: Community Engagement

The User Design Forum

This is an intergenerational group consisting of young adults from Caerphilly Youth Forum, their Youth leaders and four teachers from Secondary Schools in south Wales. The group have been meeting for over two years and have worked closely with the architects on the designs for the new building (Gweithdy) and the developments to the Main Building. They have also been meeting with the exhibition designers (Event) to provide feedback on ideas relating to the gallery spaces. Their most recent involvement was in attending interpretation workshops where they were able to respond directly to objects and discuss methods of presentation and interpretation with the relevant curators.

The photos depict the group on a benchmarking trip to M Shed in Bristol (an exhibition space designed by Event) and at the interpretation workshop in July.

Interpretation workshops

Hello, and welcome to the first instalment of what will become a regular blog following the development of Participatory Forums at St Fagans National History Museum. As part of its exciting redevelopment project (the result of a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund) the Museum has been developing public consultation methods and engaging with representatives from third sector organisations and individuals from across Wales. These groups symbolise a transformation in our methods of working and are a key step towards our goal of becoming a truly participatory museum.

Discussion and debate is set to be a predominant theme throughout the new gallery spaces. The curators are currently working with the design team Event  to develop methods of recording public opinion and responses to objects on display. The plan at present is to open up the floor for further debate online – to create a forum where people can respond to the gallery spaces and to each other, creating a platform for debate which will inspire the Museum’s continued development.

There are a number of issues that will need addressing along the way if we are to ensure that the Museum is representative of Wales as a whole. These will include:

• accessing close-knit community groups who may not see the Museum as representative of their histories
• addressing the poverty barrier to ensure the Museum is accessible to all
• ensuring we provide for people of different ages, ability and varied background.

The primary issue now is to ensure that we are representative of Wales today and that our reach is Wales wide. These are concerns that publicising our ventures can help resolve. We can be Wales wide and representative of all by making the developments visible to all and opening the floor for discussion and debate.

So, let’s set the debate off now! The theme for the first gallery will be ‘Wales is…’ looking at the stereotypical ideals of ‘Welshness’ while also opening the floor for a debate on what Wales is to others, and how Wales has developed throughout history. So, what is Wales to you? We are developing a great Word Cloud of responses. If you email five words that you believe sum up Wales to the link bellow, we will add them to the Word Cloud and post the results here!

Click Here To Send Your ‘Wales is…’ Words

 And, watch this space for updates on how the Forums have been helping the Museum achieve its goals…

On Saturday 21st September Amgueddfa Cymru ran their annual Beachwatch event. This involved fantastic family science activities in the morning attended by 41 members of the public and seven members of staff. Participants looked at strandline and rockpool animals and seaweeds as well as fossilised corals and snails. Inspired by the fossils and shells that they had seen, the children went on to create wonderful pieces of artwork using Plaster of Paris on the wet sand of the beach.

After lunch, the volunteers gathered to clean the beach and do a litter survey recording all the items they found. The beach clean was attended by 59 volunteers including many of the families from the morning activities.

The results will be sent to the Marine Conservation Society who will collect the data from this beach and hundreds of other UK beaches that were cleaned this weekend. As well as making the beach safer for people and marine life, the Marine Conservation Society also use the data to find out where beach litter comes from and contribute to marine conservation.

As you can see from the photo we found a lot of rubbish including 9 tyres, half a canoe and a traffic cone! A huge thank you to our wonderful volunteers, Ogmore Beach now looks even more beautiful!