How AIM Conference led to a new exhibition

At AIM we know that conference provides a vital opportunity for member museums to network, listen, learn, and share with colleagues. But we don’t always hear about the long-term connections made, or the inspiration that leads to creative action when delegates return home.

So, it was with great delight we heard about a partnership between the Scouts Heritage Service and the Food Museum that has led to Growing up, digging deep: the story of Scouts, food and farming which opened at the Food Museum in early June. The exhibition explores the story of food and the Scouts through three main themes: grow, make, and eat. From learning to use a horse and plough, responding to the needs of a country in wartime, to planning expedition menus and exploring new cultures, it considers how Scouts have evolved and responded to stay relevant.

The initial idea came together following AIM’s National Conference in Port Sunlight in 2022, as Caroline Pantling, Head of Heritage Services for the Scouts explains.

“As most of our collection is in storage, we’ve always looked for opportunities to work in partnership with other organisations, particularly to tell stories that people don’t expect, reach new audiences and be able to encourage Scouts to make use of their local heritage assets.”

Following recent work with schools and other charities on how Scouts have supported refugees and displaced peoples, Caroline’s team knew they wanted to do another outreach project, and in particular develop work that could be replicated across the UK. But they had yet to settle on a topic.

“I was sitting (at AIM Conference) listening to Jenny (Cousins, Director of Food Museum) talking about their themes around grow, make and eat and their desire to become more embedded in their local communities.

By the end of her talk, I had almost written an exhibition structure on how we could work together! I briefly collared Jenny over a cup of tea and we took it further forward just after Christmas. Jenny’s presentation was a key driver to the development of the exhibition idea, which we opened 1 June.”

The Food Museum provided the venue, with Caroline and her team curating and developing the exhibition and covering production costs. Caroline also reached out to the local Scout District, who have been closely involved in the exhibition, providing pictures of local Scout learning activities to add homegrown interest and engagement to the exhibition.

“We curated the exhibition around The Food Museum’s grow make eat themes over two rooms, all supported by a sustainable and flexible display system. We’ve material going from 1908 through to the Scouts helping at last year’s Queen’s lying in state. As you couldn’t take food into Westminster Hall there was a lot of stuff being thrown away, so Scouts contacted the Felix Project – a charity who distribute unsellable fresh food to those in need – and within 48 hours the food was being collected, saved and distributed – a really nice community impact story.”

Given the Scouts community is found all over the country, a ready-made infrastructure of potential audiences, Caroline is hoping to tour the exhibition and is currently looking for other venues.

“For us, it’s a great opportunity to tell our more unusual stories, it’s not all ‘tying knots or going camping’, there’s a lot more to our heritage. We’re an ongoing movement that’s constantly evolving”.

Click here to see more on the exhibition>>