SOCIAL, CIVIC & ECONOMIC VALUE

Education & learning | Environment | Health & wellbeing | Tourism | Young people

BUSINESS PARTNER BENEFITS

Brand awareness, marketing, image enhancement or PR | Developing community links

The project

When Dippy (the Natural History Museum’s Diplodocus skeleton cast) went on an eight-stop UK tour, Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum was its only Scottish venue. An accompanying public learning programme was developed by Glasgow Life to both inspire the next generation of scientists and encourage visitors to think about the environment through a natural history adventure similar to Dippy’s.

In order to develop and deliver this public learning programme effectively, a substantial team of volunteers was required to carry out marshalling and engagement tasks. These included welcoming specific groups (such as nurseries and schools) and guiding them to designated Dippy areas as well as helping the Gallery’s Learning and Access teams by supporting interactive sessions such as ‘Digging for Dinos’. Volunteers were also responsible for welcoming families and assisting with family learning activities such as ‘Make your own Dino Mask’; distributing information and stickers; and engaging visitors with the Dippy ‘selfie spots’.

A total of 50 volunteers and four volunteer organisers were engaged over the 105-day period that Dippy was on display at Kelvingrove, giving a total of 1,515 hours of their time. Without the match funding enabled through the C&BS Fund, Glasgow Life would simply not have been able to deliver such a comprehensive learning programme and, with unprecedented numbers of visitors drawn to the Gallery to see Dippy, enjoyment and safety would have been compromised without the volunteer programme in place. In addition, the volunteer force enjoyed a fun, sociable and meaningful role that also developed their own skills and networks.

The partnership

Glasgow Life were keen to find a business partner to support the development of their volunteer programme. Ideally a partner with a shared interest in bones…

Clarkston Chiropractic may be a relatively small firm, but as advocates of good spinal health, who work with local families and school children in the Glasgow area, there seemed to be a natural fit as the exhibition was primarily targeted at school children. The company was immediately enthused by the idea of a partnership and involvement in the project. Their financial support, match funded through C&BS Fund, helped to fund both the public learning programme and the volunteer network. As Clarkston Chiropractic had a fairly limited marketing budget, C&BS Fund match funding significantly increased the impact of their investment.

The positive outcomes

Dippy on Tour! was Kelvingrove’s most visited exhibition ever – its 643,764 visitors not only far outstripped anticipated figures of 390,000, but also represented the highest number of visitors to any venue on Dippy’s UK tour. Response from both the public and the media was overwhelmingly positive and helped to spur interest in the T-Rex in the Town exhibition in Kelvinhall, run in conjunction with the University of Glasgow and the Naturalis Centre in Leiden, Netherlands.

In excess of 1,500 pieces of media coverage helped to generate this record number of visitors and also allowed Glasgow Life to trial contactless donation facilities in partnership with GoodBox. The results of this successful trial have enabled the heritage organisation to secure £10,000 from their IT company’s community fund for developing a long-term contactless donation solution.

Trends from a volunteer feedback survey show how highly the volunteers valued access to development opportunities (which included autism awareness training, work experience in the museum sector and public engagement) and most have reported that they would be very likely to volunteer for Kelvingrove or Glasgow Life in the future – this supports the heritage organisation’s long-term commitment to increasing its volunteer cohort.