Discover, share and inspire – engaging audiences

Issue 57 / January 2015

Is it time for a hot chocolate yet?

Recently queuing for a long, cold ‘hour’ with good-natured tourists and a couple of fractious nephews to gain entry to the Natural History Museum we didn’t see any evidence of security alerts affecting attendance and Heather Maitland’s exploration of research into visitors’ attitudes to security alerts makes an interesting read to start this issue.

In this JAM we’re sharing great examples of engaging audiences that we hope will inspire you in your work this year and into the future. Kathryn Havelock examines how a longer exhibition can offer huge advantages to an organisation, including greater understanding of the audience and Melissa Gerbaldi looks back at her time working on the launch of the Mary Rose Museum in 2013 and how it exceeded all expectations.

On page 16 we join Rachael Rogers from Monmouthshire Museums Service to find out about the lessons learned when working as part of the Sharing Treasure scheme along with two successful exhibitions and increased visitor numbers.

Just over a year in to the scheme, Sophia Linehan shines a light on the role of AMA Museums and Heritage Ambassadors while Alix Slater of the Membership Management Forum explores membership and friends schemes (page 18).

Last year one of the most famous figures from Scottish history provided the focus for a successful marketing collaboration and on page 20 Jane Ferguson takes a look at a great example of what the heritage sector can achieve through working together.

Rebecca Storey looks at the anatomy of a PR campaign, we spend just a minute finding out about Vicki Chelms at the National Media Museum and it’s our new Programme Producer; Verity Sanderson’s turn in the spotlight.

Any thoughts, comments or suggestions for JAM? Please email the Editor.