Hannah Fox on how a community's imagination reshaped a museum.

Rob Hopkins

What would you do if you were appointed to run a museum, with very little budget, a very small team, and a sense that the place had run out of direction and vision? If you’re Hannah Fox, and you’ve just been asked to come up with ideas for the future of the Silk Mill Museum in Derby, you turn to the imagination, in particular, to how best to enable the people of the city to apply their imaginations to the museum’s future. It’s a fascinating story. I visited the Museum in July, and Hannah kindly showed me around, and made time for the interview that follows. Their approach was implications for how many different organisations might approach change in a way that releases, rather than sidelines, the imagination.