Programming

We will deliver a programme driven by our mission and vision and representative of Birmingham, creating spaces for discourse on social-political issues relevant to our audiences, and partnering with our communities and stakeholders.

Audiences will be at the heart of everything we do.

In the next twelve months, Birmingham Museums Trust will create an audience development strategy and a programming plan, guided by our audience research, Citizens’ Jury and Theory of Change. This will provide us with a framework to programme experiences and activities – both onsite and online – that respond to audience needs, helping us to determine each site’s key activities up to two or three years in advance. 

This will include exhibitions, events, displays, learning activities and other public uses of the sites.

The insights from this work have told us that if we engage audiences with experiences that are in line with our Theory of Change (based on the principles below), we will have wider appeal across Birmingham’s communities, and positively impact their lives.

• Joy-Inspiring
• Inclusive and Welcoming
• Compassionate and Solidarity-driven
• Interculturally-representative and Connective

We will deliver a programme that is as impactful as it is diverse, responds to needs and is developed with partners and communities.

Our Theory of Change will shine through our programming in the following ways:

• Joy-inspiring: Fostering creativity and resilience.
  • We will create spaces that inspire creativity, spark imagination, and enhance resilience by bringing joy into our experiences.
  • We will consult people on what they expect from their museums, and also use internal and external expertise to programme surprising, awe-inspiring and thought-provoking content.
  • By designing dynamic, interactive, and emotionally engaging programmes, we will cultivate positive and lasting connections with our audiences.
• Inclusive and welcoming: Breaking down barriers.
  • We will prioritise inclusivity by actively breaking down barriers to engagement.
  • The experiences we offer will be designed to ensure they are welcoming and accessible to our target audiences, particularly those identified in our audience development strategy.
  • Through accessible and empowering content, we will expand cultural participation, ensuring that all voices are valued.
• Compassionate and solidarity-driven: Tackling important issues.
  • We are committed to addressing complex societal issues by engaging fearlessly with topics such as anti-racism, feminism, and social justice.
  • Through experimentation, user-testing and formative evaluation of our programming and content, we will learn how to inspire curiosity, empathy and reflection in response to complex, painful or contested histories.
  • We will experiment with display approaches to learn which are most likely to inspire people to become more involved in their city.
  • By representing multiple perspectives and community partnerships, we will amplify marginalised voices, challenge or enrich dominant narratives, and facilitate meaningful discussions.
• Interculturally representative: Linking narratives
  • The aim of our storytelling will be to ensure that all visitors see their cultures represented, and also see links across cultures by weaving together diverse histories and lived experiences.
  • By fostering dialogue and shared understanding, we will help visitors and participants to recognise their place in a wider cultural and historical ecosystem.
  • We aim to represent the heritage and contemporary expressions of all Birmingham’s communities, and to make links across time and spaces to the stories represented by the city’s world class collections.

Research

We will develop the foundations for a Cultural Citizenship Research Centre (CCRC) that integrates collections, audiences and participatory research and enhances university and community partnerships.

Our ambition is to transform Birmingham Museums Trust into a renowned organisation for research within the museums sector. This builds on previous research and insights, e.g. Bridging the Gap, and is driven by our vision to involve audiences in shaping collaborative collection research projects that authentically reflect the history and people of Birmingham. 

By learning more about our collections, we will innovate to improve the programming and display of historic collections for our target audiences. 

To create the Cultural Citizenship Research Centre, we will define our research strategy goals and initiatives, mapping current projects and partnerships against these. We will identify under-researched areas of the collection and where research could support local and regional needs, for example, in public health. We will develop research partnerships and projects with civic organisations, universities and public bodies that fit our research strategy. And we will set up the structures for our Research Centre to facilitate working with partners.

Becoming a trusted destination

We will become a trusted destination in the region and online for culture and heritage – a keystone partner in the city.

We want Birmingham’s museum sites to be recognised as places for experiences that create joy, are inclusive, promote solidarity and represent Birmingham’s communities.

Through audience research and insight from the Citizens’ Jury, we now know who we need to communicate better with, and how, in order to convey what Birmingham Museums Trust offers them. 

To connect with these audiences, we will build partnerships, refresh our approach to marketing and communications, and rethink our brand.

• We will actively seek to build relationships with organisations across Birmingham to become a trusted partner for democratic and culturally rich activities, increasing our impact on the city’s health and wellbeing needs.
• We will promote our museums, programmes and activities to our target audiences, with a refreshed marketing, communications and digital strategy; built on the understanding gained through recent audience research, our Citizens’ Jury and upcoming audience development strategy.
• This insight has shown us that Birmingham Museums Trust’s current brand doesn’t resonate with our forward vision or many of our target audiences; we’ll raise funding for a rebrand of Birmingham Museums Trust and our sites, to build recognition and trust in what we stand for, our vision and future plans across the estate.