The document discusses a Pre-Raphaelite Experiment conducted by Manchester Art Gallery to engage audiences with their historic collections through collective user-generated interpretation. The experiment allowed targeted user groups to curate spaces and provide live interpretation of a small selection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings. Key conclusions included that personal experiences, freedom to curate a space, and capturing responses to live interpretation were successful engagement strategies. Future considerations centered around sustaining these interactive elements and better understanding public response.

1. Pre-Raphaelite Experiment: new ways to
engage audiences with historic collections
through collective user-generated
interpretation
Marge Ainsley AMRS, Freelance Marketer and Independent Evaluator
for Manchester Art Gallery’s Pre-Raphaelite Experiment

2. Images courtesy Manchester Art Gallery

3. Images courtesy Manchester Art Gallery/Michiko Fujii

4. Image courtesy Matt Wardle/Manchester Art Gallery

5. Images courtesy Manchester Art Gallery/Michiko Fujii

6. Images courtesy Manchester Art Gallery

7. Image courtesy Manchester Art Gallery

8. Images courtesy Manchester Art Gallery

9. Images courtesy Manchester Art Gallery/Michiko Fujii

10. Images courtesy Manchester Art Gallery/Michiko Fujii

11. Some key conclusions
• Personal experience
• Choice of collection
• Freedom to take over a space
• Working with targeted groups
• Capturing response to live interpretation
• Understanding public response to space

12. Future strategy considerations
Is it 'acceptable' to have a space which, at select points in the year, is dedicated for
user groups and their intervention?
How much of the overall Pre-Raphaelite collection was engaged with – and does
that matter? Did four paintings represent the collection and provide enough
opportunity for engagement from both participants and the wider public?
How can you get across the responses from live interpretation into the space – and
is this important? Should a new model be weighted towards live interpretation?
How can activity within the participant groups be sustained (for example, the
teacher’s network)?
Would further research into the general public reaction help to fill any of the gaps in
knowledge to inform a future strategy?

13. www.thepreraphaeliteexperiment.org.uk
www.margeainsley.co.uk
marge@margeainsley.co.uk
Sir John Everett Millais, Autumn Leaves (1856), (crop), courtesy Manchester Art Gallery