Museum Reset.

A monthly newsletter with fresh discoveries at the intersection
of technology, design and museums.

Larry Rivers Nine French Bank Notes II 1963–65

Editor's Letter

Hello!

There is something quite life affirming about reading the Tech for Good ideas pitched by 11-16 year old’s for this year's Nesta Longitude Explorer Prize.

I was lucky to be a panellist at the final this month and the question I got asked by the young people was - ‘how do I get funding to build my idea?’ They were probably hoping for tips on pitching, but my honest answer was that the only way to create something of value for society is to grow it organically (at least at first) by working in collaboration with your community or market.

That was our journey with Smartify and I think most of you have probably experienced similar things, whether developing exhibitions, growing membership or online learning. Sometimes you might get a big pot of funding at the outset, but most of the time things that grow slowly with real audiences, real customers… they have the most impact long term.

For any of the students who’ve found themselves here - I’ve included some slightly more helpful links on fundraising below. :)

Hope you all manage to get a well-deserved break over August.

Anna Lowe
Smartify CoFounder

Apps, tools and sites

Nine different strategies for funding a creator-driven project - A neat overview for creators who are looking to raise significant funds for their work.

How to present to Angels & Venture Capitalists - A pitch deck template that covers all the basics.

Screenotate - A macOS and Windows app works converts screenshots into real text and saves it to your clipboard. Especially handy for people doing research with scanned materials.

Kickstart - If you’re UK based and want to support more young people to get into the sector, check out the government’s Kickstart which provides funding to employers to create jobs for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal Credit. Organisations like Tate and Migration Museum are already doing it.

Than Average - Compare yourself to others. This fun survey asks you to compare specific character traits of yours with that of the average person. A simple, yet powerful way to trigger reflection on how we value and compare ourselves to others.

Five recommendations
from Culture& Vice-Chair Svetlana Leu

A phrase worth knowing .........

“One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself” - Leonardo da Vinci. I first came across this quote in school and it has been a guiding principle ever since, motivating me to think about ways in which I can grow and develop in all aspects of my life.

An Instagram account worth following .......

An Instagram account worth following Up Projects, an organisation which curates and commissions public art with social relevance that engages communities and encourages learning.

A Twitter account worth following .......

The Young Trustees Movement. For young people looking for their first trustee role, they offer advice on applying, current vacancies and networking with other young trustees.

A exhibition worth exploring .......

War Inna Babylon: The Community’s Struggle for Truths and Rights at ICA London. Curated by Tottenham Rights, Kamara Scott and Rianna Jade Parker, the exhibition focuses on acts of resistance and activism undertaken by Black communities in the U.K. in response to decades of racism.

A film worth watching.......

The Small Axe series of short films by Steve McQueen. The series reveals Black histories, experiences, joy and struggles which have never before been shown on mainstream television in the U.K. in this way.

Svetlana Leu is the Vice Chair of the board of trustees at Culture&, a charity which aims to diversify the arts and heritage sector through workforce training and public programmes. Watch Culture&’s webinar in collaboration with Museums Association on Museums & Black Lives Still Matter here.

Tweet of the month

"Someone asked me today what it takes to successfully onboard someone remotely. Here's my wish list as an employee who has been onboarded 100% remote a couple of times"

Justin Garrison @rothgar Aug 21, 2020

Food for thought

Why does the GLAM sector work with Google Arts and Culture

Preliminary results from the survey carried out early 2021 from Professor Melissa Terras. “Emergent issues include: poor understanding of user data; the short timelines for upload; workload, and the labour being undertaken by institutions; licensing and copyright issues; who owns the resulting content; the inflexible process; whether or not GA&C will be sustained; and lack of community of those taking part.”

How Journalism Students are Filling the Gaps in Local News

For many soon-to-be journalism and arts graduates, their next job might be one they create. These examples of student-led newsrooms are an interesting model for students to learn from (I wonder if museums would let students take over in this way??).

How can we help?

Smartify is the world’s most used museum app (and web app!). We'd love to help you create and monetise audio guides, classes and OnDemand video across multiple channels.
Here's 3 reasons to get in touch:
1. You want to offer a mobile guide via the Smartify platform.
2. You want to talk to us about content production: video, audio, animations, online courses, AR, games.
3. You want to talk to us about content strategy or format development for on-site and online experiences.We do other things too.
To learn more and get in touch, visit https://about.smartify.org.

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