Museums Showoff

The cabaret-style night for all those who love museums is back for more museum-y fun! Come along and be intrigued, astonished and amazed at behind-the-scences goings on.

Doors 6.45pm, show starts 7.30pm.

Strutting their museum-y stuff on stage will be:

Sacha Coward – Scaring Children Sh*tless! Is it ok for museums to scare kids? But what if it makes them lose control of their bodily functions?! Sacha Coward (ex child scarer and current social justice warrior wannabe at the National Maritime Museum) will spill the beans on why scaring children can be a good thing but can get a bit… messy…

Erica McAlister – Dead flies are the best flies? In Life and Death flies are the best species on the planet and I work with the best collection to highlight this FACT. Even in death, the four million flies in the collection are working to save your planet!

The Queer Cabinet Brigade – Why is queer history still closeted in filing cabinets? Members of the Queer Cabinet Brigade present fabulous tales from queer history and dreams + schemes for an LGBTQI+ history museum in London.

Claire Madge – My alter ego, Tincture of Museum, will be giving a 9 minute light hearted look at what autism is and explaining why autism and museums are the perfect fit given a little time and effort.

Mark Taylor – Are people who don’t go to museums waiting for the sector to bring them into the light? I’ll use national-level data to show that museums’ diversity problem is much worse for the museums than it is for the people are trying to reach.

Fiona Candlin – I’ll be talking about spending £1million on devising maps of UK museums from 1960 until now (and how I managed to get the cash!).

The National Archives – In 1895, Oscar Wilde was found guilty of gross indecency for his relationship with Alfred Douglas, and sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labour. We’ll be performing a short play that brings to life the words of Oscar Wilde and his supporters – all taken directly from the trial and prison records in The National Archives collection.

George Eksts – I’m a photographer at the V&A and an artist using digital media. I’ll be talking about how a museum could make 3D digital copies of objects, and how an artist might use and adapt these as part of their practice.