In this presentation, Making the Connection in the Dark, Traci Dix-Williams, Director of Operations at Enginuity in Ironbridge Gorge, explains how she and her team successfully entered Culture24's Connect10 competition, and won top sculptor Julian Wild to lead their participatory Museums at Night event. She shares the possibilities and challenges presented by their space, staffing and resource levels, how they built on Julian's previous work to make this luminous participatory sculpture as part of their Museums at Night event, and the effects that the project had on her team.

1. Traci Dix-Williams
MAKING THE CONNECTION IN
THE DARK

2. Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust
 largest independent
museum in the UK
 sat within a UNESCO
WHS
 ten museum sites
 wide range of historic
buildings & designated
collections

3. Venue
Inspiration

4. Aims
 new audiences
 after hours offer
 re-engage with
current audiences
 work with artists

5. Process
press releases
mail shots
posters & leaflets at sites
social media

6. Julian Wild
Floor multi-coloured piece:
Julian Wild Deadly Nightshade, Maddox Arts
Red piece in Lake:
Julian Wild Hoola Systems, Burghley House
Making the Connection communal
sculpture project: Julian Wild

7. Plan
 day & evening event
targeted at families
 Sculpture
“Making the Connection”
free
…in the dark
18th May 2013
sculpture
additional activities
grand reveal
Q&A
500 meters of drain pipe
3 types of connectors
cable ties
hand painted

8. Achievements
 met targets and aims
 chance to genuinely
work with and create a




piece of art
audience engagement
relationship with artist
staff development
bigger muscles

9. Challenges
 not stepping back from
the vision
 budget
 timing
 artists responses
 end of day

10. Learning
 culture 24
 keeping it simple
 letting the artist
respond
 letting the public
respond
 timing

11. Legacy
 develop work with a
wide range of artists
 continue to be a part
of the “Museums at
Night” offer
 seek out more
memory making
moments
“This morning it was
fun, this evening it is
art”
Participating family –making the connection in the dark.
18th May 2013 Enginuity