By Bernadette Walsh, Tower Museum Archivist
We are a small team in the Tower Museum working to curate, conserve and create access to the vast museum and archive collections we hold.
In early 2020, the curatorial team were working on the next exhibition to be installed in the Tower Museum, ‘Dividing Ireland’. This was to be the last exhibition in the Decade of Centenaries programme in partnership with the Nerve Centre, which focused on the origins, impact and legacy of the partition of the island of Ireland. We were planning a series of specialist panels, a conference and related engagement activities whilst also planning for future exhibitions, events, and projects for the year.
Impact of the first lockdown
On March 12th everything changed, we had an inkling what was coming. This was the day staff were gathered together, museum buildings were closed to the public and staff were instructed to work for home where possible with the exception of premises managers to check and ensure the safety and security of the galleries. Over the next few months, staff were placed on furlough, and a core team were left to plan, secure and re-programme events, initially for the next few months …. eventually for the rest of the year and into 2021.
The impact of the lockdown was different for everyone, the museum team includes staff that live across the border (so we were often dealing with different levels of restrictions), some staff needed to be at home immediately as schools closed, other staff had vulnerable family members. It was disorientating, chaotic and it certainly felt like we were stepping into the unknown.
Initial discussions focused on cancelling any planned onsite events for the next few months and rescheduling, and we started to think about how we could deliver activities online. We consider ourselves a creative team with support from external bodies like the Nerve Centre, but technical capabilities varied across the team, equipment in many circumstances was not capable of delivery needs. Large image files, exhibition graphics, and access to collection information resulted in a slow but steady start.
As an accredited museum we immediately put plans in place for regular checks on the galleries to ensure objects were in a safe and stable environment, it proved to be a valuable tool as within a few weeks many of the national loaning bodies were in touch looking for confirmation as to current security and environmental levels.
Adjusting to extended physical closure
The main focus of the Museum team was reprogramming events linked to the ‘Dividing Ireland’ exhibition and the archaeology programme planned for the Alley theatre in Strabane. Digital media, namely the Tower Museum’s Facebook page, initially became our only tool to reach our audience. We posted regular updated on the event programme assuring our audience that whilst we were not in the Tower Museum we were still available for questions and queries.
Archive researchers struggled to adjust to the lack of onsite access and we often found ourselves photographing collections as they tried to finalise and submit research papers. As we continued to design the content of various projects, we were much more concise in the adding of digital elements. We struggled to access research material and object images in other repositories as museum staff adjusted to new working conditions. It seemed we were not the only site struggling with technical capabilities.
Contemporary collecting
We turned our attention to developing a project based on contemporary collecting, a few museums across the world had already started to collect stories, objects and writings about the lockdown. ‘A Day in the Life’, was born, a contemporary collecting project launched in April 2020.
Through Facebook, and with the support of our creative Marketing team, we asked our audience to submit photos, diary entries or musings about their experiences during this Covid-19 time, what we now refer to as the first lockdown. We weren’t inundated with submissions but those we received were moving and thought provoking. From images of families socially-distancing, to children making art and adjusting to school at home, to front line workers in full PPE and a cancelled wedding.
Enhanced digital engagement
The project generated discussions on why museums collect, we spoke to journalists and radio presenters about how we wanted our audiences to feel connected to the Museum even though we were closed. Digital media was our only outreach tool to communicate, some of us had limited experience with social media content so it was a very quick learning curve, we became directors, cameramen, and presenters as we pulled together some short videos to introduce objects, exhibition content and programmes to our audience. Now was not the time to be camera shy! We needed a platform other than social media to retain all the content we had created into a digital repository.
By the summer, with the help of our IT department, we managed to design and create a new website, www.towermuseumcollections.com. This platform, under our control within the museum team, became a source for newly digitised collections, exhibitions and media.
However, digital media also has its limits, we now understand how poor broadband and Wi-Fi is some parts of the North West, and we know some of our regular visitors, were not connecting with us at all digitally, a generation that had relied on invites to events to connect with us.
Reflections one year on
Today, March 2021, we can look back and certainly see our successes. With the support of the Nerve Centre team for the ‘Dividing Ireland’ programme we held a series of online events that individually attracted an audience of nearly 200 live viewers. Less is more, we now feel, we focused on quality events linking with well-known writers and or historians, which we probably would have struggled to book for onsite events.
Our concerns, technically it was and still is a struggle, digital media is no replacement for live exhibitions and events. I certainly miss watching the visitor wander through the gallery but it is a technique we can and will continue to use to communicate and engage with our audiences, new and old.