Three exchanges were held as part of the planning process, bringing together RCMG, museum partners and strategic partners with expertise in active ageing, environmental issues and the natural world. The aim was to develop the ideas and values framing the project in a genuinely collaborative and equitable exchange, encouraging everyone to be an equal partner in the process.
Through a mixture of activities and discussion, the Exchanges encouraged thinking, reflection, empathy and imagination around key concepts (ageing, nature connectedness, natural heritage collections), exploring the issues from multiple perspectives and working through solutions together.
Exchange 1: Introduction, Context and Connections
Held at The Whitaker, this first collaborative exchange brought people together from different backgrounds and experiences to build connections, and explore values and the ambitions for the project. It was a journey into new territory, with no blueprint.
Exchange 2
Held at Ordsall Hall in Salford, the aim of the second Exchange was to develop a tentative framework for using natural heritage collections with older people with a small working group of selected partners. Activities promoted open-ended discussion, thinking and creativity around the themes of the needs of older people, the benefits of connecting with nature for older people, the possibilities and limitations of collections, and engagement with natural heritage collections.
Exchange 3
Exchange 3 at the Manchester Museum looked at all the elements that needed to be in place to develop the Museum Experiments through workshop activities, action planning, discussion, thinking, creativity and generating new ideas.
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