Newsletter June 2024

Professor Tilly Blyth joined the School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester in 2022. With a degree in Physics and a PhD in Sociology with British Telecom, she has had a varied career across television, digital media, higher education and museums.

Tilly joined us from the Science Museum where, as Head of Collections and Principal Curator she built curatorial, research, library and archive teams that delivered many stunning galleries and award-winning exhibitions, resulting in the Science Museum being declared a winner of the Art Fund Museum of the Year prize in 2020. She was also responsible for the acquisition of the Stephen Hawking Office into the museum’s permanent collections, and recently produced a special issue of the Science Museum Group journal exploring this.

Tilly first became involved in museums in 2000 as Executive Producer of the Making the Modern World online gallery for the Science Museum; winning ‘Best of the Web’ and ‘Best Educational Site’. Then she became the Curator of Computing and Data Processing and later, as Lead Curator of the ‘Information Age’ gallery, she developed the strategy for one of the most important computing, telecommunications and television collections in the world, and delivered a gallery that, as one journalist described it “gave the sector the story of its history and its future”. The aim was to tell the stories of technological transformation through the diverse experiences of those who made, used and developed them, not just through the innovators.

Since joining the School, Tilly has been overwhelmed with the generosity and support from alumni describing being part of the School as ‘joining a supportive global network of professionals who want to make positive change’. In her time as Head of School she hopes we can play a role in supporting the sector to respond to the climate crisis by initiating a new Museum Studies and Environmental Sustainability MA/MSc, and by exploring the potential to increase diversity in the sector through the introduction of a curatorial apprenticeships scheme. Through the School’s outstanding research and excellent postgraduate teaching Tilly incorporates theoretical, historical and practical study that focuses on the changing role and value of museums and cultural institutions, as they navigate what it means to provide cultural value, commentary and connection in the 21st century.

As someone who believes strongly in the civilising power of arts and culture, and the role of museums in supporting democracy, Tilly continues to be actively involved in the governance of museums, as a trustee of Bletchley Park Trust, and an adviser on English Heritage’s Blue Plaques Panel.

The Kansong Art Museum Daegu, Korea will open its doors to the public in September 2024. I’ve been working here as an Associate Curator of the exhibition and education team since 2023 to set up a new branch of the Kansong Art Museum, the first private museum in Korea.

As part of a task force for the new museum, my role has not been confined to the fields directly related to exhibition and educational programmes. My first project involved creating the museum's visual identity that resonates with our future audiences. To effectively deliver the museum’s values and mission – connecting past, present and future and sharing the stories from Korean cultural heritage - I was responsible for examining various references, gathering opinions, and reconciling ideas to apply for designs, by closely working with the publicity team.

The wide range of tasks I’m involved with includes regularly supervising building work, particularly focusing on the spaces each curator is in charge of (in my case, the educational spaces). It is a rare opportunity to experience building sites while working at any museum. With the help of the architect, site engineer and inspectors, museum staff can more deeply understand the spaces where all activities can happen, including holding exhibitions, education programmes, and public events.

The team I’m a part of is devoted to inaugural exhibitions and education programmes. My role is making a plan of lectures by leading experts in various fields, architecture tours with the architect, and a programme focusing on a specific collection to help visitors interact with it.
Before working at the Kansong Art Museum Daegu, I gained work experience in several museums, where I learned a great variety of skills in both traditional and contemporary art scenes, including the Museum of Contemporary of Art Busan (Korea), the Victoria and Albert Museum (UK), and the Seoul Museum of History (Korea).

Studying at the University of Leicester gave me not only the necessary skills to set out a career in exhibitions and education but also introduced me to KAALMS, the network of people (the Korean Alumni Association of Museum Studies) who support my career path and willingly share their valuable experiences and insights with me.

Lim Eunhae, MA Art Museum and Gallery Studies 2016-17

Our Island Stories. Country Walks Through Colonial Britain is a history book which shows the connections between the countryside and empire through a series of country walks (with maps for readers to use) but it also features an account of conversations with ten fellow walkers, who included Sathnam Sanghera (author of Empireland and Empireworld) and the Turner prize finalist Ingrid Pollard (an artist and photographer). I also designed the book as a cultural intervention, a way of speaking to – and beyond - toxic culture wars and public debates about British colonial history. It is a call for compassionate and humane engagement with this topic, and with each other.

The countryside is almost sacred to many Britons. There is a depth of feeling about rural places, the moors and lochs, valleys and mountains, cottages and country houses. Yet the British countryside, so integral to our national identity, is rarely seen as having anything to do with British colonialism. In Our Island Stories, historian Corinne Fowler brings rural life and colonial rule together, with transformative results. Through ten country walks with varied companions, Fowler combines local and global history, connecting the Cotswolds to Calcutta, Dolgellau to Virginia, and Grasmere to Canton.

Empire transformed rural lives: whether in Welsh sheep farms or Cornish copper mines, it offered both opportunity and exploitation. Fowler shows how the booming profits of overseas colonial activities directly contributed to enclosure, land clearances and dispossession. These histories, usually considered separately, continue to link the lives of their descendants now.

To give an honest account, to offer both affection and criticism, is a matter of respect: we should not knowingly tell half a history. This new knowledge of our island stories, once gained, can only deepen Britons' relationship with their beloved landscape.

Should you wish to listen to an audio book version as you walk, this can be found here: Our Island Stories by Corinne Fowler - Audiobook - Audible.co.uk and other online retailers.

Available in all independent bookshops as well as Amazon. Waterstones – is selling the book at a discount as is The Guardian Bookshop.

Guardian review link here: ‘I’m not afraid of anybody now’: the woman who revealed links between National Trust houses and slavery – and was vilified | Colonialism | The Guardian

Image Credit: Copyright -  Gary Carlton

In a ceremony held on Wednesday 15 May, Museum Studies’ Research Centre into Museums and Galleries received the Museums + Heritage Awards Judges’ Special Recognition Award for its outstanding contributions to the sector.

RCMG received the award for its deep commitment to supporting ethical, inclusive, equitable and importantly, research-led work across the whole sector.
The Centre, which celebrates its 25th year in 2024, has led multiple projects that have had a transformative impact, supporting organisations across the culture sector to advance trans inclusion, challenge embedded whiteness, tackle ableism, advance human rights and play an active role in engaging audiences around pressing contemporary issues.

The award acknowledges the support that colleagues and organisations across the sector receive from RCMG and the difference the research and our collaborative, practice-centred methodology makes.

RCMG is Co-directed by Professor Suzanne MacLeod and Professor Richard Sandell.

Suzanne said: “We are thrilled to receive this recognition of RCMG’s work. Since all of the Centre’s projects are deeply collaborative, we want to extend our sincere thanks to the many individuals and cultural partners who have worked with us, taken risks and invested so fully in developing new ethical ways of thinking and working.”

Richard said: “We are all incredibly excited and grateful to receive this recognition, especially in our 25th year and at a time when, more than ever, we need to pull together to realise a more equitable and ethical sector that can play an important role in fostering a more inclusive society.”

The award has only been issued twice before. Once to the National Museum of History of Ukraine and also the National Trust.

Museums + Heritage Awards recognises the very best in museums and heritage across the world.

Image Credit: Trans-inclusive Culture Launch at Bishopsgate Institute, Photo by Liz Isles

In the context of growing uncertainty and anxiety surrounding trans-inclusive practice in the cultural sector, the University of Leicester’s Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG) – working with a team of legal scholars and experts in inclusion, equality and ethics – developed comprehensive guidance on advancing trans inclusion for museums, galleries, archives and heritage organisations that launched in September 2023. The development of the guidance was funded via the Economic and Social Research Council and received the backing of more than 20 leading sector support organisations.

Drawing on over 130 responses to a confidential survey inviting cultural organisations to share the challenges they were encountering in their daily work, the guidance sets out an ethical framework to support cultural organisations to advance trans inclusion, addressing four key, interlinked areas;

• How can we develop trans-inclusive displays, events and public programming?
• How can we generate a trans-inclusive organisational culture?
• How can we provide a warm welcome to (and ensure the safety of) trans visitors?
• How can we work with trans communities to advance trans inclusion?

It also includes a series of scenarios with practical strategies and solutions designed to build skills, knowledge and confidence for anyone working in this area.

The reception amongst cultural organisations has far exceeded expectations, highlighting the pressing need and appetite for support in this area. Since the launch, the guidance has been accessed by 6417 individuals and RCMG has accepted invitations from numerous sector bodies to present on the guidance and to work with session participants to support them to apply it to their own contexts. A survey of people who accessed the guidance found that 73% of respondents have already used or shared it within their organisation. A survey of workshop participants found that 93% of respondents reported increased levels of confidence around advancing trans inclusion in their institution.

Trans-inclusive Culture has also been highlighted more broadly in the sector. On 15 May 2024, RCMG received the Judges’ Special Recognition Award at the Museum and Heritage Awards 2024. In her awarding speech, Maggie Appleton highlighted Trans-Inclusive Culture stating;

Launched last autumn this guidance brings together an essential blend of legal, ethical and trans lived expertise and experience to support colleagues in organisations small and large with the capacity and confidence to advance trans inclusion. In the often febrile social and political context we’re navigating today, the welcome for this guidance from colleagues has been palpable. The brilliant launch session at MA Conference last autumn was standing room only, and the conversation and shared experiences from panel and audience were profound.

The guidance is freely available to download from the RCMG website.

MA Museum Studies
PGCert Socially Engaged Practice

I had no idea what to expect when I applied to the distance learning Museum Studies Department at Leicester. I was in my fifties, unemployed after a long career in finance, and other than a wish to study institutions that I was passionate about, no conception as to where it would take me, if anywhere. There was also the not inconsiderable emotional hurdle that I had left school at 18, and was pretty sure that the best response I could expect as regards further education would be that I was politely declined, the worst general laughter - indeed I applied to three institutions at the same time, and two of them behaved pretty much as I expected.

But the Leicester staff were kind from start to finish, and the courses I took not only did what I anticipated, in teaching me about how museums function, but fulfilled the broader ambitions of further education, by broadening my mind and experiences. I got a little carried away; taking both my Museum Studies MA, but also a PGCert in Socially Engaged Practice. I did not find distance learning difficult at all as the courses were so well structured, but I delighted in the onsite coursework, finding joy in the work we did, but also the mix of students, one of whom whispered to me at some point that she was so pleased to find that I was not actually a “finance bro crypto- fascist”, which was nice ! But I understood the sentiment, it was and remains an unusual career path to be sure.

As I was finishing my course work a new museum opened in New York. Poster House (http://www.posterhouse.org) , the USA’s first and only museum dedicated to the art and craft of the poster. I have always liked posters, had collected a few myself, but never really considered how accessible they are to the broad public, nor really considered the dichotomy that as ephemera, as something which is never actually supposed to survive, they always present a fantastic snapshot of different points in time and culture, in various countries globally. The museum’s definition of a poster is “A public facing image meant to persuade that marries word and image.”- This facilitates everything from consumer products, to government propaganda through to activist posters of all types, as such providing for a wide variety of shows. My final thesis “Walking the tightrope of financial sustainability and inclusivity in New York City” was based mainly on the challenges this new institution faced. I started there as a tour guide, before I was asked if I would be interested in curating a show based on a collection of WWII propaganda posters that had been donated to the museum- As I am decades older than most of the staff, I suspect they thought I had lived through that period!

In the midst of Covid, while we were putting together a program of virtual museum events, I pitched the concept of a show that highlighted fifty years of environmental posters, basically since the first Earth Day in 1970. It was accepted and I then spent two years putting together a collection of such posters and writing the text. It was truly eye opening, in terms of the posters we have included and also sadly of the corporate malfeasance that has been a feature of these issues. The show opened in September 2023 and has been a success, getting more press coverage than any previous Poster House show, leading to record attendance numbers even in the cold dark months of January and February this year. The show closed in March, but due, as they say, to popular demand is reopening in a condensed version at the end of April.

There is no doubt at all that I have been lucky in finding somewhere that accepted me and has given me leeway. I love how the various facets of museums - design, programming, education, collections all combine to actually make a show, the collegiate nature of it all, even down to curators at other museums which have featured environmental shows asking me on panels. But it started with Leicester actually just giving me a chance, so thank you.