Vision, Aims, Objectives, Values

In September 2020, we announced the beginning of our ‘Reimagining’ programme of projects at the museum. Since then we have been undergoing significant change to our focus and work as a museum. Initially, we planned to close for day-to-day visits during this period but due to popular demand, we are open weekends from February to October. This has also allowed us to share our work and involve our audience in the changes. As we continue to undertake projects, establish partnerships and make progress, we will share this with you via our project pages.

Vision: People Matter

The Powell-Cotton Museum is for everyone – current and future audiences, staff, volunteers, our local community, the communities descended from the places our collections originate and anyone else who wants to work with the Powell-Cotton Museum, House and Gardens and to be part of our forward journey. To be for everyone, we will make space for more voices in our Museum: past, present and future. This comes from both listening to the diversity of voices within our community today and using our collections to explore the stories of people who have historically been silenced.

Aims

  1. To be collaborative and inclusive. Our working culture will be for everyone, collaborative in nature and will empower all to participate.
  2. To be transparent in the process and delivery of this programme. This programme of work will have a measurable framework of deliverables and milestones and we will hold ourselves accountable for both our processes and finished works.
  3. To embrace change NOW and build on the momentum of forward movement we’ve already established. The Museum began working to tell a wider, more inclusive, story in 2018. In February 2020 we started laying the groundwork for our re-imagining programme. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the level of societal inequality it has exposed, brought a dual shift in how we work and focus on what matters. This gave us the impetus to take this work from ‘behind the scenes and into the public eye. Bringing our reimagining programme to the fore now gives us a window of opportunity to radically rethink what we do and how we do it. This is a moment for change in our organisational culture - the understanding that, if we want to, we CAN do things differently and should be empowered to do so.
  4. To embed our commitment to change, as outlined via our social media channels in June and July 2020, within our Museum so that these changes become long-term, sustainable working practices, not just words. What we refer to as ‘decolonising the museum’ aims to address the silences of the past, acknowledge privilege and adjust balances of power in the present. It is a process of returning context to the collections via our interpretation and engagement, and working with our communities near and far today to be equitable, honest and transparent moving forward. This is our commitment to a new way of working, not a finished product.

Objectives

  1. Securing a sustainable future for the Powell-Cotton Museum, Quex House and Gardens. This will cover finances, the fabric of the buildings (which will in turn secure the future of the collections) and our resources. It is also reflected in our relationships with our staff and the value we place on their knowledge and experience.
  2. Make sure that all our engagement, both internally and externally, is meaningful, aligning with our Vision and Values. Engagement doesn’t always have to be of clear or tangible benefit to the Museum – sometimes it will simply be the right thing to do.
  3. Establish the identity and function of the Powell-Cotton Museum, Quex House and Garden. Previous work has identified the historic identity of the site but the future will be what we make it. This will include our external identity as a brand, but also the best relationship between our component parts (museum, house, garden) to give us an innovative, independent and sustainable future.

Values

Our vision – people matter – is foundational to the values of this programme of work. These values will be embedded across the organisation from visitor experience and collections to operations and to HR. These values relate to everyone who works with us, in whatever way that may be.

  • Everyone’s lived experiences are valued by the organisation and everyone should be empowered to fulfil their potential. In this regard, we work to the principle that equity is as important as equality.
  • We place importance on the emotional connections that exist between people and place.
  • We have courage in our convictions: we will be brave in our actions and innovative in our approach.

Updated November 2022

We're On Instagram
Thank you to everyone who came along to hear Napandulwe Shiweda talking about her recent work to bring contemporary women’s craft from Northern Namibia to the Powell-Cotton Museum. She had a great discussion with Nicola Stylianou and there were lots of interesting questions from the audience. 

The collection includes bright pink skirts made of cloth (odalela) and ostrich eggshell (ondjeva) as well as beaded jewellery and dolls (ounona). They will be on display this autumn…stay connected with us for the official exhibition launch date!

You can find out more about the Namibian Narratives project on our website.

#reimaginingthemuseum #Namibia

Thank you to everyone who came along to hear Napandulwe Shiweda talking about her recent work to bring contemporary women’s craft from Northern Namibia to the Powell-Cotton Museum. She had a great discussion with Nicola Stylianou and there were lots of interesting questions from the audience.

The collection includes bright pink skirts made of cloth (odalela) and ostrich eggshell (ondjeva) as well as beaded jewellery and dolls (ounona). They will be on display this autumn…stay connected with us for the official exhibition launch date!

You can find out more about the Namibian Narratives project on our website.

#reimaginingthemuseum #Namibia
...

Musicians Spotlight! 🤩

We're very excited to confirm Sunday's musician for 'Percy's world trip - Japan'... @hibiki.ichikawa! Hibiki is a specialist musician with over 15 years experience of performing the Tsugaru Shamisen, a very special instrument. 

Performing in our opulent oriental room, visitors will have the opportunity to ask questions in between performances and learn the history of this unique instrument.

Tickets to this event are £2.50 and include entrance to the museum, house and gardens as well as all event activities!

#reimaginingthemuseum

Musicians Spotlight! 🤩

We're very excited to confirm Sunday's musician for 'Percy's world trip - Japan'... @hibiki.ichikawa! Hibiki is a specialist musician with over 15 years experience of performing the Tsugaru Shamisen, a very special instrument.

Performing in our opulent oriental room, visitors will have the opportunity to ask questions in between performances and learn the history of this unique instrument.

Tickets to this event are £2.50 and include entrance to the museum, house and gardens as well as all event activities!

#reimaginingthemuseum
...

Musicians Spotlight! 🤩 

We're delighted to confirm Aki Kitagawa will be performing the absolutely beautiful koto instrument in our opulent oriental room on Saturday 16th and Monday 18th April as part of our 'Percy's world trip - Japan!' event.

Visitors will have the opportunity to speak to Aki between performances and ask questions about the history of this beautiful instrument.

Tickets are £2.50 to include entrance to the museum, house and gardens as well as all event activities!

#japanesekoto #livemusic #museum #reimaginingthemuseum

Musicians Spotlight! 🤩

We're delighted to confirm Aki Kitagawa will be performing the absolutely beautiful koto instrument in our opulent oriental room on Saturday 16th and Monday 18th April as part of our 'Percy's world trip - Japan!' event.

Visitors will have the opportunity to speak to Aki between performances and ask questions about the history of this beautiful instrument.

Tickets are £2.50 to include entrance to the museum, house and gardens as well as all event activities!

#japanesekoto #livemusic #museum #reimaginingthemuseum
...

🌸 Our lovely museum team have been busy creating origami #sakura blossoms for our #Japanese event next weekend. With live music, crafts and games there's something for the whole family to enjoy and all for just £2.50 per person! 🌸

#reimaginingthemuseum

🌸 Our lovely museum team have been busy creating origami #sakura blossoms for our #Japanese event next weekend. With live music, crafts and games there's something for the whole family to enjoy and all for just £2.50 per person! 🌸

#reimaginingthemuseum
...

It’s the end of another lovely weekend🌸Thank you to the artists who shared their beautiful work with our visitors as part of @powthanet - our visitors loved it.
Next weekend we are hosting @dtcartdesign as part of our Natural History Project “Colonial Critters” so make sure you come along on Saturday or Sunday, 11-3. See you there! 

#reimaginingthemuseum #blossom

It’s the end of another lovely weekend🌸Thank you to the artists who shared their beautiful work with our visitors as part of @powthanet - our visitors loved it.
Next weekend we are hosting @dtcartdesign as part of our Natural History Project “Colonial Critters” so make sure you come along on Saturday or Sunday, 11-3. See you there!

#reimaginingthemuseum #blossom
...

Bring Art and Science together with our new workshop ‘Drawing from Nature’. Get up close and explore our amazing animal skulls through drawing in this fun, interactive workshop. If you are learning about Animals and their Habitats or Animals including Humans in Science or are looking at still life and drawing in Art, then this will make a school visit to the Powell-Cotton Museum even more unforgettable. To find out more and book email learning@powell-cottonmuseum.org 
#ReimaginingTheMuseum

Bring Art and Science together with our new workshop ‘Drawing from Nature’. Get up close and explore our amazing animal skulls through drawing in this fun, interactive workshop. If you are learning about Animals and their Habitats or Animals including Humans in Science or are looking at still life and drawing in Art, then this will make a school visit to the Powell-Cotton Museum even more unforgettable. To find out more and book email learning@powell-cottonmuseum.org
#ReimaginingTheMuseum
...

🎉Visit Us in 2022!🎉
The Powell-Cotton Museum, Quex House, and Gardens will re-open for the season from Saturday 12th February at weekends and bank holidays. 
We’ve revived the visitor experience and tickets have a new standard price of £2.50 per person including guided tours.
Tickets will be released for pre-booking on Monday 17th January.
For more information visit powell-cottonmuseum.org/

#ReimaginingTheMuseum

🎉Visit Us in 2022!🎉
The Powell-Cotton Museum, Quex House, and Gardens will re-open for the season from Saturday 12th February at weekends and bank holidays.
We’ve revived the visitor experience and tickets have a new standard price of £2.50 per person including guided tours.
Tickets will be released for pre-booking on Monday 17th January.
For more information visit powell-cottonmuseum.org/

#ReimaginingTheMuseum
...

Wishing all our friends and visitors a warm and wonderful Christmas. Thank you for your ongoing support of the museum. 
Enjoy this festive video featuring some creations made by the Thanet Community Service volunteers. 🎉🎄
#ReimaginingTheMuseum

Wishing all our friends and visitors a warm and wonderful Christmas. Thank you for your ongoing support of the museum.
Enjoy this festive video featuring some creations made by the Thanet Community Service volunteers. 🎉🎄
#ReimaginingTheMuseum
...

This is the skull of a female western lowland gorilla from Cameroon. As we take the time to research more deeply into our collections, we start to address questions around the ethics of collecting natural history for museums. 

Find out more here: http://bit.ly/westernlowlandgorillaskull

#reimaginingthemuseum #objectinfocus

This is the skull of a female western lowland gorilla from Cameroon. As we take the time to research more deeply into our collections, we start to address questions around the ethics of collecting natural history for museums.

Find out more here: http://bit.ly/westernlowlandgorillaskull

#reimaginingthemuseum #objectinfocus
...

Our pop-up museum will be @westwoodcross on Saturday 31st July & Sunday 1st August. Come along and get hands-on with real museum objects!

#popupmuseum #reimaginingthemuseum #meettheteam Visit Thanet- Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate

Our pop-up museum will be @westwoodcross on Saturday 31st July & Sunday 1st August. Come along and get hands-on with real museum objects!

#popupmuseum #reimaginingthemuseum #meettheteam Visit Thanet- Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate
...

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