ICOM UK S&EP Museum Talk Event: Carving Passion Into Purpose

Please join us for the latest ICOM UK S&EP September Event.

This talk will explore how identifying unique opportunities or filling gaps within the heritage sector can lead to unexpected and rewarding outcomes. Indigo will share her passion for LGBTQ+ history and how she leveraged eight years of front-of-house experience to develop innovative approaches in her current role at The Georgian House, a National Trust for Scotland property.

Heritage organisations are facing increasing pressure to become more inclusive, but can often lack the means to implement large-scale change. By adopting a grassroots methodology, Indigo created a more inclusive visitor experience, which has received recognition and expanded into broader freelance opportunities. She will discuss the impact of this work, the importance of self-belief in pursuing niche expertise, and the value of building networks within the sector.

Speaker: Indigo Dunphy-Smith

Indigo has worked in the heritage sector across Australia and Scotland in various historic properties, from castles to convict barracks. She specialises in public programmes that make space for marginalised stories in traditional places. Alongside her career as a freelancer, she works at the Georgian House, a National Trust for Scotland property in Edinburgh. Here, she has been developing engagement material relating to Scotland’s LGBTQ history in the Georgian period. She is also the co-chair of the National Trust for Scotland’s LGBTQ network. She hopes her experience can support other properties, organisations and people to queer their spaces!

Call for Speakers

To support the ICOM’s engagement with younger generations, we welcome all people, regardless of their personal fields, to create this community together, including different voices, sharing research progress and developing cooperative projects. Museum Talks embraces a broad range of audiences from different backgrounds. The purpose of this project is to create a friendly environment for conversations. The speakers’ role in our events is pivotal to bringing a focused topic, provoking thoughts and bridging ideas from different professionals with focused practices. If you are interested in participating in the Museum Talks project, please let us know via this Google Doc.