The Research Perspectives of Australian Museums & Galleries report offers a snapshot of Australian museum and gallery research culture and practice. Although museums and galleries are engaged in research, there has been little consideration across the Australian sector about how this research is manifested. This raises the question of whether this research is aligned with their strategic needs, or the communities they represent and work with
Drawing upon museum strategic documents and interviews with Australian museum stakeholders, this study analyses and compares the current perspectives of Australian museum research from both a policy and practice perspective. The report reveals that the way museums imagine research in their strategic expressions is not the way that museum people practice or understand it. These museum practitioners offer an articulation of research activity less oriented toward the knowledge and values of the institution, and more embedded in the world.
The report highlights emerging opportunities to undertake collaborative museum research differently, by framing a new research agenda that emphasises the social and civic roles and responsibilities of Australian museums. This report is for anyone working in any Australian museum or gallery, in any role, who is personally and professionally interested in new and alternative approaches to help their organisation achieve these goals.
This study represents an emerging base for better understanding research in the Australian museum sector to support future scoping around where and how museum research could collaboratively move forward. It is intended that the findings of this study will inform ASSEMBLY, a new national sector-wide initiative, currently being developed by AMaGA, ANU, Monash University and a broad range of Australian museums and galleries. This initiative asks: How might we convene a dialogue across the Australian museum and university sectors (and other stakeholders) to reimagine research collaboration aligned to their shared public values?
Research Perspectives of Australian Museums & Galleries