Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DGHolborn, Russell Square+44 (0)20 7323 8033aricaprogramme@britishmuseum.orgbritishmuseum.orgblog.britishmuseum.org

Welcome to the rst issue o the AricaProgramme newsletter. This will be abi-annual publication with a summerand a winter issue and we hope that you will enjoy reading about the manyprojects and workshops taking placein Arica and in the UK run or inspiredby the Programme. The newsletteris also available to download atbritishmuseum.org where you can ndurther details o current activities aswell as adding your own commentsthrough the Arica Programme blog. Wehope that this will encourage partnersin Arica and colleagues in the UK,Europe and the USA to exchange viewsand news and to participate in anongoing dialogue about Arica.The Arica Programme was initiatedin 2003 supported by a major grantrom the UK government’s Departmentor Culture, Media and Sport. Theoriginal aims o the Programme arestill resonant today and ocus largelyon collaboration with museumsacross the continent to develop theproessional capacities o sta. Inaddition, these activities also increaseunderstanding o the rich diversity andcultural heritage o Arican countriesand their people, and emphasiseArica’s contribution to world cultures.The Programme’s rst major projectwas a highly ambitious collaborationbetween the British Museum andthe National Museums o Kenya todevelop a loan exhibition in Nairobi.

Hazina: Traditions, Trade and Transitionsin Eastern Africa

opened in March 2006and received signicant attentionand public acclaim in Arica andelsewhere. Learning rom this projectled to the development o ocusedin-country training workshopstailored to the specic needs andpriorities o Arican partners. In 2007,thanks to generous unding rom theFord Foundation, a complementaryprogramme o skills sharing andexchange was developed or WestArica ocusing on Ghana, Nigeria andSierra Leone.Over the past our years theProgramme has succeeded indeveloping a model or working inArica that is based on dialogue andexchange with projects that bringbenets to all partners. Perhaps mostsignicantly it aims to ensure a legacyby investing in people, developingtheir proessional skills and instillingcondence in a positive learningand sharing environment.To date, the British Museum’s AricaProgramme has worked with morethan 40 museums and culturalheritage institutions in Arica andwith eight UK regional museumsto develop and deliver trainingworkshops and touring, temporaryor permanent exhibitions, as wellas supporting sta exchanges, workplacements and community enterpriseprojects. The Programme’s currentlong-term partners are in Ghana,Kenya, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. In thisrst issue we will celebrate some othe key recent achievements both inand out o Arica. Julie Hudson, Arica ProgrammeCoordinator

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

Celebrating the British Museum’s Arica Programme

Arica Programme Newsletter

Issue 1

Summer 2011

Some o the participants rom workshops in 2010-11

‘It’s all about teamwork. When we worktogether, we learn rom each other.’Gordon Frimpong, Manhyia PalaceMuseum, KumaseOver the last our years the AricaProgramme team has trialled dierenttraining methods, rom ormal didacticpresentations and structured group-based discussions to practical activitysessions. With some methods provingmore engaging than others, we now eelthat we have a robust and fexible modelto use as the Programme moves ahead.‘Learning by doing’ sums up the ethoso the Programme, and museumcolleagues are encouraged to ullyparticipate in the training experience.Along with discussing theoretical aspectso collections management, participantsmight also be asked to assessenvironmental conditions, create newstorage areas, mount objects or display,or design learning activities. Team-building is also actively pursued in thiscontext and colleagues are requentlyinvited to work together to completetasks. Theory and practice are discussedrom the beginning and local knowledge

Learning through the Arica Programme

shared so that the most relevant methodscan be employed or each situation. Itis never assumed that ‘one size ts all’,everything must be adaptable.Sustainability is essential to thesuccess o the Programme’s approachto training. Arican colleagues needto be able to apply and maintain newideas and systems wherever they arelocated. Thereore, careul preparationor workshops based on scoping,consultation and hands-on experienceis vital i Programme teams are able to judge whether something is appropriateor practicable beore proposing it. Keybaseline resources can be supplied by theProgramme, but any materials needed orrequent use must be available locally andmust be aordable on a limited budget.Ater that it is motivation, applicationand fexibility that makes things happen.Complementary training in the UKorms a smaller but signicant part othe Programme. The opportunity tospend time at the British Museum andat other UK museums and heritagesites is o enormous benet. It expandshorizons and allows a dierentperspective on the presentation anddiscussion o culture and the visualarts outside the participants’ homecontext. Work placements are alsouseul where particular museum practicecan’t be easily demonstrated or skillsdevelopment requires a specialisedenvironment (as with some aspectso conservation work). Research taskscompleted during these periods haverequently provided new interpretationsand enhanced understanding o objectsand their related source cultures orsta in the UK as well as inormingactivity back in Arica.Importantly, learning through theProgramme is not simply a one-way journey. It impacts in dierent directions,particularly helping to develop practicalskills and to build capacity in museumsin Arica, but also enhancing the culturalawareness and experience o sta atthe British Museum. In this way,knowledge built up by those in theProgramme team has had a signicantinfuence on exhibition development,collections interpretation and approachesto teaching about Arica. Consequently,the Arica Programme has an extremelyvaluable role to play in not onlyshaping proessional expertise but also inbuilding relationships between cultures.Nicholas Badcott,Arica Programme Education Manager

Issiu 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 AricaProgramme has been working withcolleagues at Sierra Leone’s NationalMuseum. One o the highlights othis collaboration has been thedevelopment o new displays orthe museum’s permanent galleries,which opened in April 2011 as parto Sierra Leone’s 50th anniversary oindependence celebrations.One o the early projects at theNational Museum was a collectionsaudit. This revealed the many strengthso the collection, with a wealth oascinating stories coming to light inthe accession registers. These are nowbeing transerred to a computer-basedcollections management system as parto a wider-reaching digitisation projectbased at University College London (seewww.sierraleoneheritage.org). Everytraining workshop is developed in directresponse to local needs and is ocusedaround a specic project. For example,during the collections audit, it becameclear that the museum’s storeroomswere in need o upgrading. We thereoredesigned a training workshop aroundmuseum storage and preventiveconservation. Together we rehabilitateda storeroom and re-housed parts othe collection ollowing examples ogood practice adapted to the localsituation. Importantly, all materialsand workmanship were sourced locally,reducing the cost and reliance onimported specialist materials. A similarprocess has been ollowed in othertraining programmes, or example,

Building capacity through partnership in Sierra Leone

setting up a modest digital photographystudio and providing ‘hands-on’ trainingin photographing collections, or inthe introduction o a computer-basedcollections management system, whichhas entailed training on a much widerrange o transerrable IT skills.Sta at the museum were keen toinitiate a project to commemorateindependence with a major publicoutcome. It was decided to develop anexhibition development and installationprogramme in 2010–2011, with thecentrepiece being a new display oSierra Leone’s colourul masqueradetraditions. In the weeks leading up tothe installation, the museum becamea vibrant cultural workshop as masks andcostumes were made, and accompanyingceremonies perormed. A mural wascreated providing an appropriatebackdrop to the display, and themasquerade costumes were mountedon wire-ramed gures in dynamic posesrefecting the dance movements oeach perormer. The exhibition openedamid much singing and dancing andpouring o libations, and the displayshave drawn in crowds o new visitors.In partnership with the AricaProgramme the museum is graduallybeing transormed. Sta condence ishigh and there is a renewed pride in beingassociated with an institution that hascollections o international signicance,and with displays that excite and intrigueaudiences. There is, above all, satisactionin the knowledge that these achievementshave been accomplished through theirown hard work and determination.Paul Basu, Reader in Material Cultureand Museum Studies, UniversityCollege London

The masquerade display at the National Museum, April 2011.

‘Thank you or the training. It has helpedme to do my job better and to likemy job more.’ Elizabeth Okpalanozie,National Museum LagosUndoubtedly a recent highlight or theArica Programme was the criticallyacclaimed exhibition

Kingdom of Ife: sculptures from West Africa

, onloan to the British Museum rom ourmain partner in Nigeria, the NationalCommission or Museums andMonuments (NCMM). The exhibitionwas organised jointly by the FundaciónMarcelino Botín, Santander, and theMuseum or Arican Art, New York,and opened in London in March 2010.During its our-month run it attractedmore than 55,000 visitors as well ashosting special sessions or schools andcommunity groups.This was the rst time that such acomprehensive selection o materialrom the medieval city-state o Iehad been seen outside Nigeria. Almost100 sculptures made o brass, copper,terracotta and stone were drawn romthe magnicent collections o Nigerianmuseums. Highlights included thepure copper seated gure rom Tadaand the group o naturalistic brass andcopper heads ound in WunmonijeCompound in 1938–1939. Visitorsto the exhibition were met by a ull-standing brass gure o an Ooni (ruler)o Ie and a breathtakingly delicateterracotta head replete with heavilybeaded headdress, both rom the siteo Ita Yemoo excavated in 1957 bythe British archaeologist Frank Willett.The exhibition provided an excellentopportunity to work in a collaborativemanner with colleagues rom theNational Commission and proved oenormous benet in oering trainingactivities or colleagues rom sevenNigerian museums. Sta rom theBritish Museum were able to visitLagos and Ie to develop visual andcontextual material to support theexhibition. This level o access and thebenets it brought in terms o culturalengagement would not have beenpossible without the exisitng partnershipwith the Arica Programme.The rst stage in the preparation othe loan took place at the NationalMuseum Lagos in October 2009 where

Displaying Nigerian treasures

a combined team worked togetherto pack, photograph and assess thecondition o the objects. During theinitial selection process seven objectswere identied or major interventiveconservation. The British Museumagreed to carry out this work and theArica Programme organised workplacements or NCMM conservatorsas part o their ongoing proessionaldevelopment. As well as the eight NCMMsta who acted as loan couriers duringinstallation and de-installation, the AricaProgramme sponsored our Educationsta rom Abuja, Lagos and Kaduna toundertake work placements between January and July 2010. These sta alsovisited several regional museums togain a wider perspective into museumaudiences and engagement. However,the most intensive work placementwas undertaken by three sta rom theExhibitions team at Lagos Museum whoworked or our weeks in January andFebruary 2010 at the British Museumlearning to make mounts beoreleading teams to install the Ie objects.

Kingdom of Ife

enabled NCMM sta romacross the Nigerian museum networkto participate in most aspects o theplanning, preparation and installationo this major project. The successuldelivery o the exhibition with a jointteam provided a model or uturecollaboration and partnership. Julie Hudson,Arica Programme Coordinator

Mike Rowe and David Noden (British Museum)with Ie 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.

‘I’m loving my job, thanks to the BritishMuseum!’ Ademola Oshin, NationalGallery o Art, LagosIn March 2011, the Museu Nacionalde Arte in Maputo, Mozambique,hosted a workshop to share skills inbest museum practice. The workshopwas acilitated by Heidi Cutts andChristopher Spring o the BritishMuseum and Ademola Oshin romthe National Gallery o Art in Lagos,Nigeria. The workshop provided Ademolawith a marvellous opportunity toshare the skills he had gained romprevious Arica Programme workshopsin Lagos while at the same timeexperiencing working practices in adierent museum environment.In 2010, along with Jonas Tembe andAphonso Malace rom the MuseuNacional de Arte, Maputo, Ademolahad taken part in a conservation workplacement at the British Museum,London. The Maputo workshop was agreat chance or these three riends tomeet again and to share their knowledgewith other colleagues rom Mozambique.The workshop participants came romour museums in Maputo and togethervisited each other’s collections to betterunderstand the challenges aced in thedierent institutions.During the workshop they wereable to make recommendations orpractical improvements and oerongoing assistance and advice.Ademola appreciated this supportiveenvironment: ‘the workshop aorded methe opportunity to know the problemso the dierent museums in Maputoand how they deal with these problemsand equally I shared my problems withthem as well. And I ound out that theseproblems are similar.’Ademola led seminars and practicalsessions ocused on object handling,cleaning museum objects and bestpractice in loan condition checking andpacking. As part o the practical sessions,participants prepared two sculptures ortravel to the UK, taking responsibilityor condition checking, photography andpacking. Ademola was keen to learn newskills as well as to impart his knowledgeto others: ‘the practical experience opacking the British Museum’s two newly

Friends united: sharing skills in Mozambique

acquired sculptures by local artistsKester and Fiel Dos Santos was the mostchallenging and interesting part o theworkshop or me.’The participants spoke ve languagesand all were used during multilingualpresentations, making the workshopinclusive as well as un: ‘I had theopportunity to learn a bit o thePortuguese language and the locallanguages o Mozambique. I nowhave an idea o what Mozambiqueart looks like and a bit o the cultureo the land’ commented Ademola atthe end o the workshop. Learningtogether about the challenges we allace as museum proessionals brings asense o partnership and encouragesnew riendships. As Ademola, Jonasand Aphonso have proved, distance isno obstacle in supporting each other.Workshops are about learning andsharing but just as important are thepermanent riendships and networksmade between people and theirinstitutions.Heidi Cutts, Arica ProgrammeCollections AssistantAdemola Oshin, Assistant ChieConservation Ocer, National Galleryo Art, Lagos

Workshop 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.