Preparing for opening

In my 8th month of being on Placement, I have at last been able to go and work in the actual building of Manchester Museum. Thanks to being involved in numerous zoom meetings and staying in contact with a few people, I was able to convince them to let me help with setting up the new Wild Chorus and Voicing Silence exhibits, due to open on 19th of May.

I had previously started work on the Wild Chorus exhibit by means of research, dating back to January this year. At the time, it was still unclear on when the exhibit would need to be done by, as the COVID-19 road map hadn’t been released by the government yet. With the recent announcement that the Museum would finally be open to the public on the 19th of May, plans could be put in place on what needed to happen in order to have everything complete on time.

Having gone into the building a couple of weeks before opening, I was able to look through the stores and see what goes on behind the scenes at the museum and what happens in order to produce what the public will see. It’s interesting to see the vast majority of specimens that the museum holds, a lot of which may never be on display. It is also possible to view the extensive museum collection online.

After this, I offered to come in over the following week or so in order to help with the Wild Chorus exhibit. We worked on painting the walls and cases of the exhibit, as well as decorating and arranging some of the display cases so that they looked as ready as possible.

On the 18th of May, the day before reopening it seemed that there was a lot more to do than the other days, in order to be ready on time. We managed to get the audio and visual timings to work as they were supposed to, finish up any painting that needed to be done (marks tend to appear a lot quicker on white paint which has proved to be a challenge) and most excitingly, laying out the display cases and objects.

One of the display cases in preparation for the Museum reopening.

Writing today, on the day that Manchester Museum opens up to the public for the first time this year, I feel a sense of accomplishment due to my contribution to the team in preparing an exhibit for the first time. It also happens to be at a stage when the anticipation for the museum opening is potentially at an all-time high, only making it more of an accomplishment.

It has been an amazing experience to finally be able to work in the museum building, and I look forward to hopefully being able to do so soon. Most importantly, I’m excited to see the museum filled with visitors again, just like it should be.

These nature exhibits, as well as the rest of Manchester Museum, can now finally be accessed in real life again by booking tickets online.