A COLLABORATIVE effort by local museums and galleries from the New England region won an award at the 2016 IMAGinE awards last Friday.
Saumarez Homestead, Armidale Folk Museum, The History House, McCrossin's Mill, UNE Museums and Tamworth Powerstation Museum were a joint winner in the category of Engagement Programs for their project Hidden Treasures: Capturing an Object.
The six museums were chosen to be part of a project in collaboration with Arts North West and ABC Open.
Museum volunteers participated in workshops covering scriptwriting, voiceover, photography, lighting and editing.
The final product was a series of short videos capturing the story behind special objects in the museum collections.
Stories were based on new research conducted by the participants.
The project provided volunteers with the skills to develop an online presence for their collections with the basic equipment available to them.
Many of the volunteers had little to no experience with digital technology. Acquired skills were then transferable to other museum volunteers.
The IMAGinE awards promote and strengthen the NSW museum and gallery sector.
They honour best practice education outreach programs, exhibitions, collection management projects and the achievements of individuals.
Recognising innovation and excellence in 500 museums, galleries and Aboriginal cultural centres across NSW, the IMAGinE awards acknowledge the outstanding achievement of more than 8000 paid and volunteer workers in fostering richer local communities and their contribution to the extraordinary diversity within the NSW museum and gallery sector.
With 68 nominations, this year’s winners represent the best of regional and metropolitan NSW visual arts and cultural heritage experiences.
These awards offer a unique opportunity for museums and galleries to advocate, promote their achievements and raise their profile within the community.
A large number attended the awards night at Verge Gallery, demonstrating the awards’ continued popularity, and to pay respect to the people who work in museums and galleries across NSW.
