I recently had the opportunity to travel to Australia to undertake an internship in collection risk analysis with Ottawa-based Dr. Robert Waller, who was recently awarded SPNHC’s Carolyn Rose Award. Mercifully unaffected by jet lag, we spent three very busy weeks in Melbourne delivering interactive workshops on the Cultural Property Risk Analysis Model (CPRAM) to staff from Museum Victoria (MV) and to collections care professionals from throughout Australia and New Zealand. The CPRAM model, which Dr.Waller developed and implemented while conservation chief at the Canadian Museum of Nature, has been successfully applied for nearly 20 years to collections at institutions around the world. The model is notable for its comprehensive and logical methodology, as well as the fact that it relies on the input and expertise of those who work with the collections every day.
Over thirty five staff members from Museum Victoria, including collection managers, curators, conservators, scientists, facility managers and risk managers attended a two-day workshop where they studied and discussed the risk analysis model, and, in small teams, practised applying it to case studies in preparation for using it for their own collections. In addition to their energetic participation and wholehearted dedication to an institution-wide risk assessment, the staff at Museum Victoria also brings extensive specialized knowledge and experience to the project. Laura Stedman, Manager of Integrated Collection Processes, will serve as the “gatekeeper” for the risk assessment. In this role she will schedule work and input documentation and data for all collections over the next three years. The assessment will be an extensive undertaking, as Museum Victoria’s sizable collections encompass natural sciences, indigenous cultures, and history and technology, and are housed and exhibited in a number of facilities: the Melbourne Museum, the Immigration Museum, Scienceworks, and the Royal Exhibition Building - as well as a major dedicated storage facility.
While in Melbourne, Dr. Waller and I also conducted one- and three-day risk assessment workshops for over sixty people from Australia and New Zealand employed in museums, galleries, archives, and in private practice. The feedback generated by these workshops was overwhelmingly positive: participants were very interested in the CPRAM model and were inspired to apply what they had learned to their own collections. The interactive nature if the workshops also led to some very valuable discussions regarding specific risks to collections in the Antipodes.
The workshops were the result of considerable commitment and effort from Maryanne McCubbin, Head Strategic Collection Management at Museum Victoria, who arranged for the workshops and staff coaching sessions. Maryanne benefitted from support and assistance from Davina Hacklin, Manager, Conservation, Museum Victoria and Vilim Kompar, Risk Management and Insurance Advisor from the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority.
Alison Fleming
Recent graduate of Sir Sandford Fleming College
Collections Conservation and Management Program