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Project Museum Home - An exciting opportunity

The Museum of Travel - help make it special

What we are looking for

We are a Community Engagement Project in that we want to leave the museum and all its contents, photos and collection to be run for the benefit of the public and the community (after we have had our fun with it!). This would include any property etc, so it could be a real gain for a local community authority or an existing museum.

At the moment we are a virtual museum but we are looking for a physical home. We do have limited funds to part purchase / or restore a property subject to the right criteria. We are particularly interested in a joint venture with either a local authority or a fellow museum or a philanthropist / fellow explorer, or someone looking for an additional exhibit / attraction to complement their existing museum or a new exciting start up. The ideal plan would be we would provide and set up the museum, its contents and exhibition cases, and initially run the museum, and you would provide the space to house it (FOC) or make available a space to purchase at a reasonable price, bearing in mind you will inherit it in the near future.

Location wise we are open minded, but ideally it would be near fellow travellers / a tourist spot, maybe an airport / the sea / a port / an island community or other deserving community that needs a little lift and inspiration! We love water and would love for it to be in a stunning location, but we are open minded to mountains, urban or what have you! We would like it to promote responsible tourism as well as a centre of learning, fun and promotion of environmental awareness., interactive and fresh!

Ideal would be to have a bit of land - maybe a foreshore or access to a harbour to promote travel adventure and exploration, and showcase adventure transport, boats, (viking style and Kayaks) and motorbikes (for example).

With a small Cafe, which could be self serve, and a little shop (you’ve got to have a little shop!) there may be opportunities for volunteering and potentially paid employment further down the line. We would also like to host a small number of events each year - unique to the location and hopefully to create a buzz - and maybe a must visit “bucket list” adventure for fellow travellers and locals alike, like an Up Helle Ah (for example) but on a boutique scale!

Space Requirements

It may be you have some derelict buildings, an old stables or disused community centre or church, an old wharf building, or a warehouse, an even a historic building - which we could revitalise and create a unique attraction for tourism and local interest, as well as potentially saving the building as well! It doesn’t have to be in the UK!

Size wise it doesn’t have to be massive, it is after all a boutique museum, (but airiness and light would be great) and because most things arrived in a suitcase - it can be flexible as to how it fits the space. Ideal would be parking for several vehicles or nearby transport links / parking. The building itself would need an area that can be used as a reception / shop / cafe space, rooms for the exhibits, a central space for dioramas (such as polar travel / camping etc) or pop up exhibitions from outside contributors, a bit of outside space for larger exhibits and a summer marquee / tent set up. All in all between 85 and 150 sq. meters of buildings and a similar number of meters of outdoor space would do it, but we really would consider anything!! Bigger or smaller - Location is key!!

If it had a curators flat or property or the planning / build-ability (we could potentially fund this) to add somewhere to live then that would be even better, and if this is built / purchased then this would also be left to the museum, so that any future curators can have accommodation. It would ideally need to be at least 2 bed so visitors from overseas could stay.

It’s Purpose

Is as listed in our aims and objectives - but beyond this we want it to be fun, modern (clean) museum - engaging, and a real hub of the community, as well as an interactive centre for tourists and locals alike, free internet access, a printer, a small travel and natural history related library, a place to relax in, learn, meet people and swop stories, as well as being technology enabled.

We would love to be able make mountain cheese on a fire in a big copper vat - Swiss style - a real visceral experience of crackling fire wood, and the cheese sold of course through the cafe and shop, maybe a micro botanical gin set up with gin making courses and of course sales, through the shop and website, a real Armenian style floor oven and demonstrations of making Lavash bread and other delicacies, to sell in the cafe and for people to try / eat, and see how the other half lives and works. Art courses and visiting experts from other countries (which is why accommodation would be useful) to really add to the exotic feel and authentic flavour.

It is also intended to be available as a free of charge learning project for local schools and colleges on fixed days, with agreed learning outcomes, as well as providing an out of hours adult learning and training centre for museum volunteers of all ages, to help create life skills, and improve employment opportunities elsewhere for local people in trades such as museum curating, travel, customer service, health and safety, first aid, food handling & event management, as well as environmental skills (all delivered free of charge). We will set up a small bursary each year, as funds allow, and provide recognised transportable competence as well as certificated courses and remote e-learning opportunities for those unable to attend in person and the otherwise located.

An Island Museum?

We would love to base it in an island community. As Island and regional museums often tend to be very focused on the island and region (inward looking), we wanted to create something different for the Islanders that would be both outward looking and a hub for the local community, as well as for visitors to the Island both in and out of season.

is this of interest?

if the answer is yes or you think that this is something that you think your local authority / community / philanthropist, or museum would be interested in then why not drop us a line and we can start the discussion. We will travel anywhere to discuss - it’s what we do! Or maybe a teams / zoom call to get us started and discuss this exciting opportunity. We are open to ideas and experiences.