Worthing Museum & Art Gallery : why it's closed, how it will reopen

SussexWorld

These are challenging but hugely exciting times for Worthing Museum & Art Gallery which has now closed to allow it to be connected to the Worthing Heat Network – a connection which will bring all sorts of key advantages as part of a greener future.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Now, truly

00:07exciting times in Worthing. The Worthing Museum and Art Gallery has closed temporarily, pending

00:13some big, big works. It's been connected to the Worthing Heat Network, but just as significantly,

00:19it's going to be really overhauled. New ways of retelling Worthing's fascinating story.

00:24Lovely to speak to Amanda O'Reilly, who's CEO of Worthing Theatres and Museum, and also Gerry,

00:30who is Head of Museums and Exhibitions. Now, Amanda, what's the difference going to be

00:35when we get the museum back? How's it going to feel different, do you think?

00:40It's going to really sparkle. We're making sure that we protect all of those favourite artefacts

00:47and favourite elements of the museum that people love, but also our aim is to get many,

00:53many more pieces of the collection on display, particularly in the costume collection and the

00:59accessories. We have a nationally significant costume collection that's, I think, the third

01:04largest in the country. So we have a very small percentage of it on display. So we want to have

01:10more of that on display and also really celebrate it. Something that's very special about Worthing

01:14Museum is that historic dress collection. We also have a very large permanent collection of

01:23artwork, which hasn't been on display for many, many years. So we're endeavouring to dedicate some

01:29space to that collection as well. But across the board, we're going to be reinterpreting

01:35what we put on display and making sure that we're telling the story of those artefacts in a more

01:42contemporary way. I mean, Gerry is really the expert.

01:45Well, I was going to say, Gerry, to bring you in. I mean, clearly this is vast. It's a massive

01:50undertaking. It's daunting. But at the same time, Gerry, it's exciting, isn't it?

01:54It's a very exciting project. I mean, this opportunity, if we're back, is not something

02:00where we want to be. I'm having to move all of the collections and being responsible for that move,

02:04something we've not done before. So planning it has been a huge task. We've had very little notice.

02:10So we're working on a very tight timeline. But having said all of that, I feel really

02:15enthusiastic team that are just really raring to go and put more of the collections on display,

02:22tell the stories of those collections and connect those stories across all of our collections,

02:28so that all of our collections are speaking to each other and tell us clear narratives

02:33through the building. So hopefully when you come back in, it will look different,

02:39but we'll have a clear narrative of how you engage with the collections and move through the museum.

02:45There's a real example of something that had to be done, but you are turning it massively to

02:49your advantage because, Gerry, you were saying that the building hasn't had a great deal of

02:54attention over the years, has it? It's had little bits here and there. We've

02:58done a little bit of work. So this is part of our great plan to redevelop the museum. So this is

03:03the next phase. Those regular visitors to us will have recognised that we opened the

03:09Costume Research Centre in late 2019, and then we opened the new Costume Gallery as we reopened

03:16coming out of Covid, which was a really exciting project to take forward. So this is another

03:21opportunity that we're taking advantage of, and the archaeology will be redisplayed, as Amanda's

03:26just mentioned, the costume, the historic dress, the historic dress accessories, which is always

03:33not difficult to display, but having the space to display them and really tell those stories,

03:39and then also working through the other collections, the social history, and all of those

03:44objects that the public, we hope we don't lose anything. We know our public, we know that they

03:50love some of the objects particularly, so we're hoping to retain, things may get moved around, but

03:56we will hope to retain everything that the public love to see, and some new things that they can

04:01really engage with. And Amanda, that's the key thing, isn't it? You want to reassure that people

04:05are not going to come back, and this is a sparkling new museum effectively, but they're not going to

04:09come back and say, where's this, where's that? Yeah, no, what we're aiming for is it to

04:15look glorious, but also be really familiar. So all of those generations of families that have brought

04:21their children to the museum, and then their grandchildren to the museum, when they come in

04:26for that certain thing that they love to come and see, we want to make sure it's there. And we have

04:30gone back to a number of previous consultations that we've done with the public to just check in

04:36about what does our community want from the museum, and what are their priorities, and what's important

04:40to them, and that is our guiding force through this process. So Gerry and I haven't sat in

04:46a room and just concocted a plan that we think suits us. We really have paid attention to

04:52all of the feedback that we get in the museum, and the curatorial team, who are incredible,

04:58really know the public, and they watch, and they see where the public spend the majority of time.

05:04And of course, we're going to be respectful to that. We're custodians of this building for our

05:09community. So yeah, we'll make sure that everyone's happy. And as for the cost connecting to the heat

05:15network, that's being taken care of by the council, but all the improvements you've got to fund

05:20through applications, various trusts, etc, etc. And if people have particular skills in terms of

05:26painting and decorating and carpentry, you would be interested in hearing, wouldn't we?

05:31We'd love to hear from people, particularly painting and decorating, as you say,

05:38carpentry, but also we know some of the businesses locally let their teams do a volunteer day,

05:45and we've got some areas where we need to move shelving, or we need to deconstruct and

05:50reconstruct some shelving in a different space. So those type of things, if there was any of the

05:56building societies want to give us 10 of their staff for a day to do a task with us, that would

06:01be wonderful. And they should get in contact with you. Yes, they can get in contact with me,

06:06definitely. Yes, yeah. And we do have a great, if you go on the website now, there's a great page

06:12for the museum, where people can sign up with their email address to keep in touch and have all

06:18the updates. So we're going to do lots of behind the scenes footage and some deep dives into some

06:22of the artefacts. So keeping connected with our community. And Gerry, it just occurs to me one

06:28thing we haven't spoken about the advantage of being connected to the Worthing Heat Network.

06:33What difference will that make? It's actually the system that's going in far exceeds the system that

06:39we've currently got. So the part of the time that's been spent in installing the new system

06:46into the building is being able to zone. So we'll be able to control the temperature in each of the

06:52various spaces within the museum, which is something we can't do at the moment. We have

06:57certain zoned areas, but the majority of the museum is just on one. The heating is either on or off.

07:02So it'll be really great to be able to. And also longer term will give us the opportunity,

07:09we'll have better control and be able to get better results because a lot of national museums

07:13will loan objects out, but you have to reach certain criteria for that to happen. So we're

07:20really hoping that we'll be able to reach that criteria and bring other, not just show our

07:24collections better, but be able to bring bigger exhibitions and touring exhibitions to the town,

07:30which will be really exciting. And Amanda, as far as you can see, reopening when?

07:36We're saying winter 2025 because being honest, we need a little bit of wiggle room. This is a

07:44huge, huge project. And we've already learned we're currently in the midst of the decant

07:49and it's a much bigger job than I think we'd anticipated because we have to make sure that

07:56every single artefact is safe. And then when we recap the museum, that's going to take time,

08:03especially with the reinterpretation. So at the moment, we can't give a specific date because

08:08what we need to do is we need to do it right. It might be a phased opening. So it might be that

08:16when we can, we'll open over the weekends, but still giving the curators time to continue to

08:22complete the project. So whilst we're closed for a number of months, we see phase one being an

08:2618 month project. So also when people do come back, there may be some areas where we're saying

08:32this is what we're going to do and we're still working on it. So because you can't rush this

08:38work. The safety of the collections has to come first.

08:43Well, good luck with everything. It sounds monumental, but it also sounds very exciting.

08:48Thank you so much for telling me about it. Lovely to speak to you both. Thank you.

08:53Thanks, Phil.

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