Museum Makerspace – community creative spaces for personal development

Results and behind the scenes of a collaborative international project

 

I took part in a study trip to Helsinki in October 2022 – as a member of the Pulszky Society – Hungarian Museums Association – thanks to Skanzen, the Hungarian participant of the Creative Making for Lifelong Learning (CREMA) international project, which is realized in cooperation with organizations from seven countries and is supported by Erasmus+.

From Hungary, the Hungarian Open Air Museum participates in the development project. The focus of the three-day programme was on the theme of the museum makerspace, for the implementation of which the seven organizations are developing professional guidelines. At the final program of the project, I gained inspiration from a museum professional day, local best practices and behind-the-scenes secrets of the project.

 

What is a makerspace?

Years ago, I was searching the web on the subject of the museum context with the creative industries and with creativity when I first came across the term makerspace on English-language sites.[1] At the time, I could compare it to a museum educational activity space, interpreted as a creative workshop or creative lab for developing STEM competences. It made me wonder, whether it is possible – if linked to the collection of the museum – to create such spaces (that specifically develop natural science skills and abilities) in every museum, regardless of the type of collection?

Later, in 2019, I visited a professional event in Békéscsaba, where in the Békés County Library I got to know their makerspace, created in the framework of the EU-funded project Inspiring Community Makerspace, which today operates as an independent makerspace under the name Kollabor.[2] Regarding the creative spaces presented, I was primarily interested in how they are connected to the core activities and services of the hosting library?

A recent search on the subject brings up links to a number of sites of specific makerspaces in the context of STEAM. Narrowed down to the notion of ’museum makerspace’, there are still few hits, and they are also primarily sites for creative activities for children and youth. This is why the CREMA project is relevant, as it will initiate the development of museum makerspaces that are based on the collection and primarily serve adults in the context of lifelong learning.[3] There are several definitions of makerspace, but CREMA working group has formulated the following:

„Makerspace is a community based space where people meet, connect, collaborate, share, and socialize based on their mutual and common interests in the areas of technology, new media, hybrid and digital arts, science, innovation, arts & crafts and creativity.”

According to this, the museum, its collection, the makerspace and the activities themselves act as catalysts for interpersonal and individual development. In this sense, I see a certain overlap with the definition of cultural community development formulated in the priority project Acting communities – active community involvement.[4]

 

About the CREMA project

 

In 2019, seven cultural institutions and organisations launched a three-year project to explore the development of makerspaces in museums and the possibilities of implementing creative community events based on these collections, organized primarily for adults. The project is led by the Regional Museum Skåne from Sweden. Its partners are the Finnish Museums Association, the Museum of Copenhagen from Denmark, the Creative Museum think tank from Latvia, the NGO Radiona from Croatia, BAM! Strategie Culturali from Italy and the Hungarian Open Air Museum from Hungary. The participants contributed their specific organisational competences to the development of the project themes. However, they also had to adapt to the consequences of the coronavirus epidemic from 2020.

The process implemented can also be interpreted as a methodological development.[5] The work started with the mapping of different makerspaces, followed by professional workshops and conferences on five themes, in addition to continuous discussions. Each of the topics was led by one partner and tested in practice, as well as set out in guidelines. The development covers the following themes:

  • using museum material in creative making,

  • engaging new audiences,

  • entrepreneurship and innovation,

  • intergenerational learning,

  • people with special needs.[6]

In addition, a summary analysis is prepared to facilitate an easier overview of the topics, and published in a document containing all the guidelines and a methodological introduction. The documents will be available in English and will be available for free download online.

 

What happened in Helsinki does not stay only there

During the study visit I participated in the last in-person meeting of the project partners, in the closing workshop day and also visited two Finnish best practice sites.

The last project meeting at the Finnish Museums Association’s office focused on the most important tasks for the professional closure of the project, the partners’ responsibilities and the deadlines. Even as an experienced designer and implementer of museum projects, I needed some time to get an overview of the activities, namely which partners were responsible for what project element. However, this was greatly helped by the openness of the team, even I was quickly accepted into their company. The meeting mainly focused on the finalization and follow-up of the guidelines, which should be available on the website by the project's end. It is inevitable in a methodological development to return to the previous definitions and principles and to examine whether they need to be changed in the light of experience. The partners have therefore also gone through this and discussed their comments on the completed guidelines.

The joint work and cooperation seemed to me to be a smooth process, and during the discussions I remembered the short guide on how to be successful in an international museum project cooperation published recently by the German Museums Association with Polish participation. The CREMA team met all nine of these points, as they work towards a common goal, are open to new solutions, understand and accept each other's differences, and even benefit from them. They share information, tools and methods with each other and also accept, follow and respect deadlines and resource constraints. Offline and online work modes are flexibly managed and assigned. Each team member has an assigned role and responsibility in the project, but also takes on other tasks if necessary. And they do this with the full support of their institution.

The venue for the afternoon was the Theatre Museum, which was ready and waiting to host the next day's professional programme. After an overview of the planned programme, the Finnish organisers discussed the presentations with the plenary speakers individually, as well as showing the location of their programme to those in charge of the afternoon workshop sessions. Here, partners explained how and with what methods they planned to work on the given topic.

On the next day I observed the preparations before the professional event as an outsider. I remembered moments like this, when we were putting the finishing touches to the event, making sure everything was running smoothly, the excitement of whether the participants would come in the right number, whether the atmosphere would be nice, whether the technical devices would work, or all the other tools would be available. And when I looked at the speakers and the contributors, I remembered my almost meditative state of mind, concentrating on what I would like to tell, so that my message can really get through.

The English-language professional day was well attended by Finnish museum professionals and the programme started with a new element for me. During the creative warm-up of Siiri Ervasti, freelancer of the Theatre Museum, we stood in a circle and solved funny movement and dexterity tasks, which relaxed everyone, so we sat down with a smile.

The greeting from the organizers, i.e. the colleagues of the Finnish Museum Association, Pauliina Kinanen and Emilia Merisalo was followed by two plenary presentations. André Ivarsson, museum educator representing the Skåne Regional Museum, who is the leader of CREMA, gave a summary of the project. He also presented one of the activities organised in their own museum's makerspace, an embroidery workshop based on items from the collection of local women's clothing.

Deborah Hustić, president, creative director and curator of Radiona, gave a presentation on the theoretical underpinnings of the development of makerspaces. She also encouraged those who do not have the immediate opportunity to create complete and new makerspaces. To get started, all you need is a location, some tables and chairs that can be messed up and a few basic tools. But what is absolutely essential is the human element, because a site is nothing without people. She was referring not only to the participants, but also to the staff dedicated to running the space and the creative process: from the manager to the makerspace manager as well as the cleaner. And the museum makerspace does have justified existence, if nothing else, in the context of the history of science.

 

The presentation of Deborah Hustić. Source: CREMA project, Suomen museoliitto

 

After a short break, we learned about Finnish museum best practices from three presentations.

Erja Salo, Head of Learning and Public Programmes at the Finnish Museum of Photography, and the institution's intern Zara Asgher, an interdisciplinary visual artist and educator from Pakistan, presented an exciting creative project aimed at engaging non-Finnish speaking public in a visual artistic program. Although originally the same participants were expected to attend all three sessions, finally the groups varied at the different occasions, so the plans were modified. Also a number of native Finnish speakers joined the programme, which showed the museum that it would be worth organising such a programme for them, as there was interest. Reaching the non-Finnish speaking target group was difficult partly due to the epidemic situation, but they managed to reach some of them through various civic organizations. Another important lesson from the presentation for me was that if things do not go according to plan, they can and should be handled with flexibility. And experiences (whether positive or negative) are worth sharing, as they can be an inspiration and help to others.

Merja Nummi, Head of Audience Development at the Hotel and Restaurant Museum, presented the project called Museumbox, which is being implemented with public funding in partnership with the Finnish Museum of Photography and the Theatre Museum. The aim is to create a virtual service for adult groups, which will be a community experience site, developed and tested in close collaboration with the public.

And Siiri Ervasti freelancer of the Theatre Museum presented a project, also funded by Erasmus+, to develop theatre methods for adults with disabilities. These involved not only individual personal development but also various team dynamics sessions. I was impressed by the positive feedback from the participants that it is fun to play together even as adults.

In the afternoon of the event, workshops on the five themes of the CREMA project took place parallel, in two consecutive rounds. I also took part in two of them for a longer period and will report on them in more detail.

Vivi Lena Andersen, Communication Manager at the Museum of Copenhagen, has given a workshop on the project’s methological topic ’using museum material in creative making’. She spoke about the methods of accessing the archaeological collection for the blind and visually impaired. She explained the different methods in practice, so the participants were blindfolded and examined the archaeological collection items brought from the museum. And then they continued to exchange ideas.

 

Vivi Lena Andersen’s workshop. Source: CREMA project, Suomen museoliitto

 

Rosanna Spanò and Milo Sarrini from BAM! Strategy Culturali discussed with us the possibilities of engaging new audiences. First, they explained how they used a method to identify new audiences of local residents and designed creative activities related to the museums' collections within the framework of the CREMA project in the museums of the Italian city of Imola.

The widely communicated programme attracted significantly more participants than expected. The persona method used to specify the audience was then tested by us in practice. On the basis of given criteria (name, age, place of residence, interests, connection to the museum, barriers of visiting the museum and possible programme themes), descriptions of two or three imagined persons were prepared individually and discussed in the group.

The discussion also brought out common problems that Finnish museum professionals encounter when engaging the public. For example the difficulties of reaching out for people working from home or for university students.

 

Workshop of Rosanna Spanò and Milo Sarrini. Source: CREMA project, Suomen museoliitto

 

Raivis Sīmansons, co-founder of the Creative Museum think tank, held his workshop on the topic of enterpreneurship and innovation. He presented collaborative methods that foster dialogue between different creative actors and help generate ideas. For example, they used the hackathon as such method – I have never heard of it before – which is basically a business brainstorming session where the participants solve a given problem in a friendly and decent way. He then presented the VR solution that was developed within the project using such methods.

 

Raivis Sīmansons’ workshop. Source: CREMA project, Suomen museoliitto

 

Intergenerational learning was the topic of a workshop by museum educator André Ivarsson from Skåne Regional Museum. Participants worked in pairs to find out what a given museum object was, what it was used for, and then had to answer a set of questions together, also related to the artefact. Pair work on artefacts encourage exchange and mutual learning and can build bridges between different generations.

 

André Ivarsson’s workshop. Source: CREMA project, Suomen museoliitto

 

Márta Bokonics-Kramlik, the Hungarian Open-Air Museum's acting Head of the Learning Department, built her workshop on the topic of using spaces and methods suitable for people with special needs. In the first half of the workshop, the participants discussed together in a brainstorming session how important it is for museums and the target audience to create cultural equal opportunities despite the challenges. She also gave suggestions for communicating with people with different disabilities.

By creating real-life situations, participants were able to experience how people with disabilities perceive their environment. In relation to the blind and partially sighted, the participants had to work in pairs, on the one hand, one blindfolded member had to be accompanied by the other on an "off-road course". Then by touching an object hidden in a bag define it verbally for the other - with both exercises, she modelled the importance of detailed verbal information transfer for visually impaired people. Participants were also able to try wheelchairs and the difficulties and inconveniences, which arise from the scarcity of spaces or from the transportation itself.

To simulate the problems faced by people with learning difficulties, small groups were given a short text of a fairy tale, made up of sentences written in different languages. In a short time, the participants had to identify the number of the languages in which the text was written and what the story was about. The task gave the participants a chance to experience the annoying, boring or even stressful feeling of finding texts difficult to understand. She also gave them advice on how to avoid similar situations in their own work.

 

Bokonics-Kramlik Márta’s workshop. Source: CREMA project, Suomen museoliitto

 

The excellently organized professional day was spent in a really pleasant atmosphere. At the end, there was still time to close the event and fill in the evaluation questionnaires, which contained positive feedback. Life at the museum also continued, as the children arrived at the theatre workshop buzzing with excitement, rehearsing a play they had written themselves.

Our last day was spent learning about the best practices of two institutions.

The Museum of Technology is an exciting place to visit, as it is housed in a former plant of a water agency. The museum's Communication Manager, Riina Linna, spoke in detail about the museum, its history, buildings and collections. The building also houses a small community exhibition space where temporary community exhibitions are created in cooperation with groups with various technical interests. We were given an insight into an online session by museum educator Tommi Rikkinen, which was developed during the quarantine period of the coronavirus, at the request of an association of engineers. The session, designed primarily for younger children and their parents, was broadcast live, so there was constant communication and feedback with participants. Parents and grandparents also often joined the sessions. Simple creative technical tasks were carried out using equipment that could be found in every household. However, the materials to be used were sent in advance to the participants who had pre-registered for the programme, all costs were covered by the association.

 

Presentation of Riina Linna and Tommi Rikkinen at the Museum of Technology Source: CREMA project, Suomen museoliitto

 

Our second destination was Oodi, the Helsinki Central Library, housed in a modern building in the city centre.

When I entered it, I saw children and adults playing chess, then in the corners people reading books from the open shelves, lot of people at the information desks, and at the computers there were those who just needed to search. There is also a snack bar and an auditorium. A real community space.

The second floor was even more amazing for me, as the makerspaces allowed for different ways of creativity and making. I could write a long list of what you can do here, from printing to sewing and to using a professional music studio, but perhaps best of all I can recommend the 360 app, which lets you tour every nook and cranny.

On the third floor there are the books on shelves lined up in long rows. The library has a collection of technical and makerspace-themed books, which can also be browsed by those using the workshops and studios on the second floor. We caught one of the library's three robots at work as it quietly moved between shelves, dodging readers while transporting a crate full of books from the basement.

 

The 2nd floor of the library on a virtual tour. Source: Oodi 360

 

The group is watching the work of the library’s robot called Veera Source: CREMA project, Suomen museoliitto

 

What next?

The team had many opportunities for informal discussions and the idea of continuing the project came up again and again.

I am always enthusiastic when such a topic comes up, as three years of joint work and results cannot stop with the closing of the project. I immediately had ideas on how to continue, either by broadening the dissemination in different ways, or by using new methods, or by identifying new target groups and development directions.

However, deciding this and formulating possible directions depends on the consensus of the partners.

 

Ineta, Raivis, André, Panni, Sophia, Milo, Pauliina, Rosanna, Emilia and Márta. Missing: Deborah and Zsuzsanna. Source: CREMA project, Suomen museoliitto

 

Thanks to the organizers for the opportunity!

Panni Szu

 
 

1  In the United States, the Institute of Museum and Library Services has been supporting museum and library makerspace initiatives since 2011. https://www.imls.gov/our-work/priority-areas/making [retrieved: 17.10.2022]

2  The Békés County Library is also launching a training course called Makerspace in the library. https://www.ki.oszk.hu/tanfolyamok/makerspace-konyvtarban [retrieved: 17.10.2022]

3  If we generalize by examining museum educational activity spaces, then we can primarily talk about spaces designed for children and students.

4  https://mokk.skanzen.hu/admin/data/file/20190402/community_development_methodological_guide.pdf pages 7-8 [retrieved: 17.10.2022]

5  https://mokk.skanzen.hu/admin/data/file/20220614/learning-by-doing_museum_compass_32.pdf pages 79-82 [retrieved: 17.10.2022]

6  See the article of Márta Bokonics-Kramlik on the content of the guideline https://www.cremaproject.eu/accessibility-makerspaces-makeability [retrieved: 17.10.2022]