PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

One of the many ways that the Living Museum is integrated into the wider community is through the connections made by staff and associates with community, professional organisations and other bodies. For example, the Museum was represented on the Brimbank Heritage Advisory Committee - a logical extension of our role in undertaking the Brimbank Heritage Study. We also have been involved in committees for planning the proposed 'Healing Garden' to be designed by artist Glen Romanus as part of a reconciliation program, and have contributed to discussions on the future use and landscaping of the former depot site at Footscray Gardens.

Gary has kept up heritage contacts through National Trust committees and the Heritage Victoria Archaeological Advisory Committee. Peter has attended seminars on leadership and corporate governance in the arts and a get-together with Museum Victoria's new director, George McDonald.

Helen has taken on much of the role of keeping up with current museological trends through a number of seminars run by Arts Victoria and Museum's Australia. She attended several seminars in 1999. Among these was the Art and Community / Verve conference which provided a huge cross-section of profiles on community art projects across Australia and gave many thought provoking ideas for new projects. It also had a day at the Gasworks Park in Port Melbourne which focussed on innovative projects involving people with disabilities.

Helen also attended a series of five seminars organised by Museums Australia (Victoria), a series which concentrated on building skills and gaining knowledge about the technicalities of interpreting information in a museum context, designing, producing and touring an exhibition. These were held at the Jewish Museum, the Victorian Arts Centre, and the Queen Victoria Women's Centre. This series came at a particularly relevant time for the Museum with its 'Hear Our Voices' exhibition in progress. There were good opportunities to meet other museum workers, to share ideas and become more aware of each others' work.

Gary took time off from other projects to hone his archaeological skills by working on one of the few historical archaeological excavations carried out in Victoria in 1999 - the Viewbank dig in Heidelberg, run by Heritage Victoria and Parks Victoria.

Ian Marshal, Clare Hart and our auditor Ron Angwin have grappled with the intricacies of the GST and implications for our financial management, at various workshops.

A major strategic exercise was a Heritage Strategy Day held in co-operation with the City of Maribyrnong staff and councillors, which aimed at identifying the opportunities for developing joint projects, raising the profile of the area's heritage and encouraging greater awareness and utilisation of cultural assets.

Environmental training has been provided to volunteers through workshops run on working bee days for the Groovy Gardening Team on topics such as snakes, frogs and plant identification.