Podcasts about British Museum

For some visually impaired people, the element of touch is very important when trying to establish what a piece of art work looks like. This prompted listener Mike Lambert to contact the program following a visit to The World of Stonehenge exhibition at the British Museum. Mike was unhappy that he wasn't able to handle some of the stone items displayed at the exhibition and he explains to Peter a series of other access concerns that he has. We put these concerns to the Museum's Equality and Diversity Manager, Will Westwood. We also take a look at The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden in St Ives. Here, they ensure that visually impaired visitors are catered for with touch tours, 3D printings of the sculptures and more. We pay a remote visit to the garden with Georgina Kennedy, the museum's Public Program Curator. Presenter: Peter White Producer: Beth Hemmings Production Coordinator: Liz Poole Website image description: pictured is a sculpture by Barbara Hepworth titled 'Two Forms (Divided Circle)'. The sculpture is asymmetrical, with each part at an angle to the other and one is slightly behind the other. One of the semi-circular sections has a cylindrical hole. On the other, a hole spirals from a circle to an oval. The sculpture is surrounded by lots of shrubbery and behind it, to the right, is a smaller sculpture and to the left is a large white shed with glass windows. Barbara Hepworth Two Forms (Divided Circle) 1969 © Bowness

The Aksum kingdom was a wealthy African civilisation and a major empire of the ancient world, thriving for centuries as a prosperous society and a spiritual home for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. During the kingdom's peak power, it conquered southern Arabia. This episode sees us discuss the empire's rich history, and how amazing it is that a lot of Aksum's artefacts can be found in Ethiopia, not exclusively in the British Museum.... Follow us on IG: itsacontinentpod and Twitter: itsacontinent. Pre-order It's a Continent (2022) on itsacontinent.com/book We're on Buy me a Coffee too: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/itsacontinent Visit our website: itsacontinent.com Hosts: Chinny: Twitter/IG: chindomiee Astrid: IG: astrid_mbx Artwork by Margo Designs: https://margosdesigns.myportfolio.com Music provided by Free Vibes: https://goo.gl/NkGhTg Warm Nights by Lakey Inspired: https://soundcloud.com/lakeyinspired/... Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Sources for further reading: The Rise Of Aksum - History Of Africa With Zeinab Badawi The Kingdom Of Aksum Kingdom of Aksum

The movie: The Mummy (1932) Joshua and Ian watch a horror classic and expect some screams and pre-Code gore. Instead they wind up discussing the hypocrisies of archaeology and the fine print to curses.

Operatic tenor Freddie De Tommaso on his overnight breakthrough to stardom and performing at the First Night Of The Proms. We announce and speak to the winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction. John Byrne, the Scottish artist, playwright and theatre maker: arts critic Jan Patience reviews the new retrospective of his work, A Big Adventure, open now at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. Plus, Kate visits the British Museum in London to see a collection of Ukrainian artefacts trafficked from the country, which recently went on display. Dr St John Simpson, Senior Curator in the Department of the Middle East at the Museum, explains how they got there and how museums combat the illegal trade in antiquities. Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Nicki Paxman

A climate of mistrust toward Turkey, which has been prominent in the halls of Congress, has now spread and taken hold across Washington, DC. This is particularly notable following Ankara's veto over Sweden and Finland's NATO membership bid, its decision to launch a new incursion into Syria, its relations with Russia, and its dangerous escalation of tensions with Greece. Lena Argiri, the DC Correspondent for ERT - the Greek Public Broadcasting Company, joins Thanos Davelis from Washington, DC to break down this climate of mistrust, and look at where Turkey's aggressive and escalating rhetoric against Greece fits in the broader picture.Read Lena Argiri's latest analysis in Kathimerini (in Greek): Η Τουρκία δοκιμάζει τις αντοχές των ΗΠΑYou can read the articles we discuss on our podcast here:PM: Greeks are absolutely safeBritish Museum suggests a ‘sharing arrangement' of Parthenon sculpturesThere is a ‘deal to be done' with Greece over Parthenon Marbles, says British Museum chairman George Osborne

On this episode of The Unfinished Print it is with honour, and great pleasure that I am able to present to you, my interview, with British  artist Rebecca Salter. We speak on her mokuhanga, her own work and work produced together with the Satō woodblock workshop in Kyōto. We discuss where Rebecca believes mokuhanga has gone since writing her book, Japanese Woodblock Printing (2001), a book which constantly inspires me in my own work. This book helps me to understand, what has felt at times to be such an esoteric and complicated art form, just a little bit more.  Please follow The Unfinished Print and my own mokuhanga work on Instagram @andrezadoroznyprints Twitter @unfinishedprint, or email me at theunfinishedprint@gmail.com Notes: may contain a hyperlink. Simply click on the highlighted word or phrase. Rebecca Salter - website, interviews with Royal Academy, 1 and 2. University of West England - once called Bristol Polytechnic, is a public research University located in Bristol, England. British Museum - is a public museum, located in London, England, and is focused on human history, arts and culture. It was established in 1753.  Kyoto City University of Arts - is a public university of the arts located in Kyōto, Japan, and was established in 1880. lithography - is a printing process which requires a stone or aluminum plate, and was invented in the 18th Century. More info, here from the Tate.  screen printing - also called, serigraphy, is a method of printing by using stencils and forcing the ink through a screen onto paper, or other fabric. More info, here. Akira Kurosaki 黒崎彰 (1937-2019) - one of the most influential woodblock print artists of the modern era. His work, while seemingly abstract, moved people with its vibrant colour and powerful composition. He was a teacher and invented the “Disc Baren,” which is a great baren to begin your mokuhanga journey with. At the 2021 Mokuhanga Conference in Nara, Japan there was a tribute exhibit of his life works. Azusa Gallery has a nice selection of his work, here. intaglio printmaking - is a style of printmaking, the opposite of relief printmaking, where scratches are made with a burin on the plate (copper, zinc, aluminum) and then dipped in acid. Ink and pigment is rubbed on with a brayer, brushes, etc. More info can be found, here.    scrolls - called kakemono 掛物 or emakimono 絵巻物  in Japanese. These scrolls contain many different types of themes and subjects. More info can be found, here. monoprint - is a print made from a re-printable block, such as wood, or an etched plate. It is usually a one and done type of printing with only one print being made. blue and white Japanese ceramics - are ceramics made for the Japanese market. Originally imported into Japan in the 17th Century from China, local Japanese ceramists from northern and southern Japan began locally producing ceramics. As trading with the Dutch escalated more porcelain wares were being imported from Europe into the Japanese port of Imari. Imari became the word to describe these types of blue and white ceramics.  Genji Monogatari emaki - is an elaborate scroll produced in 12th Century, Japan. It is based on the famous Tale of Genji, a tale written in the 11th Century and is attributed to Murasaki Shikibu (around 973-1014). You can find images of this scroll, here.  Edo Culture - the Edo Period of Japan (1603-1868) was a period of peace and prosperity for the Japanese military government, or bakufu. Led by the Tokugawa family, Edo period culture flourished in theatre, literature, and the arts. For a fantastic book on the subject please seek out, Edo Culture: Daily Life and Diversions of Urban Japan by Kazuo Nishiyama (trans. Gerald Groemer) and Edo Kabuki in Transition: From the Worlds of the Samurai to the Vengeful Ghost by Satoko Shimazaki.  Edo v. Kyōto Kabuki - kabuki theatre is a bombastic and powerful theatre from Japan. In its long history it has been generally attributed to both  Edo (Tōkyō) and Kyōto.  Edo kabuki is called aragoto kabuki and Kyōto kabuki is called wagoto kabuki. Aragoto kabuki is generally very loud and external, whereas Kyōto kabuki is more understated and gentle.  Satō woodblock workshop - is a traditional Japanese woodblock production house based in Kyōto, Japan. Here is an article from The Journal of Modern Craft with Rebecca Salter regarding this workshop.  Japanese woodblock of the 1950's and 1960's - post-war Japan was growing at an exponential rate, and this was true for the Japanese woodblock print. As the sōsaku-hanga movement began to out last the shin-hanga of the 1920's in terms of production, where most people could produce prints on their own,  American scholars , Oliver Statler (1915-2000), and James Michener (1907-1997), helped catalogue and document the burgeoning Japanese woodblock print movement through their books, The Floating World (1954), by Michener, and Modern Japanese Prints: An Art Reborn (1956) by Statler, for a Western audience. Along with the Western art scene and the 1951 São Paulo Art Biennial, Japanese woodblock prints began to be respected as a stand alone piece of fine art.  kozo paper -  is paper made from mulberry bark and is commonly used in woodblock printmaking, and cloth.  Echizen, Fukui - is a city located tin the prefecture of Fukui. The paper produced from this region is kozo, mitsumata, and gampi.  More information can be found from the website of Echizen Washi Village. Mosquito net technique - is a technique in ukiyo-e, and can of course be reproduced by the modern mokuhanga practitioner, where very fine lines are carved on two wood blocks and, when printed together, create the image of slight, thin netting. Rebecca Salter details this technique in her book, Japanese Woodblock Printing (2001)   Yale Center for British Art - located in New Haven, Connecticut, the YCBA is dedicated to British art of all types.  Louise Caan - is a British architect and teacher based in Oxford where she teaches architecture at the Oxford Brookes School of Architecture.  urushi zuri - is a technique which is used in traditional Japanese woodblock and mokuhanga, where pigment is mixed with nikawa (animal glue), and printed to enhance the enjoyment of the print. Usually seen in black hair, or garments represented in the print.  Japanese museums dedicated to Japanese woodblock -  if you are visiting Japan and are interested in the Japanese woodblock print you are spoiled for choice. This list is definitely not complete so I would advise doing some research for local museums which may be open in different parts of Japan you may be visiting. This list is a mix of museums dedicated specifically to the woodblock print, or museums dedicated to woodblock print artisans.  Finally, check online for larger art museums , galleries, and department stores, in the area that you're visiting to see whether they are having any shows dedicated to woodblock print artists, genres, etc. while you're there. I've added hyper-links. The Japan Ukiyo-e Museum  - Matsumoto, Nagano Sumida Hokusai Museum - Ryogoku, Tōkyō Ōta Memorial Museum of Art -  Harajukiu/Omotesando, Tōkyō Tokaidō Hiroshige Museum - Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Hokusai Museum - Obuse, Nagano Kamigata Ukiyo-e Museum -  Ōsaka CIty, Ōsaka Nakagawa Batō Hiroshige Museum - Nakagawa, Tōchigi Kawanabe Kyōsai Museum - Warabi, Saitama Naoko Matsubara - is a Japanese/Canadian contemporary artist, and sculptor, who lives and works in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.  She has focused much of her artistic life on making mokuhanga and has gained critical acclaim for it. My interview with Naoko Matsubara can be found, here.  Katsutoshi Yuasa - is a Japanese contemporary artist, and sculptor, who works predominantly in mokuhanga. He has  produced an incredible mount of work. My interview with Katsu can be found, here.  Brook Andrew - is an Australian contemporary artist who has shown internationally.  Ukiyo-e Censorship - the military Tokugawa government (bakufu) was not happy about being criticized. Ukiyo-e prints often lampooned authority with their imagery. Other artistic pursuits in Japan at the time, such as kabuki theatre, did the same. In ukiyo-e and Tokugawa history there were “reforms” which the bakufu created in order to stem this type of criticism. The Ehon Taikōki of 1804, which focused on woodblock prints and poetry, and The Tempo Reforms of 1841/42 that focused on actor prints, the manufacturing of woodblock prints,  and their price, to name just a few reasons.  William Evertson - is an American woodblock printmaker and sculptor based in Connecticut, USA, who's themes focus on the politics and process of The United States.   Annie Bissett - is an American mokuhanga printmaker based in Rhode Island, USA. She explores American life, past and present,  sexuality, and the esoteric through her prints. My interview with Annie Bissett can be found, here.  Paul Binnie - is a Scottish mokuhanga printmaker and painter, based in San Diego, USA. Having lived and worked in Japan in the 1990's, studying at the Yoshida atelier while there, Paul has successfully continued to make mokuhanga and his paintings.  Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition - is a summer exhibition held at the Royal Academy in London, England. It is an open submission, one which started in 1769, showcasing all types of artistic mediums.  余韻 - (yoin) - is a Japanese word which means “lingering memory.” The Lake District - is an area in North West of England which has numerous mountains, lakes, and a National Park. It has been an inspiration for many artists, writers, and actors for years. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  © Popular Wheat Productions opening and closing credit music - Cut/Copy - Rendevous from the album, I Thought of Numbers (2001) logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André Zadorozny  Disclaimer: Please do not reproduce or use anything from this podcast without shooting me an email and getting my express written or verbal consent. I'm friendly :) Слава Україну If you find any issue with something in the show notes please let me know. ***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of André Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.***      

Auckland museum is hosting an international exhibition of ancient Greeks which has travelled here from the British Museum. The collection  has been carefully curated by Dr Peter Higgs. He talks to Jesse.

'Gallery Of The Islamic World' item published on BusinessNet Explorer in audio/visual podcast format. BNE Product News presenter Mick de Leiburne provides the voiceover. | By listening to this podcast you will learn how Bilco UK supplied twenty one special size Ladder Access Roof Hatches to the British Museum's gallery the Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic World. | Podcasts, Bite Sized Learning, Case Studies, Application Stories, Building, Industry, Sector, Architects, Building Designers, Specifiers, Bilco UK, Roof Access Solutions, Roof Access Hatches, Smoke Vents, Access 360. | Link to item in Visual format to support learning: https://businessnetexplorer.com/gallery-islamic-world/ | For full product information please refer to brand manufacturer. Bilco UK is part of the Access 360 portfolio. Link to Access 360 profile page in the BNE Construction & Building Services | Audio Visual virtual exhibition on BusinessNet Explorer: https://businessnetexplorer.com/clients/access-360/

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is  Kelly Molson, MD of Rubber Cheese.Download our free ebook The Ultimate Guide to Doubling Your Visitor NumbersIf you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcast.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this episode.Competition ends October 1st 2022. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: https://www.lumsdendesign.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/callum-lumsden-b8473a3/https://www.instagram.com/lumsdendesign/https://www.linkedin.com/company/lumsden/ Callum Lumsden is a leading design expert for cultural and visitor attractions. He is the co-founder of Lumsden, a specialist design studio delivering bespoke retail and leisure environments for the world's most renowned museums, galleries and visitor attractions including V&A Dundee, MoMA (NYC), Warner Bros. Studio Tour – The Making of Harry Potter London, and M+ Museum, Hong Kong.  Transcriptions: Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host Kelly Molson. In today's episode, I speak with Callum Lumsden, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Lumsden Design. Callum shares his journey to founding Lumsden, an interior design agency that creates iconic retail spaces for museums and attractions all over the world. Listen along to hear why retail space is pivotal for today's visitor attractions. If you like what you hear, subscribe on all the user channels by searching to Skip the Queue.Kelly Molson: Callum, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today. It's a pleasure to have you with me.Callum Lumsden: Thank you. Thanks for inviting me. I'm looking forward to this.Kelly Molson: I'm glad that you're looking forward to this but we are going to start with our icebreaker questions. Yeah, it might be a think, you never know. So at the start of every podcast, I always ask a few icebreaker questions to our guests. Mostly they're really stupid and just a chance for us to find out a little bit about you. So I would like to know, when you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?Callum Lumsden: Oh, that's a good one. What did I want to be? A rock star.Kelly Molson: Oh really?Callum Lumsden: Oh yeah. Yeah.Kelly Molson: Okay. And did you ever come close?Callum Lumsden: I managed to get a flute from school and I was big into a band called Jethro Tull at the time. So Ian, I can't remember his last name. He used to stand on one leg and play a flute. That's as far as I got.Kelly Molson: Oh, right. Okay. Can you do the one-legged flute playing?Callum Lumsden: Maybe I can do the one leg, but not the flute.Kelly Molson: It doesn't sound very rockstar-ish, does it? Flute player.Callum Lumsden: No, no, no, it doesn't, but Jethro Tull were pretty good. But I was also roadie for some mates of mine. They had a proper band and that was in Edinburgh. So I got to get a little bit of taste of that, but I've always been massively interested in rock music or music of any kind, really.Kelly Molson: Oh well this is really handy then, because my next question for you is, what is your karaoke song?Callum Lumsden: It's got to be Sweet Caroline.Kelly Molson: Yeah. It's a classic, isn't it?Callum Lumsden: Yeah. That's the one. Because you can get everybody joining in on that. Because nobody knows the words, but they get the bah bah bah so that always works.Kelly Molson: That's the key to a good karaoke song choice, isn't it? Pick something that everybody else knows. So you're not the only one singing it.Callum Lumsden: Oh, things they know. Yes.Kelly Molson: Great. Okay. Last one. If you could switch lives with anyone for a day, who would it be?Callum Lumsden: Somebody who's just starting to go to art college?Kelly Molson: Well, that's a good choice. Is that because you would be full of the wisdom that you have now or you would want to go in a different direction?Callum Lumsden: Yeah, it might take me in a different direction of what I originally wanted to do, which was to be an artist.Kelly Molson: Hmm. Interesting. Okay. Maybe we'll talk a little bit more about that. All right, firstly though, I want to know what your unpopular opinion is.Callum Lumsden: Here's one. I think musical theatre is the most unattractive part of the creative industries. I absolutely hate musicals.Kelly Molson: Oh no.Callum Lumsden: Come on. Bring it on.Kelly Molson: I love it. Oh no, really? What is it that really upsets you about it?Callum Lumsden: I just think it's so pretentious and naff and horrible. And then-Kelly Molson: Isn't it the naffness that makes it great though?Callum Lumsden: Yeah. And I just love ... I'm surrounded by people who love musical theatre so I really like winding them up about it.Kelly Molson: Do you get dragged along though?Callum Lumsden: No.Kelly Molson: Yeah but you point blank refuse.Callum Lumsden: Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't even think about ... People don't even think about asking me because I'll just sit there and be embarrassing.Kelly Molson: So not even a little Mamma Mia trip would inspire you.Callum Lumsden: Nope.Kelly Molson: Oh no. I had really high hopes for this interview. I thought we were going to get on so well.Callum Lumsden: Sorry. Is that the end of it?Kelly Molson: We're done. You can leave. Get out of my podcast booth.Callum Lumsden: Yeah. Yeah. And let's not get onto ABBA either.Kelly Molson: Oh God. Can we not? Because yeah, that'll go right off. There's a lot of people listening to this that love ABBA and I bet Eurovision as well so-Callum Lumsden: Yeah. Yeah. Sorry everybody.Kelly Molson: All right. Well let's just, we'll park that then. Callum you tell me about your background and how you have come to found Lumsden Design.Callum Lumsden: Well, it started it by me going to art college. At art college, I ended up studying furniture design. Then I went to Royal College of Art to do what was then called interior architecture. And that opened me up to all manner of different people and processes, et cetera. And then when I graduated I knew most of the people in the fashion department and they went off to work for various retailers and their bosses started saying that there's any of your mates, any good interior design, we've got a shop to design. And lots of them said, "Oh I know this guy called Callum. Give him a shout." So that got me into that. So I've been designing shops ever since then.Kelly Molson: Wow.Callum Lumsden: So that's how it started.Kelly Molson: Yeah. And so how long has Lumsden Design been around?Callum Lumsden: Well, it's been in a few different variations because when I left the RCA, I worked for myself and then I went to work for various retailers in house, such as Jaeger for instance. But I was also freelancing myself and then I eventually joined various big design companies. And then I formed London Design Partnership, it was called, oh 20, 30, 35 years ago. Something like that.Kelly Molson: It's the longest job you've ever had.Callum Lumsden: Well, yeah it's gone through various different for formations. I did merge with another design company for a couple of years and then I started what it is now, which is Lumsden Design. Although we're getting rid of the design, just calling it Lumsden now.Kelly Molson: I like that. That's quite rockstar, isn't it? You just got the one name now.Callum Lumsden: Well, yeah, it's keeping the Lumsden name, it's had its advantages, but there's also disadvantages. Because how long can ... Lumsden isn't just me. I have a team of people, a great team of people and everybody has to be part of all of that. And clients need to understand that I can't be there on every single one and all of those kind of things. So this one, this variation, which will stay the same, probably goes back to 2010. Yeah. So 12 years in the way that we're doing it now. Yeah.Kelly Molson: Yeah. Yeah. And so it's really interesting the way that you've ... Because this podcast is obviously for people that work in and for the attraction sector. And you have kind of evolved a little bit over the years, haven't you, in terms of working in that sector. So it that wasn't what you set out doing. Was it?Callum Lumsden: Yeah, there's a bit of happen chance that has gone on. The route to where we are now started probably in the year 1998, when we pitched for the retail for Tate Modern. And I'd always done retail, but I was asked to pitch for Tate Modern. I presume that you've been there or people that are listening to this know it. And we won it and I had no idea about the importance of retail to the cultural sector. And that opened in year 2000, 22 years ago, believe it or not. And then that got me into this sector. So I started, Tate Modern kicked it off. And then it was people like the V&A, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum.Callum Lumsden: So I started spinning into this and then that went into loads of different places. And I'd always worked in retail, but retail, if you take mainstream retail, from a design perspective, you come up with a concept, you build it and if it's successful, then it gets repeated again and again, and again. The Americans call it cookie cutter. If you think of Gap, whichever Gap you see, it looks exactly the same. With this sector, every single client is different. And then eventually took the decision that we would just concentrate on that sector. And the route to visitor attractions was winning the Warner Brothers project in Leavesden, just outside of London, doing the retail for the Harry Potter-Kelly Molson: The name that everyone always gets wrong.Callum Lumsden: Studio tour. Yeah. It's the Harry Potter Studio Tour. No, no. It's the Warner Brothers Studio Tour, the making of Harry Potter. There we go.Kelly Molson: We had Jeff Spooner on-Callum Lumsden: Yeah. Sorry Jeff.Kelly Molson: Sorry, Jeff. But he said, everybody gets it wrong. They either call it the Harry Potter tour or the Warner Brothers tour. It's always a different, a different name every time.Callum Lumsden: And it's interesting connection with the route to get to them because the reason that I got contacted about pitching for that project was a couple of the directors from Warner Brothers in LA went to the British Museum and we'd done all the retail for the British Museum. And one of the library rooms in the British Museum is called the Greenville room. When you walk into the British Museum, you turn right, and it's where all the high end products are sold. Everything from statues to jewelry to watches to da da. And it's got loads of books. And Harry Potter is that. And they said to the guy who's in charge of British Museum commercial side, who did this? And that was me. Well, me and my team. And we pitched for it and we won it. And that started us into this amazing journey with Warner Brothers and various other places.Kelly Molson: Oh, I love that. It's a really ... I wanted to ask you how you became specialists. And I love that you've said it's like a catalyst process, because that's what happened to us as well. We won a big project for an existing client, for Pernod Ricard. So we worked on a project for the Plymouth Gin Visitor Centre. We created their ticket booking system and their website and it was such a brilliant experience going through that, to understand about the experience economy and visitor experience and how you take somebody on a journey through that. That was the catalyst for us. That was a really exciting project. And it was a world that we just thought we want to be more and more involved in. And it's really lovely to hear that was kind of a similar effect to you. It's brought you into this incredible world of ... It's fun, isn't it? All of these things that we work on, they're really fun.Callum Lumsden: Yeah. And that's what's interesting about all the clients that we work with, they're all entirely different and the we've got a who's who of clients. Abbey Road, everybody in the world knows Abbey Road. You can talk to somebody from China and they'll know what Abbey Road is all about. And that's as much about visitor experiences as the studio tour in Leavesden.Kelly Molson: So I've got quite a few questions for you today, but I just want to touch on what you said earlier, because you were talking about Gap and the cookie cutter experience of their stores. So with that, I guess people work out what works and they just replicate it. Yours is so different because every store that you're working on is completely different. Everything has a different brand story, has different values. How do you even start to approach a project when it's so different each time you do it?Callum Lumsden: Well, it's a very overused word, but immerse ourself in that brand, as much as we can. We sit down or walk around and just talk to people, observe, find out who the visitors are, the fans, are they school kids? And that's the difference in this sector. Because if you go to, say a high street brand, again, you probably got every retailer saying, well, our core customer is ... For the people that we work for, there is a bit of a core customer, but actually it can be anybody from two years old to 82 years old. The Warner Brothers Studio Tour, it's international, it can be grannies and grandpas to a whole trip of school kids to teenagers or moms who were reading the Harry Potter books when they were six, who are now reading that to their own kids.Callum Lumsden: And if you go to, we worked for MoMA in New York, you've got absolute fans of MoMA products. The New York dinner set will go and buy their china and their cutlery at the New York design store, the MoMA design store. Go across the roads to the museum itself and you'll get a tourist, who's come from Austria because ... So actually defining who the ... So understanding that is completely different every single time. The National Theatre that we did in the South Bank, the shop there, the book shop that you went to find a particular book on a particular play, we changed that around to actually make it about stories about the productions that were going on in the theatre, the theatre itself. And they have three or four one time because there's lots of different theatres and that help the retail team there design the products that will fit that store, but still have the bookshop at the back because they weren't making any money out that, but they are making money out of the products.Kelly Molson: Right.Callum Lumsden: And understanding how ... Because it's not just about making the spaces look great or seamless, which is another part of what needs to be done, but they've got to make money. They have to increase revenue. That's why they're there in the first bit, apart from everybody expects to go into, I hate the term gift shop, but 96% of people will go into the shop and buy something-Kelly Molson: Exit through the gift shop. Yeah.Callum Lumsden: Yeah. And they will buy something. So make the most of it.Kelly Molson: It's a fascinating process, isn't it? I think you touched on it there in terms of the commercial, but why is retail space so important to the sector? It is about commercials, right?Callum Lumsden: Yes it is. But it does have benefits as well. Visitor attraction are slightly different to the cultural sector because the cultural sector, the money that's generated goes to the curators to help them buy the objects that they want in their collections. And it also helps in the education part of what they do and the events and everything else. If you take MoMA, their retail turnover is $52 million per year. That's a lot of money.Kelly Molson: That is a lot of money.Callum Lumsden: Yeah. I'm not able to tell you what Warner Brothers is, but let's say it's really quite successful, but that goes back into them to be able to develop the next part because a studio tour can't stand still, everybody has to look at, all right, what are we going to do in the next year, the next two years. Because they want repeat visits. So to be able to do that and to be fair to Warner Brothers, they also put a lot back into the local community education as well, developing their staff, all of those kind of things. So there's a whole load of other aspects to it. So the money that's generated is really important to everybody.Kelly Molson: Yeah. Yeah. Completely. How does it help to sustain their visitor engagement? So what part does retail play in making that visitor maybe come back or be more engaged with the brand?Callum Lumsden: Well, again, the retail offer is done to the merchandise. The merchandise has to be looked at as creatively as possible in terms of, okay, what else can we do that will grab people's attention? So there's an introduction of hampers at Warner Brothers for Harry Potter. So you could actually take a whole Harry Potter based hamper with loads of product in it so you've got a whole set of something. That was introduced and that's been really important. That's been a really successful one. Personalisation, doing lots of different things to actually make a wand that's just for you or all of those kind of things and personalisation is becoming really ... Well it's there. It's become really important also in the cultural sector as well where you can get your own name on it. You can get things custom made according to ... Because people like Adidas and Nike, they're doing that. You can get your trainers personalised, all of that needs to seep into the sector that I work in as well. And that's becoming really successful.Kelly Molson: Yeah. And I guess some of the retail spaces that you've owned, most of the retail spaces that you've designed, they almost become experiences in themselves. Don't they? Like a mini attraction within an attraction.Callum Lumsden: Well, yeah. Well, a lot of ... Yeah. There's quite a lot of stores that we've done that people go to but they don't go into the museum. The Tate Modern is one example. MoMA is another example. But that's not the point. The point is that what is being sold and how you actually design that store needs to reflect the brand of the institution that it is part of. And it should be, in our view, a seamless thing. So you shouldn't feel, all right, well, I'm now going into the shop. You should feel that it's part of the Harry Potter experience or the museum or the theatre experience in terms of look and feel. So that means that the space could be inspired by, well, for Harry Potter, it's about the props that are in there, referring to Diagon Alley in terms of the look and feel of the place.Callum Lumsden: Or, if you take the British museum, it reflects the architecture, because it is a completely ... That's big tourist ... That people want British Museum because it's a fantastic building. It's got an amazing collection. Everything that's in the shop is telling stories about what they've just seen as they've walked around the museum. And that's what they want to take a piece of. They want to take that memory away either for themselves or to buy for somebody. And that's where the click happens between retail and the actual experience of walking around the rest of the building, et cetera.Kelly Molson: I would love to know the process that you go on when you start to work with the visitor attraction. You touched on it earlier about immersing yourself into who their clientele is, who their customers are, who's going to be visiting. Can you share the process that you take? You take the cultural institution on, or the attraction on. So things that they need to think about or research that they need to carry out if they're going to go through this process with you?Callum Lumsden: Well, most of the institutions that we work with or the companies or the brands, they have their research anyway. So the demographic for instance will be well and truly looked at by ... Without exception actually. There's usually something. Except when it's a brand new, we haven't done this before that. That's usually very interesting. We just did the stores for amazing new museum that's been built in Hong Kong called M+, that's M with a plus sign, which has the largest collection of contemporary visual culture in Asia. It's an amazing building. It's taken something like 20 years to finally come to fruition. We've been working with them for five years. It opened last November. Sadly Hong Kong is closed because of COVID, et cetera. So I haven't actually been able to visit what we just sweated tears over.Kelly Molson: Oh gosh, that must be really hard, to not be able to see it.Callum Lumsden: Yeah, it's really difficult. Yeah. But they are anticipating that people from Hong Kong, but also most of, when they're allowed to, people from China, but also Asia, but they're also expecting other international tourists. So deciding who was going to be the demographic for there was a little bit-Kelly Molson: Yeah. Very tricky.Callum Lumsden: Hit and miss. Abbey Road was the same. They knew that everybody, so many people, tourist buses, et cetera, were rocking up to walk across the zebra crossing and really upset London taxi drivers the whole time. But they had no idea people would actually walk into the building to buy anything, but that's been an enormous success. So you have to make assumptions is a long way around of saying that. But most of the time, the details of the demographics, who'll be there, talking to the curators, talking to the management, talking to the retail teams, as well, is our way of doing it.Callum Lumsden: And an awful lot of the time we're working in, such as the M+ in Hong Kong example, working with a brand new building, you've got super important architects who are being commissioned to design these amazing buildings. So being allied with them in terms of their vision for the building is another part of what we like to understand. In terms of the materials they're using, the space they are going to give us, where it's actually going to go, because the location of a shop, it's not always exit through the gift shop. All of those ... Are there other opportunities? So we look at all of that with the client teams that we work with. And then that starts to, for us, that's the kickoff point.Callum Lumsden: Understanding what the merchandise is, a lot of the time that's been developed at the same time as we're ... Because it actually takes longer to get merchandise together than it does to build a shop.Kelly Molson: Oh really?Callum Lumsden: Oh yeah. Sometimes it can be two years. In museums, if you say somewhere like the National Gallery, their most popular product is the sunflower painting by Van Gogh, which they've got on everything from beer maps to fridge magnets, et cetera. Working to get permission to do that from artists can take ages. Andy Warhol, working at Abbey Road, trying to get The Beatles, the guys who are looking after The Beatles or Pink Floyd or Rolling Stones, they are super sensitive about, no, you can't do that. Or you can do that. For Abbey Road to really get the products, they've done it, but it's taken a long time.Kelly Molson: Yeah. I wonder what they' vetoed. No, you can't put my face on a tea towel.Callum Lumsden: Well, I had an idea about Mean Mr. Mustard socks and that didn't happen.Kelly Molson: Disappointing.Callum Lumsden: Yeah. I would've worn them.Kelly Molson: Me too. That's brilliant. Thank you for that insight into the process. I guess then, the brands that you work with are phenomenally well known or they have such rich history or such good stories like Harry Potter, or I know you mentioned the National Gallery there, the designing of the stores and what they're going to look like, interior. That must be the easy part. You've got so much to work with.Callum Lumsden: No, it's never easy because there's lots of layers of people that you need to go through. And navigating that it can be quite interesting, shall we say. Because every everybody's got an opinion.Kelly Molson: And there are quite a lot of boards involved in cultural organisations as well. Aren't there? So there's a lot of layers of people to come through.Callum Lumsden: Well, yeah. And if you're working with a museum, you are working with academics and they don't have conversations, they have debates. And inevitably that debate will mean there'll be 25 people in the room who all have to say something and you come away with, was there a decision there? And then you've got the architects. The architects can be very easy to work with or very opinionated and have one direction. So actually navigating that can be quite entertaining sometimes. We did the V&A Dundee, which is an amazing building, that was designed by a Japanese architect called Kiakumi. And they were fantastic. They were just so ... Yes, this is ... We'd like this, da da. Everything fitted. It was good. But there's other examples that I won't go on air to talk about-Kelly Molson: I was going to ask you, I was going to ask you-Callum Lumsden: Nose to nose.Kelly Molson: Without naming any names, can you tell us about an experience where you couldn't get what you wanted.Callum Lumsden: I usually get what I want.Kelly Molson: Oh, right.Callum Lumsden: Or there's-Kelly Molson: You're very persuasive.Callum Lumsden: Or there's a bit of a compromise. Yeah. There was one example where it just got so stupid that the head of the museum walked into one of the meetings that I was having alongside the retail team and the architects. And he came in and said, I've had enough of this, the architects ... You're no longer involved in this, get out.Kelly Molson: Wow.Callum Lumsden: And let Callum do what he wants to do. So there you go.Kelly Molson: Oh right, I love it.Callum Lumsden: No name, no name was mentioned.Kelly Molson: No names mentioned the power that you have Callum, as well, I love that.Callum Lumsden: I have since worked with those architects on another project and everything was fine.Kelly Molson: We all have our little friction moments.Callum Lumsden: But that was 15 years later and they'd calmed down.Kelly Molson: It took them that amount of time to mellow.Callum Lumsden: Yeah.Kelly Molson: I'm glad there was a happy ending. What about retail spaces that aren't at the actual attraction itself? So we talk about Harry Potter, they have retail stores all over the place. So King's Cross is the one for me because obviously that is very pertinent to the film. So I will be queuing up to get ... Waiting for my train to be announced and I'll see hoards of people queuing up to have their photo taken with their trolley wedged into the wall there and the shop there. Do you get involved in that element as well? So retail-Callum Lumsden: Yes we do. Yeah. We designed that shop and that was a moment of genius by somebody ... A guy called Jonathan-Kelly Molson: Very clever.Callum Lumsden: Johnathan Sands. He saw the opportunity and he opened that up and he eventually joined up with Warner Brothers. He's since moved on. But with those ones, we did that shop. We also did the airport shops, but because of COVID that didn't work out. Then there was Cursed Child, we did all the retail and the theaters for that. And that went world wide, New York, Hamburg Sydney. I can't remember all the cities that that went to. And then we didn't get involved in it, but Warner Brothers opened up the store in New York, a full blown store right next to the Flat Iron building, that's been enormously successful. We didn't get involved in that one, but there's the shops that Warner Brothers have done, but there's also the shops that lots of other people have done copies of. And if you go to Edinburgh, you've got six versions of Harry Potter shops, nothing to do with us.Kelly Molson: No claim on those. Someone once described a retail experience as a bit like a theatrical experience. Not a musical theatrical experience, because we know how you feel about those, but ultimately you are taking the visitor on a journey, aren't you, around the store and you are making that a real experienced for them. Can I ask you, and this might be like what's your favourite child, but what has been your favourite store to design from that perspective?Callum Lumsden: Definitely the Warner Brothers Leavesden store, because that's gone through the number of iterations as well. They've expanded it. We've moved it around. We've done different things. We've developed the restaurants and the cafes. That's been great fun too. Every project, I'm thinking ... Because it's recently opened, the M+ in Hong Kong has been a great experience. And that's an interesting one about where it's going in the sector because within that, it wasn't just about a whole lot of shelves with products on it. A number of what we've called pavilions that were inspired by Hong Kong. And, for instance, the central pavilion in the show is a combination of a place where artists can do master classes and talk about what they're doing. And the retail guys developed products based around the artist or the artist has designed some of those products.Callum Lumsden: And then there's another space where artists are given the market stalls in Hong Kong, which I don't know if you've been to Hong Kong, but the markets are amazing. And the stalls are called pai dongs. We based one of our fixtures on pai dongs, and the idea. And that's what's happening, is that one of the pai dongs could be taken over by an artist to do anything that they want on it.Kelly Molson: Lovely.Callum Lumsden: Yeah. So sculptural or lighting or sounds because they've got sound artists and all of those kind of things. Or it can be handed over almost on a concession basis. So it could be, I don't know, a sports retailer, if they take it over. All of those things, or personalisation again, where you could actually get, if you're buying a wallet, you can get your own initial put on it, all of that kind of stuff. And then another part of it was for gift wrapping where we were commissioning Chinese calligraphers who will actually sign it.Kelly Molson: Oh, wow.Callum Lumsden: Or showing origami, how you can actually use origami to make your gift wrapping look even more different.Kelly Molson: Oh, that's incredible. That's really theatrical, isn't it? That's a real experience.Callum Lumsden: So you've really got activity going on and that's what happens with Harry Potter. When you're buying a wand, you've got somebody showing you how everything works and how to wave it and what to say and all of those kind of things. And that just gives people something. They'll remember that, they'll love that. And hopefully they'll also buy something, but it's adding something extra into that visitor experience. That's the way it's going for mainstream retail as well. That whole thing.Kelly Molson: Yeah.Callum Lumsden: Experiential.Kelly Molson: So I guess it's like the Hamley's thing, isn't it? Because I can remember as kid going around Hamley's and you watch the people, they show you how to use the toys and they show you how they work and to play with them.Callum Lumsden: Yeah, absolutely.Kelly Molson: There's a guy ... Do you know what? I hope I don't misquote this because I think it was Geoff Ramm that told me this story where ... Geoff Ramm is a public speaker and he told me this story about how he just got mugged off but he spent so much money in Hamley's because of somebody who was there demonstrating the product. It was some like paint blocks and they were painting these pictures and then talking them through and his kid was watching them paint and she asked the child what her name was. And then she drew this picture with her initials and blah, blah, blah, and then gave it to her. And he was like, well, that's it. I have to buy that product now, don't I? I've got this picture that I'm taking home with me, but I've also got to buy those things because my kid wants the magic. She's just seen the magic happen.Callum Lumsden: Yeah. Well, if you think about it, you go down to a food market and you've got the guys, come and get your apples and pears and all of that kind of thing. It's actually, it's not you, it's the way that people have always been persuaded to buy things or the butcher show that will remember your name when you walk in and say, did you enjoy that steak last week, we've got a nice piece of roast beef here. It's interaction. It's not just about how great the shop is, it's to do with the staff, the product, the atmosphere, the layout, there's so many different aspects that we've got to work together.Kelly Molson: Yeah. All the facets coming together. I think you've described that perfectly there, Callum, thank you. We're at the end of our interview, which I'm quite sad about, if I'm honest, I've really enjoyed this.Callum Lumsden: Nice of you to say.Kelly Molson: I always ask our guests a final question, which is about a book they love, but actually I've got one more question for you. I would love to know. Your list of clients is incredibly prestigious. Is there anyone that you would love to work with that you've not got your hands on yet?Callum Lumsden: That's a good one, Hamley's.Kelly Molson: Hamley's. Oh okay. Yeah. There's some work that could be done there.Callum Lumsden: Yeah.Kelly Molson: I think if you put stuff out in the universe, you never know what's going to come back, do you?Callum Lumsden: Yeah. Yeah, no, I think there's ... Well, if I ever get to speak to them, I'll tell them-Kelly Molson: You'll tell them.Callum Lumsden: I think what Hamley's used to be and what it is now is in need of a little bit of TLC.Kelly Molson: All right. Well, universe, let's see what you can bring to Callum. Thank you for sharing that. All right. What about a book that you love or something that you love, something that's helped you in your career? What would you recommend to our listeners?Callum Lumsden: Well, there's a beautiful book by a fantastic illustrator called Charlie Mackesy. I think that's how you pronounce his name. It's called The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse. And it's all illustrations, but with lovely little writing from him, and it's all about being gentle and kind to people. And that sounds a bit naff, but the illustrations are absolutely fantastic. I follow him on Instagram and it's just a lovely, beautiful book. I came across it as somebody else had it. And then somebody bought it for my birthday and I've actually used it a couple of times when I've done talks, et cetera, to illustrate different things. I highly recommend it. Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Hare.Kelly Molson: Ah, it is a wonderful book.Callum Lumsden: Oh, you know it?Kelly Molson: I do. I also follow him on Instagram and I have the book and it is a beautiful book and a number of people have recommended that book because I think it touched a lot of people at a really challenging time.Callum Lumsden: Yeah.Kelly Molson: As well. I think a lot of people were drawn to that book during the pandemic. And it's become a bit of a staple in, especially in nurseries as well, to be honest. A little bit of love and a little bit of hope that we all needed at that time.Callum Lumsden: Sorry. Lots of other people have recommended it as well. I thought I might have come up with something that would nobody else-Kelly Molson: No, it's a good thing. I always think it's a good thing if people have recommended it, because it's testament to that book, isn't it?Callum Lumsden: Oh yeah.Kelly Molson: It's a-Callum Lumsden: No it is good.Kelly Molson: Yeah. So as ever listeners, if you want to win a copy of that book, if you head over to our Twitter account and you retweet this podcast announcement with the words I would like Callum's book, then you could be in with the chance of winning it.Callum Lumsden: Oh that's nice.Kelly Molson: Callum. Thank you. Yeah. Isn't that lovely, people can win your book choice. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Been lovely to chat.Callum Lumsden: My pleasure.Kelly Molson: We will put all of Callum's details in the show notes, we will put links to some of the case studies so you can see some of the incredible work. I'm sure most of you listening have visited many of the places that Callum has designed. So you will see firsthand what they look like, but we'll put links in the show notes and you can go and check that out. And if anyone has a connection at Hamley's that they would like to put Callum's way, pass it on to me and I will make sure he gets that. Thanks Callum.Callum Lumsden: Thank you, Kelly. Nice to see you.Kelly Molson: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast.

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages A young woman stands, one hand on top of a chair, the other holding a bouquet of leaves. She stares directly into the lens of the camera; it's not clear what she's thinking. She's wearing a long, dark dress with long sleeves and a white collar that covers her neck. It's old-fashioned, colonial. A simple crucifix hangs from her neck. She's an indigenous Australian –an aboriginal– and behind her is a lush landscape - it's actually a tapestry of a landscape, and the picture is blue– the blue you might know if you've ever seen crockery with the willow pattern-spode china. This is a piece of art called A gaze still dark (a black portrait of intimacy), and the subject is Danie Mellor's grandmother.   Danie Mellor created this piece of art. He's a brilliant Australian artist whose work provokes questions about the intersection between colonial and contemporary in historic cultures. His work can be found in museums around the world, including The National Gallery of Canada, The British Museum, The National Museum of Scotland, and in Canberra's own National Gallery of Australia, which is where I saw this painting and thought, ‘I need to speak to this person.' Get‌ ‌book‌ ‌links‌ ‌and‌ ‌resources‌ ‌at‌ https://www.mbs.works/2-pages-podcast/  Danie reads from ‘On Photography' by Susan Sontag. [reading begins at 13:51]  Hear us discuss:  The art and evolution of photography: “The photograph is a way of stopping the march of mortality.” [19:26] | Incorporating play into your work. [27:24] | Knowing when to stop what you're doing, and work on something else: “There's a degree of innovation in the way that ideas express themselves in material form.” [36:43] | “You have control over the quality of work you offer, but not over how it's received.” [44:29]

Today Korea is divided between North and South, but the founding of the Koryo Kingdom in the 10th Century was the first time the peninsula was truly united and when a sense of nationhood emerged. The Koryo Kingdom is remembered for some of the finest cultural achievements in the country's history; it developed the world's first printing press – 200 years before the German inventor Johannes Gutenberg came up with his own version, and it is also a period marked by beautiful ceramics and art. But what is less well known is how progressive its politics and society were; promotion was based on merit, women were given greater rights, and monarchs ruled through co-operation. It was also a turbulent time with personal intrigue and back stabbing at court, and constant threats of foreign invasion. Rajan Datar finds out more about the Koryo Kingdom. He is joined by Sang'ah Kim, the Korean Collections' Curator at the British Museum in London; Dr Charlotte Horlyck, reader in Korean Art History at SOAS, University of London, who has written about the collecting of Koryo Art in the early 20th Century; Edward (Ned) Shultz, professor emeritus in Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii, and Dr Juhn Ahn, associate professor in Buddhism and Korean studies at the University of Michigan in the United States and author of Buddhas and Ancestors: Religion and Wealth in 14th Century Korea. Producedr: Anne Khazam (Photo: An inticately decorated ceramic container from the Koryo dynasty, 13th Century. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

In the last year the global conversation around the fate of the Benin Bronzes has shifted dramatically. In April of 2021 the German government announced that the vast majority of Benin Bronzes kept in German museums will be returned to Nigeria. This announcement was followed by a rash of other institutions making pledges to return objects that had been plundered from the Kingdom of Benin. Most recently, in March of 2022, America's Smithsonian institute pledged to return it's entire collection of Benin Bronzes. However, the one institution that has yet to commit to returning it's plundered artefacts is the British Museum, which holds the world's largest collection of Benin Bronzes. This is especially painful given Britain's role in the destruction of the Kingdom of Benin. How exactly did the the death of one British official result in the destruction of a 1000 year old city and the wholesale looting of Benin's heritage? Tune-in and find out how Maxim guns, turn of the century rockets, and one magical warrior all play a role in the story.

จากความสนใจของฝรั่งเศสที่มีต่ออารยธรรมอียิปต์ และความพยายามในการบั่นทอนอิทธิพลของออตโตมัน ที่กลายมาเป็นจุดเริ่มต้นของการศึกษาประวัติศาสตร์อารยธรรมอียิปต์ เอพิโสดนี้จะพาไปหาคำตอบว่าทำไมโบราณวัตถุจากอียิปต์ ถึงถูกจัดแสดงอยู่ใน ‘British Museum' และ ‘Louvre Museum' ในประเทศอังกฤษและฝรั่งเศสได้ รวมถึงตำนานเกี่ยวกับฟาโรห์รามเสสที่ 2 จะเป็นอย่างไรบ้าง ติดตามได้ในเอพิโสดนี้

Sarah Lucille has over a decade of experience in copywriting, messaging, coaching, and communications. Her clients refer to her as a messaging maven, muse, and wordsmith. Guided by the endless curiosity of a Gemini sun and the adventurous spirit of a Sagittarius rising, she has acquired a wealth of knowledge about a whole lot of random topics. All this has made her a pretty damn suited for guiding others through their positioning and copy in just about any niche. She regularly hears “ how the hell do you know so much about what I do?” It happens to be her favorite question of all! Sarah is also the Copy and Messaging coach in Get Paid Marketing and my own copywriter as well!   “I was attracting a lot of folks like myself who always felt like the neurodiverse weirdo in the room.” - Sarah Lucille.   This Week on the Get Paid Podcast: How Sarah went from the British Museum to a winery to health coaching to writing MY emails… Can you write successful sales copy that doesn't make a promise? Leaving space in your copy to expand your audience while talking directly to your target audience. How do vampire shows influence Sarah's copywriting style? The most attractive quality for an entrepreneur to have. (Seriously, I see this filling spots like you would NOT believe!) The shocking conversion rate on my Workshop Magic sales page. Which yes,, Sarah wrote. Words in your copy that plant seeds of doubt. How to avoid being seen as the bait and switch entrepreneur. Getting out of the negative stories about your business that are spinning around your own head so you can write good copy Going from 120 TikTok followers to 1,000 in a month. Connect with Sarah Lucille: You can find Sarah and get a copy of the DIY Your Copy Checklist at Sarah Lucille Also, find her on TikTok, her favorite place to share free content: Sarah Lucille on TikTok Sarah Lucille on Instagram Sarah Lucille on Facebook   Applications for Get Paid Marketing are now open; 12 spots are available and it's already filling up. Get your application in ASAP!   Now it's time to GET PAID.   Thanks for tuning into the Get Paid Podcast! If you enjoyed today's episode, head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe, rate, and leave your honest review. Connect with me on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, visit my website for even more detailed strategies and be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media.  

Sculptor, Shari Mendelson joined me this week to discuss her work. Shari lives and works in Brooklyn and Upstate NY. She is represented in New York by Tibor de Nagy Gallery and has won many prestigious grants, including 4 NYFA-NYSCA Fellowship awards, a Pollock-Krasner grant and most recently a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2017. She makes human & animal figures & vessels made up of cut-up plastic bottles that riff on stone, clay & glass forms from ancient antiquity. The resulting sculptures can look translucent like ancient glass in greens, grays, blues, whites & yellows -- and she often adds mica & resin to the surface to add a silvery or opaque finish to parts. They range in size from 12 to 36 in (aprx). Shari's website and IG: www.sharimendelson.com and @sharimendelson Current and Upcoming Exhibitions: The Renwick Gallery in WDC at The Smithsonian American Art Museum "This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World" Pamela Salisbury Gallery in Hudson, NY "Greetings and Offerings" Tibor de Nagy Gallery in NYC - Upcoming solo show 2023 Jason Jacques Gallery in NYC "Smoke" a benefit for The Lost Prisoner Project Shari's Favorite Museum Collections: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (esp. the Cesnola Cipriot Collection, Islamic Wing & The Study Collection on the mezzanine above the Leon Levy & Shelby White Court), Penn Museum, The British Museum, Naples National Archaeological Museum (Pompeii & Herculaneum collections) Fun Links: Review by Stephen Maine in Hyperallergic: Ennion exhibit at the Met Anasazi Pottery Ancient Israeli Art More about Votive Figurines Artist mentions: Bill Traylor, Alberto Giacometti, Rick Briggs, Jill Levine, Ancient Syrian vessel maker: Ennion, Portia Munson, Jennifer Coates, Kiki Smith, Phoebe Helander, Morgan Gilbreath Glue Talk™: Shari uses AdTech Crystal Clear Glue Sticks combined with a final coat of Magic-Sculpt resin Follow Pep Talks on IG: @peptalksforartists & Donate to the Peps: https://anchor.fm/peptalksforartistspod/support. Amy's website: https://www.amytalluto.com/ Thank you for listening, rating, reviewing & donating! All music is licensed from Soundstripe. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/peptalksforartistspod/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/peptalksforartistspod/support

In recent years world leading institutions like the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan in New York and the British Museum have faced scrutiny over their countless collections of foreign items pilfered during wars and colonisation. Slowly we're starting to see these museums return these objects - which are sometimes sacred human remains - to their rightful custodians, including museums in Australia. Guest: Laura McBride, a Wailwan woman and the Australian Museum's director of First Nations Producer: Eleni Psaltis

Greece, as Prime Minister Mitsotakis made clear in the US last week, has taken a clear and decidedly pro-Western policy after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, offering not only humanitarian aid but also arms to Ukraine. Recent polls, however, show that everyday Greeks remain wary of this position, viewing both the US and Russia with skepticism. John Psaropoulos, an independent journalist based in Athens and Al Jazeera's southeast Europe correspondent, joins Thanos Davelis to break down Greek public opinion on this issue, and look at the questions it raises as Greece looks to address key security concerns.Read John Psaropoulos's latest piece here: Ukraine war boosts Europeanism in border-wary GreeceYou can read the articles we discuss on our podcast here:Turkey's Erdogan says Greek PM Mitsotakis 'no longer exists' for himTurkey's Erdogan says he will no longer talk to Greek PMGreece rebuts British Museum claim Parthenon marbles were ‘removed from rubble'

Monkeypox: 20 confirmed cases in England, with cases predicted to rise. High risk or close contacts are being told to isolate for three weeks. We take a look at the symptoms.Europe's first autonomous petrol station launches, we find out how the technology works and why it'll help customers. Clearview AI will delete all facial recognition data belonging to UK residents. The Hubble Space Telescope's data suggests ‘something weird' is going on with our universe. Google's DeepMind says it is on verge of achieving human-level AI. The most detailed review of bumblebees reveals how we should protect our buzzy friends. Ancient Greek artefacts ‘were not hacked' from temple, says the British Museum. And, Professor Brian Cox weighs in on UFOs. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Just a month away from the summer solstice, we explore the mysteries that still surround Stonehenge. Our guest is Dr. Neil Wilkin, the extraordinarily knowledgeable curator of the British Museum's exhibition ‘The World of Stonehenge', which you still have time to catch as it runs till mid-July. It's not to be missed as it's the first major exhibition on Stonehenge to be staged in London and there's been no exhibition about it in Britain for 35 years. Over 430 objects have been gathered from all over Europe, almost two thirds are loans, and most have never been seen in the UK before. Dr. Neil Wilkin guides us through the major exhibits: Seahenge, the circle of 54 oak posts discovered on remote north Norfolk beach in 1988, the Nebra Sky Disc, at 3,600 years old the world's oldest map of stars on a portable disc, the Sun Pendant, the most significant piece of Bronze Age gold ever found in 2018 in Shropshire by a retired engineer with a metal detector, the gold lozenge buried with the Bush Barrow chieftan and the Amesbury Archer Treasures. Dr. Neil Wilkin brings the site to life with his vivid evocation of what life must have been like on Salisbury Plain 5,000 years ago.

Do you know much about nuns? Many people don't, but some nuns in the US are turning to social media to bring religion into the 21st century. Sister Monica Clare from the Community of St John the Baptist went viral on Tik Tok after followers wanted to know her skin routine - now she answers people's questions about being a nun. She joins Krupa as does Siobhan McSweeney, who plays fictional Sister Michael in Derry Girls to talk all about nuns. Actor Anne-Marie Duff talks to Emma about her new role as Constance, a working class matriarch from the Midlands in a new play that spans five decades of the lives, and deaths, of the Webster family. ‘The House of Shades' by Beth Steel is on at London's Almeida Theater until 18th June. Are you happiest when you're in the office or do you prefer to work from home? Are you contemplating leaving a role because it's no longer flexible? Dr Jane Parry, Associate Professor of work and employment at Southampton Business school and Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff speak to Emma about recent work from home data. After Little Mix said goodbye to their fans with their final show on Saturday before going on hiatus, it seems that for the first time in decades, Britain is without a major girl band. Emma is joined by Melanie Chisholm from the Spice Girls and music journalist, Jacqueline Springer. Women attending abortion clinics in the UK can face “regular harassment” according to a report from BBC Newsnight. Anti-abortion groups who gather outside services say they're holding “prayer vigils” and offering help but some patients say they have been so distressed they've had panic attacks or even felt suicidal. Now charities are calling for protected areas outside all services which activists cannot legally enter. BBC Newsnight Correspondent Anna Collinson speaks to Krupa about it. A new exhibition exploring female spiritual beings in world belief and mythological traditions around the globe opens at the British Museum this week. Feminine power: the divine to the demonic is the first exhibition of its kind to bring together ancient sculpture, sacred artifacts and contemporary art from six continents. Belinda Crerar, Exhibition Curator at the British Museum and Dr Janina Ramirez, a British Art Historian and author of Goddess a book for children written to accompany this exhibition join Krupa. Photo Credit: Channel 4

It's been ten years since the writer and activist Laura Bates founded the Everyday Sexism project, giving a platform to thousands of women to document their everyday experiences of sexism, harassment and assault. In her new book, ‘Fix the System Not the Women' she argues we have wasted decades telling women and girls how to fix things, how to fix themselves, how to stay safe, it hasn't worked because women were never the problem in the first place. She is calling for systematic reform of our key institutions and societal systems that she says are failing to protect women. Spanish women with severe Menstrual symptoms could be entitled to three days of leave a month - extended to five in some circumstances - if a draft bill going through the Spanish parliament is approved. It would make it the first legal entitlement of its kind in Europe. The bill is part of a package of reforms that could also overturn laws passed by the previous government, including 16 and 17 year old girls no longer needing parental consent to have an abortion. Maria Ramirez is a journalist and Deputy Managing Editor from ElDiario an online investigative and political news service based in Madrid. A new exhibition exploring female spiritual beings in world belief and mythological traditions around the globe opens at the British Museum this week. Feminine power: the divine to the demonic is the first exhibition of its kind to bring together ancient sculpture, sacred artifacts and contemporary art from six continents. It will look at how femininity has been perceived across the world, and how feminine power has been used in deities, goddesses, demons, saints and other spiritual beings. Belinda Crerar is Exhibition Curator at the British Museum and Dr Janina Ramirez is a British Art Historian and author of Goddess a book for children written to accompany this exhibition Two-time Grammy nominee Beth Nielsen Chapman has had a career spanning 40 years. Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016, Nashville-based Beth, has released more than a dozen albums and written number one hits and songs recorded by the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Bette Midler, Elton John and Neil Diamond. Beth joins Krupa to discuss her music and to perform her bluesy new single ‘Hey Girl' (We Can Deal With It) an anthemic reaction to the ‘Me Too' movement, a song Beth calls her “celebratory shout out to our sisters making their way in the world.” Presenter: Krupa Padhy Producer: Kirsty Starkey Interviewed Guest: Laura Bates Interviewed Guest: Maria Ramirez Interviewed Guest: Belinda Crerar Interviewed Guest: Dr Janina Ramirez Interviewed Guest: Beth Nielsen Chapman

In part two of our special interview with the British Museum's Dr. Irving Finkel, he shares more from his book, The First Ghosts: Most Ancient of Legacies, including a discussion of the earliest drawing of a ghost, the intricate role of exorcists in Mesopotamian societies, and how the dead would often be rudely called up from the underworld to answer pressing personal questions from the living. He also ponders why modern society has become so skeptical about ghosts and shares his attempts to see one for himself at the very haunted British Museum. We would strongly suggest listening to part one before enjoying this episode. Be sure to check out our new Haunted Talks Tees & Haunted Hoodies – look spooky and help support the show!

Talk Art series 13 continues!!! We meet British sculptor and contemporary visual artist Hew Locke. The artist shares the inspiration behind his decades of work and reflects on the process of making his new and exciting large-scale installation 2022 Tate Britain Commission, The Procession.A procession is part and parcel of the cycle of life; people gather and move together to celebrate, worship, protest, mourn, escape or even to better themselves. This is the heart of this ambitious new project. The Procession invites visitors to ‘reflect on the cycles of history, and the ebb and flow of cultures, people and finance and power.' Tate Britain's founder was art lover and sugar refining magnate Henry Tate. In the installation Locke says he ‘makes links with the historical after-effects of the sugar business, almost drawing out of the walls of the building,' also revisiting his artistic journey so far, including for example work with statues, share certificates, cardboard, rising sea levels, Carnival and the military.Throughout, visitors will see figures who travel through space and time. Here, they carry historical and cultural baggage, from evidence of global financial and violent colonial control embellished on their clothes and banners, alongside powerful images of some of the disappearing colonial architecture of Locke's childhood in Guyana.The installation takes inspiration from real events and histories but overall, the figures invite us to walk alongside them, into an enlarged vision of an imagined future."What I try to do in my work is mix ideas of attraction and ideas of discomfort – colourful and attractive, but strangely, scarily surreal at the same time." Hew Locke.Locke was born in Edinburgh, UK, in 1959; lived from 1966 to 1980 in Georgetown, Guyana; and is currently based in London. He obtained a B.A. Fine Art in Falmouth (1988) and an M.A. Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London (1994). In 2000 he won both a Paul Hamlyn Award and an East International Award.His work is represented in many collections including those of the The Government Art Collection, The Pérez Art Museum Miami, The Tate Gallery, The Arts Council of England, The National Trust, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Brooklyn Museum, New York, 21c, The New Art Gallery Walsall, The Victoria & Albert Museum, The Imperial War Museum, The British Museum and The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds.Follow @HewDJLocke on Instagram and visit his official website: http://www.hewlocke.net/Learn more about his new installation at Tate, it's free to visit until 22nd January 2023: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/hew-locke See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From monumental sculpture from ancient Greece, Egypt and India, wall hangings from Japan and China, to Western fine art, a British Museum exhibition asks: what does female spiritual power mean past and present? Christopher Harding is joined by the curator Belinda Crerar and by Ronald Hutton, whose new book explores Pagan Goddesses in Christian Europe, along with the writer Gavanndra Hodge who has investigated goddess cults of the past and present, and Anjali Sanyal from the London Durgostav Committee, dedicated to the worship of the Hindu goddess Kali. Feminine power: the divine to the demonic runs at the British Museum from 19 May 2022 - 25 Sep 2022 Queens Of The Wild: Pagan Goddesses in Christian Europe: An Investigation by Ronald Hutton is out now. Producer: Luke Mulhall A playlist on the Free Thinking website explores Religious Belief https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03mwxlp and there's also an episode looking at Witchcraft and Margaret Murray which has guests including Ronald Hutton https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001271f

A Nigerian project called Looty is seeking to take back African art in digital form. Members go into museums, take LiDAR scans using their phones, and recreate these African artworks as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The first piece is one of the Benin Bronzes from the British Museum. Different artistic reimaginations of this ancient artwork are now being sold as NFTs, with parts of the proceeds going to emerging Nigerian artists. Gareth speaks to Looty's founder Chidi about the idea, and blockchain expert Anne Kaluvu comments on the project. The innovative vision of Amazonia 4.0 The Amazon rainforest is being destroyed at an alarming rate. Could there be another way? The project Amazonia 4.0 is envisioning harnessing the rainforest's inherent biodiversity through a sustainable bioeconomy. Professor Carlos Nobre explains how, with the help of drones, fibre optic cables and other technologies, this vision may become a reality. The common fruit fly's digital twin One of the most ubiquitously used and best understood organisms in science is the common fruit fly. Many important developments in medicine and biology stem from research on this tiny insect. Now Professor Pavan Ramdya and his team have developed a complete simulated model of the fruit fly, a so-called digital twin. This model can be used by researchers to conduct experiments digitally, which may help speed up research and solve unanswered questions. The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Angelica Mari. Studio Manager: Duncan Hannant Producers: Hannah Fisher and Florian Bohr (Photo: A man uses Sony's 3D Creator scanning to create a three-dimensional image Credit: PAU BARRENA/AFP via Getty Images)

In 1897 Queen Victoria marked her diamond jubilee and Britain was in a celebratory mood. The British Empire had never been stronger. Few could imagine that this world-spanning empire might very well be peaking. But in 1897 Britain was in no mood for painful self-reflection. Instead Britons were gaily celebrating the what they perceived to be the "triumphs" of empire. Earlier that year a British punitive expedition sacked the West- African city of Benin. The victorious Brits carried off thousands of priceless cultural treasures, many of which were then displayed as trophies of war and instructive curios at the British Museum. The British press had painted Benin City as a hopelessly "savage" place, but these artworks instead reflected a society of great sophistication and artistic skill. Perhaps Britain had been wrong about Benin. How did a British expeditionary force end up at the gates of Benin City in the first place? Tune-in and find out how miscommunications, shady treaties, and pageants with machine guns all play a role in the story.

The Benin Bronzes are among the British Museum's most prized possessions. Celebrated for their great beauty, they embody the history, myth and artistry of the ancient Kingdom of Benin, once West Africa's most powerful, and today part of Nigeria. But despite the Bronzes' renown, little has been written about the brutal imperial violence with which they were plundered. Paddy Docherty's searing new history tells that story: the 1897 British invasion of Benin. Armed with shocking details discovered in the archives, Paddy Docherty in his latest book Blood and Bronze: The British Empire and the Sack of Benin (Hurst, 2022) sets this assault in its late Victorian context. As British power faced new commercial and strategic pressures elsewhere, it ruthlessly expanded in West Africa. Revealing both the extent of African resistance and previously concealed British outrages, this is a definitive account of the destruction of Benin. Laying bare the Empire's true motives and violent means, including the official coverup of grotesque sexual crimes, Docherty demolishes any moral argument for Britain retaining the Bronzes, making a passionate case for their immediate repatriation to Nigeria. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

The Benin Bronzes are among the British Museum's most prized possessions. Celebrated for their great beauty, they embody the history, myth and artistry of the ancient Kingdom of Benin, once West Africa's most powerful, and today part of Nigeria. But despite the Bronzes' renown, little has been written about the brutal imperial violence with which they were plundered. Paddy Docherty's searing new history tells that story: the 1897 British invasion of Benin. Armed with shocking details discovered in the archives, Paddy Docherty in his latest book Blood and Bronze: The British Empire and the Sack of Benin (Hurst, 2022) sets this assault in its late Victorian context. As British power faced new commercial and strategic pressures elsewhere, it ruthlessly expanded in West Africa. Revealing both the extent of African resistance and previously concealed British outrages, this is a definitive account of the destruction of Benin. Laying bare the Empire's true motives and violent means, including the official coverup of grotesque sexual crimes, Docherty demolishes any moral argument for Britain retaining the Bronzes, making a passionate case for their immediate repatriation to Nigeria. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

The Benin Bronzes are among the British Museum's most prized possessions. Celebrated for their great beauty, they embody the history, myth and artistry of the ancient Kingdom of Benin, once West Africa's most powerful, and today part of Nigeria. But despite the Bronzes' renown, little has been written about the brutal imperial violence with which they were plundered. Paddy Docherty's searing new history tells that story: the 1897 British invasion of Benin. Armed with shocking details discovered in the archives, Paddy Docherty in his latest book Blood and Bronze: The British Empire and the Sack of Benin (Hurst, 2022) sets this assault in its late Victorian context. As British power faced new commercial and strategic pressures elsewhere, it ruthlessly expanded in West Africa. Revealing both the extent of African resistance and previously concealed British outrages, this is a definitive account of the destruction of Benin. Laying bare the Empire's true motives and violent means, including the official coverup of grotesque sexual crimes, Docherty demolishes any moral argument for Britain retaining the Bronzes, making a passionate case for their immediate repatriation to Nigeria. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The Benin Bronzes are among the British Museum's most prized possessions. Celebrated for their great beauty, they embody the history, myth and artistry of the ancient Kingdom of Benin, once West Africa's most powerful, and today part of Nigeria. But despite the Bronzes' renown, little has been written about the brutal imperial violence with which they were plundered. Paddy Docherty's searing new history tells that story: the 1897 British invasion of Benin. Armed with shocking details discovered in the archives, Paddy Docherty in his latest book Blood and Bronze: The British Empire and the Sack of Benin (Hurst, 2022) sets this assault in its late Victorian context. As British power faced new commercial and strategic pressures elsewhere, it ruthlessly expanded in West Africa. Revealing both the extent of African resistance and previously concealed British outrages, this is a definitive account of the destruction of Benin. Laying bare the Empire's true motives and violent means, including the official coverup of grotesque sexual crimes, Docherty demolishes any moral argument for Britain retaining the Bronzes, making a passionate case for their immediate repatriation to Nigeria. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/art

The Benin Bronzes are among the British Museum's most prized possessions. Celebrated for their great beauty, they embody the history, myth and artistry of the ancient Kingdom of Benin, once West Africa's most powerful, and today part of Nigeria. But despite the Bronzes' renown, little has been written about the brutal imperial violence with which they were plundered. Paddy Docherty's searing new history tells that story: the 1897 British invasion of Benin. Armed with shocking details discovered in the archives, Paddy Docherty in his latest book Blood and Bronze: The British Empire and the Sack of Benin (Hurst, 2022) sets this assault in its late Victorian context. As British power faced new commercial and strategic pressures elsewhere, it ruthlessly expanded in West Africa. Revealing both the extent of African resistance and previously concealed British outrages, this is a definitive account of the destruction of Benin. Laying bare the Empire's true motives and violent means, including the official coverup of grotesque sexual crimes, Docherty demolishes any moral argument for Britain retaining the Bronzes, making a passionate case for their immediate repatriation to Nigeria. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-studies

每日英語跟讀 Ep.K365: British Museum facing legal action over Parthenon sculptures 3D scan refusal   The British Museum is facing legal action from one of the UK's leading heritage preservation organizations over its refusal to allow the 3D scanning of a piece in its Parthenon sculptures collection. 大英博物館正面臨英國領導遺產保護組織的法律訴訟，該組織拒絕允許對其帕台農神廟雕塑系列中的一件作品進行 3D 掃描。 The Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA) said it would serve an injunction against the museum imminently, raising the stakes in the dispute between the two. 數位考古研究所 (IDA) 表示，它將立即對博物館發出禁令，這增加了兩者之間爭端的風險。 “We will be filing a complaint by the end of the week requesting the court to order the British Museum to grant our request,” Roger Michel, the IDA's executive director, told the Guardian. “We want them to treat our application in exactly the same fashion that they would treat similar requests. Their refusal has been capricious and arbitrary.” “我們將在本週末提出申訴，要求法院命令大英博物館批准我們的請求，”IDA 執行董事羅傑米歇爾告訴衛報。 “我們希望他們以與處理類似請求完全相同的方式處理我們的申請。他們的拒絕是反复無常和武斷的。” The Oxford-based institute had hoped, with the museum's blessing, to reproduce one of the high relief metopes from the Acropolis temple's south facade as “proof of concept.” In 2016 it reconstructed Syria's Palymyra arch of triumph out of Egyptian marble based on photographs following the monument's destruction by Islamic State. 這家位於牛津的研究所曾希望在博物館的支持下，複製雅典衛城神廟南立面的高浮雕牆面之一，作為“概念證明”。 2016 年，它根據紀念碑被伊斯蘭國摧毀後的照片，用埃及大理石重建了敘利亞的 Palymyra 凱旋門。 Advocates believe 3D imaging could be employed to not only create replicas of the classical treasures but help resolve the longstanding row between Athens and London over patrimony of the Parthenon sculptures. Scans would allow a robot sculptor to reproduce the artworks with sub-millimetre accuracy using the same Pentelic marble from which the originals were chiselled, according to the IDA, a supporter of the sculptures' repatriation to Greece. 支持者認為，3D 成像不僅可以用來製作古典珍品的複製品，還可以幫助解決雅典和倫敦之間關於帕台農神廟雕塑遺產的長期爭執。支持將雕塑送回希臘的 IDA 表示，掃描將允許機器人雕塑家使用與雕刻原件相同的 Pentelic 大理石以亞毫米精度複製藝術品。 The antiquities, regarded as the high point of classical art, have been in the British Museum's possession since 1816 after their removal from the Parthenon at the behest of Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman empire, which then controlled what is now modern Greece. 這些古物被視為古典藝術的最高點，自 1816 年根據英國駐奧斯曼帝國大使埃爾金勳爵的要求從帕台農神廟移走後，這些古物一直由大英博物館收藏，當時奧斯曼帝國控制著現在的現代希臘. Successive Greek governments have argued that the antiquities were illegally hacked from the temple at a time when it was a subject nation without voice or sovereignty. The British Museum says they were legally acquired. 歷屆希臘政府都爭辯說，當它是一個沒有發言權或主權的附屬國時，這些文物是從神廟中非法盜取的。大英博物館稱它們是合法獲得的。 Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2022/04/05/2003776008

While some countries fight to reclaim antiquities that were stolen centuries ago, Cambodian investigators are dealing with far more recent thefts. Many of the country's prized treasures were taken by looters in the 1980s and 1990s and then sold on to some of the world's most prestigious museums, including the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert museum. At the centre of many of the sales was a rogue British art dealer. Celia Hatton joins the Cambodian investigative team and gains unprecedented access to looters who have become government witnesses. The Phnom Penh government has now launched a legal campaign in the UK to get some of its most prized statues back. For many Cambodians these are not simply blocks of stone or pieces of metal, they are living spirits and integral to the Khmer identity. The Gods, they say, are cold and lonely in foreign collections and they want to come home. Producer: John Murphy Producer in Cambodia: Eva Krysiak

While some countries fight to reclaim antiquities that were stolen centuries ago, Cambodian investigators are dealing with far more recent thefts. Many of the country's prized treasures were taken by looters in the 1980s and 1990s and then sold on to some of the world's most prestigious museums, including the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert museum, in London. At the centre of many of the sales was a rogue British art dealer. Celia Hatton joins the Cambodian investigative team and gains unprecedented access to looters who have become government witnesses. The Phnom Penh government has now launched a legal campaign in the UK to get some of its most prized statues back. For many Cambodians these are not simply blocks of stone or pieces of metal, they are living spirits and integral to the Khmer identity. The Gods, they say, are cold and lonely in foreign collections and they want to come home. Producer: John Murphy (Image: Monks at Angkor Wat temple, Cambodia. Credit: BBC)

What you'll learn in this episode:   Why people get so concerned with categorizing art, and why some of the most interesting art is created by crossing those boundaries  How Joy balances running a business while handmaking all of her pieces What noble metals are, and how they allow Joy to play with different colors How Joy's residences in Japan influenced her work How Joy has found a way to rethink classical art and confront its dark history     About Joy BC   Joy BC (Joy Bonfield – Colombara) is an Artist and Goldsmith working predominantly in Noble Metals and bronze. Her works are often challenging pre-existing notions of precious materials and ingrained societal ideals of western female bodies in sculpture. Joy BC plays with mythologies and re-examines the fascination with the ‘Classical'. Joy, a native of London, was profoundly influenced from an early age by the artistry of her parents - her mother, a painter and lithographer, her father, a sculptor. Joy's art education focused intensively on painting, drawing and carving, enhanced by a profound appreciation of art within historical and social contexts. Joy BC received her undergraduate degree from the Glasgow School of Art and her M.A. from the Royal College of Art in London. She has also held two residencies in Japan. The first in Tokyo, working under the tutelage of master craftsmen Sensei (teacher) Ando and Sensei Kagaeyama, experts in Damascus steel and metal casting.  She subsequently was awarded a research fellowship to Japan's oldest school of art, in Kyoto, where she was taught the ancient art of urushi by the renowned craftsmen: Sensei Kuramoto and Sensei Sasai. Whilst at the RCA she was awarded the TF overall excellence prize and the MARZEE International graduate prize. Shortly after her graduation in 2019 her work was exhibited in Japan and at Somerset house in London. In 2021 her work was exhibited in Hong Kong and at ‘Force of Nature' curated by Melanie Grant in partnership with Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery. Joy Bonfield - Colombara is currently working on a piece for the Nelson Atkins Museum in the USA and recently a piece was added to the Alice and Louis Koch Collection in the Swiss National Museum, Zurich.Additional Resources:  Joy's Website Joy's Instagram Photos: Photos available on TheJewelryJourney.com Transcript:   While others are quick to classify artists by genre or medium, Joy BC avoids confining her work to one category. Making wearable pieces that draw inspiration from classical sculpture, she straddles the line between jeweler and fine artist. She joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about why she works with noble metals; the exhibition that kickstarted her business; and how she confronts the often-dark history of classical art though her work. Read the episode transcript here.   Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the second part of a two-part episode. Today, my guest is the award-winning artist and goldsmith Joy Bonfield-Colombara, or as she is known as an artist and jeweler, Joy BC. Joy is attracted to classical art, which she interprets from her own contemporary viewpoint. Welcome back.    You're alone, and it's always a challenge to me, whether you're a writer or jeweler, to find ways to get out of the isolation. You can only spend so much time alone. How do you figure out a way to do that?   Joy: I love it. I love it because I'm an only child. Often people don't think I'm an only child, but I think that's because we had so many people coming and going from our house when I was a kid. My mom would invite lots of people, and they would stay and go. They all added very much to who I am as well, all those people that came through our house. The thing with imagination, I used to spend so much time on my own. My mom and my dad were always working. They were fantastic parents, but they were oftentimes—I think also when you're a child, time is a completely different realm. You experience it in a completely different way.    I have memories of playing in the garden and looking at flowers, taking them apart, and putting together arrangements of stones or turning a copper box into a spaceship, all sorts of different objects transforming into other things. I still hold on to that aspect of being a child. I think it's important not to lose the ability to play and imagine. I spend hours doing that. I'm now in my studio, and I often really like the early mornings or rare late nights when no one is around. There's a quietness that I find quite meditative. When I'm carving, things can be going on around me, and I'm so focused that everything else disappears. So, I don't mind the isolation because I really enjoy making.   Sharon: I like when it's quiet, but I can only take so much. At some point it starts to affect me. It sounds like you handle it better. In the materials I read about you, it says that you work in noble metals and in bronze, but a lot of people don't know what a noble metal is. What is a noble metal?   Joy: It makes them great. Just the word noble I think is lovely.   Sharon: It is. What is it?   Joy: A noble metal, apart from the metal family in the periodic table, is a reluctant oxidizer combined with oxygen. I have the exact definition for you. Let me find it. “A noble metallic chemical element is generally reluctant to combine with oxygen and usually found in nature in a raw form, for example gold. Noble metals have outstanding resistance to oxidization, even at high temperatures. The group is not strictly defined, but usually is considered to include palladium, silver, osmium, iridium, platinum and the second and third transition series of the periodic table. Mercury and copper are sometimes included as noble metals. Silver and gold with copper are often called the coinage metal, and platinum, iridium and palladium comprise the so-called precious metals which are used in jewelry.”   This also goes back to the fact that I had bad eczema when I was a kid. I remember putting on a pair of costume earrings that had nickel in them and they made my whole head swell up. I don't like the smell of brass. There are certain materials I find an attraction or a repulsion to. Noble metals, because of the way they don't oxidize, can sit next to your skin, and I love the feeling of them.   Sharon: That's interesting, because I've only heard the term noble metals in a couple of places. One was at a jeweler's studio, making jewelry, but it was explained to me, “It's gold, it's silver, but it's not copper.” You said it's copper. I never realized it had anything to do with whether it oxidizes or not.    Joy: Interestingly, copper also is really precious in Japan. Some of the most expensive teapots are copper ones.   Sharon: Oh, really?   Joy: It's a type of copper where you've created a patination, which is beautiful, deep red color. This technique is quite hard to explain and is really highly prized.   Sharon: What's the name of the technique?   Joy: Shibuichi. I'm not good at the pronunciation, but I can write it down afterwards. I love metal patination and metal colors. In fact, that's why I love bronze. Bronze is mostly composed of copper as an alloy. It doesn't smell in the way that brass does, and also I love the reactions you get. Verdigris is one of the techniques I like to use a lot in my work, which is used with copper nitrates. You get these incredible colors of greens. When you think of classical bronze sculptures or bronzes that are found under the sea, they often have these incredible green colors to them. I think about it like painting or a composition, the colors you find in metal colorations. People often question what the color of metal is, but actually the different alloys or treatments you can give to metal can give you an incredible array of different colors.   Sharon: I'm curious. I agree, but I see the world through a different perspective. I might look at the statue you've taken from the under the sea and say, “Somebody clean that thing.” I don't clean things that have a patina, but that would be my first reaction, while you appreciate that right away. Why did you go to Japan?   Joy: The first time I went to Japan was through The Glasgow School of Art. There was an exchange program you could apply for, and if you were awarded, there was also a bursary that you could apply for. The first time I went, I was awarded this bursary. One of my friends while I was studying at The Glasgow School of Art was Japanese, and she said to me, “Go and stay with my grandmother. She will absolutely love you.” I went to stay in her grandmother's apartment in Japan, and I studied at the Hiko Mizuno College of Jewelry, which is in Harajuku. I don't know if you've heard about it before.   Sharon: No.   Joy: This school is really interesting. Actually, when I was there, they hired Lucy Saneo, who recently passed away. They did an exhibition of hers at Gallerie Marseille. She was there as a visiting artist, and she was lovely. We had some interesting discussions about different perceptions of materials and jewelry between Europe and Japan. I was there on a three-month exchange, and I met Lucy as well as the teachers that I was allocated.    One of them, which I mentioned before, was Sensei Ando. He taught to me how to make Damascus steel. I made a knife when I was there, but the whole process had a real philosophical theory around it, with how difficult Damascus is to make. Often in modern knife making, you have pneumatic hammers. The hammering is done by a machine, whereas we have to do everything by hand in 40 degrees Celsius with 90% humidity outside with a furnace. We had to wrap towels around our heads to stop the sweat from dripping into our eyes. It was really difficult, but the end result was amazing. He said, “Life can be hard, but if you push through it, you can find its beauties.” It stayed with me, the way he had the philosophy, that process, and what that means to put yourself into the piece.    I also did metal casting and netsuke carving with Sensei Kagaeyama. It was in Tokyo that I first saw netsuke carvings in the National Museum in Tokyo. They really fascinated me, these tiny carvings. Do you know what a netsuke is?   Sharon: Yes, a netsuke, the little things.   Joy: They're tiny carvings. If anyone doesn't know, in traditional menswear in Japan, you would have a sash that goes around your kimono to hold your inro, which is your pouch which would hold tobacco or money or medicine. You would have a sash buckle to stop it moving, which was sometimes simply carved. Other times they were incredibly elaborate and inlaid. It could be this tiny bird so that the underside of the bird, even the claws, are carved. It was only the wearer that would necessarily see those details. In the same way that really good pieces of jewelry have that quality, the back is as important as the front.   Sharon: Oh, absolutely. My mom sewed, and it was always, “Look at the back of the dress, the inside of the dress. How's the zipper done?” that sort of thing. The netsuke, they were only worn by men?   Joy: They were only worn by men. It was combs that were worn by women, which were a social hierarchical show of your wealth or your stature. They were also given as tokens of love and were the equivalent of an engagement ring. They were given in this way. A comb is something I've always found interesting. I didn't know the scope of the importance of the comb in Japan, specifically in the Edo and Meiji periods.   Sharon: Are you considering adding combs to your repertoire? Maybe the comb part is plastic with a metal on top.   Joy: Combs are one of the things I explored within my degree show. I did a modern iteration of Medusa as a body of work, 17 different bronze sculptures that were a collection of combs with all different bronze patinas, but those were sculptures. They were not actually wearable. There was a whole wall of these pieces. My whole degree show was about metamorphosis and the ability to change. It was a combination of sculpture and jewelry.    For “Force of Nature,” the exhibition Melanie invited me to do, I did one wearable comb. It was called Medusa. The bristles were moving, and they had fine, little diamonds set between all the bristles so they would catch the light in certain movement. It also had a pin at the back so you could have it as a sculpture or you could wear it.   Sharon: It sounds gorgeous. You mentioned classical art, and I know classical art is a big catalyst or an influence on your jewelry today. Can you tell us about that and where it came from?   Joy: Growing up in London, London has some of the most amazing collections of ancient art. Also modern collections, but if you think about the V&A or the British Museum, there are artifacts from all over the world which are incredible. As a child, they were something my parents would take me to and tell me stories or show me things. There was also a moment when my mom took me to Paris when I was about 13 years old, and I saw the Victory of Samothrace, which is this huge Hellenistic statue which is decapitated. She doesn't have a head and she doesn't have arms, but she has these enormous wings and retains this incredible sense of power and movement, and that stayed with me. I've always found particularly the Hellenistic—not the Roman copies, but the older pieces—incredibly beautiful. I don't why, but I've always felt this attraction to them.   When I studied at The Glasgow School of Art, there was also a collection of plasters of Michelangelo's Enslaved and the Venus de Milo. They were used since the 1800s as examples of proportions, and you would use them in your drawing classes. I used to sit with them and have my lunch and draw them and look at them. I started to look at the histories or the stories behind some of them, and I didn't particularly like how they were often silencing women. Some of the stories were quite violent towards women, so I started to deconstruct and cut apart these classical figures.    I also looked to Albrecht Durer's book on proportion, because they had a real copy of it at The Glasgow School of Art that you could request to look at. I also believe that to understand something, you can deconstruct it and take it apart. Like a clock, if you start to take it apart, you understand how it works. So, I started to take apart the proportions, literally cutting them apart, and that's how the deconstructed portrait series started. It was not just the form; it was actually what classicism stood for. Many of the collections at the V&A and the British Museum were stolen or taken in really negative ways. They're a result of colonialism and the UK's colonial past. There are often darker sides to those collections.    That was something I had to confront about this attraction I had towards these classical pieces. Why was I attracted to them? How could I reinvent it or look at that in a new way? I still love these classical pieces. My favorite painter is Caravaggio, and my favorite sculptures are the bronze and stone pieces from the Hellenistic Greek period. It didn't stop me from loving them, but it made me rethink and redefine what classical meant for me.   Sharon: Is the deconstruction series your way of coming to terms with the past? Besides the fact that they're beautiful, ancient statues, is it your way of reinventing the past in a way?   Joy: Absolutely. The past, you can't erase it. It's been done, and the fact that these pieces have survived all of this time is testament to their beauty. Something survives if it's beautiful or evocative or has a power about it. I think it's interesting that Cellini, who was a sculptor and a goldsmith, is known more famously for his bronze statue of Medusa in Florence. He made lots of work out of precious metals, but they didn't survive. It was the bronzes that survived.    Translating these works into precious metals also makes you reflect or think about them in different ways, and it makes the cuts or the breakage something positive or beautiful. The way I placed diamonds into the breakages or the cracks is also to celebrate our failures or celebrate our breakages. That moment I had the accident and everything in my life fell apart, it was also through that process that I discovered the most. We need creation and destruction, but it's a cyclical thing.   Sharon: Interesting. My last question has to do more with the dividing lines. Do you consider yourself an artist who works in jewelry, or do you consider yourself a jeweler who happens to make art through your jewelry? There are a lot of jewelers who don't consider themselves artists; they just make jewelry and that's it. How do the two rub together for you?   Joy: I see myself as an artist. I think within the arts, that encompasses so many different disciplines. A beautiful piece of literature written by Alice Walker, I think, is as moving as an artwork or a painting. The same with a composition of music. I see jewelry as another art form and expression. I don't divide them. However, I don't like all jewelry, in the same way I don't like all paintings or sculpture. The way in which we look at or define art is so subjective, depending on your norms, the way you were brought up, which part of the world you grew up in, how you have been subjected to certain things. When people ask me what I do, I say I'm an artist and goldsmith because I particularly work in noble metals and bronze. There's still a jewelry aspect of my work. It is very much jewelry. You can wear it, but it is also sculpture. It is one and the other; it's both.   Sharon: Have you ever made a piece of jewelry in gold where you said, “This is nice, but it's not a work of art. It doesn't express me as an artist; it's just like a nice ring”?   Joy: Definitely, and definitely through the period of time when I did my apprenticeship. I learned a lot. I made pieces where people would bring me albums or pieces they wanted to reinvent and find modern ways of wearing. I thought that was pretty interesting and I enjoyed that work, but I don't necessarily see it as an artwork that moves the soul or has the same effect as one of my deconstruction portraits or the Medusa series. I still think it has its place and it means a lot to that individual, and I enjoy the process of making it, but it's different.   Sharon: I know I said I asked my last question before, but I'm curious. Did your friends or colleagues or people in the street see something you had on and say, “Oh, I want that”?   Joy: Yes, definitely. I think if you like something and wear something because you like it enough that you wear it, usually someone else will like it, too. That's definitely part of it; I started making things and people still wanted them. I think my mom and dad were also sometimes the first port of call I would test things on to see whether they liked it. My dad is much more challenging because he doesn't wear a lot of jewelry. I made him a piece recently and he does wear it occasionally. He's quite a discerning artist. He won't sell his work to certain people. He's very particular about how he works and who he works with. But yes, that did start happening, and it's grown. I'm not sure how else to answer that question.   Sharon: I'm sure it's validating to have people say, “Oh, that's fabulous. Can you do one for me?” or “Can I buy it from you?”   Joy: I think that sense of desire, of wanting to put your body next to something or wear it, is one of the highest compliments. I went yesterday to a talk at the British Museum about an exhibition they're about to open called “Feminine Power: The Divine to the Demonic.” I went with a friend of mine who's a human rights lawyer. I made a piece for her recently which is very personal and is about various important things to her. Seeing her wear it made me feel really honored because she's an incredible person, and I could make her something that's part of her journey and that she loves so much that she wears it. Knowing it gives her power when she wears it is an incredible feeling. Also knowing that she may pass it down; that's another aspect with jewelry.    My mom has this one ring that was passed down in her family. My parents were struggling artists in London, and she sold most of her elegant pieces. I also find that aspect of jewelry really incredible, that it could transform by being sold so she could continue to do projects and things she wanted to do. I think jewelry's amazing in that way, that the intrinsic value can transform and be handed down and changed. I think that's interesting, but there was one ring she didn't sell because it's a miniature sculpture, and we all agree that it's incredibly beautiful. The rest of the pieces weren't things my mom or I or anyone really engaged with, but this one ring, to me, looks like a futurist sculpture in a seashell. It's a curved form. I think it's the Fibonacci proportions, and it's incredibly beautiful. Going back to your very first question, I think that may have had a strong influence in my appreciation and realization that I liked jewelry.   Sharon: It sounds like you're several years into a business that's going to be around for a long time. I hope we get to talk with you again down the road. Thank you so much for talking with us today, Joy.   Joy: Thanks for having me.   Thank you again for listening. Please leave us a rating and review so we can help others start their own jewelry journey.  

Kim talks with Gina about Jacques Rancière's concept of dissensus. Gina refers to several major works of philosophy including: Jacques Rancière's Dissensus Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgement Jacques Derrida's The Truth In Painting Plato's Republic She also takes a small dig at Althusser, in the spirit of Rancière Gina is a PhD candidate at NYU and an amazing teacher. She studies medieval literature and critical theory. She loves Theodor Adorno and really really hates the dialectic. This week's image is an illuminated miniature from a 15th C manuscript held by the British Museum, depicting the “Debate for the Soul.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

Kim talks with Gina about Jacques Rancière's concept of dissensus. Gina refers to several major works of philosophy including: Jacques Rancière's Dissensus Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgement Jacques Derrida's The Truth In Painting Plato's Republic She also takes a small dig at Althusser, in the spirit of Rancière Gina is a PhD candidate at NYU and an amazing teacher. She studies medieval literature and critical theory. She loves Theodor Adorno and really really hates the dialectic. This week's image is an illuminated miniature from a 15th C manuscript held by the British Museum, depicting the “Debate for the Soul.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Kim talks with Gina about Jacques Rancière's concept of dissensus. Gina refers to several major works of philosophy including: Jacques Rancière's Dissensus Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgement Jacques Derrida's The Truth In Painting Plato's Republic She also takes a small dig at Althusser, in the spirit of Rancière Gina is a PhD candidate at NYU and an amazing teacher. She studies medieval literature and critical theory. She loves Theodor Adorno and really really hates the dialectic. This week's image is an illuminated miniature from a 15th C manuscript held by the British Museum, depicting the “Debate for the Soul.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is  Kelly Molson, MD of Rubber Cheese.Download our free ebook The Ultimate Guide to Doubling Your Visitor NumbersIf you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcast.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this episode.Competition ends October 1st 2022. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-weller-8171688b/ Katie Weller has been appointed Travel Trade Sales Manager at the National Gallery. Joining the fascinating world of art, she is excited to be embarking on a new challenge. Having worked in the tourism, entertainment and leisure industry for over 18 years, her roles have ranged from working at James Villa Holidays as a Travel Advisor, Tour Guide at Shakespeare's Globe to PA for the critically acclaimed band Westlife. Starting her trade career at a top ten visitor attraction- Royal Museums Greenwich as Trade Sales Executive, she developed an award-winning product for the international education market and gained a wealth of knowledge about trade. Katie then went on to work as Trade Manager at the iconic Westminster Abbey and went on to open her own business as a successful sweet shop during the pandemic. She is now very excited to be developing and launching new products at the National Gallery.  Transcriptions: Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson. Each episode, I speak with industry experts from the attractions world. In today's episode I speak with Katie Weller, Travel Trade Sales Manager at The National Gallery. We discuss the process of developing new paid for guided tours, making the gallery inclusive for all and how travel trade works for attractions. If you like what you hear, subscribe on all the usual channels by searching to Skip the Queue.Kelly Molson: Katie, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. It's lovely to meet you.Katie Weller: Thank you so much. I'm really excited to be here.Kelly Molson: Ah, me too. We've been chatting for a little while on LinkedIn, haven't we? So I'm glad that we've got this booked in the diary now. So I'm going to ask you loads of questions. We've got something really exciting to talk about but first, icebreaker questions.Katie Weller: Yes, go for it.Kelly Molson: Okay. What sport would you compete in if you were in the Olympics?Katie Weller: Oh gosh, that's a hard one, isn't it? I'm actually rubbish at sports. Oh gosh. What would I go for? I was always good at javelin. Is that a sport?Kelly Molson: Yeah.Katie Weller: Can I compete in that?Kelly Molson: Absolutely.Katie Weller: Let's go for it. I'm going javelin.Kelly Molson: All right. I like it. Take your anger out.Katie Weller: Exactly.Kelly Molson: All right. Last place that you went on holiday?Katie Weller: Oh, we went to Mykonos in Greece.Kelly Molson: Oh, lovely.Katie Weller: Well, so it was supposed to be... So I'm getting married in a couple of months and so it was my hen do. And we managed to do the hen, but not the wedding. I was happy with that as long as I... Kelly Molson: This bit.Katie Weller: Exactly. And do you know what? It was just so lovely to get on a plane and travel again. So yeah, we had a brilliant time. Spent way too much money, but yeah, absolutely fantastic.Kelly Molson: Oh, lovely. What a treat. I'll bet you had a whale of a time.Katie Weller: Oh, we did.Kelly Molson: We won't ask because what goes on in hen stays on hen.Katie Weller: Exactly. I think it's for the best.Kelly Molson: All right. If you could choose any two famous people to have dinner with, who would they be?Katie Weller: Gosh. Leonardo DiCaprio, just because he's always been my number one. I'd always have him at the table there. And the second one, who would I... Does it have to be someone alive?Kelly Molson: No, it can be anyone you want.Katie Weller: I would go for Van Gogh.Kelly Molson: Wow.Katie Weller: It would be a bit of a messy dinner party, but I think he would just be so amazing to talk with, try and get into his brain. Yeah, I'm going to go Van Gogh and Leo. What a party. Do you like an invite?Kelly Molson: What a mix. Will there be cocktails?Katie Weller: I think we'll need it.Kelly Molson: I'm there. All right. Katie, what is your unpopular opinion?Katie Weller: Oh, do you know what? I've really been thinking about this and I didn't think it was an unpopular opinion, but it clearly is and I've got a lot of passion about it. Crocs should stay in hospitals. I can't even look at them. They're just the most ugliest shoes. How last year they were like trending number one? Why people put them on their feet? It really upsets me. You will never, ever see me in Crocs, ever.Kelly Molson: Wow. That is a massive passion.Katie Weller: Can you feel my anger? This is why I want to do javelin.Kelly Molson: Now, listen, I'm just going to say, I should probably hook you up with Michelle from Eureka, the National Children's Museum, because she was very passionate about wearing Crocs with socks at work.Katie Weller: She wants to do that?Kelly Molson: No, she does do that. Yeah, no, she does.Katie Weller: Each to their own, but not for me.Kelly Molson: All right. Okay.Katie Weller: Fantastic quote.Kelly Molson: They are. Let's see what our listeners feel about that. I think there might be a few people that agree with you on that one.Katie Weller: Yeah, I think since lockdown a lot of people went in that direction. But yeah, not for me. Sorry, guys.Kelly Molson: Those things. Okay. Love it. Katie, tell me a little bit about your background before we get onto what we're going to talk about today.Katie Weller: Yes, really I've been in arts and tourism for about a 20 years, which makes me feel really old now. So I started off as just a theatre steward, so working in the local theatres, and I loved it. How cool to be able to get paid and just watch shows? And back then I thought I was going to be an actor. And obviously life changes, you realise you need to get paid. So I didn't end up going down that route, but I always had a passion for it. So in terms of getting involved in sort of travel trade, that was a bit later on. I was a PA for a very famous boy band, Westlife, if you've heard of them. So I've had lots of random jobs as well. But yeah, it was the Globe Theater. So I was a tour guide there for quite a few years and absolutely loved it. And that's really where I started sort of finding out about travel trade.Katie Weller: We attended a few shows and then from there I started at Royal Museums Greenwich, and that's where I really started my career, built up all of my contacts and really got to learn about travel trade and just loved it. It's such a niche thing. And a lot of people don't understand what travel trade is and how it works.Kelly Molson: Well, actually, for the benefit of our listeners that might not know, can you explain what that actually means?Katie Weller: Yeah, definitely. So you will actually find in a lot of attractions, they have a travel trade and groups department. So travel trade works on a business to business basis. So we would push our product through third party platforms. So I don't know if I'm allowed to mention names on here?Kelly Molson: Yeah, go for it.Katie Weller: Like Virgin Experience Days or Viatour or Golden Tours. I'm not pulling out favourites at all here, but it just means that you are pushing out your reach to new markets, new audiences that you wouldn't necessarily get in otherwise. You pay them a commission and in return they push out your marketing, they'll do campaigns for you and they just drive in different people. So yeah, most attractions have a travel trade team, but a lot of people just don't really understand what it is. But it's a huge income driver to attractions.Kelly Molson: Yeah, great explanation.Katie Weller: I hope that makes sense.Kelly Molson: Yeah, it made perfect sense. And I also really appreciate that you thought we were a little bit like the BBC there and you couldn't mention other brands on it.Katie Weller: I know. I know. Well, just in case. I'm going to get other partners ringing me now like, "Why didn't you mention me?" Sorry.Kelly Molson: All right. So this is really exciting. So we had a little chat on LinkedIn quite a while ago actually now, isn't it? We were chatting. But National Gallery, where you are now, is launching paid for guided tours which are geared towards kind of tourist, domestic and international.Katie Weller: Mm-hmm (affirmative).Kelly Molson: This is really exciting because the National Gallery is a free gallery. So you don't need to pay to go into this. So this is quite a new thing that they're launching. How did this idea come about?Katie Weller: So it's a bit of a long story. With the National Gallery, yes, it's always been free of charge. However, it can be for, not just for an international customer, for a domestic one as well, if you're not necessarily an art buff, you can walk inside the Gallery, it can be quite overwhelming because you don't really know where to start, what to look at. So we know there is a demand for tours because they're coming in anyway. So they're coming in. So other tour companies are charging the customers and they're coming in and doing tours. So the issue with that... It's great because there's a demand there and we know people want to be educated and that's what we want to do. We want to educate them on our amazing collection.Katie Weller: However, sometimes with that, it means that we haven't really got any quality control over what's being said. A lot of people think they're buying an official National Gallery tour and it's not. So we get customers coming through to us. So for us, how it all came about really is my head of department, Claire, she looks after events and our catering team as well. And next year we're closing our Sainsbury Wing. So the entrance is actually going to be the Portico Terrace, so the beautiful steps going up, only because we are just completely redeveloping that side of the Gallery. And it means that we lose a lot of our daytime space. So we would normally get a lot of income coming through from daytime hire, that's going to be lost. So she thought, "Do you know what? Let's bring in travel trade."Katie Weller: We actually worked together at Royal Museums Greenwich so she was head of events there. And she just saw the benefit that travel trade had and she knew there's a demand for tours. So she just decided, "Let's get up and running." So it wasn't really anything off the back of COVID. It was always there as a plan because we knew we had those closures coming up.Kelly Molson: That's interesting. Yeah, because that was going to be one of my questions, actually, was this something that came out of COVID? Because obviously being a free museum during that time, it's really difficult. You've got additional challenges that some of the paid institutes might not have had in terms of raising funding and keeping the building and the paintings safe and looked after. So yeah, it's really interesting that hasn't come from that, which is a good thing.Katie Weller: Yeah.Kelly Molson: I guess an element of it has been about customer feedback, right? Like you said, there is a demand for it because people are already booking tours elsewhere.Katie Weller: Well, yeah, and they're paying anything between 10 pounds... You'll be amazed at what has been pushed down there. PDFs, where customers pay 10 pounds for a PDF and walk around. So that's what I mean about the quality. You think we want to mirror a high quality tour in line with the National Gallery, but some people are paying up to 400 pounds for a tour that's happening during the day. So we want to make sure that it's a fair price but we are delivering a top quality experience as well. I think people... Yes, we are free of charge, but the British Museum, they do the same thing. So you do have paid for tours as well. And I'm such a tourist. When I go abroad, I always pay for a tour because I think it's the best way. You've got an hour, for example. The international market, they're very tight on time. They've got one hour, what's the best way to do it? Actually, not everyone wants to do the free thing where you walk for... People want to have a better understanding of where they are.Kelly Molson: Yeah, that's interesting that you mentioned the time thing, isn't it? Because if you've just got that restriction you would want someone to show you the best of the best, "I'm coming to this gallery. What is the best thing that I need to see while here? What's the thing that I can't leave without seeing?" And actually, if you are kind of left to your own devices, you might not find it. You might not know where it is and your time is then gone.Katie Weller: Exactly. So I just think, with the guided tours, we are really going to ensure that it is a highlights tour. You could go on a tour with a curator or you could have a bespoke experience. Most of these tourists, they just want to get a sense of the Gallery. They want to hear brilliant stories that you just can't pick out of a book or, "Let's talk about the fun stuff." I said to the Blue Badge Guides, I was like, "Sex, drugs, rock and roll." I was like, "That's what they want to hear." I was like, "Maybe not too extreme. It is the National Gallery, but let's tell them just brilliant stories and they'll leave and ..." And when you go on tours, do you remember the dates? Not really. You remember the amazing stories that they tell you. So yeah, the guides have been brilliant at putting this all together and we've sort of left them to their own devices because their knowledge far exceeds mine. So yeah, really, really looking forward to pushing them out.Kelly Molson: It's really the stories thing is something that keeps coming up and up again, again, again on the podcast too. We just spoke to Kelly Wessell from London Zoo and she was kind of talking about the visitor experience and engaging people back, like their team, back to the zoo, getting them to fall back in love with the zoo. And she was saying that it is the stories that they know that makes people's experience better on the day. And it's only the stories that the team know, like little things about, I don't know, the giraffe house and how that was constructed. And it's those stories that make the visit more memorable for people. And that's what people are looking for, isn't it? To make that more kind of personalised and more special.Katie Weller: Well, that's it, it's about personalisation. And it does make them feel special because they probably think they might be the only person that's been told that. And also the Blue Badge Guides, we've said to them, "It's flexible. If you want to tell a different story on a different tour, that's absolutely fine." Obviously, they keep to a bit of a structure, but if they've got something cool to tell, go for it.Kelly Molson: So the tours, so how have they been developed? You decided, "We need a tour." How do you work out what are the highlights that people need to see on this tour?Katie Weller: Yeah, so really, it's been six months in the making. I don't know why I gave myself this, but I was like, "April, that's the go." I think it's beginning of financial year. You go, "Yeah, that's fine." But obviously, it's quite hard to push out something new especially in a Gallery as well. So everything can be a bit slower, I guess, and it has to be approved at so many different levels. But really, starting off with the tours, initially, we'd love to have kept it in house, but of course the resource isn't available at the moment. So we decided, "All right, second best thing is to use the Blue Badge Guides." They've just got such a wealth of knowledge and they're accredited. Tourists trusts them. They know what a Blue Badge Guide is. And the joy of having the Blue Badge Guides is that there is such a large pool of them. They can speak in different languages so that means that we can offer multi-language tours as well if you're a private group.Katie Weller: And they guide inside the Gallery anyway so they know the space very well. And they were so excited at this opportunity. I think we went to a show, it was a trade show on the Strand and it was just a happy accident. I bumped into a lovely Blue Badge Guide called Sarah. And she said, "Oh, you're from the National Gallery?" I said, "Oh, well actually I'm looking for some Blue Badge Guides." She was like, "Right, that's it. I'm your main contact going forward." And Sarah Reynolds, her name is, and she's been brilliant at... I just gave her a brief and I just said, "Storytelling." I know I keep going back to this, but I was like, "You need to tell great stories. I don't want the tourists to be drowned in facts. Let's make it fun for them." In terms of highlights, it's a difficult one but it is up to the guide. Obviously, we've got some of the most famous paintings in the world. So we've got Van Gogh Sunflowers. We've got the Turner. We can't guarantee on any given day that they will necessarily see those pieces of art.Katie Weller: So we don't promise that they're going to see those paintings because the paintings move around quite a lot. We might have room closures, depending on what's going on. So the tour is very flexible, so we really do leave it up to them. But as I say, for us, it really is about bringing the Gallery to life and just telling the best stories they can, but yeah, without going into too much depth. It can make people feel unwelcome and a bit out of their comfort zone if you start going into so much detail.Kelly Molson: So this was one of my questions, actually, about accessibility. So I think when we chatted and what you've mentioned at the start of this chat is that the National Gallery, it can seem a bit daunting for people if they're not art buffs or they maybe feel that it's not the place for them.Katie Weller: Yeah.Kelly Molson: So yeah, part of what you've described, in terms of accessibility, different languages and things like that, how do you make people feel that these are inclusive for them, that it is for me or for Joe down the road?Katie Weller: Yeah, I think this is going to be a really interesting year in terms of learning as we go. There's going to be a lot of test and trial. Actually, only last week we had some EDI training, so equality, diversity, inclusivity training that was put on by the Gallery and it really opened my eyes up. It's such a big beast, doesn't it? And there's so many things to tackle. So I think it's really important when you push out a product, you've got to keep developing it. You can't just leave it. It's not done. It's not done with, so we really need to listen to our customer feedback, "How can we make them more inclusive?" So I don't know. I think that would just be a thing as we go and we will have to develop and change it. But we are aware that people have that view of us and we are actually going to be celebrating NG 200 soon and we want to change our customer welcome and we want to make it more friendly.Katie Weller: And that's the whole part with the Sainsbury Wing at the moment, it's not very friendly. It's not a friendly welcome. So we're going to get rid of the big black gates and we're going to make it more open. It's going to feel a lot more airy in there, whereas at the moment it can be, like you say, a bit daunting, I think, for customers. We want the Gallery to be for everyone. So that's really important.Kelly Molson: Yeah, I think that is really important at the moment, because we need to get more people back to seeing these incredible spaces that we have and the incredible artwork that you have. People kind of need to see themselves there to be able to do that, don't they?Katie Weller: Yeah, of course. So we've got a lot of people coming on lunch breaks as well. So if they work around here, people do just come in on their lunch break, which is lovely.Kelly Molson: That is really nice. That's something that I spoke with Jon Young about, from BVA BDRC, which I might have just said wrong because I always say that wrong. But he was saying how he loves that flexibility of just being able to pop somewhere after work because he's in London and I'm like, "Oh yeah, that's really nice." I'm not in London so there isn't really anywhere that you just pop to. And I'm like, "How lovely would that be, just to be on your lunch break and go, 'I'm just going to go and look at Van Gogh on my lunch break?'"Katie Weller: Exactly. Why not? Or Mondays with Monet?Kelly Molson: I love that. Is that a thing? That needs to be a thing.Katie Weller: Do you like it? Yeah, I might do that tour on a Monday, Monday with Monet. I think it's something... I read an article about this. I think that was yesterday, actually. And they were saying people aren't traveling into London as much, maybe two to three times a week, because there's that hybrid way of working which we do at the Gallery as well. And when people are in London, actually, they want to make more of their time while they're here. So I think people are starting to do that. And actually, "What can I do? I'm in London. I've paid to come I'm in. What else can I do when I'm here?" So yeah, I think there's going to be a bit of a change there. But yeah, always welcome. Anyone who's around the National Gallery, come in on your lunch break, come on a tour.Kelly Molson: Yeah, I really love that. Yeah, do the tour. Monet Mondays, like that.Katie Weller: Do you reckon I've got something going there?Kelly Molson: Ticked a massive box there.Katie Weller: Probably right.Kelly Molson: You mentioned the Blue Badge team that you're working with.Katie Weller: Yes.Kelly Molson: And I know that you are leaving it up to them. But there must be some way that you kind of map out what they have to do, like where they take people around the Gallery. Do you have a loose plan of how you work it out or is it just like free reign to them to say, over to you, what do you think you should deliver to someone?Katie Weller: Yeah, as I say, they've got a structure. However, because the Gallery, on any given day, we might have 10 rooms that are shut so it has to be flexible. They can't have set routes. So that's really important because also we are looking at pushing out not only the daytime tours but our exclusive tours as well when we can. So with that, we might have an event being set up. So they might not be able to go in the room that they always go in. So it's really important that they have that flexibility. But they're brilliant at it. And also I've been on the tours obviously just to make sure that they are saying what we want to... Again, it's just reviewing as we go along and really listening to the customer and their feedback and we can change as we go.Katie Weller: But I have full faith in the Blue Badge Guides because they're just so fantastic at what they do. They've got a huge amount of passion for it. So I can't imagine we'll get many complaints from people saying they haven't covered the highlights. Because they've got it, they know what they're doing. It's not in my place to tell them otherwise. But, yeah. But no, we will review as we move forward.Kelly Molson: Yeah, I love that process. It's about iteration, isn't it? So you'll run them, you'll run a feedback process and then find out what your customers are really thinking about it. And then I guess just kind of evolving those tours as you go along.Katie Weller: Absolutely. And it's so important to listen because what if, all of a sudden, well, once international tourism really starts to make a comeback, maybe we can start doing French tours on a Friday. I don't know why I have to make this rhyme, French on Fridays.Kelly Molson: But I like what you do there.Katie Weller: Yeah, I know. I've just realised. So if there's a demand for it, let's go for it. So yeah, that's really an important part of the process for me, just reviewing that feedback on a really regular basis. And next week, we're doing staff tours. So I think it's really important. We are driving out this new product, actually let the staff be part of it. What do they think? What's their feedback? It's just as important.Kelly Molson: That is a really, really relevant point actually, because if they don't know what to expect and they can't answer questions about them either, can they? They don't know what the tour actually holds for them.Katie Weller: Yeah, and working in a big place like the National Gallery, communication is key. And we've actually put together some operational processes in place. We've got some PDFs so if they've got frequently asked questions from customers, they've got something there in front of them. If not, they can obviously come through to me. But that communication element we've really tried to lay the groundwork now so there's not so many issues when the tours do kick off.Kelly Molson: Yeah, you mentioned lates. So you mentioned like evening, after hours or when when the Gallery is not open events, which is really exciting. I think that that is such a treat to go somewhere when it's closed, isn't it? That you are like, "Oh, nobody's in here. This is exciting." And I know that those lates have worked really well for other organisations as well. So prior to the pandemic we worked with Eureka, the National Children's Museum, and they ran a series of lates for adults. And they were incredible. They were so much fun because obviously it's a children's museum so all of the galleries are geared towards children and they're fun and entertainment. But really, the adults just want to get in there and have a bit of a go.Katie Weller: Oh yeah. Well, didn't they do that with their dinosaur sleepovers, that they did it for adults?Kelly Molson: Absolutely. Yes, at the Natural History Museum.Katie Weller: At the Natural History Museum. Yeah.Kelly Molson: And then yoga. They did yoga sessions at the Natural Museum. And I just think that's such a massive opportunity, isn't it? So what might that be that you're going to instill?Katie Weller: So with that, we've had so much excitement. So every time I say, "Oh, the out of hours tours..." Since coming out of the pandemic, people, they want new experiences and they want to do things which are Instagrammable if you like. "Look at me. I'm in an empty National Gallery." It might not be empty. We're probably setting up for events and there's curators walking around and conservation, but that's all part of the experience. Also for me, we're in central London. There's that beautiful hour between six and seven where a lot of the attractions have closed. People are milling about because they're waiting to go to dinner or they're waiting to go to the theatre. Actually. let's plot some tours in and use that time where they can come in and have an absolutely fantastic experience.Katie Weller: People are willing to pay a higher price point because it's more exclusive. So I have no doubt that they will do very well. Our partners are so keen to get those up on sale. And yeah, I can't wait. And we will develop other products as we go, but initially we'll just be pushing out the daytime tours followed by the out of hours.Kelly Molson: Yeah, that's a great time as well, what you said, isn't it? Six to seven, because it is a bit of a dead time while, like you said, you're waiting between stuff or maybe waiting for the later train home so it's not busy.Katie Weller: Exactly. And we're right in the middle of London so it's like all these people wandering about, "Come in, come in." But again, we're going to make sure that it really is about that quality experience. So we'll only have 25 people on that tour which makes it a bit more special as well.Kelly Molson: Yeah, I love that level of exclusivity. It does make it feel like a real treat, doesn't it?Katie Weller: Definitely.Kelly Molson: All right. So let's talk about the benefits. What is this going to bring to the Gallery? Because it's obviously going to bring in revenue, but it's going to hopefully bring in a new audience.Katie Weller: Well, that's it, isn't it? It's bringing in those new markets, those new audiences, which we wouldn't necessarily be able to target otherwise or it would be really, really expensive for us to do so. So that's why we use trade because that maximises our marketing budget as well. So it will be really interesting to sort of review who is coming in and we'll capture all of this data as and when bookings come through. And yeah, we'll just go from there. But I can't remember what your question was now because I've just gone off.Kelly Molson: It was about what is it going to bring the Gallery? But I think one of the things that you just mentioned there is about using trade again. And I think this is quite important to highlight. Because one of the questions that I was going to ask you was where's the price point for these and how do you buy them? Are they available to buy? Can we go and get a tour now? But you're actually going to sell them through a third party.Katie Weller: Yeah, so I guess it's a little bit different here because at the National Gallery, there's no products to necessarily push out. Or there is, but through commercial, like the exhibitions, but we don't touch those. Or they are using us, I guess, as a bit of a trial to see how it goes with the tours, push them out to trade, iron out any problems. And it would make sense for them to sell it B2C, business to client, eventually. So that will probably happen. But initially, if you want to book a ticket it would be through those trade platforms, like I said before, Golden Tours or Expedia or any of those platforms. Because I guess it really is probably geared more towards the international market, but it is domestic as well. And something really important to remember, pre pandemic, the Gallery, 80% were international tourists, 20% were domestic. Obviously, there's been a bit of a change during the pandemic, but it's really important that we don't forget about our international audience.Kelly Molson: Yeah, definitely. And I guess it's a good way to trial it working as well, isn't it, rather than committing? So if you think about the process of where attractions have been able to reopen after the pandemic but it has to be buy a ticket in advance, times ticketing as well. That's a big financial commitment to make in terms of your digital processes. Someone's got to manage that process, get it all up and running. This gives you a way of operating like that but without those digital financial commitments until you know that it's working.Katie Weller: Absolutely. And it makes it nice and easy for the team who will then push it out because everything's done for them. They can just go, "Okay, that process has worked well, that hasn't." And they will review it and I'm positive they will push out the tours. When I say to people that we're doing tours they are, "Has the National Gallery not got tours anyway?" And they do. Sometimes they put on random free tours, but it's not necessarily advertised, "It's this time every day." So it is sort of as and when people will come in, "I'll join this tour." So we just want to put structured tours in place like most other places do, like the British Museum. We did a lot of benchmarking for the price points. I know you mentioned about those. We do have to be careful because we are free of charge. But that's why we did a benchmarking exercise and things might change.Katie Weller: We might push these out and actually those out of hours tours, they might go up in price. They're 35 pounds for the out of hours, which I think is fair. And I think we don't want to outsell... Is that the right word, outsell? Because you think some people, if we go into corporate, they've got a lot of money to spend. But actually your general tourist, you don't want to push it out so that it's not attainable. Does that make sense?Kelly Molson: Yeah, it can't be unaffordable to people, especially to a new demographic that you're hoping to bring to Gallery and that going back to what we said about making it accessible for more people and for all. You don't want to kind of out price yourself. But then also, on the flip side, it is a very exclusive tour. 25 people on a tour, that's very small. That's really kind of exclusive, isn't it, for an out of hours? So yeah, you've got to try and get that balance right to what that's going to look like.Katie Weller: And again, it's all test and trial, isn't it? And I think if they're really in demand, we can push it up a bit, then fantastic. Great. But yeah, again, it's just a matter of reviewing it and seeing what happens. But I'm hoping for lots of sold out tours.Kelly Molson: I have no doubt there will be. But we're recording this. This is the end of March we're recording it. It's the 30th March today. When do the tours go on sale?Katie Weller: So actually one of our partners went live yesterday.Kelly Molson: Oh wow.Katie Weller: So you'll see, over the next couple of weeks, ticketing will go live. It's been a bit challenging because there's been so many loopholes to go through. And there were no contracts in place so I've been working very closely with legal and with finance. And putting these processes in place, it's things that you don't think about when you're developing a product. And we've just had to make sure that we've got that right ahead of going live. And we had to put in a system that would fully support travel trade as well for our ticketing and making sure that we can connect live with partners. So there's been lots of stuff going on in the background. But the tours start April 12th.Kelly Molson: Oh, amazing. Literally, a couple of weeks.Katie Weller: And then I decided to get married a few months... I don't know why I did this to myself.Kelly Molson: When is the wedding?Katie Weller: June, June the 6th. I keep forgetting the date. So obviously, I'm the whole team at the moment. I am travel trade so I've already given Claire, my head of department, the heads up, "I hope you're available because I might need a bit of help." But we'll build and we'll expand as we get into next year and what have you.Kelly Molson: Yeah, definitely. And listen, hopefully, you'll only get married once.Katie Weller: Exactly. Well, let's hope for the best. We got through the pandemic, so...Kelly Molson: Oh, Katie, thank you so much for coming on. It's been a real pleasure to talk to you today. I love the passion and enthusiasm that you've got for this.Katie Weller: It's been lovely. Oh, thank you.Kelly Molson: I'm looking forward to coming and visiting as well.Katie Weller: Yes.Kelly Molson: But before we go, I always ask our guests to recommend a book. So something that they love. It can be a personal choice, it can be a work related book. But yeah, just something that you'd like to share with our listeners.Katie Weller: So this book, you do have to take it with a pinch of salt. But it is such a good talking point. Let me know if you've read it. It's called the Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman.Kelly Molson: I have not read this.Katie Weller: You have to read this. So basically, in a nutshell, without spoiling too much, the Five Love Languages... So basically, he's looking at couples and he says that everyone's got a different love language. So the five of them, I've written them down so I don't forget, words of affirmation. So you might prefer it if your partner is, "Oh, you look lovely today. I love you," that might be your love language. Physical touch, so you might like it if your partner is very touchy, feely. Acts of service, so if they mow the lawn or do the washing up. I know for a lot of all people they're like-Kelly Molson: All of these things.Katie Weller: Yeah, you'd like every one, but they do say you normally have two. Quality time, so going out on day trips, going to the beach and stuff like that. Or receiving gifts, so that might... And they say it fills your love tank. It is a bit cheesy. It fills your love tank. So you normally have one or two that are your most prominent ones. For me, mine is quality time. I love experiencing. That's why I'm in this industry. Experiences and doing things. But my best friend, hers is acts of service. Or if he does the washing up she is so happy. Her love tank is full to the brim.Kelly Molson: That is really funny.Katie Weller: Isn't it?Kelly Molson: I've never heard of this before. I'm going to read this. This is really interesting. Mine would definitely be the time one as well. I think that it's so important. So you find this out about yourself and I guess then that sets you on your path of, "We need to make time for these things in our relationship?"Katie Weller: Well, what's really interesting about it is usually you reflect your love language on someone else because you think that's what they want. And this is where communication breakdown comes from. I think the couples that he's talking about, they're in bad times. And so it's like, "How could you actually communicate? He's cleaned up for you, but actually you are not very touchies because it's not your love language. But if he'd gone on a day trip with you, that might not mean much to him, but to you, "wow." So it's more about understanding what each other's love language is. So actually you might have to do things in a different way to what you would want. Do you know what? It's good for a pub chat.Kelly Molson: Yeah, absolutely. This is a book to read.Katie Weller: Oh, you can read it in a day as well. Yeah.Kelly Molson: Love it. I'm going to pop out and buy a copy of this. Oh, but listeners, if you want to win a copy of this, head over to our Twitter account and retweet this episode announcement with the words, "I want Katie's book," and you will be in the chance of finding out your own love language. I feel like this podcast has gone a whole different way.Katie Weller: Well, I know. I know. I can't wait for you to read it. You have to come to the Gallery and we'll go for a lovely coffee and have a chat.Kelly Molson: I think that would be a treat, Katie. I'm going to do that. Thank you. Thanks so much for coming on today.Katie Weller: Oh, you're so welcome.Kelly Molson: Good luck with the tour launch.Katie Weller: Thank you so much. Thank you, Kelly.Kelly Molson: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese,, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast.

Mediterranean, Aegean, Pirates. In the 14th Century BCE, records from Egypt hint at piracy and raiding across the sea. And artistic images even show Mycenaeans(?) at the pharaoh's court. All of this may reflect the history behind great stories like the Odyssey...Date: c.1400 - 1300 BCE. Music: Michael Levy, "Odysseus and the Sirens," www.ancientlyre.com. Audio editing by www.yourpodcastpal.com. See the "Mycenaean Papyrus" at the British Museum website. Mycenaean pottery from Amarna, at the Petrie Museum University College London. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

She wears a necklace of severed human heads with blood dripping from their necks. Her tongue is bright scarlet and sticking out. She carries a bloodied sword. Meet Kali, a Hindu goddess who is one embodiment of the Hindu principle called Shakti, meaning energy, power or force. Who is Kali and what does she represent? We're embracing some of the ideas of shakti in the West. You can take kundalini yoga classes or meditation courses to access your divine feminine energy. What is the philosophy behind these practices? Join Ernie Rea as he visits the British Museum to see a new statue of the female Goddess, part of a new exhibition called 'Feminine Power: From The Divine to the Demonic'. Curator Belinda Crerer and dancer and devotee of Kali, Indrani Datta, tell hi