The Black Lives Matter movement has challenged museums professionals to ask testing questions about their role in reparative history and the way we display and interpret racist and colonial collections
A slave pen explained at The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati / Photo: NURFC
Nine months have passed since the murder of George Floyd ignited the Black Lives Matter movement, causing many to pause, reflect and commit to change.
BLM didn’t make demands – protesters were simply saying, this is a catastrophic problem but not of our making, we’ve done nothing wrong. What are YOU going to do about it?
The global response was immediate and unprecedented, with organisations, private individuals and corporations promising change.
Museums found themselves facing hard questions: had they been founded or funded by slave owners? Were collections gathered during colonial plundering? Were they displaying human remains?
These soul searchings have led to initiatives to right wrongs and on page 34 we investigate actions being taken by museums around the world in relation to BLM and hear their views about the challenges ahead.
Many BLM protests focused on the statues of controversial figures, with repeated calls made for them to be destroyed or ‘put in a museum’.
This has raised questions about how we deal with objects associated with slavery and racism and the role museums will play.
Some governments have passed legislation to protect historic monuments, while acknowledging their past, with an instruction to ‘retain and explain’, rather than destroy, in all but the most ‘exceptional circumstances.’
However, many museums are baulking at the idea of becoming ‘dumping grounds’ for artefacts associated with racism and prejudice.
A new review from Historic England has revealed the extent of this challenge in just one country. Commissioned in 2020 and published in February 2021, The Transatlantic Slave Economy and England’s Built Environment traces hundreds of associations between the slave trade and monuments, people and buildings, to guide the way history is honestly recorded and interpreted.
Museums have a vital role to play in this process of reparative history and we must find a balance between removing artefacts that cause distress and whitewashing what has gone before.
The way histories are retold will also enable museums to be responsive to the needs of diverse audiences – in some cases, telling their stories for the first time – as professionals in the museums sector work to address this complex challenge.
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2021 issue 1
Editor's letter: Doing better
The Black Lives Matter movement has challenged museums professionals to ask testing questions about their role in reparative history and the way we display and interpret racist and colonial collections
People: Brent Bushnell
Two Bit Circus has pivoted to an innovative online model aimed at keeping its community in touch
People: Michel Linet-Frion
After decades creating for Disney, Grévin and Center Parcs, Linet-Frion has launched his own consultancy
People: Anthony Rawlins
The Digital Visitor CEO explains a new whitepaper on how attractions can survive 2021 and beyond
Interview: Sarah Roots
Warner Bros’ Sarah Roots shares exciting details of the second Harry Potter Studio Tour, set to open in Japan in 2023
Inspired: Alone with Vermeer
The Mauritshuis in The Hague has allowed visitors one-to-one time with Vermeer’s <i>View of Delft</i>, ‘the most beautiful painting in the world’
Aquariums: Into the deep
Merlin and the Sea Life Trust share the highs and lows of the epic journey to get two whales to their new home in the world’s first beluga whale sanctuary in Iceland
Innovation: Sea change
Edge Innovations’ incredibly
life-like robot dolphins could spell the end of marine mammals in aquariums, says CEO Walt Conti
Interview: Bob Rogers
As BRC Imagination Arts celebrates 40 years in business, its founder celebrates his team’s achievements
Sponsored: Technically Creative
With clients including the Xplore
Family Entertainment Centre in Athens,
Technically Creative provides a one
stop, in-house solution to create
memorable and magical experiences.
We talk to CEO, Marc Broadbent
Sponsored: Fun Spot: Providing turnkey solutions
Industry innovator, Fun Spot, is on a roll, with a new EMEA
office and a range of innovative new products to help operators
deliver excellence to the family fun market. We find out more
Interview: Phil Hettema
The Hettema Group president on weathering the pandemic and creating powerful experiences
The Black Lives Matter movement has challenged museums professionals to ask testing questions about their role in reparative history and the way we display and interpret racist and colonial collections
A slave pen explained at The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati / Photo: NURFC
Nine months have passed since the murder of George Floyd ignited the Black Lives Matter movement, causing many to pause, reflect and commit to change.
BLM didn’t make demands – protesters were simply saying, this is a catastrophic problem but not of our making, we’ve done nothing wrong. What are YOU going to do about it?
The global response was immediate and unprecedented, with organisations, private individuals and corporations promising change.
Museums found themselves facing hard questions: had they been founded or funded by slave owners? Were collections gathered during colonial plundering? Were they displaying human remains?
These soul searchings have led to initiatives to right wrongs and on page 34 we investigate actions being taken by museums around the world in relation to BLM and hear their views about the challenges ahead.
Many BLM protests focused on the statues of controversial figures, with repeated calls made for them to be destroyed or ‘put in a museum’.
This has raised questions about how we deal with objects associated with slavery and racism and the role museums will play.
Some governments have passed legislation to protect historic monuments, while acknowledging their past, with an instruction to ‘retain and explain’, rather than destroy, in all but the most ‘exceptional circumstances.’
However, many museums are baulking at the idea of becoming ‘dumping grounds’ for artefacts associated with racism and prejudice.
A new review from Historic England has revealed the extent of this challenge in just one country. Commissioned in 2020 and published in February 2021, The Transatlantic Slave Economy and England’s Built Environment traces hundreds of associations between the slave trade and monuments, people and buildings, to guide the way history is honestly recorded and interpreted.
Museums have a vital role to play in this process of reparative history and we must find a balance between removing artefacts that cause distress and whitewashing what has gone before.
The way histories are retold will also enable museums to be responsive to the needs of diverse audiences – in some cases, telling their stories for the first time – as professionals in the museums sector work to address this complex challenge.
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2021 issue 1
Editor's letter: Doing better
The Black Lives Matter movement has challenged museums professionals to ask testing questions about their role in reparative history and the way we display and interpret racist and colonial collections
People: Brent Bushnell
Two Bit Circus has pivoted to an innovative online model aimed at keeping its community in touch
People: Michel Linet-Frion
After decades creating for Disney, Grévin and Center Parcs, Linet-Frion has launched his own consultancy
People: Anthony Rawlins
The Digital Visitor CEO explains a new whitepaper on how attractions can survive 2021 and beyond
Interview: Sarah Roots
Warner Bros’ Sarah Roots shares exciting details of the second Harry Potter Studio Tour, set to open in Japan in 2023
Inspired: Alone with Vermeer
The Mauritshuis in The Hague has allowed visitors one-to-one time with Vermeer’s <i>View of Delft</i>, ‘the most beautiful painting in the world’
Aquariums: Into the deep
Merlin and the Sea Life Trust share the highs and lows of the epic journey to get two whales to their new home in the world’s first beluga whale sanctuary in Iceland
Innovation: Sea change
Edge Innovations’ incredibly
life-like robot dolphins could spell the end of marine mammals in aquariums, says CEO Walt Conti
Interview: Bob Rogers
As BRC Imagination Arts celebrates 40 years in business, its founder celebrates his team’s achievements
Sponsored: Technically Creative
With clients including the Xplore
Family Entertainment Centre in Athens,
Technically Creative provides a one
stop, in-house solution to create
memorable and magical experiences.
We talk to CEO, Marc Broadbent
Sponsored: Fun Spot: Providing turnkey solutions
Industry innovator, Fun Spot, is on a roll, with a new EMEA
office and a range of innovative new products to help operators
deliver excellence to the family fun market. We find out more
Interview: Phil Hettema
The Hettema Group president on weathering the pandemic and creating powerful experiences
OMA has completed a major transformation of New York's New Museum, creating a larger
cultural campus that combines expanded exhibition spaces with learning, performance,
hospitality and public programming.
A US$50 million (£44.2 million, €51.2 million) transformation of Chicago's historic McCormick
Mansion has created a new destination that combines live magic, immersive theatre, dining and
private membership under one roof.
The Montana Historical Society has officially celebrated the opening of its new Montana
Heritage
Center, a US$107 million (£79 million, €92 million) destination that combines immersive
storytelling with cutting-edge audiovisual technology to bring the sta
San Antonio Zoo has reported a US$283 million economic impact for 2025, following a decade-
long transformation programme that has seen almost US$200 million invested into the Texas
attraction.
Plans for the AU$180 million redevelopment of Reef HQ Aquarium in Townsville, Australia, are
progressing, with the project set to transform the attraction into a global centre for reef
education and conservation.
Abu Dhabi-based investment firm Mubadala Capital has made a binding, fully financed
€1 billion
offer to acquire Pierre and Vacances SA, the European holiday resort operator behind the
continental European Center Parcs business.
Disney has reaffirmed its commitment to investing US$30 billion in its US parks and cruise
business by 2033, using new America250 celebrations to underline the role its attractions play
in supporting jobs, tourism and economic growth.
Expo 2030 Riyadh is being planned as a permanent visitor destination, with organisers
confirming the six-million-square-metre site will become a Global Village after the event closes.
The owner of one of Australia's best-known waterparks has acquired a major competitor,
creating a new attractions business spanning two of the country's largest visitor destinations.
The Toverland theme park in the Netherlands has announced a €98m expansion programme
that will add a resort, new attractions and staff facilities as it pursues plans to become a multi-
day destination.
+ More news
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