Abstract

Can a new storage facility drive a strategic transformation for a museum? What opportunities does an off-site ‘behind the scenes’ facility provide for developing a museum’s stakeholder relationships and its public engagement role; furthermore, what impact can it have on the social needs of a new community?

The Colin Forbes Building is a 650-square-metre facility opened in 2019 by the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, UK, located around 4.5 kilometres from the main museum site in central Cambridge. When fully populated it will provide high-quality, environmentally controlled storage for more than 80 per cent of the Sedgwick’s rock and fossil collections and its unique historic archive. In this case study, we describe how a project conceived to improve storage is now driving a much wider range of strategic initiatives.

The project is part of a new Strategic Plan for the Sedgwick Museum, adopted in 2019 and instigated by an external review of the museum’s activities, new leadership and extensive consultation. With the building project itself nearly completed, the challenge lay in mobilising this new facility to contribute to delivery of the aforementioned Strategic Plan. By equipping and presenting it as a dynamic centre for collections-based research we are enabling active development of the Sedgwick’s relationship with the scientific research community. Furthermore, it will enable the Sedgwick to deliver public engagement in ways that enhance the existing ‘traditional’ museum offer. The facility’s location on the edge of a major new community currently under construction on the north-west outskirts of Cambridge, enables us to engage meaningfully with a much wider public and university audience in an area of the city that currently has very little cultural provision. In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, we review approaches and achievements, and reflect on how the project can continue to support strategic transformation in the post-pandemic period.

摘要

新的存储设施能否推动博物馆的战略转型？场外“幕后”设施为发展博物馆的利益相关者关系及其公众参与角色提供了哪些机会；此外，它会对新社区的社会需求产生什么影响？

科林福布斯大楼是一座 650 平方米的设施，由英国剑桥大学塞奇威克地球科学博物馆于 2019 年开放，距离剑桥市中心的主要博物馆遗址约 4.5 公里。建成后，它将为塞奇威克 80% 以上的岩石和化石收藏品及其独特的历史档案提供高质量、环境可控的存储空间。在本案例研究中，我们描述了一个旨在改善存储的项目现在如何推动更广泛的战略计划。

该项目是塞奇威克博物馆新战略计划的一部分，该计划于 2019 年通过，并由对博物馆活动的外部审查、新领导层和广泛咨询促成。随着建筑项目本身接近完成，挑战在于动员这个新设施为上述战略计划的交付做出贡献。通过将其装备和展示为一个动态的基于收藏的研究中心，我们正在积极发展 Sedgwick 与科学研究界的关系。此外，它还将使 Sedgwick 能够以增强现有“传统”博物馆服务的方式提供公众参与。该设施位于剑桥西北郊区一个正在建设中的主要新社区的边缘，使我们能够在目前几乎没有文化设施的城市地区与更广泛的公众和大学受众进行有意义的互动。在 Covid-19 大流行的背景下，我们回顾了方法和成就，并思考了该项目如何继续支持大流行后时期的战略转型。