Collecting Coventry Focused Feedback Groups – Reporting and Review

In 2024, the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum developed and produced an exhibition called Collecting Coventry with the aim to: 

• Research, develop and produce a meaningful exhibition based on our collections, which is accessible to all audiences and representative of Coventry’s diverse communities.
• Provide opportunities for audiences to contribute and input into our future collecting priorities to ensure collections are representative and relevant to the people of Coventry. 
• Celebrate our collections but also question origins of collecting and what it’s relevant to collect now and in the future.  
• Work with the Learning and Engagement team to further develop relationships with community and art groups in and around Coventry for co-creation.  
• Develop and extend audiences through engagement with digital and online content and learning programmes.  

As part of the feedback being gathered during the exhibition we facilitated three focus feedback sessions with local community groups and the visiting public. This will allow us to collect detailed thoughts, opinions and suggestions, which will help define our collecting practices in the future and ensure we are representative, relevant, and that we can provide welcoming experiences for the communities of Coventry.  

The following report details our reflection on the focus groups. We would like to share what we have learned with you.