GEM Conference 2008 - Thursday
Tuesday 2 September to Friday 5 September 2008
Medway, Kent
Heritage Learning and Social Change
Thursday 4 September
The Flexible and Responsive Heritage Organisation
Are heritage organisations equipped to provide the flexible and responsive
learning needed to support social and cultural change? Using our diverse local
heritage we explore some varied, strategic and practical approaches to heritage
learning in the twenty-first century.
Morning Programme
Pilkington Building
08.30 Registration for day delegates
Refreshments
09.00 Welcome & Opening Remarks
Vicky Woollard, Deputy Chair GEM
09.15 Keynote address
Learning at the heart of culture: the implications for the heritage sector
John Holden
Head of Culture, DEMOS (author of Culture and Learning: towards a new agenda)
What does a more comprehensive focus on learning through culture mean for
heritage organisations?
09.45 Keynote address
An organisational perspective on delivering learning
Judikje Kiers, Director, Our Lord in the Attic Museum, Amsterdam
What does a learning-centred organisation look like?
10.15 Q&A with keynote speakers
10.30 Refreshments
11.00 Breakout Sessions
How are heritage organisations adapting their structures and provision to meet
the needs of today’s learners?
(a) Innovation in delivery
Using cutting-edge technology to develop new ways of communicating with modern
audiences.
Lynne Minett, North of England, English Heritage & Dr Carl Gavin, Lateral
Visions Software Company
(b) Understanding audiences
How listening and responding to visitor groups can help heritage organisations
develop their structure and provision to meet visitor needs.
Lucy Smith, Tyne & Wear Museums & Julia Kingston, Thinktank
(c) Learning outside the Museum
How learning activities outside the museum can make local heritage more
accessible.
Mike Lefroy, Museum Consultant, Western Australia & Celine West, UCL Museums &
College
12.00 Lunch
13.00 Coaches depart
Afternoon Programme
Experience ways of planning and delivery that are uncovering and making
accessible the hidden treasures of Kent’s heritage.
(a) Experience an English Heritage Discovery Visit
Sample an English Heritage Discovery Visit – developed in response to the LOtC
Manifesto.
Lullingstone Roman Villa
(b) Learning provision at a private house and collection
View this private collection of instruments owned and interpreted and played for
you by international concert pianist, Richard Burnett.
Finchcocks Musical Museum, Goudhurst, Kent
(c) Learning through conservation
Discover what learning looks like at this hidden fourteenth century gem - the
National Trust’s largest ever conservation project.
Ightham Mote, Sevenoaks, Kent
(d) Profile of a Gifted & Talented Programme
Explore this glorious privately-owned castle and see how “Gifted & Talented” programmes
are bringing it to life for young people.
Leeds Castle, Maidstone, Kent
(e) Medway’s military legacy
Visit the old home of the Sappers and learn about their heritage from military
and civilian perspectives.
Royal Engineers Museum, Gillingham, Kent
17.30 Coaches arrive back
Evening Programme
18.30 Leave for Kingswear Paddle Steamer (on foot)
19.00 Cruise down the River Medway and enjoy drinks, a buffet dinner and jazz
aboard the Kingswear Paddle Steamer.
22.00 Depart for halls of residence