THE WINSTON CHURCHILL MEMORIAL TRUST OF AUSTRALIA Report by Richard Heathcote 2007 Churchill Fellow HOW TO MAKE HERITAGE SITES SITES MORE ACCESSIBLE TO CHILDREN THROUGH INTERPRETATION AND PLAY Cathy Lewis and her daughters with Richard Heathcote at Corfe Castle I understand that the Churchill Trust may publish this Report, either in hard copy or on the internet or both, and consent to such publication. I indemnify the Churchill Trust against any loss, cost or damages it may suffer arising out of any claim or proceedings made against the Trust in respect of or arising out of any Report submitted to the Trust and which the Trust places on a website for access over the internet. I also warrant that my Final Report is original and does not infringe the copyright of any person, or contain anything which is, or the incorporation of which into the Final Report is, actionable for deformation, a breach of any privacy law or obligation, breach of confidence, contempt of court, passing-off or contravention of any other private right or of any law. Signed Richard Heathcote Dated 3 September 2008 INDEX Introduction Executive Summary Full Churchill Report Recommendations page page page page 2 3 4 16 Appendix 1 – Program: Record and Analysis of sites visited & materials collected Appendix 2 – Schedule of contacts & professional meetings Appendix 3 – Roald Dahl’s recipe for a good children’s tale Appendix 4 – Guardian: Kids in Museums Manifesto page page page page 17 19 22 23 INTRODUCTION ‘How to make heritage sites more accessible to children through Interpretation and play’ The findings of this study tour will be directly applied to planning family facilities at Carrick Hill. Attendances have been significantly increased at the site through the Children’s Literary Trail introduced in 2005. Have any other heritage sites developed family experiences based on interpretation of the significance of the site? This was what I went in search of and many of the ideas and approaches I studied will be applied to Carrick Hill and the Family Friendly policy. The Fellowship provided the most valuable opportunity for multiple visits over a short period of time. Moreover this concentration of visits enabled me to compare and contrast what was on offer as well as analyse what the policy makers and program deliverers were thinking and achieving. Sights were selected for a number of reasons including: 1. How does a family friendly policy bring about generational change in Heritage site visitors? 2. How to create a ‘do touch’ environment in a ‘don’t touch’ place. How do historic places enable children to have tactile experiences with real objects without compromising the integrity of the interior and conservation protection of the collections on display? 3. What innovative approaches have been taken to integrate disability friendly access (ie. Physical, aural and visual impairments) to natural habitats and sloping sites? 4. How do you engage family groups to experience the natural environment with fragile flora and fauna? 5. How do you rehabilitate eyesores left on the landscape such as quarries and pits to provide new facilities in keeping with the spirit of the place? Acknowledgement and particular thanks got to my referees: Minister John Hill and Professor Jane James; colleagues at Carrick Hill; Cathy Lewis and Elaine Jones in the UK and Australian Churchill Fellows Miranda Starkey, Rebecca Knol and Robyn Ashworth for their support and advice. 2 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY – CHURCHILL FELLOWSHIP FELLOWSHIP 2007 Richard Heathcote, 40, Leah Street, Forestville, South Australia, 5035 Director, Carrick Hill Trust, Cultural Heritage Manager, 08 83615583 ‘Making heritage more accessible to children through interpretation and play’ After visits to 58 heritage sites and 24 interviews with interpreters and museum professionals in the UK and Canada, the following points summarise the findings: 1. “Family Friendly” policies and programs must have thorough implementation strategies in place or the frontline troops do not own the information nor do they deliver it to the customer as an integral part of the ‘offer’. 2. Market research by English National Trust reveals key divisions in parental attitudes to being involved in activities with their children on days out. Therefore programs must be tailored specifically to cater for the various attitudes or they will fail to deliver good experiences and families will not repeat their visit. 3. Historic houses when considering how to make a ‘do touch’ experience in a ‘don’t touch’ place (ie. historic Interiors) should consider establishing specific handling collections of relevant objects to the house, its functions and style. Tactile and visceral experiences are the most powerful for children. 4. The role of a ranger/wildlife officer for the care and interpretation of the natural environment is a powerful tool in engaging the young and their imaginations in the natural world. Integrating disability access to outdoor trails can also be achieved without undue requirements. To broadcast my findings public lectures are booked over the next twelve months: in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hobart with various heritage and museum organisations. A paper will be given at the Interpretation Association of Australia’s national conference to be held in Adelaide in October 2008. An article is to be published in Adelaide’s Child and in various museum and interpretation journals. Over the next three years Carrick Hill will be implementing a number of initiatives to extend its attraction to families seeking bush and environmental experiences; a ‘do touch’ program involving establishing a handling collection and an extension to the Children’s Literary Trial based on many of the ideas collected and adapted from the Fellowship. 3 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 Full Report – Richard Heathcote – 2007 Fellowship PROGRAM My particular interest was to visit heritage places that used good interpretation to reveal the sites’ unique qualities and attract families through this particular experience. I was not interested in facilities that had been added (eg. playgrounds, places where ball games can be played etc) to generally occupy or entertain children. If heritage sites are to achieve generational change in their audiences and sow the seed in the child’s mind, a more integrated approach is required, focussing on the significance and value of the place. Assumptions: GENERATIONAL SUCCESSION PLANNING: Most historic houses and gardens have as their main audience people over sixty, who have the time, money and inclination to make regular visits for their enjoyment. They tend to dominate such places. This forms a kind of colonisation effect, deterring other age groups who are put off by the dominance of grey power. To counter-act this requires both careful product planning and marketing to other sections of the community. This Fellowship focuses on children (3-8yrs) and the family group, and my primary interest was seeking out good examples of engaging interpretation for families and children. ACCESS: Refers to providing ways for families and children to engage with a heritage site and its significance. INTERPRETATION: Definition: Interpretation aims to make visitors aware of a site’s values and of the need to conserve them. Interpretation aims to raise a visitor’s understanding, awareness, and appreciation of the place and thus contributes to the visitor’s enjoyment. The significance of an historic site is revealed through its artistic, scientific, technological, botanical content and/or social history. One of the most effective ways for visitors to understand and enjoy the significance of the place is through good interpretation. The ability to deliver this meaning for adults and children is a highly skilled process. Professional interpreters are often on the staff or retained as consultants to projects aimed at attracting families to visit and repeat visit the site. PRACTITIONERS: The fellowship brought me into contact with several of Britain’s top practitioners in this area: Cathy Lewis (Freelance Frog Hopper Design), Elaine Jones (Pembroke Coast National Park), Dr Ruth Taylor (Royal Horticultural Society, Wisley), Dr Jo Elsworthy (Eden Project) and Mathew Tyler-Jones (National Trust, SE Region). I also visited the Museum and Heritage Show held at Earls Court (9 May) where I was able to talk with Heritage Interpretation Association representatives about my fellowship. I received several recommendations including Dr Ruth Taylor’s invitation to visit RHS at Wisley in Surrey. 4 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 APPLICATION OF FELLOWSHIP Carrick Hill is a historic house and garden in Adelaide, South Australia and is set on a hillside amongst 40 hectares of bushland twenty minutes from the city centre. The Churchill Fellowship provided the research and development required to continue to extend Carrick Hill’s appeal to families. PROGRAM: See Appendix 1 for the full itinerary of visits. Set out below are notes on interviews with 24 interpreters and heritage professionals at various sites in England, Wales, Scotland and Canada. There were four main distinctions between the sites visited (see analysis table in Appendix 1): a) Integrated activities for children and families; b) Retro fitted activities for children and families; c) No special activities or programs in place other than the site’s inherent qualities that might interest families. d) No interest in having children on site. INTERVIEWS AT HERITAGE PLACES: CHERYL BRYAN: Director of Children’s Education, Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, Hampshire. 9 May, 2008. Points that emerged whilst being taken round the Wicked Winchester Cathedral Trail for children: Dull and boring guides for kids are everywhere so “Death by Worksheet” is not a solution - banish them. What appeals to children about the cathedral are its creepy, grotesque and tactile qualities. Key practical point: the height of things must be suitable for children to see properly. Irreverence is used a lot as kids love the fact that a ’holy’ place also has humour and the ‘naughtiness’ factor of all the goings on. Tactile factor (‘Do Touch’ aspects) adds vitality and allowing them to do something they expect they are not allowed to do (eg. lying down on the knave floor to look at the ceiling). Encouraging families to do the trail together has also contributed to its success. CATHY LEWIS – Froghopper Design (Heritage Interpretation) & TONY KERINS Graphic designer& illustrator. Swanage, Dorset. 10 May, 2008. Cathy Lewis specialises in children’s interpretation and works freelance for clients such as the National Trust, the Tank Museum and the Royal Lifeboat Society. Winchester Cathhedral, Dunster and Corfe Castles were visited on her recommendation and the latter with her and her two daughters. The visit revealed that kids like a good story (see Roald Dahl’s recipe for a good children’s tale Appendix 3.) Conclusions: writing interpretation for children has to connect with things that provoke their interest (eg. ghosts & toilet humour) and in language that speaks to them and not necessarily adults. Thorough research and testing the scheme 5 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 with children underpins successful interps for kids. To make brochures and maps come alive the designer has to be in the process as early as possible – at concept stage. A map can be a beautiful thing as well as a practical tool for delivering information and directions. Dunster Castle Bat and Ghost trails were still works in progress and seeing them before they were finished was valuable. EDEN PROJECT – Dr Jo Elsworthy (Head of In terpretation Services) Boldelva, St Austell, Cornwall. 14 May, 2008. Passion, commitment and creativity were the driving forces exuded by Dr Jo Elsworthy who led the team of some thirty staff working in this area. Eden is rightly named a ‘Project’ (or ‘a proposition for communicating a message’) as the recycled clay pit is not a particularly valuable site in heritage terms. It is more a residual symbol of industrial history, that continues today in clay mining close by. Making something optimistic from a wasteland scar on the landscape is directly relevant to Carrick Hill’s interest regarding disused quarries. Eden has a highly visible Vision, Mission and Message – it is in the business of proselytising to its customers: ‘We built Eden because we’re inspired by the belief that we can all work together towards a better future. It’s a meeting place for current thinking about future possibilities’. It is seven years since commencement of the project and Eden’s scale of operation now requires ongoing capital and project fundraising of major proportion to sustain the infrastructure of the site as an employer and tourist attraction. The lesson here was about selecting the appropriate scale to operate at and avoid the cart driving the horse syndrome. Interestingly one of their topics is ‘selling sustainability’. SAM KENDAL, KATE FRANCIS & THE POLINATION TEAM - Site Interpreters (x18 peresonnel) Eden Project, Boldeva, St Austell, Cornwall. 21 May 2008. ‘Eden is about spectacle, education, the application of science and social change; its plants represent the world’s greatest collection of plants useful to man ever gathered in one place. A place where facts can be trusted and discussion remain open’ Tim Smit, Chief Executive, Eden Project. The team to deliver spectacle, education etc. are quirkily named the Pollination Team and I attended their morning briefing session. Eighteen interpreters are engaged each day the site is open and involved in story telling, planting demonstrations, orientation walks and talks and interactive engagement with visitors emphasising that it is a place to play and explore our connections with nature. A highly organised and very impressive program - they also explained the powerful family activity days including ‘Den Building’ where families create little structures from various natural materials they can collect to design and build a shelter to eat their picnic and spend the day. Den building days were now held at regular intervals eagerly awaited and attracting strong attendance. They demonstrated the public’s interest in interactive family activities, a concept Carrick Hill will adapt and trial. Eden’s style is narrative driven, high fun factor and inclusive. Premise: Everyone wants to be a child again. 6 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 TOM HAYNES – Discovery Centre Ranger & Site Manager, Wistlandpound, South West Lakes Trust & CAROLINE KESWICK Calvert Exmoor Trust, Barnstaple, Devon. 16 May, 2008. Wistlandpound consists of two trails each about 2.2km in length that take roughly an hour to complete. One is a Discovery Trail with history and wildlife features; the other a Challenge Trail with points that put your mind and body to the test. Both are open to the public and integrate disability access on a sloping site with the lake reservoir as the central feature. The purpose of the visit was to understand how this project jointly funded with the Calvert Trust (specialising in outdoor facilities and experiences for children with disabilities) and SWL Trust who are water resource managers with a social/environmental charter. Tom Haynes conducted me on a tour of the site facilities, the trails and their respective histories so I could experience them first hand. He had had considerable experience in managing flora and fauna as well as environmental education programs. His task had been to plan and implement interpretation and introduce the use of the trails with their multi agency funding structure under a project entitled: Unlocking Potential’. He provided a copy of a most useful document entitled: ‘Learning about Wistlandpound’ – An Outline Education and Interpretation Strategy. This plus the practical advice about path and boardwalk construction for wheel chairs with regard to gradients, surface material and other facilities was most valuable. The Calvert Trust’s mission was to ‘Enable kids with disabilities to enjoy the countryside’ and Caroline Keswick’s brief was to work with the Discovery Centre Ranger (Tom Haynes) to deliver this including raising the funding. ELAINE JONES – Interpretation Officer, Pembroke Coastal National Park. Tenby, Pembrokeshire. 21 May 2008. Pembrokeshire Coast National Park covers 620 square kilometres of rugged coastline, wild uplands and tranquil rivers. It is one of Britain’s smallest and most densely populated national parks – a living working environment where people and nature co-exist. Elaine Jones had visited Australia as a British Churchill Fellow in 2006 and offered generous and expert advice about her and the PCNP’s interpretation work. Tenby Discovery Trail was her most recent project comprising of a booklet that families received free of charge that engaged them in exploring the social history and significant sites of this charming seaside town with a dramatic cliff top setting. I walked the trail and experienced all the aspects of engagement (and won my trail completion certificate and badge). The trail performed well but the most important lesson learnt centered on the front office attendants selling the ‘free’ Trail experience to holiday makers when they visited Tourist Centres seeking information. This front office/back office void in communication and product ownership was repeatedly encountered during the fellowship and is a major lesson of the site visits. Elaine arranged visits to Castell Henllys and St Fagans, Museum of Welsh Life. RHONWEN OWEN – Site Manager, Castell Henllys (Iron Age Fort) Nr Newport, North Pembroke. 20 May, 2008. An extraordinary site presenting and interpreting the life in a hill top Iron Age Fort over 2000 years ago. The reconstructed roundhouses were built after 7 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 archaeologists uncovered the original foundations and they are unique in the UK for their exact location and construction. Although the Primary/Junior schools program dominates the site (26,000 school children visits pa.) this was an exceptional site both in its presentation and interpretation of environment and life for the Celtic culture of the original inhabitants. Characters in costume performed high quality first person interpretation completely engaging the students. All experiences at the site were hands on (ie no written work) and the schools had had an outreach visit through the provision of an Artifact Box to prepare them for the visit. Other visitors to the site during a school visit get an enhanced experience, as we watched the round robin of activities (basket weaving, cooking, wattle & daub wall construction, woad face painting). Observations revealed how mothers with strollers and disabled visitors on scooters took in the roundhouses, medicinal herb garden and woodland culture embodied on the hill site. Black Box self powered generating story posts were a great story deliverer, suitable for Carrick Hill. University students were also involved for several years in the extensive archaeological dig program and discussions on this assisted in planning a similar link Carrick Hill has with a Flinders University program. TREVOR ROACH – Deputy Director, Education, National Botanic Garden of Wales, Llanarthne, Carmarthenshire. 22 May, 2008. ‘A place for people – the place for plants’ is what the brochure says of this new botanic garden created as a Millenium project that almost failed. Drastic financial cuts at the end of the first two years caused completely new approaches for interpretation and family activities. Old methods were deliberately dropped (judged both costly and shallow) that set out to ‘amuse and entertain’ children by separating them from parents and providing care. New direction provided family fun that was really a cover for family learning involving practical experiences, engaging the whole family, using collecting and making activities. Trevor Roach hit the nail on the head when he explained the NBGW’s Intergenerational Strategy based on informal learning and explained the Key Performance Indicator gathered by attendants at the exit was: ‘Families engaged in animated conversation when exiting the gardens’. NBGW selected this KPI as research revealed many families do not have common connects as in the past, that domestic life patterns forced disconnectedness into traditional experiences such as sharing meal times, whole family holidays and participating in family conversations. ANGELA HORTIC – Gardener, National Botanic Garden of Wales, Llanarthne, Carmarthenshire. 22 May, 2008. A rank and file gardener who embodied the reputation of NBGW as the Friendly Garden. Spent several hours walking with her and hearing how the philosophy of the place and its people centered policies had turned things around five years after the crisis. Lots of lovely ideas for activities such as: the Great Grape Escape using their Rill (Pooh Sticks variation), Mud modelling, Willow Den making, campfires for survival, pond dipping, close encounters with plants (the weird and wonderful). The Life Long Learning Centre ran large program of courses and events to book as well as the schools facilities called Education in the Outdoor Classroom. 8 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 Dr PAUL RICHARDS – Chairman of True’s Yard Trust, Kings Lynn, Norfolk. 24 May 2008. A small museum housed in two small restored fisherman’s cottages which are all that remains of the fishing community. It captures the harsh realities of fishing life and the tradition and spirit of this close knit community. Family activities and particularly appealing children’s days (fishing crafts & laundry days) are a strong feature of True’s Yard Museum. The main interest for visiting was the research facilities for Masters and Ph D students using the unique records of the East Coast Fishing Industry. This small museum had installed an impressive IT suite and ran courses using the facility for such areas digital photography and genealogical research producing both income and educational support. SUSIE BATCHELLOR – Head of Education, Clore Education Centre, Royal Palaces, Hampton Court, Hampton, Middlesex. 4 June, 2008. Short interview with Susie Batchellor who explained the value of establishing an educational centre facility that delivers programs for a great range of groups including families and holiday activities. The dedicated facility had improved their delivery of programs to school groups as it covered all the practical requirements that were not provided in the historic buildings (ie. toilets, cloak storage, bag drop, wet weather provision, IT & AV equipment for presentation & warm/dry environment). The building was funded by the Clore Foundation – a charitable trust but running and maintenance costs came from the operating budget. RACHEL GADSDEN – Artist in residence, Hampton Court Palace, Hampton, Middlesex. 4 June, 2008. The contract (copy supplied) this artist had for her 12 month residency included 30 days dedicated to direct contact and activities with the visiting public. The brief for her use of the studio facilities and the resulting exhibition were mutually beneficial and she assured me that it was a valuable experience for the right artist (careful selection process with clear criteria most important). A very useful interview assisting in the planning of a possible Carrick Hill residency program with particular slant on engaging families and children within the program. ALISON SMITH & LAURA BEDFORD – Education Officers, Geffrye Museum, Hackney, London. 5 June, 2008. This ‘Museum of the Home’ specialises in collecting and presenting English middle class house interiors since 1600s. Housed in an historic building (set of Almshouses built in 1714) the Geffrye Museum had won the Guardian Family Friendly Award in 2007 and their ‘Family Friendly ‘ Approach was a must see experience for my fellowship theme. (see Appendix 4 for Guardian: Kids in Museums Manifesto). The resource materials compiled for their Keyhole program of workshops and Summer Holiday Activities are exceptional both for the gardens and inside the museum buildings. My tour of the facilities and the 9 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 provision of a full set of brochures and work sheets are an invaluable resource for Carrick Hill. The other reason for the visit was to look at the ways the museum achieved its primary aim of ‘Engaging people with the collections’. The museum is situated in an area of diverse racial communities and it represents the history of white middle class England – so how to meet the challenge of achieving its primary aim? ‘Home’ the study of where you live, function of rooms and the furnishing and objects in them used comparisons with multicultural groups for whom a Georgian or Tudor interior is as foreign as their rooms would be for a person from an anglosaxon/celtic background. The Geffrye Museum has also developed ‘handling’ collections (ie. sets of authentic objects specifically for children and students to physically touch and examine) and online (virtual) collections programs. I was able to see them on the carts which they were stored/displayed. This material will directly inform the development of this aspect of Carrick Hill’s work in interpreting the unique furniture, decorative arts and domestic objects (working life of the house & garden) collections. I also learnt about Inspired Learning for All (ILFA) and its generic learning outcomes. REBECCA WHITE – Family Program Assistant, Docklands Museum, West India Quay, London. 5 June 2008. Located in the revitalised Docklands near Canary Wharf this museum has made great effort to connect with the displaced communities that lived and worked in the Docklands area as well as other communities in surrounding neighbourhoods. They have a Family Program department and two dedicated staff to resource this program aimed at attracting families to use and regularly visit the museum. An Explorer kit was currently being piloted as a new initiative and I was able to see and use the prototype. A great deal of research and work by this section of the Museum of London was focussed on how to engage with families and enable them to use the museum. Engaging families in activities was a major gateway into regular visiting. JILL TODD – Site Manager, Groombridge Gardens & Enchanted Forest, Kent. 6 June 2008. Groombridge revealed great disparity in the family friendly ‘offer’ between the formal gardens of this 17th Century property and a nearby Beech wood, in another part of the property, developed into a Children’s Enchanted Forest. This second facility truly capitalised on the natural environment and with deft additions by various artists it introduced enchantment such as: wicker woven life size dinosaurs, large bones carved from fallen tree trunks, a gypsy encampment complete with three caravans, dark wood climbing walk way and giant swings hanging 12 metres down from beech trees. The paths through the wood were multi directional encouraging exploration and there were ample opportunities to discover both the natural places and ‘enchanted’ features added to the Forest. Children are enraptured by these experiences and the woods hold a special magic through these enhancements. 10 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 MATHEW TYLER-JONES & ANITA GOODWIN: Manager & Interpretation Officer, SE Region, National Trust, Scotney Castle, Seven Oaks, Kent. 6 June 2008. The National Trust has been slow to specifically address the families market but spurred by such pressures as Heritage Lottery funding requirements for more inclusive and educational access for all sectors of the community, it has made a beginning in this area. This made the NT a most suitable organisation to interview to gauge their approach and progress. Market research the Trust had commissioned revealed six distinct segments in the Days Out market. Such categories as: ‘Kids First family’ (adults stand back), ‘Explorer Family’ (parents get involved) and ‘Out and Abouters’ was helping to determine what should be the ‘Offer’ to this market. Eight Golden questions helped to define the various categories and the Trust is making haste slowly (NT provided an executive summary of the research). Retro fit activities and trails are in place at many of their properties (300+) through out the UK and I visited nine to experience them directly (ie. Dunster, Drogo & Scotney Castles, Batemans, Hilltop, Lindisfarne, Walingford, Craigside, Housesteads). Dr RUTH TAYLOR: Head of Education & Interpretation Services, Royal Horticultural Society, Woking, Surrey. 10 June, 2008. One of the three key goals of the RHS is to bring the joy of gardening to a significant number of UK children through: onsite and off site experiences, printed material, on line services, visits to its four gardens and five RHS shows each year plus any other media it can draw on. My three hours with Dr Taylor introduced me to their extensive program both onsite and off site efforts at Wisley, the RHS’s oldest and most impressive garden. Of particularly interest were the on-site activities for children and families including the recently introduced the Garden Explorer Pack (aimed at 7-12 yr olds) containing magnifying glass, binoculars, pen, measuring tape, pedometer, specimen bottles and Passport book with instructions about the journey and tasks to be undertaken . Growing plants and identifying them made up a greater part of their activities and more formal education programs. Heritage is a reference point but peripheral to their main drive of gardening and plant science. LIZ McFARLANE: Collections & House Manager, Beatrix Potter Gallery & Hill Top House, Sawrey, Cumbria. Hill Top farm was Beatrix Potter’s home with her furniture and personal things – it is where she painted. It suffers from the problems of success with 8 visitors admitted every eight minutes ( 110,000 pa). Most visitors are adults and a large proportion of these are Japanese – Potter’s stories are on the Japanese school curriculum and widely read. The impact of the recent film about her life has also lifted visitor numbers and I was interested to see how they coped with preserving the fabric of the house and quality of the experience with such volumes of foot traffic. Children are catered for by various means: very good proactive volunteer guides who provide loan copies of the Tale of Samuel Whiskers that is set at Hill Top Farm and features the interiors that children search to identify. It is an engaging activity and it works. At the Beatrix Potter Gallery in Sawrey there are a number of good devices to enable children to view the displays of her original art works (the NT collection has 739 book 11 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 illustrations). Stools with a central pole to enable kids to see at the level the art works are displayed for adults are practical and fun, touch screen viewing of the first floor exhibits for wheel chair visitors and people who cannot manage stairs was a good alternative and the retail displays are an experience of another kind. When asked about what approach to families Liz mentioned PLLIAP (ie. Property Learning and Interpretation Access Plans) but since they were in the process of developing them no real information was available, but we agreed to continue communicating about them. MARK O’NEILL: Head of Arts & Museums, Sport & Culture, Glasgow Corporation ,Kelvingrove, Glasgow. 20 June 2008. A truly impressive reorganisation of collection displays presenting them through interpretation using the stories surrounding objects. The new displays challenged the previously held assumption that everyone came to the object with broadly similar cultural and educational background. Eight years in the planning and spanning the terms of two Directors, Kelvingrove New Century Project delivers for children and families. Kelvingrove: the Museum & Art Gallery’s 2006 publication states: ‘The stage was set to receive the reassessed, reconceived and revamped collections, and this in some ways may challenge the public’s taste more than the major building alterations’. It does, and those who do not care for thematic interpretation may find irritating the division of the displays into two major themes: Life and Expression. The new approach was tested and evaluated as it progressed by the Visitor Studies Department and some useful consultative groups were established such as Junior Board (ie. children) of the Kelvingrove Museum & Art Gallery to keep displays relevant to younger visitors. Some very good ideas such as the Mini Museum in the entrance hall for mothers and toddlers displays shoes and footwear collection objects in cases at child height and then samples of all sorts of footwear strewn around on the floor to try on and explore. Final remark from current Director Mark O’Neill about where to focus when in the planning process: instead of the standard emphasis being ‘outcomes’ driven – rather focus on ‘what’ and ‘how’ the audience’s interest is to be stimulated or engaged by the object and its story – the ideas behind the object, the real thing. Copies of publications donated to Carrick Hill: Glasgow Museums: Hands on - Learning from objects and paintings. A Teacher’s Guide & Kelvingrove: Glasgow’s portal to the world. JOHN PAUL : Interpretation, Project Manager, The Centre of New Enlightenment, Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. 20 June, 2008. A specialist access program for young people 11-14yrs is based in the New Enlightenment Centre. Using new technologies to track collection items in the building, participants work with the use of PDAs for clues and directions. Four values/themes underpin the program: Trust, Determination, Endurance & Compassion, these valued teenage attributes were established through research. This program has been successful in engaging with a notoriously difficult group whose standard attitude is that museums are boring. A CD-ROM is the promo/intro tool. 12 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 PATRICK ROUSH: Director of Exhibits, Seattle Children’s Museum, The Seattle Centre, Seattle USA. 27 June, 2008. A chance visit on the recommendation of the Seattle Children’s Theatre brought me into contact with their Director of Exhibits. Central premise of the SCM connected with my interest in Fraser Mustard’s (Canadian child development specialist, Dr Mustard was Thinker-in-Residence in Adelaide in 2006) studies of play in childhood which state that: play is the child’s main business and exploring and discovering the world is essential to the development of the brain and learning abilities required later on in the second decade of life. There is high value in places that mothers and other family carers can take their young children to explore and discover the physical world. At the Museum every exhibit is interactive, which allows little hands and growing minds to explore, play and learn. The environments are designed for children from birth through to 10. Continuing contact with Patrick Roush will help in the design of future facilities. LINDA-JO GREENBERG: Production Stage Manager & PA to Director, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Thomas Street, Seattle USA. 27 June 2008. One of the world’s leading children’s theatre companies with strong Adelaide contacts through performance exchanges with Windmill Performing Arts Company. Discussions revealed their work was only of tangential interest as their performances are all auditorium based and they have little interest in outdoor performances. Their commissioning process for scripts was a vital aspect determining the consistent quality of productions and they derive considerable income from running summer schools and workshops for young people – all appealing ideas. CORRINE STORTBOOM: Group Services PR, The Butchart Gardens, Victoria BC, Canada. 1 July 2008. The Butchart Gardens is a National Historic Site of Canada and its motto/tag is: Over 100 years in Bloom. It is still a family business run by the descendants of Jennie and Robert Butchart. My main purpose for visiting was to see how they marketed their garden experience (I,000,000 visitors pa & open 365 days) and to study the recycled limestone quarry now a vital part of the main attraction. This potent brand mixing romantic, legendary woman garden maker and old fashioned high horticulture blends heritage and garden arts to a high degree and a successful business. Lessons learnt: plan any new initiatives with careful investigation of the market you are selling into; get what you are going to do right first time or the customers won’t come back for a second visit; do what you do well because the public can tell if you are not. If you have a legend use it: the Butchart story of Jennie and the gardens she created (Japanese, Quarry and Rose garden) is still the phenomena and genius of the site that underpins the visitors interest (USP). 30% of the goods sold in the vast retail area are Canadian products and high season admission rate for adults is $26.50. There are plans in progress to introduce a carousel (commissioned from a Californianmaker) and a children’s garden concept currently under wraps but looking at the current challenge of: ‘kids of today know how to handle a keyboard but can’t 13 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 climb a tree’. Scale and infra structure challenges are similar to the Eden Project (eg. upkeep requires a gardening staff of 50 in high season). UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA – MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLGY: Anjuli Solanki, Intern – Education & Public Programs, UBC MOA, Vancouver, BC, Canada. 2 July 2008. The Museum of Anthropolgy at the University of BC was undergoing a Renewal Project and part of this was to be an approach entitled Multi Versity of which my main interest was the ‘open’ storage and providing access for all sorts of groups from the community who had hither to not had exposure to the collections. A case in point was the museum’s Asian based collections making up 40% of the total. MOA BC has had an international reputation for its work on its First Nation (Indian) collections and extending their work into other communities (eg. Asian migration came with the gold rushes, recent Hong Kong migration and Punjab people who came as indentured labour). Some of the ideas for open display and learning were: The ‘Big Draw’ was a room in which large glazed specimen drawers had been installed so that children and others could get very close to the objects to examine their decoration and construction. Often the displays were of utilitarian objects. The use of mobile Carts (similar to the Geffrye Museum) of objects with a timeline (chronology, maps, photos) and story were used with actual objects that children could handle whilst learning about the spiritual, ceremonial or utilitarian use of what they were handling. A very successful regularly run holiday project with High Schools: young people (1416yrs) were recruited and took part in a program and end up giving tours. This helped breakdown some attitudinal barriers and set up new links into schools attracting students through word of mouth etc. The Learning Circle area in the museum was a presentation space that took a tradition of passing on knowledge orally through group story telling and sharing knowledge gained. MAJOR CONCLUSIONS: No site visited was doing what Carrick Hill has achieved to date and no particular site provided a clear model for the way forward but the following observations and approaches are key results: 1. Family Friendly policy must be connected throughout the structure of an organisation by thorough implementation strategies or the frontline troops do not own the products or present them to the customer as an integral part of the ‘offer’. [So often my innocent enquiry for children’s facilities/activities at the entrance Info desk would be met with a: ‘don’t know if we have anything in particular for children’. This was after talking in the back rooms with the professionals about what great work they were doing in this area!] 2. Market research by English National Trust reveals key divisions in parental attitudes to being involved in activities with their children at sites. Therefore programs must aim specifically to cater for the various attitudes or they will fail to deliver good experiences. 14 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 3. Historic house interiors when considering how to make a ‘do touch’ experience in a ‘don’t touch’environment should consider establishing specific handling collections of relevant objects to the house and its functions and style. Tactile and visceral experiences are the most powerful for children. [Buckinghamshire Museum achieved the most successful model with their Tudor house interpretation and building archaeology displays. Interactive models of the construction of arches, samples of the materials used in building all set in the spaces of the 15th century house forming part of the museum. Added to this were other hands on learning experiences in the Roal Dahl Gallery where his stories had been used to engage and then involve children (junior primary). The displays were completely inter active and allowed children to crawl, touch, climb, feel and smell the exhibits integrated into the purpose designed story environments. A further refinement were the physics science experiments the children could play with that were curriculum driven exhibits attached to certain stories – a kind of learning by stealth approach that Dahl would approved of. Dahls’ Writing Shed environment was represented and written on a wall were his notes on what he felt constituted the necessary factors for a good children’s tale include. Interpreters and museum professionals wishing to engage children of primary age should take note (see Appendix 3).] 4. Establishing a role for a ranger/wildlife officer for the care and interpretation of the natural environment is a powerful tool in developing access and engaging the young and their imaginations in the natural world. Integrating disability access to trails can also be achieved in a low key way. Wistlandpound Discovery Centre exemplifies this with their trails. 5. Playing in heritage places where the child’s senses are engaged and there is an opportunity to be involved in an activity of a tactile nature are rewarding for parents and children. [A great lesson was learnt at Great Bircham Windmill: Simple tactile activities (Making a piece of dough into something to be baked, clambering the seven levels of the windmill & spotting the Miller’s plague (rubber rats with a sticker for a prize) simply bring the site alive for children through exploration and discovery.] 6. There are big pitfalls in projects that attract capital funds to construct and commence operating facilities but later create huge demands on the organisation to sustain the infrastructure and upkeep costs: small is beautiful and often economic. 15 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. There needs to be greater recognition and promotion of museums and heritage places that provide family friendly experiences. This might be achieved by establishing an awards scheme along the lines of the English Guardian Newspaper’s Kids in Museums Manifesto. (See Appendix 4). 2. Generational Strategy for audience building is vital if heritage sites are continue as vibrant and inspirational places for the community and families in particular – heritage peak bodies need to be made aware of how powerful this policy could be in shaping audiences for the future. 3. Cultural Minister’s Council, Statistics Working Group, needs to be introduced to the idea that family visits to heritage places are both culturally and educationally of high value and essential for family life long learning and children’s development. Richard Heathcote 3 September 2008 16 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 Appendix 1 Disability friendly Negative to families outside Negative to families indoors Nothing but inherent fun Schools education program Environmental experience Historic experience for kids Booklet avail. but charge Paper or info sheet FOC Indoor activity Indoor Trail Outdoor Activity DATE Outdoor Trail SITE VISITED Handling collections avail. ANALYSIS OF VISITS & MATERIAL COLLECTED 08.05 War Cabinet Rooms, London 09.05 Wicked Winchester Cathedral 09.05 Stourhead, Wiltshire NT 10.05 Durlston Castle, Gateway Project 10.05 Corfe Castle, Dorset NT * * 11.05 Jurrassic Coast – Studland walk * * 12.05 Dunster Castle, Devon NT * 13.05 Tate St Ives, Cornwall 14.05 Eden Project, Cornwall 15.05 Heligan Gardens, Cornwall 16.05 Wistlandpound and Calvert Trust 19.05 Castle Drogo, Devon NT 20.05 Castel Henllyss, Pembrokeshire * 21.05 Tenby, Pembrokeshire * 22.05 * 24.05 National Botanic Gardens of Wales St Fagans Museum of Welsh Life Trues Yard Museum, Kings Lynn 25.05 Bircham Windmill, Norfolk * 31.05 Chateau Malmaison, Paris 01.06 Place des Voges 01.06 Parc de Bercy * * 02.06 Ann Frank Garden * * 03.06 Palais Royal, Paris * 04.06 Hampton Court Palace HRP * 05.06 Geffryes Museum Hackney * 05.06 Docklands Museum London 06.06 Groombridge Enchanted Forest 06.06 Scotney Castle NT 23.05 * * * * * * * * * ? * * * ? * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ? * * * * * * * * * * 17 ? * Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 07.06 07.06 09.06 Charleston Farmhouse and Garden Batemans NT * * * * * * * * * * * * * Cragside NT 13.06 Wallington NT 13.06 15.06 Housesteads Fort: English Heritage Hadrians Wall NT Brantwood House (Ruskin home) 16.06 Levenshall Gardens 17.06 Coniston Old Man 18.06 Hilltop Farm - Sawrey 18.06 18.06 Beatrix Potter Gallery Hawkeshead Beatrix Potter Experience Windermere Blackwell 19.06 Cumberland Pencil Museum 20.06 Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow 20.06 Glasgow Botanic Gardens – Children’s Garden Lighthouse Centre * * * 24.06 Quebec 400e Ephemeral Gardens Le Potager de Visionnaires * * 25.06 Plains of Abraham * 27.06 Seattle Children’s Museum 30.06 French Beach Regional Park 30.06 Butchart Gardens 02.07 Museum of Anthropology UBC 03.07 Van Dusen Botanic Gardens * 04.07 Granville Island * 18.06 21.06 24.06 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ? * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Disability friendly * 13.06 * * Negative to families outdoors ? 12.06 12.06 * * * * Buckinghamshire County Museum & Roald Dahl Exhibit Wisley, Royal Horticultural Society Alnwick Castle Gardens, Northumb Lindisfarne Castle NT 10.06 Nothing provided but inherent fun Negative to families indoors Other environmental experience Schools education program Historic experience for kids Booklet avail. But charge Handling collections opportunity Paper or info sheet FOC Indoor activity Indoor Trail Outdoor Activity DATE Outdoor Trail SITE VISITED * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 18 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 visit date CONTACT ORGANISATION email WEBSITE phone address 8 May Heritage Interpretation Association Museum & Heritage Show anna@everyevent.co.uk www.museumsandherita ge.com 01905 724734 Earls Court, Olympia, London War Cabinet Rooms cwr@iwm.org.uk cwr.iwm.org.uk 020 7930 6961 Winchester Cathedral Cheryl.bryan@winchestercathedral.org.uk Clive Steps King Charles Street London SW1A 2AQ The Close, Winchester, Hampshire SO23 9LS 8 May 9 May Cheryl Byron, Director Education 9 May Stourhead Gardens 01929 439027 Bonvils Road, Worth Matravers, Swanage, Dorset. BH19 3LS. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ main/w-corfecastle 01929 481294 The Square, Corfe Castle, Wareham, Dorset BH20 5EZ thaynes@swlakestrust.org .uk http://www.swlakestrust.o rg.uk 01566 771930 South West Lakes Trust Wistlandpound Reservoir, near South Molton, Devon St Ives Tate visiting.stives@tate.org.uk www.tate.org.uk/stives/ 01736 796226 Eden Project info@edenproject.com www.edenproject.com 01726 811911 Porthmeor Beach St Ives Cornwall TR26 1TG Bodelva, Cornwall, PL24 2SG Gardens of Heligan info@heligan.com www.heligan.com (0)1726 845100 Cathy Lewis Froghopper Design (Heritage Interpretation) 10 May Lewis family Corfe Castle 12 May Tom Haynes Site Manager Wistlandpound 13 May Jo Elworthy, Director of Education 16 May Stourhead Stourton, Warminster, Wiltshire BA12 6QD www.froghopperdesign.co.uk 9 - 11 May 14-15 May 01962 857200 cathy@froghopperdesign.co.uk THE LOST GARDENS OF HELIGAN Pentewan, St.Austell, Cornwall PL26 6EN Dunster Castle Nr Minehead, Somerset 19 May (Cathy Lewis) Dunster Castle National Trust dunstercastle@nationaltru st.org.uk 20 May Elaine Jones Pembroke NCP elainej@pembrokeshireco ast.org.uk 20 May Rhonwen Owen, Site Manager Carew Castle and Castell Henllys Castell Henllys Newport, Pembrokeshire 21 May Elaine Jones Tenby Town Trail Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales 01643 821 314 www.pembrokeshirecoas t.org.uk 01646 624 855 (mob) 07866 771155 19 PCNP Llanion Park, Pembroke Dock, Pembroke, Wales SA172 6DY Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 visit date CONTACT ORGANISATION email WEBSITE phone address 22 May Trevor Roach National Botanic Garden of Wales info@gardenofwales.org.u k Roy Thomas CEO www.gardenofwales.org. uk 01558 668768 23 May Elaine Jones St Fagan’s Museum The National Botanic Garden of Wales Llanarthne Carmarthenshire SA32 8HG St Fagan’s Open Air Museum South Glamorgan 24 May Paul Richards True’s Yard www.hrp.org.uk 0844 482 7777 Historic Royal Palaces Apt 39A Hampton Court Palace Surrey KT8 9AU Museum of London 150 London Wall London EC2Y 5HN Geffrye Museum Trust Kingsland Road, London, E2 8EA 25 May Kings Lynn p.richlynn9x@tinyworld.co. uk Bircham Windmill 4 June Suzie Batchelor, Head of Education Hampton Court Palace Historic Royal Palaces 5 June Rebecca White Docklands Museum London lalmeida@museumoflondo n.org.uk www.museumoflondon.or g.uk/English 5 June Alison Smith, Education Officer Geffreyes Museum East London info@geffryemuseum.org.uk www.geffryemuseum.org.uk/contactu s 020 7739 9893 6 June Jill Todd, Site Manager Groombridge office@groombridge.co.uk www.groombridge.co.uk 01892 861444 Groombridge, Tunbridge Wells Kent TN3 9QG 6 June Matthew TylerJones, Anita Goodwin NT South East Region Tunbridge Wells Scotney Castle www.nationaltrust.org.uk Matthew mobile 0751 538 1039 off 0137 2455052 01323 811626 Polesden Lacey Dorking Surrey RH5 6BD 0870 444 3852 7 June Charleston www.charleston.org.uk/c harity.html 7 June Batemans www.nationaltrust.org.uk 01435 882302 Burwash, Etchingham, East Sussex TN19 7DS 9 June Buckingham County Museum and Roald Dahl Exhibit, Aylesbury www.roalddahlmuseum.o rg 01494 892192 The Roald Dahl Museum & Story Centre 8183 High St Great Missenden Bucks HP16 0AL Royal Horticultural Society, Wisley, Surrey 10 June Dr Ruth Taylor admin@roalddahlmuseum .org Royal Horticultural Society, Wisley 20 Charleston, Firle, Lewes, East Sussex, BN8 6LL. Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 12 June Visit date CONTACT Alnwick Castle Gardens manions@alnwickcastle.c om www.alnwickcastle.com 01665 510777 ORGANISATION email WEBSITE Phone www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ main/w-lindisfarnecastle 01289 389244 12 June Lindisfarne Castle 17 June Old Man – Coniston mountain trail Liz.Hunter@nationaltrust.o rg.uk www.nationaltrust.org.uk 16 June Lake District – Walks & Family tourism infodesk@lakedistrict.gov.uk 19 June Cumberland Pencil Museum Liz MacFarlane Collections & House Manager 015394 36269 Near Sawrey, Hawkshead, Ambleside, Cumbria LA22 0LF www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/index 015394 46601 www.pencilmuseum.co.u k 017687 73626 Lake District Visitor Centre Windermere Cumbria LA23 1LJ Southey Works, Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 5NG 0141 276 9500 or 0141 276 9511 0141 276 9599 418 648 8888 Kelvingrove Museum Glasgow museums@cls.glasgow.go v.uk www.glasgowmuseums.c om “Ephemeral Gardens” Plains of Abraham, Potager des Visionnaires Seattle Childrens’ Theatre info@quebec400.qc.ca www.monquebec2008.sy mpatico.msn.ca lindah@sct.org www.seattleinternational. org 20 June Mark O’Neill Head of Arts & Museums 23-25 June Quebec 400 anniversary 26 June Linda Jo Greenberg SCT 27 June Patrick Roush, Director of Exhibits Corrine Storteboom The Childrens’ Museum, Seattle The Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island CorrineStorteboom@butch artgardens.com www.butchartgardens.co m 0250 6524422 (337) 1-2 July Anjuli Solanki Education & Public Programs Museum of Anthropology University of British Columbia info@moa.ubc.ca www.moa.ubc.ca 604.822.5087 3 July Education & Family programs VanDusen Botanical Garden youthed@vandusen.org www.vandusengarden.or g 604-257-8669 30 June th Holy Island, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland TD15 2SH Coniston, Cumbria Beatrice Potter trail & places 18 June The Estate Offices Alnwick Castle Alnwick Northumberland NE66 1NQ address www.thechildrensmuseu m.org 21 Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum Argyle Street Glasgow G3 8AG Société du 400e anniversaire de Québec 1135 Grande Allée Ouest, suite 100 Québec City, Québec G1S 1E7 Seattle Centre, Seattle, WA USA 305 Harrison Street Seattle, WA 98109 USA The Butchart Gardens 800 Benvenuto Avenue Brentwood Bay, BC V8M 1J8 Museum of Anthropology University of British Columbia 6393 N.W. Marine Drive Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2 VanDusen Botanical Garden 5251 Oak Street (37th & Oak St.) Vancouver, British Columbia V6M 4H1 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 Appendix 3 Roald Dahl’s recipe for a good children’s tale: Children love to be SPOOKED They love SUSPENSE They love ACTION They love GHOSTS Children love the finding of TREASURE They love CHOCOLATE, TOYS and MONEY They love MAGIC They love being made to GIGGLE They love seeing a VILLIAN MEET A GRIZZLY END Children love a HERO and they love the hero to be a WINNER! Roald Dahl (1916 – 1999) from a display at the Buckinghamshire County Museum 22 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007 Appendix 4 KIDS IN MUSEUMS MANIFESTO guardian.co.uk Guardian Newspaper, Saturday 6 September 2003 23 Richard Heathcote Churchill Fellowship Report 2007
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