Behind the scenes at the Birthplace we have been working on plans for the future of the Museum. Our Development Project will see improved access to our Grade I listed building, as well as new exhibitions and visitor facilities.
Our goals for our project are to care for the long-term future of the Museum by increasing our sustainability, welcoming more of our community to the Birthplace and increasing our appeal to local visitors, improve access to and care of our collections, and care for the long-term future of the Museum.
Here are some of the ways that we are planning to do this:
- Create wheelchair access to the ground floor, virtual access to upper floors and an accessible toilet.
- Replace Museum displays to enable better care of our collections and allow more of our collection to be seen, including local history and diverse stories (e.g. women’s history, Johnson’s health, and his Jamaican heir Francis Barber)
- Develop the Kitchen and Bookbinding workshop displays into interactive spaces
- Create an education programme for secondary age students, review our existing primary visit, and improve our library study area.
- Improve our event, education and hire space to ensure that we will be more resilient.
- Develop our programme of events in consultation with local audiences.
- Train staff and volunteers on welcoming disabled and neurodivergent audiences.
- Diversify our team and involve our community by creating new, flexible volunteering opportunities.
- Improve our external appearance contributing positively to the local street scene.