Dear Colleagues,
The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS) 2015 Regional Program targeting the regional museum and gallery sector is now on the MAAS (formerly Powerhouse Museum) website at
http://maas.museum/about/regional-program/

Applications for programs are due by 5.00pm, 9 September 2015.

The Regional Stakeholder Forum 2015 will be held on Friday 13 November between 9am – 4 pm in the theatrette at MAAS: Powerhouse Museum. The Forum is held in partnership with Museums & Galleries NSW, Regional Arts NSW and MAAS.

Yours sincerely,

Deborah Vaughan
Regional Program Producer.
MAAS

Regional Stakeholder Forum 2014

Book now for Regional Stakeholder Forum 2014

 
Friday 14 November 2014, 9am – 4pm (registration from 8.30am)
Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris St, Ultimo

This annual forum is an opportunity for regional collecting institutions to come together to converse on topics of interest. The forum will consider sustainability, technological change and partnerships.


Download the full program (PDF)


Download the speakers and synopses (PDF)


Entry is FREE, but bookings are essential: http://from.ph/6u1

Any questions? Contact Deborah Vaughan, Program Producer (Regional) on ph 92170104 or email

Complimentary morning/afternoon tea and a light lunch are included

Presented by the Powerhouse Museum in partnership with
                       Museums & Galleries of NSW

Regional services program for 2015

Regional services program for 2015

For those who don't receive this direct, please click here.

Regional Services Stakeholders Day - Powerhouse Museum

Regional Services Stakeholders Day

On Thursday 7 November the Powerhouse Museum is holding the annual Regional Stakeholder Forum. The program will feature three panel sessions – which will focus on partnerships and processes for developing regional travelling exhibitions, programming for the Centenary of World War I,  and  ‘hot topics’ – an open session for issues and concerns to come from the floor. This is an opportunity to talk with representatives from the State Cultural Institutions and service agencies about issues and programs for 2014.

This is a free event but bookings are essential and places are limited.
RSVP by 4 November please.

There is financial assistance available from the Powerhouse Regional Services to support the travel and accommodation costs for regional staff or volunteers. This must be applied for and approved prior to the day.

To book your place or register for financial assistance please contact Einar Docker, 02 9217 0412 or regionalservices@phm.gov.au (with RSVP FORUM in the Subject field).

Where: Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris St, Ultimo
When: Thursday 7 November 2013, 9.30am – 4.30 pm
Contact: Rebecca Pinchin
Freecall: 1800 882 092 , ph (02) 9217 0220
Email: rebecca.pinchin@phm.gov.au

Events which may be of interest

Rebecca Pinchin, Regional Services Coordinator, Powerhouse Museum has kindly sent me a list of events which may be of interest in the next few weeks, for those who may be travelling from the Central Tablelands.

Please pass on to to those of your members who may have a potential interest.


Lecture and Workshop in Maitland

Australian Dress Register
Wednesday 11 September 2013
A public lecture and workshop on the Australian Dress Register website will be held at the Maitland Gaol 10am -11.30 (all welcome)
Lunch and afternoon tea included.
Where: Maitland Gaol Auditorium, John Street East Maitland
Cost Lecture- free, Lecture and workshop $5
Booking essential – contact Justine Malinowski – Committee Member AMCAT 0409 929 839 or justinemonstar@hotmail.com  or Rebecca Pinchin rebeccap@phm.gov.au  ph 9217 0220  or  Freecall 1800 882 0922


Part of History Week 7 - 15th September, 2013 Powerhouse Museum 

Caring for Photographs
Tuesday 10th September 9:30am -12:30
Photographs are a wonderful visual record of history and everyone collects them. But that history can disappear if they do are not looked after properly. In this workshop, you can find out about different photographic processes and learn conservation techniques such as surface cleaning, appropriate storage and archival framing of photos. The second session will demonstrate how to get good results from digitising and scanning your collection.
http://sa2.seatadvisor.com/sabo/servlets/TicketRequest?eventId=100643493&presenter=AUPMUSEUM&venue=&event=&version=
 
Talk: David Mist celebrates the swinging sixties, again!
Wednesday 11 September, 12.30pm – 1.30pm (arrive 12pm)
Modelled on the Birds of Britain book of 1967 which featured photographs of influential young British women like Mary Quant, Dusty Springfield and Marion Faithfull, David Mist’s Made in Australia book of 1969 focused on Australian ‘bird’ life. Revisit the era in conversation with photographer, David Mist and Powerhouse Museum curator, Anne-Marie Van de Ven
 http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/whatson/talk_Mist.php

and at Castle Hill

From Streetscapes to Photo Albums 
Presented at the Powerhouse Discovery Centre, the Powerhouse Museum’s off-site publicly accessible collection storage facility at Castle Hill, Powerhouse social history curator, Anni Turnbull and Powerhouse conservator, Dee McKillop will take you on a journey through highlights of the museum’s photography collections, looking at the rationale behind collecting certain photographs, the stories behind some of the iconic photographic images in the collection, as well as providing conservation and storage tips on how to care for your own treasured family photographs.
http://castlehill.powerhousemuseum.com/history-week-seminar-from-streetscapes-to-photo-albums/
 
And don’t forget the   …….
Regional Services Applications for the 2014 Regional Services program now open.
Professional advice, project assistance and regional internships are available across all the collection areas and other areas of museum practice such as developing exhibitions, museum learning, publishing, security and marketing. Closing September 2013

Thanks Rebecca

The Powerhouse Museum’s Regional Services newsletter - July-November 2013

 

Click here to view/download full newsletter.

$40,000 for science outreach projects in regional NSW - applications close 31 May 2013

There is $40,000 available for community groups in regional NSW to support science activities and events during National Science Week in August.

From citizen science projects to supermarket science shows, the funding is intended to support community partnerships which motivate and inspire locals to get involved with science and science-related issues.

Local scientists are encouraged to partner with arts and community organisations, local clubs and societies, business associations and local government. The aim is to create a network of enduring local partnerships throughout NSW which will deliver inspirational science initiatives throughout NSW during National Science Week and beyond.

Some of the successful community science initiatives already underway include:

• Radical Wine, a town hall event that explored the science of wine making
• Consumer Science, featuring experiments presented in local shopping malls by scientists from the University of New England
• The Atlas of Life in the Coastal Wilderness project, which brings volunteers together with professional scientists to document the biodiversity of the southern NSW coast
• The Border Stargaze, an annual astronomy festival in Albury, with debates, interactive science activities and night-time sky tours

NSW Trade & Investment has joined forces with the Australian Government's Inspiring Australia initiative and the University of Sydney to provide the 2013 NSW Regional Science Grants.

Read more about the grants at: http://sydney.edu.au/science/outreach/inspiring/index.shtml

Isabelle Kingsley
Science Education Officer
Education Programs
T 92170381

Above email from: 
Rebecca Pinchin
Regional Services Coordinator,
Collections
Powerhouse Museum
500 Harris Street, Ultimo, Sydney, NSW 2007 Australia
T +61 2 92170220
W http://www.powerhousemuseum.com

Grant to discover history of mining

Kandos Museum volunteer Leanne Wicks has won a $5000 fellowship to research the history of coal mining in the Kandos area.

Each year, the Powerhouse Museum awards the Movable Heritage Fellowship to one tertiary student in Australia to work with a community museum on a research project.

Ms Wicks, who is working towards a postgraduate diploma in Museum Studies, is only the second Macquarie University student to be awarded the year-long fellowship, which includes a week’s internship at the Powerhouse Museum.

Ms Wicks began thinking about the region’s mining history when Bylong Public School had an excursion to the museum to learn about coal.

Her own background lies on the environmental side of the coal question, but she acknowledged that without the coal in the mountain, there would have been no cement works and so no Kandos.

After seeing the rehabilitation work done by Environment and Community Officer Matt Gray at Charbon Colliery, she realised there were positive aspects to the other side of the story that she didn’t know about.

Through her fellowship, Ms Wicks will record details of the museum’s coal industry artefacts and assess their historical significance.

So far, she has identified around 50 objects from the three separate collieries that serviced the Kandos cement works, ranging from the large coal loader in the museum yard down to an old cloth hat with a metal front to hold a candle.

Research suggests that coal was mined from the area that would become Kandos as far back as 1890, and well before the establishment of the cement works and the town.

The coal in the mountain was one of the qualities that made the area attractive for industry, with a steelworks proposed before the cement works eventually claimed the site.

Ms Wicks said the Kandos colliery was seen as a model mine for the rest of the country to follow, pioneering technology such as Australia’s first continuous miner, which scraped coal from the seam and dumps it into a container.

She said photos showed the progression of mining, from shovels, picks and pit ponies at the founding of the cement works in 1913, to the rail system and later conveyer belts.

“We’ve got this wonderful progression of technology in one mountain, so that fascinated me,” Ms Wicks said.

She hopes to organise a day on which she would invite people to visit the museum and share stories of coal mining in the Kandos area, or allow her to see and document any mining artefacts they have.

When the coal-related items in the collection have been assessed, Ms Wicks hopes to exhibit them in the museum’s new gallery space.

Ms Wicks said she was inspired by American museum consultant Elaine Gurian’s description of museums as “safe places for unsafe ideas”, making an exhibition in the Kandos Museum the ideal location for the controversial conversation about coal mining.

Powerhouse Museum-Farewell to curator, Christina Sumner, OAM

  Farewell to curator, Christina Sumner, OAM

Published on February 4, 2013 by Anne-Marie Van de Ven in ceramics, Curator profiles, Object of the week and Textiles. 0 Comments Tags: Bright flowers: textiles and ceramics of Central Asia, christina sumner, South East Asian textiles.

On the eve of of Christina Sumner’s departure we asked her a few questions about her experiences at the Museum over the last 28 years.

What have you enjoyed the most about working in the Museum?

Always always always it’s been the people and the collection. I’ve been lucky enough to spend every working day with curatorial and other colleagues who are bright, interested, articulate and as passionate as I am about the collection – building it, and committing ourselves to interpret, tell stories about and communicate the meaning of our objects to the wider community.

Can you nominate 3 favourite objects you have acquired for the permanent collection?

 
The first great treasure I acquired was the Anzac House Australia tapestry in 1988. I’ll never forget the goosebumps and excitement as this great tapestry was unrolled in a warehouse for me to see, and I realised what I was looking at. The tapestry was designed by Jean Lurçat, who is known as the father of modern tapestry, and woven at Aubusson in France between 1960 and 1962. In 1987 the Anzac House Trust moved to smaller premises and presented the tapestry to the Musuem as a bicentennial gift to the people of New South Wales.

Another beloved textile is the early 19th century suzani from Bukhara that I acquired in 1992. This was the start of a long love affair with these beautiful dowry embroideries that eventually resulted in the 2004 loan exhibition Bright flowers: textiles and ceramics of Central Asia, for which we borrowed suzanis, other embroideries, costume and 10th to 20th century ceramics from the amazing collections of state museums in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. It was quite an experience to see our suzani displayed in its own cultural context, with other embroideries from Central Asia.

Read full article

Book now for these events in November

Workshop: Telling stories – developing exhibitions for small spaces
2 November, 10am – 3 pm
Venue TBC (Orange district)

Contact: Alison Russell, Sustainable Collections Project, Orange City Council, ph (02) 6393 8170


Regional Services Stakeholders Day
9 November, 10.30am – 4 pm
Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris St, Ultimo

Annual forum for regional museums and galleries to assist planning of regional services and programs in NSW. Suggestions for topics or any issues for discussion welcome!

Contact: Rebecca Pinchin, Powerhouse Museum, freecall 1800 882 092 , ph (02) 9217 0220, email rebecca.pinchin@phm.gov.au

Ref: Regional services newsletter, October and November 2012

Storing a garment in a large storage box

Photo: Powerhouse Museum

A clip from one of the Australian Dress Register Resources videos produced by the Powerhouse Museum.

Ref: Click here to view the video.

Apply now for 2013 Regional Services program

Applications are now open for individuals or organisations to receive project assistance, a regional internship or a movable heritage fellowship in 2013.

• Regional Internships provide training and development opportunities for regional and rural cultural workers, including short courses and a project-based, four-week internship at the Powerhouse Museum. Financial assistance of up to $750 is available. Applications close 28 September 2012. Read more

• Project Assistance offers cultural heritage organisations across New South Wales advice and/or assistance to assist in recording, preserving and displaying their collections for the benefit of the community. Applications close 28 September 2012. Read more

• The Movable Heritage Fellowship invites tertiary students to undertake a research project on an object or group of objects in a community museum, historical society or other collecting institution. The Fellow will receive $5,000 and spend a minimum of one week at the Powerhouse Museum working with a supervisor. Applications close 1 February 2013. Read more

Any questions or need help with your application? Contact Rebecca Pinchin, Powerhouse Museum on freecall 1800 882 092, ph (02) 9217 0220 or email rebecca.pinchin@phm.gov.aurebecca.pinchin@phm.gov.au

Congratulations to the successful applicants for the 2012 Movable Heritage Fellowships! Well done to Rosemarie Strange, for her project on the Hamilton Hume Dress collection at the Boorowa Museum and Roslyn Carroll, for her project on the Sir William Hudson’s Treasures in the Adaminaby Snowy Scheme Museum.

Powerhouse Museum regional object loans

   
Albert Kersten Mining and Minerals Museum, Broken Hill
Mineral specimens in The Hill that changed the Nation exhibition

Australian Motorlife Museum, Wollongong
Sectioned Chrysler chassis will go on loan for 12 months from 30 April
Tumbarumba Historical Society
Objects from the Southern Cloud aircraft

Friends of Grossman House, Brough House, MaitlandBee keeping equipment will go on loan for display 18–30 April for the Amazing Bees exhibition, a contribution of JW and WS Pender to the Australasian Bee Industry and part of the National Trust Heritage Festival                

Lithgow Small Arms Factory, Lithgow
McCrudden machine gun

Manning Regional Art Gallery, Taree
A slouch hat will go on loan 19 April – 20 May  in Taree Rotary’s Hat exhibition

Newcastle Regional Museum, Newcastle
Presentation trowel, x-ray tube and reed organ

Penrith Regional Gallery and the Lewers Bequest, Penrith
3 doll tableaux on display in the Hello Dollies exhibition

Sydney Tramway Museum, Loftus
O Class tram

TAFE NSW Western Institute, Broken Hill
Loco model on display

Trainworks, Thirlmere
Governor General’s carriage

Powerhouse Museum Regional Services 2012 Program

Please click on text to enlarge,

Regional Stakeholders Consultation Day

Re         25 November              Regional Stakeholders Consultation Day
9.30 am – 4.30 pm      Target Theatre, Powerhouse Museum, Harris Street
          
The Powerhouse Museum will be holding our annual Regional Stakeholders Consultation Day on Friday 25 November 2011 in the Target Theatre.

This meeting aims to share current work at the Powerhouse Museum and other State Cultural Heritage Institutions and provide opportunities for regional heritage organisations to give feedback and discuss planning for 2012. This will include a forum in the afternoon and will be open to all who are interested.  We hope it will support better planning of outreach programs offered to regional organisations and more collaboration and integration of programs across the sector in 2012 and beyond. Apart from the Powerhouse staff there will be representatives from Australian Museum, State Library, Historic Houses Trust, State Records, Museums and Galleries NSW.

You are invited to attend and take part in the discussions. The program will include four panel sessions designed to encourage discussion and the topics to be featured are

Protocols and policies for working with Indigenous communities and collections
Touring regional product, collaboration, and exhibition and program development
Research and interpretation for school and community engagement

Please advise Einar Docker, 02 9217 0412 or email einard@phm.gov.au  if you are wish to attend. There is no cost but bookings are essential.

If you would like further information you can contact myself on 1800 882 092 or by email rebeccap@phm.gov.au.

Yours sincerely


Rebecca Pinchin
Regional Services

Phone 02 9217 0220
Free call 1800 882 092
rebeccap@phm.gov.au