Tipperary museum curator launches five-year strategy for local museums

Local museums and the collections they hold are at the heart of the communities we serve, the curator of the Tipperary Museum of Hidden History based in Clonmel and current chair of the Local Authority Museums Network told the launch of the group’s new five-year strategy.

“We are a dedicated group of professionals who want to tell the story of our regions through the many different identities, abilities, experiences and passions of the people who have come before us,” said Marie McMahon of Tipperary County Council.

She highlighted that that myriad of people, places and events can be explored through our museums and they were for everyone.

The new 2022-2026 strategy sees the LAMN embracing the communities that they serve, ensuring the stories they tell reflect the community as a whole and are accessible by all.

The strategy includes working with the NCBI to use new cutting-edge technology to provide a more engaging local authority museums experience for the quarter of a million people in Ireland that are blind or visually impaired.

The network also announced, as part of their ongoing partnership with the National Museum of Ireland, plans to bring the Rainbow Revolutions exhibition throughout the country. This important exhibit, which was launched by the National Museum of Ireland just before the Covid pandemic, uses objects, stories and poignant oral histories to paint a picture the experiences of the LGBTQI+ community in Ireland.

Climate change is a challenge that we all have to face and the Local Authority Museums Network recognises its role in this new strategy by working in partnership with community groups and government organisations to act as a conduit in ensuring that the information we need to know is both accessible and engaging. This will be achieved through a range of exhibitions and events in the museums across the network.

The new strategy was officially launched by Minister for Heritage Malcolm Noonan in Dublin.