Bold Futures has been developed to explore some of the complex cross-sector challenges that have arisen since the pandemic and enable organisations to make changes through follow-on, capacity building grants.
Building on our Mindsets for Museums of the Future and Science and Discovery Centre Futures research, we wanted to consider next what museums and science and discovery centres might need next to support values-led practice with communities, audiences and partners. We posed the question: how can we work together to build a shared, strategic vision for museums, galleries and science centres?
What did we do?
The Liminal Space convened 25 senior leaders and innovators from across the museum and science centre sectors to take part in a series of co-design sessions.
Consisting of two online workshops, supported by some offline ‘Fieldwork’ where participants were encouraged to speak to members of their team, as well as to take time to reflect on their own space. Through the workshop series, we wanted to consider what our organisations need most to support values-led practice with communities, audiences and partners. We asked:
How can we build capacity to deliver meaningful and responsive work that engages old and new audiences, funders and partners?
How can we consolidate our individual learnings and opportunities to become more resilient in the face of our most pressing challenges?
We explored this through four challenge areas:
Evaluation Innovation: A sector wide shared language, development and enhancement of impact measuring for audiences
Listening and Sharing: Inclusive communication and resource sharing, both internally and cross-sector; favouring ground up dissemination and inclusion of all levels of staff, as well as regular dialogue opportunities.
Explore and Experiment: Better mechanisms and opportunities for reflection and critique as well as ability to test and look outside of sectors to learn about innovative engagement, content and practice.
Power Dynamics and Inclusion: Sustainable and implementable methods for decolonising, non-extractive community building and equitable practice at every level; internally and externally.
What has the impact been?
Following the co-design sessions the project offered participants the opportunity to apply for grants of £10,000-£25,000 to put their ‘Bold’ idea into action. Proposals were reviewed by a selection panel and seven organisations from across the UK were awarded grants to deliver their proposed projects, which got underway in January 2023. Read more about which organisations were successful and the projects they are delivering here. Want to explore your own Bold Futures?
All the workshop materials are available to download below, with a guide to how you can use them with your team to develop ideas that might innovate within your organisation. Bold Futures has been designed and developed by The Liminal Space in partnership with the Museums Association and the Association of Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC) and is funded by Wellcome.
