Repatriation, innovation, virtual reality and other digital opportunities and issues around earthquake strengthening buildings will all come up for debate next weekend at our museums' national conference in Christchurch. The MA18 Conference brings together several hundred museum leaders to talk about a time of rapid change in how museums display their taonga and how they reach out to their communities. Lynn Freeman spoke to Phillipa Tocker who's the Executive Director of Museums Aotearoa, and to one of the guest speakers, futurist Kaila Colbin who's curator of TEDxChristchurch and TEDxScottBase, co-founder and Chair of the Ministry of Awesome and a director of ChristchurchNZ which is responsible for tourism, major events and economic development in the city.
An article from Air Force News April 2011 titled, "Business Refugees Move into Museum".
Museums around the world are often affected by major catastrophes, and yet planning for these disasters is an often neglected aspect of museum practice. New Zealand is not immune from these events, as can be seen in the recent series of serious earthquakes in Christchurch in 2010 and 2011. This dissertation considers how prepared the New Zealand museum sector is to handle unexpected events that negatively affect its buildings, staff, operations and treasured collections. The central research question was: What is the overall state of emergency planning in the New Zealand museum sector? There was a significant gap in the literature, especially in the local context, as there has been only one other comparable study conducted in Britain, and nothing locally. This dissertation makes a valuable contribution to the field of museum studies by drawing on theory from relevant areas such as crises management literature and by conducting original empirical research on a topic which has received little attention hitherto. The research employed a number of methods, including a review of background secondary sources, a survey and interviews. After contextualising the study with a number of local examples, Ian online survey was then developed an which enabled precise understanding of the nature of current museum practices and policies around emergency planning. Following this I conducted several interviews with museum professionals from a variety of institutional backgrounds which explored their thoughts and feelings behind the existing practices within the industry. The findings of the research were significant and somewhat alarming: almost 40% of the museum and galleries in New Zealand do not have any emergency plan at all, and only 11% have what they considered ‘complete’ plans. The research revealed a clear picture of the current width and depth of planning, as well as practices around updating the plans and training related to them. Within the industry there is awareness that planning for emergencies is important, but museum staff typically lack the knowledge and guidance needed to conduct effective emergency planning. As a result of the analysis, several practical suggestions are presented aimed at improving emergency planning practices in New Zealand museums. However this study has implications for museum studies and for current museum practice everywhere, as many of the recommendations for resolving the current obstacles and problems are applicable anywhere in the world, suggesting that New Zealand museums could become leaders in this important area.
An article from Air Force News April 2011 titled, "Helping Hand for Lyttelton Museum".
Museum in distance
A PDF copy of pages 344-345 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Canterbury Quakes'. Photos courtesy of Canterbury Museum
An entry from Ruth Gardner's Blog for 12 January 2014 entitled, "Museum Moa".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 2 September 2011 entitled, "Museum Milestone".
A PDF copy of pages 340-341 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Quake City'. Photos courtesy of Canterbury Museum
Launch function for the UC CEISMIC digital archive at the museum.
Launch function for the UC CEISMIC digital archive at the museum.
Launch function for the UC CEISMIC digital archive at the museum.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 25 February 2012 entitled, "Magic Museum Moments".
A PDF copy of pages 342-343 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Christchurch: See Through My Eyes (UNICEF Children's Photographs)'. UNICEF Children's Photos as supplied by Canterbury Museum and Jacqui Southey
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Contractors demolish the extensively-damaged museum building in Kaiapoi".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Contractors demolish the extensively-damaged museum building in Kaiapoi".
Register Record for the Museum (formerly Courthouse and Jail), 145 Williams Street, Kaiapoi
Building Record Form for the Museum (formerly Courthouse and Jail), 145 Williams Street, Kaiapoi
A photograph of a sign about liquefaction in the Canterbury Quakes exhibition at the Canterbury Museum.
A photograph of a sign about liquefaction in the Canterbury Quakes exhibition at the Canterbury Museum.
A photograph of a sign about liquefaction in the Canterbury Quakes exhibition at the Canterbury Museum.
How Christchurch museums, galleries and libraries which store many of NZ's treasures have fared after the earthquake.
Photo of the Christchurch Museum Building on Rolleston Avenue, Christchurch taken by Marcus Langman, 10 March 2011.
A photograph of a sign in the Canterbury Quakes exhibition at the Canterbury Museum. The sign displays information about the 4 September 2010 earthquake.
A photograph of a sign in the Canterbury Quakes exhibition at the Canterbury Museum. The sign displays the number of aftershocks in Canterbury since the 4 September 2010 earthquake as of 9.00 am on the morning the photograph was taken. The tally was 9,787.
A photograph of a sign in the Canterbury Quakes exhibition at the Canterbury Museum. The sign displays information about the 23 December 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of a sign in the Canterbury Quakes exhibition at the Canterbury Museum. The sign displays information about the 13 June 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of a sign in the Canterbury Quakes exhibition at the Canterbury Museum. The sign displays information about the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Almost 1 million artefacts were discovered in a 'big dig' after the Christchurch earthquakes in 2010 and 2011.
A photograph of the ChristChurch Cathedral cross, on display in the Canterbury Quakes exhibition at the Canterbury Museum.