Let’s not be so timorous
Whether it’s Yes or No, museums should engage with the debate
It felt fortuitous to be heading to Scotland just days before the referendum this week.
The airport in London seemed to be full of young journos who were a combination of giddy about being sent on assignment and cynical about the debate that is taking place. I was determined to see what the real picture was in Scotland and it didn’t take long to find out.
On the bus into Glasgow I played spot the poster - but soon had to give up because there were so many Yes posters and hardly any No Thanks. In fact the only No I saw was in the undecided/deeply conflicted household that had both Yes and No in the window.
But of course winning the poster war doesn’t mean that it will be Yes on the day.
My first stop off the bus was Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum - one of my all-time favourites. It was lovely to see it so full on a grey Monday lunchtime - it’s always claimed to be of the people and for the people and it seemed genuinely to be so.
But apart from some heated discussions about the referendum that were going on around me in the café I couldn’t find any evidence that this museum was engaging with the debate. Which is odd considering it has not been afraid of sticking its neck out on controversial subjects in the past - domestic violence, racism, sectarianism, gay rights and censorship, to name a few.
Of course it’s difficult for publicly funded bodies and those that work in them to be seen to be taking sides - but fostering debate is not taking sides. I see no reason why museums shouldn’t be providing a forum in which the discussion can take place.
I was in Glasgow to speak to MA students at the university about Museums Change Lives, the Museums Association’s vision for the impact that museums can have in society.
One of the themes of Museums Change Lives is that museums can make themselves more relevant by engaging in the issues and debates that are taking place in contemporary society.
The referendum seems like the perfect opportunity to do that but when I asked students if they felt that museums in Scotland were doing that the answer was a resounding no.
I’m sure many museums are collecting the evidence of the referendum from both sides of the divide. But standing on the sidelines and creating an exhibition once it’s all over is not enough. It’s the taking part that counts.
The airport in London seemed to be full of young journos who were a combination of giddy about being sent on assignment and cynical about the debate that is taking place. I was determined to see what the real picture was in Scotland and it didn’t take long to find out.
On the bus into Glasgow I played spot the poster - but soon had to give up because there were so many Yes posters and hardly any No Thanks. In fact the only No I saw was in the undecided/deeply conflicted household that had both Yes and No in the window.
But of course winning the poster war doesn’t mean that it will be Yes on the day.
My first stop off the bus was Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum - one of my all-time favourites. It was lovely to see it so full on a grey Monday lunchtime - it’s always claimed to be of the people and for the people and it seemed genuinely to be so.
But apart from some heated discussions about the referendum that were going on around me in the café I couldn’t find any evidence that this museum was engaging with the debate. Which is odd considering it has not been afraid of sticking its neck out on controversial subjects in the past - domestic violence, racism, sectarianism, gay rights and censorship, to name a few.
Of course it’s difficult for publicly funded bodies and those that work in them to be seen to be taking sides - but fostering debate is not taking sides. I see no reason why museums shouldn’t be providing a forum in which the discussion can take place.
I was in Glasgow to speak to MA students at the university about Museums Change Lives, the Museums Association’s vision for the impact that museums can have in society.
One of the themes of Museums Change Lives is that museums can make themselves more relevant by engaging in the issues and debates that are taking place in contemporary society.
The referendum seems like the perfect opportunity to do that but when I asked students if they felt that museums in Scotland were doing that the answer was a resounding no.
I’m sure many museums are collecting the evidence of the referendum from both sides of the divide. But standing on the sidelines and creating an exhibition once it’s all over is not enough. It’s the taking part that counts.