News & Notices

Touring Exhibitions in a Socially Distant environment

During this challenging time we at Warren Elsmore Ltd have been keeping in touch with all of our customers and suppliers on a regular basis. We’ve been working together to see what route there is for our sector, back to some semblance of normality. We know that this crisis will pass – but when restrictions are eased we also know that we must maintain a safe environment for both our staff and visitors.

Talking about the situation over the last couple of weeks, it became apparent that our experience in both touring exhibitions and extremely large events could be put to good use. Whilst the build of a 30,000 square meter exhibition space might not seem relatable to a local museum – in these strange times, the logistic challenges are not too dissimilar.

As we face these all challenges together it would be wrong not to share whatever we can, so I’ve written a white paper on ‘Social Distancing in Touring Exhibitions’. This documents not only the new procedures we as a company are putting into place – but also best practise guidance we’ve gathered from around the sector. It’s available now as a free download from the link below:

Download the white paper – Social Distancing in Touring Exhibitions

Please do feel free to distribute this within your organisation if you wish. Similarly, if you have extra materials we can add to this, or any other comments – we’d love to hear those as well. Please email me and I will make sure to keep the document updated.

2020 is going to be a tough year for us all, but we will get through it. Please stay safe,

Warren

Storage assistance for House of Illustration

House of Illustration in King’s Cross (www.houseofillustration.org.uk) will be working on a new capital project from January 2021 and so will be looking for assistance with artwork storage.

We would be so grateful if we were able to partner with another gallery or museum in order to store our touring exhibitions and other pieces for approximately 18 months at a low rate.

Any help or advice much appreciated – please get in touch with Katie McCurrach, katie.mccurrach@houseofillustration.org.uk

Thank you!

The Tiger Who Came to Tea – a facsimile exhibition from Seven Stories

We are looking for tour partners for our new Small Stories exhibition

Our first exhibition celebrates Judith Kerr’s classic title The Tiger Who Came to Tea.  Due to the success of  the pilot version, currently touring National Trust properties around the UK, we have opened a second Tiger tour which has two remaining slots March/April and May/June 2022

The exhibition consists of:

– 10 framed pieces of facsimile artwork from the book,
– a reproduction of Sophie’s kitchen for little visitors to play in, complete with its own cuddly 5ft Tiger!
– 3 interpretation panels
– copies of the book
– bespoke dress up
– toys

The hire fee is £4,000 +VAT for a two month loan.

The exhibition has enjoyed tremendous success at all of the venues it’s toured to thus far, visitor numbers are up – so much so that Quarry Bank had a 20,000 visitor increase from the same period last year.

Visitors have been on social media praising the exhibition:

‘More events like the tiger who came to tea for the families, linked to affordable keep sakes that are relevant to the theme’.

‘Great little exhibition for my two, and clearly very popular’

For this second tour, we will need to fill all of the available slots before we can recommission the creation of a brand new Tiger, set and props for this second round of the tour.

Each slot includes a school holiday period

An Update to Our Community- COVID-19

Dear Colleagues,

Like all of you, the Touring Exhibitions Group have been following the challenging and changeable news regarding the global Covid-19 and Coronavirus crisis.

In light of current government advice and the likely long-term effects, we have decided to postpone the TEG Marketplace and Seminar that were due to take place on 30 April and 1 May 2020.

We are looking at options for holding the Seminar in October and another two-day event, including the Marketplace, in spring 2021. We are discussing this with our hosts at People’s History Museum in Manchester. If you have already purchased tickets, they will be valid for the re-arranged events and in support of TEG and our community, we hope you will by happy to attend on the rescheduled dates. Should this not be possible, we will of course offer refunds. Please bear with us for now, while we make new arrangements.

We understand that calling off the events is going to cause disappointment and disruption but I am sure that you understand why we have opted to do so. We will keep you informed about new arrangements for the events as soon as we have information but in the meantime, If you have any questions please direct them to Andrew Deathe, TEG Coordinator.

Nicola Coleby, TEG Chair and the TEG Committee

Sharing Collections Symposium

Friday 15 November 2019

10.00am – 5.00pm

Natural History Museum, London

Over the past five years, the lending and borrowing landscape in UK museums and galleries has been the subject of increased focus, activity, training and funding. Art Fund, the National Museum Directors’ Council (NMDC) and the Touring Exhibitions Group (TEG) invite you to join them, and colleagues from Arts Council England (ACE) and the National Museums, to:

• Be inspired to lend and borrow to achieve your organisation’s objectives
• To review and reflect on the loans activity resulting from programmes including the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund, Ready to Borrow and Preparing to Borrow, and the wider context and agenda set by the Mendoza and DCMS Reviews
• To consider what changes and adaptations still need to be made to facilitate and maximise the impact of loans
• To consider future opportunities for lending and borrowing between museums and galleries

Please download the leaflet for ticketing details

Job opportunity: Touring Exhibitions Co-ordinator

Job Title: Touring Exhibitions Co-ordinator

Hours: 18.5

Part time, fixed term contract for 12 months from December 2019 to November 2020, 18.5 hours per week

Salary: £23,853.05 pro rata

We are currently recruiting for an experienced, enthusiastic and organised Touring Exhibitions Co-ordinator to work with us at Birmingham Museums Trust. Based within the Collections Directorate as part of the Curatorial and Exhibitions team, you will collaborate with a guest curator, partner museums in the English Civic Museums Network and exhibition organisers in Japan to develop proposals and object lists for an exciting programme of international touring exhibitions. This post is supported by Art Fund.

For further information please read the job description here – https://birminghammuseumstrust.livevacancies.co.uk/#/

The closing date for applications is Tuesday 22 October 2019 and we expect interviews to take place on Thursday 31 October 2019

Touring Curator

Organisation: The Design Museum

Salary: c£30,000 per annum, dependent on experience

Type: Fixed term

Location: London

The Design Museum’s temporary exhibitions programme is the central focus of its activities with an influential and engaging programme of paid-for temporary exhibitions alongside its free permanent display. The exhibitions include monographs and thematic exhibitions on every aspect of contemporary design and architecture. Once completed in Kensington, temporary exhibitions go on to become part of the museum’s touring portfolio which sends exhibitions across the globe, generating income and raising the profile of the Design Museum.

The Touring Curator will sit within the Exhibitions department, working closely with the team responsible for the operational delivery of touring exhibitions. With direct experience of delivering exhibitions to an international audience, the post holder will understand the challenges of delivering content to touring venues.

As well as working with the team to enhance how existing exhibition content is presented to potential partners, the post holder will assess potential gaps in content and gauge which subjects are most popular to touring markets.

Job scope

The successful candidate will have extensive experience in creating exhibitions that have successfully toured internationally. They will have an in depth and current knowledge of the exhibition touring landscape and the international market for touring exhibitions as well as a very strong international network.

Across a period of 12 months, the post holder will work closely with the Acting Head of Touring and an external consultant with expertise in international strategy to agree priorities for the period which will include developing exhibition concepts that sit within the context of the museum’s curatorial vision.

The concepts will be presented to key stakeholders at the museum and at least one of them will be developed in to a fully worked exhibition narrative including an object list, exhibition text, the visitor experience and content for learning and public programmes to form part of the completed exhibition package that could be promoted for tour.

The post holder will work closely with the Acting Head of Touring Exhibitions and Exhibitions team to enhance existing activity such as developing tour proposals for existing exhibitions and researching venues for potential touring exhibitions.

The post holder may wish to engage a volunteer and will work alongside colleagues from the Exhibitions and Curatorial departments to ensure a comprehensive understanding of existing Design Museum practise.

This role is offered on a 12 month fixed-term contract. The interview date for this role are to be confirmed. Please indicate on your application form dates you are not available for interview in August.

Job description

• Develop a touring exhibitions programme that reflects the Design Museum’s curatorial vision.
• Advocate for the programme with external partners (e.g. potential lenders to touring exhibitions or potential hosts for touring exhibitions).
• Map the market for potential Design Museum exhibitions, undertaking research and evaluating findings with the Acting Head of Touring Exhibitions and any external consultants.
• Research potential exhibitions drawing from the Design Museum collection.
• Create a minimum of four exhibition proposals that can be developed specifically to tour and present these concepts to key stakeholders across the museum.
• Communicate the financial and practical implications of exhibition proposals such as complex loans and potential transportation challenges.
• Develop one proposal to a full exhibition proposal including narrative, interpretation plan, viable loans, exhibition text and learning and public programmes tool kit for host venues.
• Research potential host venues for the exhibition and others that are existing on the museum’s portfolio.
• Support the Acting Head of Touring Exhibitions in reaching out to potential partners and effectively selling the exhibitions.
• Work with the Curatorial team and Acting Head of Touring Exhibitions to improve existing marketing materials and develop new ones as required.
• Manage volunteers, treating them as integral members of the museum and Exhibitions team; be responsible for their induction, supervision and timely review meetings.
• Become an integral part of the Exhibitions Team, attending team and museum wide meetings are required.
• Deliver progress reports to colleagues across the museum as required.

If you are interested in applying, please email charlotte.bulte@designmuseum.org