TBA
This reporting period has been significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and a number of commitments have had to be postponed as a result. Although this is disappointing, it has created an opportunity for Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG) staff to tackle a number of projects and focus on new ways of engaging with audiences. The majority of QVMAG staff have been working from home during this period, but we are now gradually re-introducing key staff on site, in preparation for the re-opening of the Museum. A number of new work processes have been implemented during this period including Teams' Meetings and Daily Virtual Stand Up Meetings (DVS), which the Museum will continue to utilise post-pandemic, as they have had a noticeably positive impact on communication and information-sharing in general.
A preliminary Social Media Strategy for QVMAG has been developed by the new Manager Museum Operations to drive engagement with audiences through social media channels. This effort is already bearing fruit, with the establishment of a new QVMAG YouTube channel and enhanced profiles on Facebook and Instagram. Recent Facebook posts in particular have captured the community's imagination in a fun way and encouraged participation in conversations about aspects of Launceston's history.
COLLECTIONS:
Digital Cultural Experience The Digital Cultural Experience (DCE) Project is a collaboration between the City of Launceston (CoL), Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG), Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG), University of Tasmania (UTAS) and Libraries Tasmania. It is funded as part of the Greater Launceston Transformation Program - Creating Our Digital Future (Smart Cities). City of Launceston
The primary objective of the DCE Project is to provide ongoing discoverability of, and seamless access to, digitised cultural assets relating to Launceston and its surrounds through the development of products and systems that can be applied consistently across the state for managing cultural assets.
The partner organisations are doing this by investing in technological infrastructure that is interoperable, and includes a common discovery layer, together with creating a series of platforms that will demonstrate the power of making the assets available to key audiences.
One component of the DCE Project is the delivery of an Education Extended Reality Product which is aligned to the school curriculum, as part of enabling students to understand Tasmania’s history. QVMAG's Learning and Collections Teams have identified some key objects from the collections for this product that represent Launceston's fascinating Chinese history. The content will be tested with local schools before going live.
Natural Sciences The Natural Sciences Team has been working to register and pin the many thousands of entomology specimens collected during their summer fieldwork, providing important baseline data for scientists looking at insect habitat and how it is changing due to climate change. The Team has also been busy writing articles on their findings, as well as revisiting our wonderful thylacine material to share with a broader audience.
History The History Team is preparing for the return of researchers to the Public History Room with the completion of several new Community History Series catalogues, allowing new sections of our archives to be searched and used. The scanners have been in full swing, digitising hundreds of photographs from QVMAG's collections, ready to be included in our digital resources in the future.
QVMAG is continuing to work with the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) to explore further commercial applications of the Sydney Cove yeast strain. A briefing presentation is planned for Councillors once face-to-face Workshops resume.
Visual Art and Design The Visual Art and Design Team is continuing with preparation work for opening new galleries in late 2020 or early 2021, including commissioning new works from Tasmanian artists and connecting with community stakeholders.
Registration The Audit Team is busy developing strategies for integrating QVMAG systems into the new database, which is due to start testing later this year. This project brings the Museum one step closer to having collections online. City of Launceston
And as always, the entire Team is taking calls and answering emails from the public who bring their fascinating queries about objects, photographs and archives to QVMAG.
Coronavirus Collections The COVID-19 pandemic is leaving a trail of objects in its wake - locally distilled hand sanitiser, 3D printed masks, newly printed take-away menus. The Museum's curators have been keeping an eye out for items that will form a ‘COVID-19 Collection’, which will tell our great-grandchildren the story of this moment.
MUSEUM OPERATIONS:
Exhibitions The impact of COVID-19 means the Museum's forward program needs revisiting and this is providing an opportunity for Teams to review and refine what exhibitions will be presented in the coming year.
Meantime, the Artrage exhibition has been deinstalled in readiness to send it to Burnie Regional Art Gallery and following onto Salamanca Arts Centre once these institutions are ready to receive it. The gallery space will now be made-good in preparation for the next show. Staff have also been able to use this time to continue the Rapid Improvement Project to improve work spaces, storage areas and facilities. The Graphics Team has been working on a range of outputs including a new publication on emus, online learning activities and content to support the social media strategy.
Learning The Learning Team has pivoted its work to online delivery for a range of audiences, including:
Schools/parents
o Seven curriculum-linked learning activities
o Virtual tour video of ArtRage 2019 Families
o Three activities for 5-12 year olds
o Three Discovery Play videos for 2-5 year olds
General public
o Two Astronomy information sheets
This new content has been promoted through Facebook and emails out to QVMAG Friends, the Museum's schools' and families’ databases. More programs are in production.
Preliminary planning is underway for Science Week programs which will be offered virtually this year. The theme of this year’s Science Week (15-23 August 2020) is Deep Blue: innovations for the future of our oceans. The program is likely to include:
• Facebook live events/video presentations with experts (eg. with Natural Science
Curator David Maynard in relation to marine science).
• Suite of activities from Learning Team for schools (eg. Design an underwater exhibit.
Students create a 3D underwater ‘exhibit’ at school).
• Videos/activities from internal council and external contributors (who would have been attending the event). Some content will not be theme-related, but highlights exciting science happening in the community.
• Newspaper and radio content to connect with those who are less internet savvy.
Visitor Operations While QVMAG has been closed, the Visitor Operations Team has been focussing on activities that will enable the Museum to better serve audiences when a site return is possible. This includes research on donor programs, e-commerce for the gift shops and new ideas to improve the visitor experience at QVMAG.
Undertaking responsive and remedial building maintenance has also continued through this period. The Museum has taken the opportunity, whilst doors have been closed to undertake additional building maintenance work, which if done during opening hours, would usually impact on visitors' experience - this includes deep cleans of gallery spaces, cleaning of gutters and roofs and polishing floors.
More recently, the Team has been working alongside the Exhibitions Team and with advice from the CoL Workplace Health and Safety Team, to plan the work required to reopen doors in a COVID-19 safe way. The Team has been collaborating with teams both internally at QVMAG and externally to contribute to our community values. This includes working with the Learning and Knowledge and Content Teams to extend the Museum's reach to the public through a variety of social media posts, online content and videos. Members of the Attendant Team have been volunteering with Red Cross to assist in delivering food to members of the community through the CoL resource-sharing program.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT:
General QVMAG is currently negotiating two MoUs with fellow Australian museums; further details will be provided in the next report.
MGAB (Museum Governance Advisory Board) Dr Varuni Kulasekera has been appointed to the Museum Governance Advisory Board. Varuni is a public health scientist and mindfulness educator based in Tasmania. Her fields of expertise are medical entomology, insect systematics and evolution and mindfulness based stress reduction.
Varuni received her BS and Masters degrees in her native Sri Lanka and a PhD from the University of Maryland, USA. She carried out her PhD research at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and Bio-Systematics Unit at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. She joined the American Museum of Natural History in New York as a postdoctoral researcher to work on molecular and developmental biology of insects.
Varuni was in the forefront during the start of a major mosquito-borne virus disease outbreak in New York City and was recruited by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to head up their mosquito surveillance and control program. She was awarded a commendation from the City for her services to the community.
In 2006 Varuni moved to Tasmania with her husband, musician Brian Ritchie, and embarked upon a new career as tea expert and entrepreneur, as well as studying the relationship of tea, herbs and nutrition to human health. She also continued consulting for clients including MONA.
Varuni serves on the boards of Fulbright Australia and Beaker Street Science Art Festival (Hobart).
Arts Foundation Report Report for February, March and April 2020
I am pleased to submit this report to Tracy Puklowski Director of QVMAG for forwarding to the Launceston City Council.
Arts Foundation Meetings The Chair convened QVMAG Arts Foundation meetings in February and April as scheduled to address ongoing matters from the previous year. Communication for the QVMAG Arts Foundation committee changed greatly for the scheduled April meeting due to Covid-19 lockdown. A teleconference in April was held with all committee members hooking into the QVMAG Arts Foundation meeting. The Chair reviewed the meeting format with the committee at the end of the meeting for future planning. The Chair's view is that it is necessary to develop meeting strategies that cover unprecedented circumstances so that business may continue. One committee member in particular was very pleased given his location is more than an hour out of Launceston. With this in mind, the Chair is considering a meeting strategy format that will combine face-to-face and virtual meetings. On discussion with the Director, an existing area at QVMAG might be available to support such meetings into the future. In March the Chair meet with the Director Tracy Puklowski, Christine Hansen and Ashleigh Whatling to set in place steps for the Arts Foundation's Agenda for fundraising, promotion and events. City of Launceston
Finances A financial report was presented by Leigh Myers (Treasurer) and endorsed by committee.
We are pleased to report that the Arts Foundation has achieved the goal set by Arts Tasmania for the Philanthropic Support Programme. From July to February 2020 the Arts Foundation has raised $56,618. An invoice is due for payment from the grant offered of $50,000 plus GST. The Ben Quilty Masterpiece For Tasmania Development Application - John Glover has now been paid in full. Masterpiece for Tasmania Negotiations are currently underway for the donation of a major work through the Arts Foundation to QVMAG under the Cultural Gifts Programme. The work is by a renowned Australian artist, who will be present when the work is unveiled at an event in 2021. Planning is underway by QVMAG staff to recommend to QVMAG Arts Foundation the next artist for consideration for Masterpiece for Tasmania program 2021.
Bea Maddock Project April Arts Foundation meeting resolved to endorse in consultation with the Director the continued support of the $20,000 Bea Maddock Project Arts Foundation Marketing The Arts Foundation membership committee have researched donations from 1985 to present as a way of preparing to recognise donors appropriately. An effective donor board for recognition was discussed at the April meeting with the thought it could take a digital format rather than a printed honour board. A freestanding or mounted monitor could highlight the values of being a QVMAG Arts Foundation member, outline the work the Foundation undertakes, explain the membership application process, and other aspects of QVMAG. A donor monitor would also help move away from printed material, and has the benefit of being easily serviced and updated.
Events AGM - Thursday, 17 September 2020 at Royal Park with an invited guest speaker. QVMAG Arts Foundation Inaugural Award A medallion award is in the process of being designed by Michael McWilliams for the QVMAG Arts Foundation. Michael McWilliams has offered to produce a design for a medallion at no cost. The Inaugural QVMAG Arts Foundation Award for 2020 will be awarded to a worthy recipient to be determined by curatorial staff, and appropriate promotion will take place.
Next meeting scheduled for 18 June 2020.
Jennie Chapman Caswell Chair QVMAG Arts Foundation
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