide in 2022 were situated in the United Kingdom or the United States according to the most recent issue of the Theme Index and Museum Index report by the Themed Entertainment Association and researchers at AECOM. However, the Louvre remained at the top with 7.7 million annual visitors. The Parisian art museum, probably best known for housing da Vinci's Mona Lisa, has ranked first regarding attendance since the 2012 edition of the report started including museums, with one exception in 2016. Even with the overall visitor numbers recovering from the coronavirus pandemic dip, almost all top-ranking museums still struggle to reach pre-pandemic attendance numbers. For example, in 2019, 9.6 million people visited the Louvre. The 7.7-million figure from 2022 therefore represents a 20 percent decrease compared to the last year before the classification of COVID-19 as a pandemic, even though numbers increased by 173 percent between 2021 and 2022.

Art galleries and museums are contested public spaces where social hierarchies are questioned and subverted. They can present a range of different perspectives and beliefs, in which the past and the present are represented at the same time. Art galleries and museums are sites where dominant discourses can be critiqued by presenting competing voices and exhibiting diverse points of view. The conflicting voices and assimilation of the “words of others,” and the idea of meaning-making found between the speaker’s and the listener’s voices, can situate art galleries and museums as public spaces for dialogue. As public spaces, art galleries and museums can help facilitate the sharing of individual memories and stories as multiple versions of history offered in the public sphere with the intent of building community. 

Many archives and museum professionals are curious what took The Met so long. When we developed our accessioning program, provenance research, verification, and record augmentation became the norm. We also implemented context control throughout the entire collection management process. I often argue that it is this type of work which necessitates records management for cultural heritage organizations. #archives #museums #provenance #recordsmanagement #documentationcontrol

My first Lunch Time Curator talk focus’ on one of our oldest and most enigmatic objects. One that despite its importance has never actually been accessioned into the collections (something i aim to correct). As time has gone on I’ve seen a loss of specialist knowledge and subject specialist curators in museums, which is a very worrying trend. It’s a credit to Heritage Doncaster and the City of Doncaster Council that in a recent restructure it chose to maintain those specialist curatorial roles it still had. Though it is sad that there are collections for which we don’t have curators, notably Natural History. Without subject specialist curators collections risk becoming fossilised and museums risk, over time engaging the public, with out of date and even inaccurate interpretation and information. The Curator Talks and Lunchtime Talks provide a reason for me to undertake important collections research and provide an outlet for it. Long may it continue and grow. The public appetite for these curator led engagements is demonstrable, even though we’re not yet a year into having begun them. Let’s hope the appetite for them grows.

What colors are you drawn to? 🎨 How do they make you feel? 😉 What stories do they hold? ✅ Colour and sound has the power to HEAL... but did you know about “healing frequency"? I didn't! Healing frequency is an enveloping interplay between color and sound that will transport you through a calming exploration of your own consciousness! 🤩 Museum of the Modern Art:

What colors are you drawn to? 🎨 How do they make you feel? 😉 What stories do they hold? ✅ Colour and sound has the power to HEAL... but did you know about “healing frequency"? I didn't! Healing frequency is an enveloping interplay between color and sound that will transport you through a calming exploration of your own consciousness! 🤩 Museum of the Modern Art: