The next Manifesto principle we will look at is collections. This is described as follows:
Collections belong to communities and without people museums are just storage warehouses. Collections are for public use.
Collections matter to many people, and for them to be a source of understanding and empowerment, people need access to them. Museums should work with their communities to ensure that collections are empowering, relevant and dynamic.
This means adopting a proactive approach to the democratisation and decolonisation of collections; reinterpreting collections with communities; and supporting partnerships and knowledge sharing.
Museums should be transparent about the objects they hold and work with communities to understand, interpret and rationalise collections.
The ideas behind this Manifesto principle build on the Museum Association’s Empowering Collections Report. This report’s recommendations focussed on the need for collections to be empowering, relevant and dynamic. We will look at the Empowering Collections report in one of the following exercises.
The following exercises ask you to reflect on how the collections Manifesto principle relates to your professional practice. You will also have the opportunity to watch others in the sector talk about what this principle means to them and their work.