Museum Basics 2024

The Irish Museums Association is inviting for expressions of interest to participate in our established Museum Basics course, aimed at enhancing skills of staff and volunteers, primarily working in community and volunteer-led museums or cultural heritage organisations.

Museum Basics is a foundation course that offers a practical introduction to the nature, context and operations of museums with the intention of providing practical examples and indicators of good practice and where and how further information can be found. It is bench-marked against agreed international standards and is relevant also to institutions embarking on the Heritage Council's Museum Standards Programme for Ireland (MSPI) or the NI Museum Council (NIMC) Museum Accreditation scheme. All the Instructors are leading figures in their respective fields.

Devised by the Irish Museums Association (IMA), trainers are museum experts in their respective fields and working in the sector. It offers an introduction to the nature, context and operations of museums and the intention of the training is to provide practical examples and indicators of good practice and where and how further information can be found.

Museum Basics consists of eight online sessions of one hour and thirty minutes duration:

• Introduction to Museums: Positions museums in their historical, social and cultural context. Provides participants with an understanding of the function of museums and how they are organised in Ireland.
• Management and Governance: Presents types of governance structures within the museum sector, the roles of executive officers (including curators), forward planning and project management.
• Collecting and Collections: Examines the role of collections, why and how to collect and how to devise a collection policy. It also looks at the meaning and context of collections and the challenges of collecting intangible heritage.
• Documentation: Introduces loan management and documentation systems, collection audits and writing facilities reports.
• Interpretation and Display: Participants are encouraged to look at interpretation strategies within their museums, as well as practical issues such as writing text, choosing cases, displaying objects and arranging lighting, and dealing with contractors.
• Collection Care: Introduces broad collection care principles and offers a practical introduction to the principles of preventive conservation covering storage, handling and correct methods of display.
• Education and Access: Emphasises the centrality of learning as a function of museums. It gives an appreciation of the diversity of museum audiences and the different approaches required to connect effectively with each of them.
• External Relations: Enables participants to gain an understanding of the place of the museum within its various environments and a practical understanding of how best to communicate with their audiences.

The course is aimed primarily at those working within the smaller, community or volunteer-led sector, or those wishing to refresh or benchmark their practice against agreed best practice standards.

Course dates: 09:30 - 13:00, 4th - 7th March 2024.

Course Fee: €40 / £35 for IMA individual or Institutional members, €120 / £100 for non-members. 

Applications: The Call for Expressions of Interest closed on 31 January 2024 and this course is now fully booked. To be added to the mailing list for the next Museum Basics course, contact programme@irishmuseums.org with subject line, Museum Basics EOI. 

• 2024 Schedule

  Monday 4 March

  09:10 - 11:00:   Introduction to Museums: Positions museums in their historical, social and cultural context. Provides participants with an understanding of the function of museums and how they are organised in Ireland. 

  11::00 – 11:30: Break 

  11:30 – 13:00:   Management and Governance: Presents types of governance structures within the museum sector, the roles of executive officers (including curators), forward planning and project management. 

  Tuesday 3 March 

  09:30 - 11:00:   Collecting and Collections: Examines the role of collections, why and how to collect and how to devise a collection policy. It also looks at the meaning and context of collections and the challenges of collecting intangible heritage. 

  11::00 – 11:30: Break

  11:30 – 13:00:   Documentation: Introduces loan management and documentation systems, collection audits and writing facilities reports. 

  Wednesday 4 March 

  09:30 - 11:00:   Interpretation and Display: Participants are encouraged to look at interpretation strategies within their museums, as well as practical issues such as writing text, choosing cases, displaying objects and arranging lighting, and dealing with contractors. 

  11::00 – 11:30: Break

  11:30 – 13:00:   Collection Care: Introduces broad collection care principles and offers a practical introduction to the principles of preventive conservation covering storage, handling and correct methods of display. 

  Thursday 7 March 

  09:30 - 11:00:   Education and Access: Emphasises the centrality of learning as a function of museums. It gives an appreciation of the diversity of museum audiences and the different approaches required to connect effectively with each of them. 

  11::00 – 11:30: Break

  11:30 – 13:00:   External Relations: Enables participants to gain an understanding of the place of the museum within its various environments and a practical understanding of how best to communicate with their audiences. 

   

• Panel of Trainers

  Larbhas (Lar) Joye is the port heritage director at Dublin Port Authority. He is a former curator of Arts and History at the National Museum of Ireland where he held responsibility for military history collections, heading award-winning exhibitions. 

  Eithne Verling is director of Galway City Museum, leading a new major redevelopment of the museum. She was instrumental in devising the Museums Standards Programme of Ireland. 

  Brenda Malone, historian and museum professional, is the curator of Military History, Arms and Armour, Flags and Banner, Transport and Contemporary Ireland Collections at the National Museum of Ireland.

  Brian Crowley is curator of Kilmainham Gaol museums and the Pearse Museum, OPW, where he oversaw the reinterpretation of the permanent exhibition. He previously worked for Tyne and Wear Museums in the UK and is a former chair of the IMA. 

  Sven Habermann is a furniture conservation specialist and manager of Conservation Letterfrack. He is an accredited conservator and a former board member of the Institute of Conservator-Restorers of Ireland (ICRI). 

  Catherine McGuiness is Research and Education Officer, Cavan County Museum and is a science communicator and museum educator specialising in biodiversity, zoology and natural history. She previously worked with the NMI and now leads projects across the wide breath of museums in Ireland. 

  Carla Marrinan is chief executive officer at the National Print Museum, where she has worked since 2010. Carla has experience in senior management, strategic development, fundraising, visitor engagement, exhibitions and collections management.