To research, learn from and build relationships with women's museums

Australia is well served by several highly respected major museums and collecting institutions, guided by intersectional women's policies that ensure women, whose lives have been traditionally overlooked or undervalued, are represented within their organisation's collection and program activities. Museums Australia recognise "women have an equal right to representation in museum collections and interpretive programs" (Museums Australia 2000, p. 1), emphasising that museums should dedicate the resources to ensure it. Yet despite this intelligence, few museums and archives in Australia have the specific charter to collect, preserve, and make Australian women's long and impressive heritage publicly available.

Her Place Museum is a not-for-profit organisation located in Melbourne that celebrates the social, civic and entrepreneurial achievements of all Australian women and their role in shaping our nation through exhibitions, events, and public and educational programs.

Since 2014, Penelope has worked and volunteered as Her Place's General Manager and Board Director. As a longstanding museum professional, cultural producer and artist, her focus is developing community-engaged, interdisciplinary and inclusive arts, education and cultural programs.

The Churchill Fellowship provided Penelope with the opportunity to visit international women's museums, archives and initiatives across the United States and the United Kingdom and meet with experienced and committed professionals and build relationships with other specialist women's museums and archives at a time when Her Place Women's Museum Australia is establishing itself as an important cultural institution.

The Fellowship visits ranged from modestly to well-funded government or private museums, stand-alone museums and archives, museums with and without collections, newly created and long-established museums, virtual-only museums, home or community museums, museums with staff and purely volunteer operated, and finally, those that take women's history into the streets. Despite these differences, each museum's and archives' growth and success were primarily due to an unwavering commitment to gender equality and a fierce determination and unrelenting tenacity demonstrated by staff, volunteers, and boards. 

The recommendations provided are good examples for Her Place to consider rather than exact models to be copied. Many recommendations and ideas are currently in practice at Her Place, and many that are not could be implemented and achievable in the short term without significant additional financial resources. However, others would require a major commitment of resources and funding from government and private support to be realised over a much longer timeframe. 

Conclusions and lessons learned: 

Women's museums and archives play an essential role in addressing gender inequality.

Women's museums, archives and initiatives enrich a community by publicly elevating and preserving women's histories and stories. Through feminist governance, they play a critical role in creating an equitable and safe society. They ensure the lives and experiences of women are everyone's business. 

Women's museums and archives are cultural capital.

Women's museums and archives have social, cultural, and economic capital as place-makers, must-visit tourist destinations, and sites of empowerment, activism, and education. Women's museums and archives should not forget their value, no matter what the scale.

Women's museums and archives struggle to be sustainable.

Women's museums and archives should be well resourced and funded. Key to sustainability is a diverse funding mix, including philanthropic, local, state and federal government support, donors, and user-pay initiatives. Women's museums and archives must evaluate, quantify, and communicate their social, cultural, and economic benefits to the broader community and funding bodies, seek collaborations and partnerships, grow memberships, and monetise their assets.

Women's museums are agents of progressive social change.

Women's museums and archives, established and emerging, are trailblazers. They must constantly review and revive their mission, practices, and programs to ensure they remain relevant, accessible, and culturally and emotionally safe environments for all people. Diversity must be evident across all aspects of the organisation through an intersectional framework, inclusive of Gender Equality and Reconciliation Action plans. 

Women's museums and archives need to be responsive to change.

While newer, do-it-yourself women's museums recognise the importance of place and archives, the roles of physical museums and collections are being interrogated, identifying both as hallmarks of traditional and historical practices. Newer museums centre audiences. They no longer see museums as sole interpreters of history, spearheading co-design exhibition models where physical exhibitions are informed by and situated within the community. 

Women's museums and collections – physical or digital.

Some women's museums elect to be virtual, questioning the inherent historical power of cultural institutions. They seek to extend their reach through a digital interface, making knowledge accessible. They participate in history in real-time through a robust digital presence that is responsive and up-to-date. Through targeted social media campaigns affecting girls and women, they engage young people and underrepresented and culturally diverse communities, attracting the next generation of stakeholders.