A presentation by Katie Mills and Alisdair Aldous, Knowledge Transfer Consultants at the University of the Arts London, given at the Connecting Collections event, 5 March 2010, BT Centre, London.

1. ‘Open up’
Unlocking the
potential of
archives & collections
through creative
collaboration
Alisdair Aldous and Katie Mills, Knowledge Transfer Consultants
University of the Arts London (UAL)

2. UNIVERSITY COLLABORATION
Universities offer a range of approaches to knowledge transfer:
Special Projects Research Events
KTP/Shorter KTP Sponsored PhDs Workshops
Consultancy Studentships Exhibitions
Bespoke solutions KT Fellowships Talks
Student Commissions
Competitions
Client Projects
Ideas generation

3. THE SUPPORT WE OFFER
OPEN CONVERSATION
We engage in an exploratory conversation to identify your organisational needs, and
to propose potential solutions that the University could provide.
FUNDING BODIES
We can help identify the appropriate funding for your project e.g. JISC, AHRC, and
shape the project to meet funding criteria.
LEVERAGING MATCH FUNDING
By demonstrating the business benefits, we can help you gain financial support from
within your organisation to help lever significant match-funding.
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER PARTNERSHIPS (KTPS)
Help organisations with limited budgets gain access to valuable university expertise
and services by accessing external funding.

4. OUR EXPERTISE, YOUR PRIORITIES
• Archives and collections management (80+ collections)
• Conducting research
• Developing new/existing audiences
• Developing an educational offer
• Creating an on-line/digital presence
• Generating revenue from the collection
• Increasing access to the collection
• Designing exhibitions and engaging audiences in new ways
• Taking innovative approaches to interpreting and curating
• New approaches to marketing and communication
• Creative Interventions and artistic responses

5. Developing and diversifying an educational
offer through user needs analysis and design
Bridgeman Art Library KTP

6. “It is helping Bridgeman Education reach the
next generation of graphic designers and picture
researchers, and creating a new income stream
for the business.”
- Pandora Mather-Lees, Managing Director, Bridgeman Art
Library
Outcomes:
- Development of e-commerce service targeting the educational sector
incl. improved management of the company’s website
- Creation of educational web pages and seminars in collaboration with
educational bodies and institutions
- New process developed to improve digitising efficiency
- New search categories created (e.g. Graphic Design, Fashion) to
expand Bridgeman’s sales potential in the Education market
- Exploration of new business models for licensing images

7. Increasing visitor numbers and audience
diversity through interactive experiences
Southbank Centre KTP

8. “KTP is a really creative and powerful way of the
Southbank Centre furthering its own ambitions
and its own ideas about itself in collaboration
with another intuition and another individual who
has very different skills to that of the people who
work here.”
- Shan Maclennan, Creative Director of Learning and
Participation at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre.
Outcomes
- An increase in visits to the Southbank’s
flicker site from less than 10 per day to
over 5,000
- Approx. 11,500 individual interactions
with the photo booth
- KTP also delivered interactive
installation, audio tours, spatial
redesign and training workshops
Photo copyright: Southbank Centre

9. Image copyright: Summer Snapshots, Southbank Centre

10. Creative Interventions, Responses and
Campaigns
V&A Museum

11. “Live performance within the collections challenges
the common assumption of the museum as a passive
place. Responsive and interventionist performance
have the ability to reactivate both the artefact and
the space.”
- Peter Farley, Senior Academic Lecturer, Wimbledon College (UAL)
Photos: copyright V&A

12. Delegate Packs
Katie Mills, k.mills@arts.ac.uk
Alisdair Aldous, a.aldous@arts.ac.uk

13. Group Discussion
Using someone in the group’s archive/collection as an example, select one of
the 3 priority issues on your handout and:
1. Describe 1 or 2 creative or strategic projects that have been done or
could be done to achieve this goal
2. Describe what expertise or support a university collaboration could offer
to help achieve or enhance this
3. What could the archive/collection offer that would be of value or benefit
to the university?

14. BEYOND THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT…
Archives and collections management
Archive and collections research
Audience development
Developing education and learning materials
Cataloguing and indexing
Commercialising content e.g. licensing
Connecting collections (physical and virtual)
Conservation and preservation
Creative Interventions and artistic responses
Creating interactive and engaging environments
Curation including new and innovative practices
Digitising collections
Interactive websites, and virtual galleries and learning environments
Online metadata and tagging
Object and image interpretation
Photography and photographic archives
Oral histories and pod casts
Product, display and exhibition design
Widening participation and access

15. Artists and artists work Artists' Books, Camberwell College of Arts, Artists' Books, Chelsea College of Art and Design, Artists’ Books,
Printing Historical Collection, Artists’ Multiples, Bow Gamelan and Paul Burwell Archive, Contemporary Collection, Dom Sylvester
Houedard Archive, Dorothea Rockburne Archive, Ephemera Collection, Facsimile Sketchbooks, Fine art, Prints and Drawings
Collection, Ian Hamilton Finlay Archive, Japanese Print Collection, Jean Spencer Archive, John Schlesinger Library, Lawrence
Weiner Archive, Lethaby Collection, Mariko Mori Archive, Peter Liversidge Archive, Photographic Exhibition Poster Collection,
Stephen Willats Archive Asian and black history African-Caribbean, Asian & African Art in Britain Archive Bookbinding Charles
Pickering Collection, Decorated Books from the Netherlands, Talwin Morris Collection, Teaching Books Collection Contemporary art
Artists’ Multiples, CAB Gallery Archive, Camberwell Collection, Contemporary Art Slide Scheme, Contemporary Collection, Dom
Sylvester Houedard Archive, Dorothea Rockburne Archive, Ephemera Collection, Jean Spencer Archive, John Schlesinger Library,
Lawrence Weiner Archive, Mariko Mori Archive, Peter Liversidge Archive Fashion Business Archives Council Collection, Cooling
Lawrence & Wells Collection. Cordwainers College Archive, EMAP Archive, Ethel E Cox Collection [London College of Fashion
Archive], Gala Collection, Hat Collection, Hayes Collection of Textiles, Hester Borron Collection, Historic Shoes Collection,
International Wool Secretariat Photographs [The Woolmark Company], Jenifer Rosenberg Collection, Korner Collection, London
Alliance of West End Cutters Collection, Louis Bund Collection, Paper Patterns Collection, Tailoring Archive [Rare Publications
Collection], Tailor and Cutter Academy Archive, Women’s Home Industries Archive Fashion, retail C&A Archive, Louis Bund
Collection, Paper Patterns Collection Film and cinema Film Script Collection, German Film Poster Collectionm, John Schlesinger
Library, Stanley Kubrick Archive, Thorold Dickinson Collection Foot ware Cordwainers College Archive Graphic design C&A
Archive, Charles Pickering Collection, Comic Book Collection, German Film Poster Collection, John Westwood Collection, London
College of Communication Archive, Photographic Exhibition Poster Collection, Tom Eckersley Collection Illustration Comic Book
Collection, Fine art, Prints and Drawings Collection, Japanese Print Collection, Lethaby Collection, London College of Communication
Archive, Rare Illustrated Books Collection, Talwin Morris Collection, Tom Eckersley Collection, Walter Crane Collection Institutional
records African-Caribbean, Asian & African Art in Britain Archive, Artist Placement Group Archive, Bow Gamelan and Paul Burwell
Archive, C&A Archive, Camberwell College of Arts Archive , Camerawork Archive, Chelsea College of Art and Design Archive,
Cooling Lawrence & Wells Collection, Cordwainers College Archive, De Appel Archive, Delfryd Celf Gallery Archive, Ephemera
Collection, International Wool Secretariat Photographs [The Woolmark Company], Inventory Archive, London Alliance of West End
Cutters Collection, London College of Communication Archive, London College of Fashion Archive, London College of Fashion
Digitised Archives, Materials and Products Collection, Museum and Study Collection, Kurt Schwitters Collection, Tailor and Cutter
Academy Archive, Tailor’s and Outfitters’ Assistants’ General Friendly Society Collection, Teaching Book Collection, Women’s Home
Industries Archive, Women’s International Art Club Archive Make-up Mary Quant Poster design German Film Poster Collection,
John Westwood Collection, Tom Eckersley Collection Printing Bess Frimodig Collection, Catherine Arthur Collection, Charles
Pickering Collection, Fine art, Prints and Drawings Collection, Japanese Print Collection, John Westwood Collection, Printing
Historical Collection, Robert Fenton Archive, Talwin Morris Collection, Rare books and journals Camberwell College of Arts Rare
Books Collection, Decorated Books from the Netherlands, Historic Journals Collection, Printing Historical Collection, Rare Illustrated
Books Collection, Rare Materials Collection, Thorold Dickinson Collection, Walter Crane Collection Textiles Fine art, Prints and
Drawings Collection, Hayes Collection of Textiles, International Wool Secretariat Photographs [The Woolmark Company], Louis Bund
Collection, Materials Collection, Materials and Products Collection, Textiles Collection Theatre and film design Jocelyn Herbert
Archive, Stage Costume Collection, Stanley Kubrick Archive, Theatre Costume Design Collection Typography Charles Pickering
Collection Edward Clark Collection, John Westwood Collection, Robert Fenton Archive 3D art Artists’ Multiples, Camberwell