Ask the Audience

People taking part in Ask the Audience

Heritage Grants

Dyddiad a ddyfarnwyd

04/03/2004

Lleoliad

Ladywood

Awdurdod Lleol

Birmingham

Ceisydd

Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery

Rhoddir y wobr

£202000

"They’re opening the doors and listening to the voice of the people!"

CAP member

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG) wanted their audiences and offer to better reflect the city’s diversity, and to change the organisation’s culture, putting audiences at its heart.

BMAG, opened in 1885, includes galleries dedicated to metalwork and ceramics, ancient and world cultures, and art. Ask the Audience was designed to develop and increase community participation. The project had three elements:

activity sessions
a Community Action Panel (CAP)
a community-led exhibition

Most activity took place at BMAG, but sessions were also held at other historic sites and the stores at the Museum Collection Centre.

Outreach and in-reach sessions were developed for a range of communities, including disabled people and toddlers. Project staff introduced community groups to BMAG on their own patch and then supported them on a museum visit. Resources for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes were also produced to support more group visits.

The CAP was set up with people from a diverse range of backgrounds. Through monthly meetings they were consulted on new signage, created text labels for a permanent displays, and made decisions about the exhibition. This focused on hair styling and identity, with an emphasis on life in the salons of Birmingham.

Audio points, films and text labels all featured the words of local people, and interactive sessions enabled visitors to contribute their own stories. Young people also created content for the exhibition, including artwork.

Two new members of staff were recruited to deliver the three-year project.