By Sabhbh Ní Mhaolagáin, Membership and Development Officer at Chester Beatty, Dublin.
In 2020 and into 2021 museums worldwide were forced to shut their doors, rethink how they operate day to day business and how they can best provide an inspiring and unique experience for our museum visitors and users. The very nature of museums ensures that they are constantly adapting and evolving to the changes in society. ICOM has predicted that within the museum sector that ‘nearly one third will downsize, and more than one in ten may be forced to close permanently’ (International Council of Museums, 2020).
Digitalisation initiatives
With the adoption of new digital content and online events we are entering a new chapter in the way museums operate and facilitate the people that use them. Digital teams are working incredibly hard to digitise and collate museum collections. This not only opens a whole new world for researchers but also for the general audiences that use museums. Digitisation offers an alternative view for objects, allowing the visitor to see intricacies on objects that may otherwise be impossible to see from a display cabinet. It also enables viewers from around the globe to engage with collections that may not have had the means or time to visit in the past. It could also bring about new research and inspire harder to reach audiences.
Digitisation can offer much more than an online collection, with the use of beacons and a smart phone or tablet you can curate a full guided tour of your exhibition. This may come in useful going forward in 2021 as visitors will have a clear route through the exhibition and information appearing on their device rather than having to crowd around a small text panel. The beacons will also only ping when you are close to an object and may include additional information as they are not limited with panel size. This technology is being utilised in Chester Beatty and has had incredibly positive feedback from attendees. Beacons not only tackle the issue of limited staffing resources and volunteers but also embraces the ‘new normal’ that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about where people have limited interaction with others.
Screengrab from Chester Beatty website of object viewer and digital collections
Friends of Chester Beatty: engagement during lockdown
The Chester Beatty is fortunate in that they already a large digestion team set up prior to the pandemic partly due to being funded by the state as a national cultural institution. Our other main source of support is through the membership programme the Friends of the Chester Beatty. With the doors shut it was imperative to the museum to keep this audience engaged and supportive. Having a majority age profile of over 65 I was initially unsure how this cohort who in past would only attend live events and shied away from online engagement would cope with modern technologies or even how to access our website. Initially I sent out weekly emails assuring the Friends that the museum was doing all it could to continue our conservation work and highlight objects now available on our object viewer.
With the rise in Zoom communications, we soon turned these emails into a regular ‘Coffee and Chats meeting’ where any of the Friends who would normally visit in person to the museum was welcome to come along and we discussed anything and everything from collections to what other cultural events online they were enjoying. This proved to be a lifeline for many members as most were cocooning at home. It fostered a sense of community within the group and connected them to the museum. Our regular book club was then moved to Zoom as has continued to see increased members partaking.
We then created a webpage within the main Chester Beatty website where some exclusive content was uploaded and accessible to only Friends of the Chester Beatty. This would have included tutorials inspired by the collection and links to books of interest for the Friends.
Screengrab from Chester Beatty website of Friends of Chester Beatty Online
Online programming and blended futures
In Summer 2020 we began hosting online talks for the Friends, some of the in-house talks scheduled were moved online and we saw a rise in attendees, having normally about 40/50 members per event this had almost doubled by the time we hosted a four-part lecture series on Edo in Colour our new exhibition. The feedback from the members was great, they were enjoying the talks and the ease as to how they could access them.
I did note a drop off in numbers renewing their Friends membership for 2020, however in 2021 we are working hard to draw these lapsed members back with targeted emails and phone calls and most of them are thrilled to re-join having let the membership slip during the haze of 2020.
Throughout 2021 we have continued with our online programme of events for the Friends. Many are enjoying being able to playback lectures and many have participated in either a coffee event, talk or in part of our public programming and workshops. We have scheduled our first outing in 2021 to the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival which we look forward to in September of this year!
We are looking forward now to enhance our programme with online and in house programming as well as a more streamlined experience of the membership programme. The sense of community we fostered with the Coffee and Chats by providing an online hub for the members along with weekly exclusive content with a tangible link to staff and the collection. We are also looking to put in place a robust CRM (Client Relationship Management) to ensure that every engagement is meaningful with each individual member. As pointed out in the article Communities, Change and the COVID-19 Crisis, community networks are vital to the strength of our museums and these community initiatives thought up throughout the COVID-19 pandemic will foster a sense of place, loyalty and change for the future (Crooke, 2020).
ICOM’s prediction is harsh considering the positive feedback we have received and the enhanced engagement numbers we have seen. Alongside the innovations in our digitisation department, the packed public programme and exclusive content for the Friends the future looks like a blended experience of online and digital programming with a deeper connection and understanding to the Chester Beatty and its Collections for our Friends.
A party at night, from the Bustan (Orchard) of Sa`di c. 1540, Tabriz, CBL Per 236 © Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin
Bibliography
Crooke, E., 2020. Communities, Change and the COVID-19 Crisis. Museum and Society, 18(3), pp.305-310.
International Council of Museums, 2020. Museums, Museum Professionals And COVID-19. [online] Available at: <https://icom.museum/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Report-Museums-and-COVID-19.pdf>
Sabhbh Ní Mhaolagáin is the current Membership and Development Officer at Chester Beatty, Dublin and is commencing year two of the Museum Practice and Management and programme at University of Ulster.