In today’s post, Catherine from the Visitor Team recounts her recent global travels to museums in New Orleans and Singapore as part of the Investing in Success programme. As Manchester Museum embarks on the exciting hello future redevelopment, Catherine shares some of her insights into the diverse cultural offer across two different continents.
Fore more on the Investing In Success programme, have a look at the University of Manchester website.
Kai Kai the panda, snacking on bamboo at Singapore Zoo
Investing in Success
Late last year I had the great opportunity to go on two trips as part of the Investing in Success scheme run by the University of Manchester. I travelled to Singapore and New Orleans alongside David Bryan, Manchester Museum’s Head of Finance, and Barinur Rashid, the Science Co-ordinator for Secondary Learning. The purpose of our trips was to look at museums and other cultural sites around the world, and see what ideas we could bring back to Manchester Museum as we embark on the hello future redevelopment project. Singapore and New Orleans were picked because of their diverse cultures and heritage, with a wide range of races, religions and backgrounds over relatively small areas. This allowed us a huge variety of experiences despite only being based in two places.
Singapore skyline, boats at Clarke Quay, Marina Bay Sands Hotel
First Stop, Singapore
October brought the first trip, to Singapore. After a brief stop in Abu Dhabi, we finally arrived 15 hours after leaving Manchester. Singapore is unlike anywhere I’d ever been; despite being a very built up city state full of skyscrapers, it was also incredibly green. Trees and plants could be seen down the centre of every motorway and growing from overpasses, skyscrapers had green walls and even trees growing halfway up them, and wherever you went rain trees lined the streets. These huge trees were themselves covered in lots of smaller plants, creating a natural feel despite being in the centre of a big city.
A City in a Garden
Keeping the city covered in plants is part of Singapore’s efforts to go from being a garden city to a ‘city in a garden’, creating a healthier setting that’s more pleasant to live in and better for the environment.
Rain tree in the streets of Singapore, the biodiversity garden at Marina One
One of the major ways this idea has been brought to fruition is through Gardens by the Bay, a billion dollar development that was one of the highlights of the trips. The area is home to two botanic gardens, including a Cloud Forest, and a grove of ‘super trees’; metal trees that reach up to 50 metres high and are covered in native plants such as bromeliads and orchids. Although this all looks like the set of a sci-fi film, it was designed with the environment in mind. The trees use solar energy to light up at night, and collect rain water for use in the gardens and for nightly fountain displays.
Super trees at Marina Bay, native orchids and bromeliads covering the trees, the world’s tallest indoor waterfall at the Cloud Forest
A Big Clean Up
The development was featured on an episode of Planet Earth II, showcasing the work Singapore has done and the ways they have created new habitats for local wildlife. This includes the bay and the river itself which was full of sewage and waste from industrial activities in the 1970s. A big clean-up operation was launched and it is now home to a family of wild otters (unfortunately we couldn’t spot any!).
Looking down on Gardens by the Bay with the busy port in the background, otter advice!
Museums and the Environment
It was great to see the country’s approach to the environment within a museum context at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum. Of all the museums we visited on the trips this had the most similar collection to Manchester Museum, so it was really interesting to see the different ways they displayed and spoke about their objects.
One that particularly struck a chord with me was a skeleton of a sperm whale and the way it contrasted with the one that we have on display here at Manchester Museum. Unlike our whale, which has been on display almost as long as we’ve been open, theirs is considerably younger. It died in the Bay of Singapore in 2016 and the museum was able to acquire the whole specimen very quickly. This makes for an interesting, and quite hard hitting, display which included the contents of the whale’s stomach when it died. Seeing all the plastic rubbish that had come from inside the actual whale really showed the seriousness of a problem that can often seem quite distant from our lives.
LKCNHM’s unique building, entrance artwork using pictures of their collections, sperm whale skeleton and the contents of its stomach
Many Cultures, Many Colours
On the last day of the trip we visited Little India, the part of Singapore where Indian immigrants have traditionally lived. The area was decorated for Diwali, and with its wide streets lined with colourful buildings, mosques, churches and temples, it felt very different from the rest of the city.
The decorated temples of Sri Srinivasa Permual Temple and Sri Vadapathira Kaliamman Temple during Diwali
We visited the Indian Heritage Centre, which was particularly interesting to see as we look forward to the new South Asia gallery opening at Manchester Museum as part of our hello future redevelopment. The centre focused on the stories of people who had made the journey from India to Singapore, and the impact that they have had on the life of the country. There were interactive elements all the way through, with traditional Indian games to play, chances to learn basic phrases in the variety of languages spoken by people who had come over from India, and even recipe cards to take home and cook yourself!
Indian Heritage Centre displays and activities
Next Stop, New Orleans
A few weeks after Singapore we set off again, this time to New Orleans! Whilst we went to both places for the same reasons, New Orleans and Singapore were very different. Singapore, in some respects, felt like a city from the future – covered in greenery and ultra clean. New Orleans, on the other hand, was much more historic and as you walked around you went from affluent areas to very poor neighbourhoods in the space of minutes. The city is very popular with tourists from all over the world, but despite this you still got a real sense of place and community.
The New Orleans French Quarter, St Louis Cathedral and Lafayette Cemetery No. 1
We visited a wide variety of places; historic buildings and old slave plantations, huge national museums and ones set up in old houses, looking at everything from food to local history, WWII to Voodoo.
New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum, The National WWII Museum, Laura Plantation and old slave cabins.
Culinary Culture
A big part of New Orleans culture revolves around food, something I was more than happy to get involved with! Food holds a real importance as a way of passing cultures on to the next generation, particularly for minority groups who have faced persecution in the past.
The Cajun style food that New Orleans is famous for originates from a French speaking group; however, in the first half of the 20th century schools were banned from teaching Cajun French, so cooking was one of the only ways to keep their culture alive.
An unusual breakfast of chicken, waffles and strawberries, beignets – a traditional New Orleans fried snack, Tabasco originates from Louisiana so is very popular in the city.
This importance of food to the culture meant it was great to meet with Liz Williams, the director of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum. This museum, dedicated to the food of the Southern states, was unlike any I’ve been to before. Something that could end up being quite sterile – a display of food models behind glass – was actually an interesting, interactive museum. Each state had its own ‘market stall’ covered in food and information about the area. They even had a demonstration kitchen, used by the community for anything from family workshops to special events and even by local start-up businesses needing the use of a kitchen.
The Southern Food and Beverage Museum, its many market stalls, and the Kentucky’s display.
Of course, a museum about food needs a restaurant and the special thing here was that they encourage visitors to get a snack from it – crackelins (pork scratchings) are the most popular – and walk around the museum eating them. The museum was a great place to look at and get ideas from, particularly when it comes to the reopening of Manchester Museum and its new cafe.
Ideas for the Future
Both trips were an amazing chance to do something very different in my working life. They really showed the very varied roles that museums and cultural sites play in society, whether through preserving the history of cultures and practices, keeping alive national memories of important events, or simply being places where the local community can come and spend time. All things that we can bring back to Manchester Museum and help us improve into the future!
Catherine Tindsley
For more about our new development, have a look at the hello future blog.
Stories from the Museum Floor 