Read the headline findings from our July consultation about the proposals for the Museum
For a two-week period in July, we invited members of the public to give their views on the designs for future museum exhibitions and activities at the new Museum and Cultural Centre on St Mary’s. The project team have analysed the data received from almost 80 survey responses, and we’re able to share the headline findings with you.
We have been working with heritage interpretation specialists, Imagemakers, to create designs which offer a proposal of how future museum exhibitions could look in the new Town Hall. The designs have been created in discussion with the Isles of Scilly Museum Association and other stakeholders, and you can read our blog post with the design proposals here.
The consultation on the museum proposals ran from 10 July – 24 July at the Town Hall, and the visuals were also available online for a further week.
The headline findings from the in-person and online surveys are published below.
It’s vital for the project team to get feedback from a cross-section of people of all ages, and the responses to our online and in-person consultation reflect the views of an adult demographic - responders were older, female, in employment, not disabled and without primary school-aged family members.
During the consultation, we also undertook workshop sessions with young people on the island. Read our blog post about our consultation workshops with Year 3 and Year 4 children about the museum proposals.
What was the response to the four key themes proposed for the museum galleries? These are Maritime Heritage, Island Spirit, Island Life and Island Nature.
All four interpretation themes were very well received by respondents.
When asked to indicate levels of interest in the four themes, the highest-ranking theme was Maritime History, 77 out of 77 respondents said that they were interested in this theme.
This was followed by Island Life (73) and Island Nature (73).
Island Spirit received the lowest level of interest (68), but even this lower level of interest represents 90% of respondents who expressed an interest this theme.
Here are some examples of the positive feedback we received:
“Great to see the story of the islands captured around these themes - they reflect the whole island experience.”
“These concept designs are incredibly clever and very strong. You’ve managed to encompass all the elements that make Scilly what it is, and what it means, to both residents and visitors.
Being able to encapsulate everything that makes Scilly unique and special is a tough task - but by honing down these areas into manageable strands, you are giving equal weight to each of those forces/impulses, naturally and organically.
In addition you’re also allowing space for imaginative engagement by visitors to the Centre along routes that they will readily identify with and recognize - woven together successfully, these strands will communicate the “core story” you’re aiming for.”
“ “The islands have so many stories to tell
- and as a visitor, I am keen to learn about the lives and history of the island.””
“I can’t praise this approach enough - the contemporary museum/gallery visitor wants (and often expects) coherent, joined-up narratives to provide context to what they’re seeing and hearing. Brilliant!”
While there was significant praise for the proposals, the consultation participants were keen to ensure balance, accuracy and clarity in the exhibitions and to ensure that the different themes were clearly differentiated.
Here’s some examples of comments we received to support this:
“The wording around Island Nature is very poor at present. Does that really provide the best 35 words encapsulating the experience?”
“The Isles of Scilly is a Protected Landscape with many environmental designations, including being an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. I see that you have an area allocated for Island Nature and that is good to see - but I do wonder whether greater weight should also be given in the main arrival and general areas to what I would see as the astonishing natural landscape context that is the essence of the Isles of Scilly.”
“I’m not sure how different Island Spirit and Island Life are.”
“I hope there will be some focus on Scilly’s military history from Civil War (or even earlier) through to WWI & II. More recently Scillonians have served in the military - Falklands etc - and (there are) mainlanders whose relatives were stationed on Scilly in RNAS etc during WWI & II.”
“I’d like to see careful consideration regarding connections between the islands’ maritime history and links to the slave trade - at least some detailed research to demonstrate that this area has been considered and where appropriate reference made to any links in museum presentations. ”
“I’d like to see more about ecology, particularly the impact of climate change, how the islands are a demonstration of what happens when sea levels rise, how vulnerable they are.”
What were the most and least favoured aspects of the designs?
Respondents were asked what they like most and least about the concept designs. Within the set of positive and negative comments, many perspectives and opinions off-set each other.
For example, some respondents felt positive about their perception that it was a ‘low tech’ proposal without many push-button interactive displays, whereas other respondents felt there was too many gimmicky interactives. Some respondents were full of praise for the design of the proposals, whereas others used the words ‘bland’, ‘tacky’ and ‘childish’.
Respondents were positive (most liked) about the following aspects:
The renovation and reuse of the Town Hall building, including the height for displays
The diversity of display media (e.g. handling, video, audio), avoiding too much written material
The avoidance of ‘push button’ electronic gadgets
Identifiable themes in separate spaces
The blend of contemporary and traditional
And some of the less positive (least liked) aspects highlighted:
The Town Hall two storey extension proposal
The feel of the designs, suggesting they do not capture the ‘quirkiness’ of the islands
Insufficient artefacts on display, too many interactive gimmicks
The level of information within a gallery – more detail is preferable
What kind of activities were people interested in participating in at the new museum and cultural centre?
Respondents were asked to rate (using the rating of ‘very interested’ to ‘not interested’) a set of 12 engagement proposals.
Taking ‘very interested’ as an indicator, the top three activities selected were:
Information to help me explore the history and heritage of the islands beyond a visit to the museum e.g. maps, apps, walking trails etc. (40 respondents)
A chance to explore the heritage landscape of the islands with experts, finding out about habitats and species (34)
Opportunities to get involved in hands-on activities such as archaeology, photography, art and crafts techniques (32)
There is a clear interest in exploring the history and heritage of the islands beyond the confines of the museum. Learning from experts and through practical activities such as archaeology, photography and arts and crafts was a popular coice. This indicates demand for a public outreach programme using the museum and the collection as a springboard for exploring the landscape, and that exploration and learning is enhanced by experts and knowledgeable facilitators.
The following three activities were of the least interest to the survey participants:
Employment and career training opportunities that relate to the new museum and cultural centre (35 not interested)
The opportunity to volunteer for habitat and wildlife conservation (27)
The opportunity to volunteer for heritage conservation - within the museum and across the islands (27)
However, the profile of respondents is older (38% over 65 years of age), which may explain their lack of interest in career training. They are most likely to be visiting the islands (68% gave a location or postcode other than the Isles of Scilly postcodes). This may explain their lack of interest in heritage and wildlife conservation volunteering given they are visiting the islands for a short period of time.
There is one finding that suggests an appetite for volunteering amongst an older visitor – this was, ‘getting involved with the museum digitally, e.g. exploring the collections or contributing research online’. 23 respondents were very interested and 29 fairly interested. This finding points to value of ‘crowd-sourcing’ to help explore storylines, add additional context and augment the museum’s collection knowledge and the need for a digital platform that allows for an exchange of information.
Overall, it was encouraging to see support, based on ‘very interested’ and ‘interested’ responses, for each of the 12 activities proposed.
Many visitors felt they could not get involved in volunteering whilst on holiday. This finding is useful as it may point to the value of developing micro-volunteering activities that can completed within a half-day and could be presented as an opportunity to learn more about the museum collection and island life. Other comments point to an interest in contributing personal family history perspectives to the storylines, such as parents who honeymooned on Tresco, and again, the opportunity to engage digitally was proposed.
Ensuring the stories of the off-islands are well-told and a platform given on those islands was a valuable comment made by a local resident.
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Profile of respondents
When reviewing the survey findings it is important to consider the profile of respondents. In brief, responders were older, female, in employment, not disabled and without primary school-aged family members.
· 77 respondents completed the survey.
· 32% respondents who gave an Isles of Scilly postcode
· 68% who gave another location or postcode.
· This suggests a 30/70 split of respondents, in favour of visitors.
· The sample of respondents for the July consultation skewed towards older people. Over half (56%) are over 56 years old. That said, although a much smaller sample, the survey has captured the views of some younger people (5 in total were 24 or under).
· Correspondingly, a high proportion (38%) of respondents described their employment status as retired. 36% are employed full or part time and 16% self-employed a total of 50% of respondents who are employed. Four respondents described their employment status as student.
· Very high proportions (91%) stated that their ethnicity is White.
· The survey was completed predominately by females (63%)
· When asked if respondents considered themselves to have a disability or health impairment, 6.5% answered yes and 6.5% answered that they preferred not to say.
· A total of 8% of respondents stated that they had children under the age of 11.
