Hello everyone: This month we have an update from Vice-President Mazz Scannell on what your committee has been up to in recent times.

World Federation of Friends of Museums

One of the goals of your committee is to strengthen our relationships with other national and international museums and like-minded institutions. In addition to working quietly behind the scenes to keep in touch with a number of regional museums, the Friends of Te Papa have also re-joined the World Federation of Friends of Museums (WFFM) after a long absence. WFFM is a collaborative group that provides all the usual benefits of a membership including a regular newsletter, access to other members and a wider world view on what it is to be a museum Friend. By sharing ideas and projects with other members, we develop closer relationships and learn from, and contribute to, a world-wide Friends think-tank. These relationships and regular catch-ups benefit everyone, and efficiency of electronic communication in this modern world means we can join the WFFM regional discussions on topics as diverse as attracting diversity and impact reporting without running up unnecessary travel and conference fees.

In early August, fellow committee member Dan Laufer and I joined the bi-monthly Australian forum Zoom meeting and listened to three speakers discuss the ways they attract new membership and the pros and cons of these initiatives. Take out points include making sure that the Friends work closely with the management of the museum, building strong communications with our membership, and the development of online experiences. Richard Dean, the President of the Friends of Te Papa, and I have worked hard over the past twelve months to make sure the Friends have a voice and an ear with Te Papa management as well as specialist curators. It is because of these strengthened relationships that we are able to offer exclusive behind the scenes experiences, most recently the New Acquisitions tour, and the monthly Reading Group.

Discussing what our members are interested in on a global scale reminded us that the last survey to Friends of Te Papa was conducted in 2011, and a lot of things have changed since then. To this end, the Membership and Marketing and Communication sub-committees have been working on a short satisfaction survey which you can expect in your in-boxes before the end of the year. What we are wanting to achieve is a picture of what’s important to you, both now and in the future. The information from the survey will form the platform for the development of new experiences and guide our approach to event scheduling.

On the wider front, the Marketing and Communication sub-committee has also discussed providing a Friends online presence in a stronger and more informational/educational manner. This type of outreach programme is operational in an Australian setting and is widely supported by both our fellow WFFM peers and more locally through the feedback I have received from Friends in New Zealand. Covid taught us many things, and one of the most salient was that sometimes we can’t leave the house even though there are events that we would like to experience. Taking a leaf from our Australian museum cousins, we are investigating developing online experiences as a way to enjoy a curated lecture from the comfort of your favourite armchair. We are in the development stage of this exciting initiative and expect to be able to report back on our progress in 2025.

One of the strongest reasons for joining a worldwide community is to check that we are on track with the rest of the world. It is pleasing to receive confirmation and acknowledgement that all members share the same primary objective to support their museum, most importantly to have the ability to contribute to future development, and to represent the initiatives of the museum to the wider community. All over the world, Friends groups aim to bring the voice of the layperson – the non-specialist – into the museum. Over the years, the hard work and ideas of the Friends have brought about change in the museums themselves, bringing museums closer to the people, and the people closer to the museums.

Our membership with the WFFM means we can share our local knowledge with other like-minded institutions, while also strengthening our ties, creating special bonds, and learning different realities. A significant strength of Friends groups is that they know their way around their local community and can match up people, ideas, and sometimes money, as well as influence in raising regional and national awareness. Friends groups understand that they can only operate in the local and extended networks with the official recognition and support from the museum they represent. In New Zealand this is a position the Committee of the Friends of Te Papa has, on your behalf, worked hard to establish and maintain and we look forward to continuing this positive and constructive relationship into the future.