bm africa programme newsletter_issue 1

8/3/2019 BM Africa Programme Newsletter_issue 1

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The Trustees o the British Museum 08/2011

Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DGHolborn, Russell Square

+44 (0)20 7323 [email protected]

blog.britishmuseum.org

Welcome to the rst issue o the Arica

Programme newsletter. This will be a

bi-annual publication with a summer

and a winter issue and we hope that

you will enjoy reading about the many

projects and workshops taking place

in Arica and in the UK run or inspired

by the Programme. The newsletter

is also available to download at

britishmuseum.org where you can nd

urther details o current activities as

well as adding your own comments

through the Arica Programme blog. Wehope that this will encourage partners

in Arica and colleagues in the UK,

Europe and the USA to exchange views

and news and to participate in an

ongoing dialogue about Arica.

The Arica Programme was initiated

in 2003 supported by a major grant

rom the UK governments Department

or Culture, Media and Sport. The

original aims o the Programme are

still resonant today and ocus largely

on collaboration with museums

across the continent to develop the

proessional capacities o sta. In

addition, these activities also increase

understanding o the rich diversity and

cultural heritage o Arican countries

and their people, and emphasise

Aricas contribution to world cultures.

The Programmes rst major project

was a highly ambitious collaborationbetween the British Museum and

the National Museums o Kenya to

develop a loan exhibition in Nairobi.

Hazina: Traditions, Trade and Transitions

in Eastern Africa opened in March 2006

and received signicant attention

and public acclaim in Arica and

elsewhere. Learning rom this project

led to the development o ocused

in-country training workshops

tailored to the specic needs and

priorities o Arican partners. In 2007,

thanks to generous unding rom the

Ford Foundation, a complementary

programme o skills sharing and

exchange was developed or West

Arica ocusing on Ghana, Nigeria and

Sierra Leone.

Over the past our years the

Programme has succeeded indeveloping a model or working in

Arica that is based on dialogue and

exchange with projects that bring

benets to all partners. Perhaps most

signicantly it aims to ensure a legacy

by investing in people, developing

their proessional skills and instilling

condence in a positive learning

and sharing environment.

To date, the British Museums Arica

Programme has worked with more

than 40 museums and cultural

heritage institutions in Arica and

with eight UK regional museums

to develop and deliver trainingworkshops and touring, temporary

or permanent exhibitions, as well

as supporting sta exchanges, work

placements and community enterprise

projects. The Programmes current

long-term partners are in Ghana,

Kenya, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. In this

rst issue we will celebrate some o

the key recent achievements both in

and out o Arica.

Julie Hudson, Arica Programme

Coordinator

George Gandi, Omar Abdallah and Chole Kizili, Nairobi, 2010.

Celebrating the British Museums Arica Programme

Arica Programme NewsletterIssue 1

Summer 2011

Some o the participants rom workshops in 2010-11


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Its all about teamwork. When we work

together, we learn rom each other.

Gordon Frimpong, Manhyia Palace

Museum, Kumase

Over the last our years the Arica

Programme team has trialled dierent

training methods, rom ormal didactic

presentations and structured group-based discussions to practical activity

sessions. With some methods proving

more engaging than others, we now eel

that we have a robust and fexible model

to use as the Programme moves ahead.

Learning by doing sums up the ethos

o the Programme, and museum

colleagues are encouraged to ully

participate in the training experience.

Along with discussing theoretical aspects

o collections management, participants

might also be asked to assess

environmental conditions, create new

storage areas, mount objects or display,

or design learning activities. Team-

building is also actively pursued in thiscontext and colleagues are requently

invited to work together to complete

tasks. Theory and practice are discussed

rom the beginning and local knowledge

Learning through the Arica Programme

shared so that the most relevant methods

can be employed or each situation. It

is never assumed that one size ts all,

everything must be adaptable.

Sustainability is essential to the

success o the Programmes approach

to training. Arican colleagues need

to be able to apply and maintain newideas and systems wherever they are

located. Thereore, careul preparation

or workshops based on scoping,

consultation and hands-on experience

is vital i Programme teams are able to

judge whether something is appropriate

or practicable beore proposing it. Key

baseline resources can be supplied by the

Programme, but any materials needed or

requent use must be available locally and

must be aordable on a limited budget.

Ater that it is motivation, application

and fexibility that makes things happen.

Complementary training in the UK

orms a smaller but signicant part othe Programme. The opportunity to

spend time at the British Museum and

at other UK museums and heritage

sites is o enormous benet. It expands

horizons and allows a dierent

perspective on the presentation and

discussion o culture and the visual

arts outside the participants home

context. Work placements are also

useul where particular museum practice

cant be easily demonstrated or skills

development requires a specialised

environment (as with some aspectso conservation work). Research tasks

completed during these periods have

requently provided new interpretations

and enhanced understanding o objects

and their related source cultures or

sta in the UK as well as inorming

activity back in Arica.

Importantly, learning through the

Programme is not simply a one-way

journey. It impacts in dierent directions,

particularly helping to develop practical

skills and to build capacity in museums

in Arica, but also enhancing the cultural

awareness and experience o sta at

the British Museum. In this way,knowledge built up by those in the

Programme team has had a signicant

infuence on exhibition development,

collections interpretation and approaches

to teaching about Arica. Consequently,

the Arica Programme has an extremely

valuable role to play in not only

shaping proessional expertise but also in

building relationships between cultures.

Nicholas Badcott,

Arica Programme Education Manager

Issiu Mohammed (Armed Forces Museum), Olivette Barnette (National MuseumSierra Leone) and Gideon Agyare (Legon University). Kumase, 2010.

Nsikak Okokon Nya (National MuseumCalabar), Lagos workshop 2010.

Julius Parker preparing murals or themasquerade display, 2011.

Over the past ve years, the Arica

Programme has been working with

colleagues at Sierra Leones National

Museum. One o the highlights o

this collaboration has been the

development o new displays or

the museums permanent galleries,

which opened in April 2011 as part

o Sierra Leones 50th anniversary oindependence celebrations.

One o the early projects at the

National Museum was a collections

audit. This revealed the many strengths

o the collection, with a wealth o

ascinating stories coming to light in

the accession registers. These are now

being transerred to a computer-based

collections management system as part

o a wider-reaching digitisation project

based at University College London (see

www.sierraleoneheritage.org). Every

training workshop is developed in direct

response to local needs and is ocused

around a specic project. For example,during the collections audit, it became

clear that the museums storerooms

were in need o upgrading. We thereore

designed a training workshop around

museum storage and preventive

conservation. Together we rehabilitated

a storeroom and re-housed parts o

the collection ollowing examples o

good practice adapted to the local

situation. Importantly, all materials

and workmanship were sourced locally,

reducing the cost and reliance on

imported specialist materials. A similar

process has been ollowed in other

training programmes, or example,

Building capacity through partnership in Sierra Leone

setting up a modest digital photography

studio and providing hands-on trainingin photographing collections, or in

the introduction o a computer-based

collections management system, which

has entailed training on a much wider

range o transerrable IT skills.

Sta at the museum were keen to

initiate a project to commemorate

independence with a major public

outcome. It was decided to develop an

exhibition development and installation

programme in 20102011, with the

centrepiece being a new display o

Sierra Leones colourul masquerade

traditions. In the weeks leading up to

the installation, the museum became

a vibrant cultural workshop as masks and

costumes were made, and accompanying

ceremonies perormed. A mural was

created providing an appropriate

backdrop to the display, and the

masquerade costumes were mounted

on wire-ramed gures in dynamic poses

refecting the dance movements o

each perormer. The exhibition opened

amid much singing and dancing and

pouring o libations, and the displays

have drawn in crowds o new visitors.

In partnership with the Arica

Programme the museum is graduallybeing transormed. Sta condence is

high and there is a renewed pride in being

associated with an institution that has

collections o international signicance,

and with displays that excite and intrigue

audiences. There is, above all, satisaction

in the knowledge that these achievements

have been accomplished through their

own hard work and determination.

Paul Basu, Reader in Material Culture

and Museum Studies, University

College London

The masquerade display at the National Museum, April 2011.


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Thank you or the training. It has helped

me to do my job better and to like

my job more. Elizabeth Okpalanozie,

National Museum Lagos

Undoubtedly a recent highlight or the

Arica Programme was the critically

acclaimed exhibition Kingdom of

Ife: sculptures from West Africa , onloan to the British Museum rom our

main partner in Nigeria, the National

Commission or Museums and

Monuments (NCMM). The exhibition

was organised jointly by the Fundacin

Marcelino Botn, Santander, and the

Museum or Arican Art, New York,

and opened in London in March 2010.

During its our-month run it attracted

more than 55,000 visitors as well as

hosting special sessions or schools and

community groups.

This was the rst time that such a

comprehensive selection o material

rom the medieval city-state o Iehad been seen outside Nigeria. Almost

100 sculptures made o brass, copper,

terracotta and stone were drawn rom

the magnicent collections o Nigerian

museums. Highlights included the

pure copper seated gure rom Tada

and the group o naturalistic brass and

copper heads ound in Wunmonije

Compound in 19381939. Visitors

to the exhibition were met by a ull-

standing brass gure o an Ooni (ruler)

o Ie and a breathtakingly delicate

terracotta head replete with heavily

beaded headdress, both rom the site

o Ita Yemoo excavated in 1957 by

the British archaeologist Frank Willett.

The exhibition provided an excellent

opportunity to work in a collaborative

manner with colleagues rom the

National Commission and proved o

enormous benet in oering training

activities or colleagues rom sevenNigerian museums. Sta rom the

British Museum were able to visit

Lagos and Ie to develop visual and

contextual material to support the

exhibition. This level o access and the

benets it brought in terms o cultural

engagement would not have been

possible without the exisitng partnership

with the Arica Programme.

The rst stage in the preparation o

the loan took place at the National

Museum Lagos in October 2009 where

Displaying Nigerian treasures

a combined team worked together

to pack, photograph and assess the

condition o the objects. During the

initial selection process seven objects

were identied or major interventive

conservation. The British Museum

agreed to carry out this work and the

Arica Programme organised work

placements or NCMM conservatorsas part o their ongoing proessional

development. As well as the eight NCMM

sta who acted as loan couriers during

installation and de-installation, the Arica

Programme sponsored our Education

sta rom Abuja, Lagos and Kaduna to

undertake work placements between

January and July 2010. These sta also

visited several regional museums to

gain a wider perspective into museum

audiences and engagement. However,

the most intensive work placement

was undertaken by three sta rom the

Exhibitions team at Lagos Museum who

worked or our weeks in January and

February 2010 at the British Museumlearning to make mounts beore

leading teams to install the Ie objects.

Kingdom of Ife enabled NCMM sta rom

across the Nigerian museum network

to participate in most aspects o the

planning, preparation and installation

o this major project. The successul

delivery o the exhibition with a joint

team provided a model or uture

collaboration and partnership.

Julie Hudson,

Arica Programme Coordinator

Mike Rowe and David Noden (British Museum)with Ie museum sta taking photographs orthe exhibition. Nigeria, 2009.

Edet Okon (National Museum Lagos) packingobjects or the exhibition. Lagos, 2009.

Olutayo Akintayo (National Museum Lagos) painting out a mount duringthe exhibition installation. London, 2010.

Im loving my job, thanks to the British

Museum! Ademola Oshin, National

Gallery o Art, Lagos

In March 2011, the Museu Nacional

de Arte in Maputo, Mozambique,

hosted a workshop to share skills in

best museum practice. The workshop

was acilitated by Heidi Cutts andChristopher Spring o the British

Museum and Ademola Oshin rom

the National Gallery o Art in Lagos,

Nigeria. The workshop provided Ademola

with a marvellous opportunity to

share the skills he had gained rom

previous Arica Programme workshops

in Lagos while at the same time

experiencing working practices in a

dierent museum environment.

In 2010, along with Jonas Tembe and

Aphonso Malace rom the Museu

Nacional de Arte, Maputo, Ademola

had taken part in a conservation work

placement at the British Museum,London. The Maputo workshop was a

great chance or these three riends to

meet again and to share their knowledge

with other colleagues rom Mozambique.

The workshop participants came rom

our museums in Maputo and together

visited each others collections to better

understand the challenges aced in the

dierent institutions.

During the workshop they were

able to make recommendations or

practical improvements and oer

ongoing assistance and advice.

Ademola appreciated this supportive

environment: the workshop aorded me

the opportunity to know the problems

o the dierent museums in Maputo

and how they deal with these problems

and equally I shared my problems withthem as well. And I ound out that these

problems are similar.

Ademola led seminars and practical

sessions ocused on object handling,

cleaning museum objects and best

practice in loan condition checking and

packing. As part o the practical sessions,

participants prepared two sculptures or

travel to the UK, taking responsibility

or condition checking, photography and

packing. Ademola was keen to learn new

skills as well as to impart his knowledge

to others: the practical experience o

packing the British Museums two newly

Friends united: sharing skills in Mozambique

acquired sculptures by local artists

Kester and Fiel Dos Santos was the most

challenging and interesting part o theworkshop or me.

The participants spoke ve languages

and all were used during multilingual

presentations, making the workshop

inclusive as well as un: I had the

opportunity to learn a bit o the

Portuguese language and the local

languages o Mozambique. I now

have an idea o what Mozambique

art looks like and a bit o the culture

o the land commented Ademola at

the end o the workshop. Learning

together about the challenges we all

ace as museum proessionals brings a

sense o partnership and encouragesnew riendships. As Ademola, Jonas

and Aphonso have proved, distance is

no obstacle in supporting each other.

Workshops are about learning and

sharing but just as important are the

permanent riendships and networks

made between people and their

institutions.

Heidi Cutts, Arica Programme

Collections Assistant

Ademola Oshin, Assistant Chie

Conservation Ocer, National Gallery

o Art, LagosWorkshop team visit to the Museu Nacional deGeologia, 2011.

Ademola Oshin (National Museum o Art, Lagos)demonstrating conservation techniques, 2011.

Participants cleaning objects during theworkshop, 2011.


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[An] old soldier never dies, however

old the Colours they must always be

protected and preserved. Yakubu Seidu,

Armed Forces Museum

The Armed Forces Museum (AFM) is

housed in Kumase Fort, the only inland

ort o its kind in Ghana. The historical

importance o the building and thesuperb museum collections tell the

history and development o the Ghana

Armed Forces as well as refecting key

events in Asante history.

The Arica Programme is proud to have

the AFM as a partner and very grateul

or their continued support in hosting

training workshops. Over the past

year we have established a dedicated

workshop team who have beneted

rom sharing their experiences and

working together to learn new skills.

The team is drawn rom independent

and national museums across Ghana

and includes sta rom the ArmedForces Museum, Manhyia Palace

Museum and Prempeh II Jubilee

Museum in Kumase, the National

Museum and the National Science

Museum in Accra, the Department o

Archaeology and Cultural Heritage

Museum at the University o Ghana,

Legon, and the Volta Regional Museum

in Ho. Through the learning and support

oered during the training workshops

the team members have all been able

to make a positive impact in their home

institutions by passing on new skills,

empowering co-workers and improving

collections care. The ocus or the rst

Conserving Ghanaian military history

in a series o textile workshops held in

March last year was the redisplay o the

Colours Hall at the AFM. This gallery

holds perhaps the most signicance

or the Armed Forces as it contains

the Colours o several regiments. TheColours embody the spirit and soul o a

battalion or unit and display the battle

honours o those who ought.

They are human souls. They should be

respected like the Asantes respect the

Golden Stool. Major (retired) M. O.

Tweneboa-Kodua, Curator AFM.

The textile team needed to understand

the cultural and historical signicance

o the objects with which they were

working. Brigadier General C. K. Ocran,

General Ocer Commanding, Northern

Command, and his sta were able to

impart this knowledge and to advise on

correct protocol.

Everyone in the workshop team gained

experience in using simple conservation

methods to clean and remount theColours. The two-week workshop

achieved exceptional results due to the

proessionalism and dedication o the

team and the support o AFM sta.

Students rom local schools, and guests

rom cultural organisations in Kumase

were invited to the AFM to celebrate

the completion o the workshop. The

acting GOC o Northern Command,

Lieutenant Colonel Aram, spoke about

the signicance o the AFM to the local

community. The highlight o the event

was the moving perormance by two

Second World War veterans, Sergeant

Boakye and Captain G. Opoku, who sang

a lament they had composed as theylet Kumase to ght in Burma in 1941.

The workshop was dedicated to all those

who have served in the Ghanaian Armed

Forces and who continue to serve in

peacekeeping missions around the world.

Heidi Cutts, Arica Programme

Collections Assistant

Patricia Amo (Prempeh II Jubilee museum),teaching conservation techniques, 2010.

Ocers rom Northern Command, AFM curatorand Arica Programme sta at AFM open day, 2010.

Nii Ayi Amu (National Science Museum) andHonour Arku (Volta Regional Museum)conserving the Inantry Regimental Colours, 2010.

New foor, window screens and ceiling panels, 2009.

Dr Idle Farah, Director General NMK, openingthe Cultural Heritage store, December 2010.

Since the renovation o the store

my working environment has been

transormed. Ray Balongo, National

Museums o Kenya

Following the success o the temporary

loan exhibition Hazina in 2006, it was

agreed that the next collaborative

project between the British Museumand the National Museums o Kenya

(NMK) should ocus on improving the

care o the collections, creating a more

permanent legacy or NMK. Funding

to support this project was initially

provided by the UK governments

Department or Culture, Media and

Sport and latterly through the World

Collections Programme.

The Ethnography Department (now

the Department o Cultural Heritage)

housed its collections in several object

storage rooms spread across the main

Nairobi site, most o which were in

need o upgrading and reorganisation.A collections survey identied critical

issues, including overcrowding,

inaccessibility, damp, pests, dust and

high levels o UV and visible light.

The most pressing need was to replace

the leaking roo to make the building

watertight. This was achieved in

2007 as part o the European Union-

unded Nairobi National Museum

regeneration programme.

At the outset this project was conceived

as an ongoing training programme and

British Museum sta worked closely

with colleagues at NMK to discuss the

Preserving cultural heritage in Nairobi

major issues and to provide practical

learning so that appropriate decisions

and action could be taken at each stage

o the renovation. The team drew up new

plans or the existing storage areas which

optimised the available space and created

in addition a study, workshop and oces.

These plans necessitated quite drastic

demolition work to create an emptyshell so that rebuilding could begin.

The renovation work was delivered in

phases to allow the object collections

to be listed, packed and moved. A small

but dedicated team supported the work

throughout led by Collections Assistant

Ray Balongo, who was responsible or

setting the work p riorities, delivering

activity and liaising with colleagues at

the British Museum and with Kenyan

contractors. He was assisted by two

casual sta, Wyclie Amudavi and Joseph

Maruti, an NMK technician, Samuel

Mwiti, and an NMK electrician, Anthony

Mwangi. High humidity and poor air

circulation had created an unpleasantand unstable environment. Air fow was

increased by raising the ceiling to the

ull height o the roo space and tting

ltered air vents to allow controlled

seasonal air circulation. The exposed

roo beams echoed the newly developed

galleries in the main building and

increased the eeling o light and space

within the store. The team applied UV

lm to the windows and made mosquito

screens to provide protection rom light,

pests and dust. The foors in the storage

areas were coated with non-slip paint

and foor tiles were laid in the study area,

oces and workshop. NMK supplied low

Boarding up the ceiling, 2008.

UV lights or the building and replaced

the old wiring as well as installing extra

sockets above all the work benches to

improve acilities within the store.

The team used local companies to

source and commission appropriate

storage ttings. Sot urnishing suppliers

became a major source o polyesterwadding and unbleached calico which

were used to create hundreds o

washable pads to cushion stored

objects. The project took more than

two years to complete and the team

aced many challenges. However,

the process o rebuilding a store

has brought huge benets in terms

o improved access, security and

preservation o the collections.

David Noden, Collections Assistant,

British Museum

Ray Balongo, Collections Assistant,

National Museums o Kenya

bm africa programme newsletter_issue 1

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