Putting local treasures back in the limelight

Royal Crown Derby Museum was awarded a £15,000 National Lottery Project Grant for a research and development project to help bring their unique porcelain collection back to life. Kevin Oakes, Chair, tells us more about the project and how they plan to involve the community in their work.

Royal Crown Derby is world renowned for its luxury fine bone china products, manufactured solely in England – and the Royal Crown Derby Museum holds the world’s most complete collection of Derby porcelain, including a first-class dining set destined for the Titanic and works attributed to Salvador Dali.

“The museum first opened its doors in 1969 and since then has remained quite unchanged. With displays beginning to look tired and visitor numbers not rising, our team decided to do something to bring the unique collection back to life.”

Under the dynamic new leadership of Kevin Oakes, and with a refreshed board of trustees, they were committed to developing the museum and celebrating Royal Crown Derby’s crucial role in Derby’s future as a city of making.

The trustees applied for an Arts Council National Lottery Project Grant to establish a new vision for the museum, to make it a sustainable and resilient asset able to play a key part in the cultural transformation of Derby. Their funding allowed the trustees to appoint consultants Nick Ewbank Associates to work alongside Museum Curator Jacqueline Smith, to explore a range of options for future development. This included using new technologies, integrating the museum with the factory tour and shop, engaging with the community and local partners, and introducing research and learning projects to bring the museum and its contents to life.

“The museum is set in a diverse part of Derby and as part of the refresh, the team wanted to explore ways to engage with its surrounding communities to forge meaningful links with local people.”

Ideas are currently being developed, including a ceramics-making project for early years children from local schools; a research project exploring the impact of clay workshops on older people with health issues; and an intergenerational project sharing knowledge and stories between age groups.

“With Arts Council England’s support, we want to make the Royal Crown Derby Museum an exciting modern museum and have been building relationships with the University of Derby, Derby Museums, QUAD and a range of other cultural organisations and partners to do just that. We plan to refresh the displays and gallery spaces, to re-tell the stories of the company, the people who made it what it is and our remarkable collection in a more compelling way.”

Top tip?

“Bring people on board and spend time collectively working out where you ultimately want to end up – and don’t be disheartened if you have to change tack to get there – or if things take longer than you expected. It can be a challenge to align the timescales and the priorities of different partners, but set aside time to plan, to allow the space for different voices to be heard, to really listen to what partners are saying, and to remain as flexible as possible while sticking determinedly to your vision.”

Thinking of applying?