Thoughts from a new museum director
What's new
If someone had told me ten years ago that I would take up the post of museum director in the spring of 2020 and that a pandemic would have just paralyzed the world, I would not have believed it. But it did, and a few months into my new job, it's time to reflect on life at the museum.
Starting as a museum director in the middle of a pandemic has its challenges. There is no one to consult on how to deal with a pandemic. In the spring, it was a matter of finding a way, together with my wise colleagues, to deal with the risk of infection spreading. We were closed for the first time, but we decided early on to start opening the museum again. Because right now it feels particularly important that people have access to culture and that we can hold on to some kind of everyday life. It's also important that the museum is involved in bringing visitors to Arjeplog. We developed guidelines for staff and visitors and tried our hand at it. And I think we have landed well there. We have routines in place, keep our distance and can offer safe visits to the museum or the shop. Now it's about persevering. Keeping our distance, but still being able to do things that feel meaningful. For example, visiting the museum.
It is clear that the pandemic has affected the Silvermuseet in other ways too. The number of visitors has been low this summer, which of course has a negative impact on our finances. However, we have decided to use this time to build for the future. Because there are many development ideas that we now have more time to implement. Because as Dr. Wallquist used to say - things must never stand still!
The Silvermuseet tells the story of the people who have lived in Arjeplog for almost 10,000 years. The museum has its roots in the local community and is based on the collections of Dr. Einar Wallquist. "It is important for us to keep the root system in Arjeplog and that the Arjeplog people think we are important. Therefore, we want to have exhibitions and events that attract local visitors (feel free to contact us if you have an idea about how we can do things that are important to Arjeplog!)
At the same time, the Silvermuseet is an important visitor destination in the region. Every year we have over 40,000 visitors to the museum. Guests come from both Sweden and other parts of the world. Contributing to the business community by attracting people to Arjeplog is important to us. Right now we are trying to develop that part of the business even more through the concept of the Gateway to Arctic landscapes. The aim is for the cultural heritage to attract even more visitors to come here. We will tell you more about this development work later on.
The Silvermuseet and the INSARC research institute also have international significance through their research. Our research on humans and the landscape has been evaluated and judged to be unique and world-class. We are of course very proud of this! And research will continue to be an important part of our activities in the future. In this work, the experience and ideas of former museum director Ingela Bergman are very important to us.
Being relevant to local, regional, national and international audiences is not an easy task. But we promise that we at the Silvermuseet will do everything we can to be relevant to everyone!
Welcome to visit us!
