Imagine a museum where you could drive around to look at the exhibits or walking through heritage buildings that are not usually open to the public.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
These could come to fruition if Maitland City Council’s Open Museums, Open Minds, concepts gets off the ground.
But first, council needs your help.
The call has gone out for public input and feedback around options for museum experiences in Maitland.
Maitland Your Say , on council’s website, first unveiled the idea for open museums last year.
People seek to experience history and culture in diverse ways and not all museum experiences have walls.
“A museum experience could be an interpretive walk, a pop up creative installation, an open day around a series of buildings, temporary displays, collections or a series of monuments that can be found at different locations around a city,” the Your Say site says.
“These experiences are more broadly referred to as an open air museum or open museum experience.”
Last year council invited residents to share their thoughts on areas of Maitland’s heritage that interested them and the types of ways they would like to experience our history.
Examples of the different types of ways history can be discovered include:
. Creative installations - this could be public art, sculptures, creative lighting, statues or audio installations.
. Driving trails - these could be collection of locations that are linked or related and then developed into a driving tour.
. Museums and museum alternatives - this could be the traditional concept of a physical museum. Alternatives could simply be a museum experience outdoors or a mobile or pop up museum.
. Trails and walks - these could be a walking trail, which may guide a person through a significant location or collection of locations that are linked by historical significance.
. Open days for historical buildings - this could be achieved by opening heritage buildings that are normally closed to the public.
. Events as an interpretation of heritage - this could be an experience through an event and celebration that actively brings people to a location for a day, week or longer period.
Phase two of the consultation process is happening during February. You can register on council’s website to keep up to date.