I facilitated a relatively small focus group of seven local women between the ages of 65 and 80 (roughly), including my grandmother who has lived in this particular regional community for 50 years. I decided to keep it relatively informal, to allow for questions and a nice open discussion. They were all very willing participants who gave some really great insight and offered up their interesting suggestions for what they would like to see in a regional museum. Not surprisingly, a good cafe was a bottom line for many of them! I was quite surprised, actually to discover that for some of them they wouldn't consider visiting unless the museum offered such amenities. These are all things I will put in my report to give to my supervisor.
I also gave the ladies a brief overview of the project so far and also outlined that the museum plan I am currently working on with my supervisor will be available in draft format (when it's done, of course) for community comment and discussion. This fact seemed to ease them a little bit and I guess make them slightly more relaxed with their answers.
This was a really great experience to have and I am grateful to my grandmother for getting some of her friends together to participate. It was really fantastic to lead the discussion and I think will help me in the future if and when I need to do something like this again.
Sounds like a great experience Emily! I'm sure it must been a little more relaxed for you too having your grandma able to assist you with your work.I know I feel a little overwhelmed when doing research/ interviews, but if it was with my family i'm sure I would feel a bit more at ease.
ReplyDeleteThe project that you are working on is very interesting. So are you working for a supervisor who is looking at establishing a new regional gallery? What an exciting project to be involved in - the birth of a new gallery! Will the draft proposal of the gallery be available to all or just local residents?
I cant wait to read more!
It definitely made it easier knowing that the women who participated were all friends of my grandmother; some of them (who I have no recollection of) knew me from when I was a child! My supervisor is the Museum Advisor to the city council, and so she is guiding the project and overseeing a lot of it with regard to planning, design, etc. My role then is to assist her in the writing of the museum plan, which will then be used to secure funding from government bodies, etc. I am not 100% certain if the draft will be available to the wider public (eg outside the region) at the moment, but I imagine the council will have to link it to their website online for greater access, which would imply that it will be. I'll keep you posted and let you know as it all unfolds!
DeleteWows Em! That's really great. It's incredible you've been able to dedicate such a solid amount of time to the development of this project. You must feel very valued.
ReplyDeleteIts so interesting that your Grandmother's friends were interested in having a cafe at the regional gallery. In my internship I found that because there is a cafe next door it attracted a lot more visitors than would otherwise come, or people would visit and stay for lunch just because it was available to them. I guess in rural towns the need for a hub is accentuated.
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteThis looks very late comments but your experience looks very exciting! Understanding the needs of residents seems to be very important because the museum is better to be a space to be visited by community.
However, I think it can be a dilemma for the existing museums or galleries. There is a two contrast values that the museums or galleries pursue. First, to be a place where people want to visit by providing what they want. Second, to provide the what museums or galleries think valuable to share with community. Finding the mutual area between the interests of the institution and visitors will create the best result. It sounds easy but very hard I guess.