A Museum for Croydon
As we look at the huge success of #MuseumFromHome I’m using this as a natural point to pause and reflect.
We can’t deny that we are in an extraordinary moment in time whilst we live a new life in lockdown, one of unprecedented acceleration whilst on the other seemingly frozen in time. Has anyone else felt like time is speeding up and stopping simultaneously?
What #museumfromhome has proven is that a museum can exist for anyone and anywhere. It has allowed us all to peek behind the museum curtain and reveal that behind these institutions are the people with their own stories; their thoughts, feelings and enthusiasm for the places and the objects they cherish. Together we create our own stories which can come in a variety of formats that are worthy of sharing, from the past and more importantly, the present.
Now more than ever the question of ‘What’s Your Croydon?’ seems significant. Can we look to the past to help us navigate the present and crucially, shape for us a better future? This is where I hope the Museum for Croydon plays its vital role by continuing to co-curate with communities, artists and organisations during and after lockdown to recognise everyone as experts in their own histories and therefore a way we can work collectively for a better future.
This is where we have created a digital offer, to capture and reveal our stories past and present - to provide a Museum for Croydon from home and still achieve our purpose - to provide a radical space to celebrate our diversity and to explore how Croydon unites us.
The purpose of ‘What’s Your Croydon?’ was always an iterative learning process and our central themes of Place, People and Identity are being questioned now more so than ever. What I hope we can continue to deliver is the safe and radical place even if it is virtually to continue to allow our communities and artists to be welcomed to question this.
So welcome to our Museum From Home a chance to take part in activities but to also question, to explore and share your stories and memories of this moment. Because simply a Museum for Croydon is for everyone and everywhere.
Museum & Archive Manager, Marie Tulley-Rose
1st May 2020
