A manifesto for a science centre
— Ginny Russell, Digital Communicator
We The Curious is embarking on a journey to transform the role of the science centre in our city and beyond. (Read all about it here.)
But how do we get there?
It’s not an easy mission and that’s where the manifesto comes in.
A manifesto is an (often radical) declaration of intention — a piece of writing that celebrates and declares your vision to the world and lays the foundation for it to happen. Usually used in a political or artistic context, a manifesto embodies a movement of people and ideas. It’s a document that is living, breathing, changing and dedicated to serving the people. By having a manifesto at We The Curious, when the going gets tough, when things are puzzling us, we always have document with our core values to refer back to.
It’s a pledge that has distilled all of the huge, blue sky, abstract ideas and our mission as a charity into 4 clear points. These are placed at the centre of everything we do now, from creating activities, designing new exhibits, setting up this blog, even changing the lightbulbs!
Curious to find out what our pledges are? Take a look at the manifesto, in the flesh 👇
Phew! That’s a lot of words, but what does this mean in the real world, to normal folks like you and me? And how is it being put into practice in We The Curious? Let’s break it down a bit:
- Cultivating Curiosity
Since 2017, curiosity has been the foundation for our new activities, shows and the new exhibitions that are being built (more on this exciting project coming soon!) Now, everything that is devised in our organisation is based on real questions asked by Bristol’s communities and the people that visit us.
We all have the power to ask questions about what makes us curious, whether we’re interested in science or not. We The Curious will support and encourage you to ask those questions, by sparking conversations, hearing your voices and giving your questions a platform. No thought is too silly, no pondering is purposeless, so dream up those questions and come and ask us!
The opening pledge of our manifesto is actioned by everyone! From our exhibitions to our educators — everyone within our walls uses curiosity as their foundation for new work and projects.
2. Opening up science in our city
Our vision for the future is that We The Curious will be the place to participate in authentic research. We will be launching our brand new space ‘Open City Lab’ in 2020, where visitors can take part in real research, with real scientists from Bristol and beyond. We want to place public engagement within the research process — not just when it’s all done and dusted! Through this, we will also support researchers with working in a public space. By working in a shared, neutral space, academics and members of the public can delve into valuable conversations that could end up shaping and influencing the scientific research.
Pledge 2 of the manifesto has a handful of brilliant staff making it a reality already. The two figureheads, Maca and Helen, have been forging partnerships with researchers already and tested a series of successful pilots with our visitors, such as toddlers with head-cams and sending fish into space! They’ll be telling us their story in an upcoming blog piece. Moreover, it wouldn’t be possible to open up science in our city, without our dedicated Live Science Team. Our expert science communicators facilitate all of the amazing conversations and research that our partnerships bring, with thoughtfulness, passion and a good dose of silliness (sometimes!)
3. Enable diverse participation
We The Curious is an educational charity. As such, we belong to our city. We are starting a journey to serve our city in the way it wants — our cultural offering has to be reflective of the incredible and diverse communities Bristol is made of. To make this possible, we are creating an inclusive environment where everyone has the option to take part. We are removing as many barriers, both physically and culturally, as we can.
This includes:
- Working with community partners such as WECIL, to make sure we are physically accessible
- Hosting free entry Hello! Weekends for Bristol communities
- Collaborating with youth programmes, such as the Creative Futures team, to create activities and installations
- Offering early, peaceful opening hours for visitors with autism and their families
- Going out and about to schools, hospitals, events, festivals etc, taking curiosity, question asking and demos to people who may not be able to visit us
…. and much more in the pipeline!
3 team members, Raj, Amanda and Jo, work with incredible dedication and are leading the way inside the organisation to make diverse participation possible. As do our diverse (and huge) team of volunteers. With Volunteer’s Week on the horizon, stay tuned to hear some of their voices on the manifesto.
4. Strive for sustainable futures
We only have one planet. It’s our life support system, the only home humanity has and the way we live is threatening it. As an organisation, we have pledged to become as sustainable as possible (in fact, we actually won an award for it 🙌.) From teabags to toilet flushes, we are reviewing everything that goes into running this big and bustling building. Our dedicated working group, the Sustainable Futures Team, are already making waves and plan to take the blogging reins to tell you about their fascinating journey over the past year.
Our resident green guru, Chris, has been working tirelessly for the last 8 years to protect the planet on behalf of We The Curious and whipping us all into sustainable shape. But it’s not just about us! We also pledge to empower you, get you talking about the challenges we face and to inspire you about the changes we can make in our daily lives. There are plenty of simple actions that everyone can take and collectively our small, individual actions can make a big impact.
We’re kicking things off with a whole season of activities focused on these small changes, including exploring meat-free cooking, investigating air pollution and stepping into the shoes of an activist, so get inspired! Join us as we put our pledges into action and play our part in protecting the planet.
🔔Ding Ding 🔔 Bonus pledge!!
Because a manifesto is an always changing and growing statement, since it’s creation in 2017 we’ve decided to add an extra pledge — and this one is super important. So let me introduce you to pledge 5 …
5. Building Resilience
The final promise in the We The Curious manifesto sounds grand, but is actually simple. By ‘building resistance,’ we really mean that we’re being the best we can possibly be, for our city, its communities and our staff. Its not just good to be good, as a charity its our responsibility to provide excellence in everything we do.
To do this, we make sure our model of operation is robust and can react to change; we make sure that our staff have the opportunity to develop and grow; we carefully consider all of our partnerships and collaborations, to make sure they share our values; we are committed to a youth training programme that will build skills and resilience for young people in our community.
By constantly adapting, refining, striving to be better, we can make sure we are here for everyone. For all the question askers, the stargazers, the intrepid investigators, the boundary smashers, the ‘what if-ers’ and you, forever.
