MAGNET is a network of 12 museums and galleries, that have joined resources to share their collections with diverse national audiences. Funded by Arts Council England and Art Fund, the network was established in 2020 to deliver a pilot project that culminated in the inaugural exhibition Hair: Untold Stories. Building on the pilot, partners have been co-curating collections-based exhibitions with high-quality content, designed to tour nationally. MAGNET is currently touring three exhibitions simultaneously across the UK: Gender Stories, Colour and Human Natures.
The 12 partner organisations that make up MAGNET have shared their knowledge in a guide that covers everything involved in the creation of joint exhibitions – from partnership agreements to collaborative work content planning and interpretation, and shared approaches to community engagement and environmental responsibility.
The free-to-use toolkit covers the following topics:
- Network partnership agreement
- Touring exhibition partnership – Memorandum of understanding
- Interpretation plan
- Crafting the big idea
- Community engagement checklist
- ITT design and build brief for touring exhibition
- Environmental responsibility guiding principles, drafted by the Design Museum, who were the environmental responsibility consultant on the project
The documents are available to download for free from the Horniman Museum and Gardens’ website.
Georgina Young, currently Acting Director and permanent Head of Collections and Exhibitions at Manchester Museum, says: ‘Our involvement in MAGNET means we’ve worked collaboratively alongside our partners, learning as we go. Together, we have designed the toolkit to be easily adaptable for other organisations looking to work in partnership to develop new exhibitions. We’re happy to share our experience of working together, and we’re looking forward to seeing what other venues co-produce in future.’
The MAGNET partners are:
- Brighton & Hove Museums
- Bristol Museums
- Derby Museums
- Hampshire Cultural Trust
- Horniman Museum and Gardens (lead)
- Manchester Museum, part of the University of Manchester
- National Museums Liverpool
- Norfolk Museums Service
- North East Museums
- Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
- Sheffield Museums
- Tullie, Carlisle
A second toolkit focused on the logistics of touring will also be published by the end of the year.
About the authors & contributors
Horniman Museum and Gardens
The Horniman Museum is the lead MAGNET partner. MAGNET (the Museums and Galleries Network for Exhibition Touring) is a newly established network of twelve museums and galleries who aim to pool resources, develop curatorial expertise and share their collections with diverse national audiences. MAGNET will do this by co-curating collections-based exhibitions with high-quality inter-disciplinary content designed to tour nationally.
