DATS 2019 Conference
Redressing Diversity: Making Hidden Histories Visible

This year’s conference will be taking place at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery on lThursday 28 - Friday 29 November 2019.

The theme for the 2019 DATS’ conference is ‘redressing diversity’ and will be hosted by the Norfolk Museums Service.

Museums are increasingly looking to diversify their collections, audiences and outputs. What part can dress and textile collections play in trying to represent BME, Deaf, disabled, LGBTQIA+ and other hidden histories? How do curators, co-curators and community collaborators discover stories within existing collections or under-take new collecting?

The full conference programme, including tours, is listed below.

DAY 1 Thursday, 28th November

10.00 – 10.15 Registration and coffee
10.15 – 10.20 Welcome and Introduction

10.20 - 11.35 Session 1: Queer Stories
Collecting Pride T-shirts
Alice Power

Queering Extant Costume Collections: The Case of Norman Hartnell’s Sequinned Pyjamas
Dr Jane Hattrick

Queer Looks: Creating a Collection
Martin Pel

11.35 - 12.00 Tea and coffee

12.00 – 12.55 Session 2: Collecting Hidden Histories
Frayed: Textiles on the Edge. Curating an exhibition of therapeutic textiles
Ruth Battersby Tooke

The Westminster Menswear Archive: Building a Collection
Danielle Sprecher

12.55 - 14.00 Lunch

14.00- 17.00 Session 3: Concurrent tours
Delegates are invited to attend the following three events, with an hour reserved for each.

1. Costume and textile store tour. Showing accessible storage and highlights of the collections.

2. Objects with ‘hidden histories’. A focused session based at the Norwich Castle Study Centre.

3. Visit the History of Norwich Textiles display at the Museum of Norwich. There will also be a demonstration of weaving on the jacquard loom.

17.30 – 19.30 Conference dinner
A table has been reserved for us at Cote Brasserie. It is a 5 minute walk from the Museum. Email vanessa.jones@leeds.gov.uk to register interest. Further details will be circulated once you have reserved your space.

DAY 2 Friday, 29th November

09.00 – 09.30 Registration and coffee
09.30 – 10.15 AGM

10.15 – 11.30 Session 4: Table discussions
Led by staff from Norfolk Museums Service and Heritage Centre, delegates are invited to participate in
three concurrent 20 minute round table discussions. The three discussions will be on the following
topics: LGBTQ+, decolonisation and wider themes of hidden histories and diverse representation within
museums. There will be a chance at the end of the discussions to come together and share ideas about
how we can better approach hidden histories in museum dress collections.

11.30 - 12.00 Tea and coffee

12.00 – 12.55 Session 5: Fashioning Africa
Title tbc
Rebecca Quinton

Fashioning Africa; Post-colonial collecting in collaboration with communities
Rachel Heminway Hurst

12.55 – 14.00 Lunch

14.00 – 15.15 Session 6: Diversity and Fashion
I Stand Corrected? New Perspectives on Orthopeadic Footwear
Rebecca Shawcross

Frida Kahlo: Making Her Up
Rachael Lee

Body Beautiful: Diversity on the Catwalk
Georgina Ripley

15.15 - 15.45 Tea and coffee
15.45 – 16.00 Closing remarks

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Bursaries
We have a few bursaries available to assist people to attend the conference. If you think this would be of use please email us at conference@dressandtextilespecialists.org.uk with a paragraph with details of the costs you would like covered and your reason why. The committee will consider all applications.

Dietary and Access Requirements
Refreshments, including lunch, will be provided on both days.
Please email conference@dressandtextilespecialists.org.uk with any dietay or access requirements before 14 November.

#RedressingDiversity @DATSnetwork