Contributing research to Museums Association report “Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund 2024 Review Key Findings”.
There have been some significant changes to the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund in response to research commissioned by the Museums Association.
Rix co-researchers and purpleSTARS, Kate Allen, Kendall Berry, Ajay Choksi, Kiran Dhillon, Baljit Kaur, Kanchan Kerai, Synne Lim, Gosia Kwiatkowska, Samantha Walker, and Ros Weinberg, all contributed to the Museum Associations “Esmee Fairbairn Collections Fund 2024 Review Key Findings” report.
You can read the report here
There is also an announcement about the new Esmée Fairbairn Communities and Collections Fund launching in December 2024
Museums Association funding announcement
How we approached the research inclusively
PurpleSTARS were given a research brief from the Museums Association with the following aim:
To diversify perspectives by reading five research papers that informed the development of the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund in 2022 to increase community participation and agency in museums.
Together, we explored the research papers with the aim of making museums more inclusive. Initially, we used an artificial intelligence tool to simplify the research papers, making them more accessible. After ensuring the accuracy of these simplified versions, we shared both the detailed and condensed versions with everyone in our team.
We then organised discussions in pairs, matching one person with lived experience of learning disabilities with another team member without this experience. These pairings allowed us to dive deep into the papers, each from our unique perspectives. Following these discussions, we got together as a whole group to share our insights from each paper. This collective session enabled us to consolidate our findings and perspectives into an overview.
