Expert Talks Added To Twilight Tuesdays

Auckland Museum is enhancing its late night programme, Twilight Tuesdays with a series of expert talks every Tuesday evening from July. Designed to provide new insights about the Museum’s collections, research or its curatorial processes, the Evenings with an Expert series of talks provide an opportunity to engage with senior Museum staff and research associates on topics they are most passionate about.

The Evenings with an Expert talks are deliberately brief at 15 – 20 minutes duration and happen each Tuesday at 6pm, then repeated an hour later at 7pm. Head of Collections, Information and Access, Adam Moriarty is excited about the potential of the talks to reach new audiences and to test new themes for public engagement. “What we have at Auckland Museum is a world-class set of collections and some of the best scientific research in the Southern Hemisphere and we want more people to be able to access that” he says.

Its not only the public who are getting to experience something new. The Evenings with an Expert series offers Museum researchers, curators and conservators the chance to trial new content for education and exhibitions with a test audience. “It is always refreshing to see what parts of our collections, research or processes excite people” he says. “Sometimes as museum professionals we get blasé about some aspects of our work as its our bread and butter, but to the uinitiated it can be awe inspiring”.

Adam Moriarty says that the expert talks will evolve in response to visitation and feedback from attendees but visitors can expect a wide range of specialisms to be covered. “We’re going to expose the risky business of early Auckland photography by explaining the dangers of daguerrotypes. We’ll also explore how clothes reflect our personal and national identities through a look at our iconic fashion collection” he says.

If photography and fashion aren’t your thing, there will be a plethora of quirky content over the next year and just as wide a variety of locations throughout the Museum. Upcoming speakers include renowned shark expert and Head of Natural Sciences, Tom Trnski, who will present during Shark Week on August 10th and Principal Conservator, Sue Cooper who will walk attendees through the intricate process of preserving some canvas maps that date back to World War One on August 24th.

The Museum began opening later on a Tuesday earlier this year, seeing an untapped opportunity to reach new audiences within the different atmosphere of night time at the museum. Visitors can explore the entire Museum in a relaxed atmosphere which is ideal for those who are time-poor or who may struggle to visit during weekends says Jennifer Haliday, Head of Commercial.

“Twilight Tuesdays give Aucklanders a great opportunity to take in the relaxed atmosphere across the whole Museum. With dinner and drinks at Tuitui Bistro & Café and a chance to browse the new Hokohoko Museum Store, you can round out a perfect evening” she says.

Evenings with an Expert will run as part of Twilight Tuesdays for the next year. A list of upcoming topics and speaker biographies can be viewed here.

ABOUT EVENINGS WITH AN EXPERT:

Evenings with an Expert, part of Twilight Tuesdays open late until 8.30 PM every Tuesday night.

EXPERT TALKS: 6.00 pm and 7.00 pm.

LOCATION: Various galleries throughout the Museum. Signs in both the Grand Foyer and Te Ao Mārama South Atrium will direct visitors to the location of the talk and will also be posted on Auckland Museum’s Facebook Page.

PARKING: Visitors can access the secure undercover carpark after 5pm and park for a flat fee of $10 for the evening

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