Bees on the roof of Manchester Art Gallery, Love Food Hate Waste Roman food recipes from the Grosvenor Museum in Chester and monitoring electricity use in the Victorian buildings of Warrington Museum are all sustainability actions being taken by Museums in the North West.  On 16 April the Museum Development North West Sustainability conference at the Manchester Museum was a celebration and sharing opportunity for work in museums and art galleries.

 

I was there to speak about the Happy Museum and to share learning from the Manchester Museum’s Playful Museum project ( and to shout about the new commissioning call for Happy Museum projects.)

 

For Museums in the North West there is also opportunity to apply to the Sustainable Improvement Fund.

The Sustainable Improvement Fund is a major part of the Museum Development North West Programme (MDNW).  This Programme embraces the Arts Council’s five strategic goals set out in Culture, knowledge and understanding: great museums and libraries for everyone to drive development and deliver sustainability, resilience and innovation in museums in the North West.

http://museumdevelopmentnorthwest.wordpress.com/sustainable-improvement-fund-2012-2015/

 

At the conference I was joined Mascha Bom who is currently visiting Manchester Museum on a Grundtvig funded European project – Learning Museum, who took the photos.  Mascha will be creating an e-book for her time at Manchester Museum, so watch this space.  Thanks to Mascha for taking her photos.

 

The full list of speakers at the conference is below.

 

10:30 Welcome and Introduction, Maria Balshaw, Whitworth/Manchester Art Gallery

10:45 Developments at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Nicola Walker/Jo Beggs, Whitworth

11:15 Carbon reduction at Culture Warrington, Amanda Moore, Culture Warrington

11:45 The Happy Museum, Anna Bunney, The Manchester Museum

12:15 The making of ‘The Life of a Paper Cup’, Debbie Bell, Cornerhouse

12:30 Lunch

13:30 Developments at The Steamboat Museum, Charlotte Upton, Lakeland Arts Trust

14:00 Waste Reduction at the Grsovenor, Kathryn Riddington, The Grosvenor Museum and Art Gallery

14:15 The Green Impact Workbook, Nicola Walker, The Whitworth

14:30 Bees on the Roof, John Mouncey, Manchester Art Gallery

14:45 A Green Store, Pierrette Squires, Bolton Museum

15:00 MDF and Green Impact – Plans for 2013-15, David Craven, Museum Development North West

15:15 Closing remarks, summary and thanks – Nicholas Merriman, The Manchester Museum