When your audience tells you you're not relevant to them, it's time to make some brave decisions. Gina Fairley reports on a martime museum that reinvented itself.
What do you do when everything you have stood for – your world as you thought it existed – changes?
This is what many maritime museums globally are facing. As Kevin Sumption, Director & CEO, Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM), described to a room of museum professionals, three years of research ‘told us there wasn’t a lot of interest in most maritime museums ... the maritime museum as a notion is a 19th Century concept.’
‘It’s fair to say that we’ve institutionally faced a significant challenge about our identity and relevance,’ Sumption added.
The ANMM’s commitment to trying to understand their audience, and their relevance, led not only to a change of logo but a total recalibration of how they activated their collections... Keep reading on ArtsHub
What do you do when everything you have stood for – your world as you thought it existed – changes?
This is what many maritime museums globally are facing. As Kevin Sumption, Director & CEO, Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM), described to a room of museum professionals, three years of research ‘told us there wasn’t a lot of interest in most maritime museums ... the maritime museum as a notion is a 19th Century concept.’
‘It’s fair to say that we’ve institutionally faced a significant challenge about our identity and relevance,’ Sumption added.
The ANMM’s commitment to trying to understand their audience, and their relevance, led not only to a change of logo but a total recalibration of how they activated their collections... Keep reading on ArtsHub