2. In the beginning ……..2007
Victoria Art Gallery & Roman Baths plus 7
others opened until as late as 10pm!
3. 2008 – Ideas and Innovation
11 sites took part
with the American
Museum moving
into a city centre
square for the
evening – the sign
of things to come.
5. 2009 a great year with events in the
afternoon too
7 sites went onto open in the evening with
the Roman Baths staying open until 11.30pm!
6. 2010 – a brand new shopping centre a
brand new idea for Bath’s cluster
7. On into the evening in 2010
8 museums were
open and a first for
the Roman Baths
8. 2011 – year of the museum
Bath in 100 objects!
Must have pinched that from
somewhere!
A tourism push by the visitor
centre created a bustle but we
lost our support from
MLA/Renaissance
‘Pete the Street’ – Pete Brown at the Victoria Art Gallery
9. 2012 again seven museums worked together
Visit Bath & Visit England funded a joint leaflet
In 2012 we
worked with
2nd year
heritage
students to
create our
event at the
Roman Baths.
It brought in a
different
audience!
10. 2013
Again several museums were open but we didn’t have any joint publicity.
50th anniversary celebrations at the Fashion Museum so an excuse for Georgian
dancing and champagne tasting!
11. 2014
• What about 2014?
• We have the will to join together.
• We don’t really have the funding so have to
use the online facility from Culture 24 and
make the most of what it has to offer.
• Members of VisitBath can have an online
events page.
• Local publicity via the Council’s press officer
and each museum’s own publicity machine.
Editor's Notes
Who are youWhat museums, RB, FM, VAGWhat other museums in the city, MOBAW, BOBC, Herschel, No 1, Postal, Holburne, MEAA, American, RadstockAlso heritage sites, Saltford Brassmill, Beckford’s Tower, What do we do clustered together
We tried to get on board at the very beginning and held events in several museums. The theme for the first year was music and we worked with the music department at Bath Spa University – inside track! Have to contend with the opening night to the Bath International Music Festival and Fringe at around that time either the same week or a week later – most museums are used as venues.We didn’t stay open until very late! – 5.30-7.30pm was the norm
As part of Museums and Galleries month we had a joint leaflet and a theme for the month of ideas and innovation we held a joint exhibition in the local library, an ideas tree and the American Museum, which is out of the city, moved into the city for the evening with square dancing and a barbecue
Other museums took part also and I think this year was the year of “The Wrong Trousers”. One particiularly successful event at the Roman Baths was promenade theatre with our costumed characters in playlets around the site and each audience moved on to the next installment
We picked up the idea from the American Museum and had Museums at night and in the afternoon too with a joint event in Queen Square. Those museums out of the city were able to come in and we had activities and demonstrations from a wide variety of sites.At the Roman Baths we discovered ‘food’ and stayed open until 11.30pm! Our latest ever.
Instead of the square this year we put up a stage in the brand new shopping centre at the bottom of the city and hosted a variety of events – Saltford Brass Mill were represented by Bath Spa Brass Band. We joined together and had a painting by numbers with objects from the collections of various museums and then had a fashion through the ages show.
2010’s evening was a continuation and you could take tea tasting lessons at the MEAA and find out about georgian music and instruments at the BOBC.The Roman Baths held its first sleepover with 40 Brownies plus their leaders (and me) sleeping over in the main reception hall and not by the side of the Great Bath as shown in this publicity shot! It was a funfilled evening with demonstrations across the site ranging from stone masonry, tile making and curse writing – the Brownies liked the curses!
2011 saw a funding gap which was helped a little by the TIC having museums as their marketing theme for the year – previously it had been Shops and shopping to launch the new shopping area. The TIC and local newspaper stole the 100 objects theme and each week introduced 2 new to the public. We used the 100 object theme as our focus for the event. At the Victoria Art Gallery we had our own Connect 10 and invited Peter Brown or as we know him ‘Pete the Street’ to paint just outside for the evening to accompany his exhibition inside.
2012 – no funding again from MLA/Renaissance – a different agenda altogether now but we were fortunate to get support via Visit Bath and Visit England who were running a May campaign to get the ‘empty nesters’ of the weekenders to visit the city. They paid for a joint leaflet which helped a lot in spreading the message.At the Roman Baths we worked with Bath Spa University 2nd year History and Heritage students who created the event for us. This brought in a different audience! It was also one of our busier evening events.
2013 – no joint publicity other than the online help of Culture 24 and Visit Bath but it saw anniversaries in the city and the Fashion Museum celebrated 50 years with 50FF the first being a dress in the shape of a champagne bottle of VeuveCliquot which gave me the excuse to have champagne tastings and a good excuse for a bit of dancing.
Different priorities for MDO provision has meant that the support we have received in the past isn’t there anymore.
