Dolce & Gabbana's window on Bond Street

Dolce & Gabbana’s window on Bond Street

After a brief interlude with chair and learning studio updates I’m back and so much has happened on every front. The highlight is that in a brilliant move a colleague has tracked down an actual guitar that Jimi played in the flat from a private owner who has very kindly agreed to lend it, we are beyond thrilled. Without a doubt this will be the centrepiece of the opening exhibition and it really couldn’t be more perfect.

Exhibition designer, Catherine and I had a delightful Skype conversation with Kathy Etchingham showing her some of our finds  for the recreated room and getting her feed back. Some things were not colourful enough, others were not quite right and a couple were spot on. Other fascinating discoveries during the conversation were how the curtains were hung – pencil pleats by John Lewis – perhaps one of their helpful partners might like to donate their time and come along and hang the curtains again.

Initial images of our new website which incorporates our expanded museum and Hendrix have been returned and in the main look good. There is still some refining to do but we are well on the way to becoming Handel & Hendrix in London and might finally have a website that you could view on a handheld device. I hear they have such things these days.

As the museum physically grows the team has to expand as well and I have been interviewing for two new positions. One is another Volunteer Supervisor to manage the additional volunteers we will require and the other Head of Learning and Participation to lead a variety of new activities and programmes that are being created as part of the capital project. We had really strong fields apply for both roles, largely I suspect because it is such an exciting and dynamic place to work at the moment. This is great although it has made the decision process a bit of a nightmare.

In the midst of all this are our wonderful builders led of course by the lovely Simon. Walls, flooring, fire extinguisher alcoves, paintwork, woodwork, padstones and steelwork and many other things which involve words that I just don’t know are progressing by leaps and bounds.

To cap it all Dolce & Gabbana have guitars blazoned across their windows – feel the zeitgeist. Anyone might think we had planned this.

Enthusiasm: Nervous energy
Progress: A little revelation from behind the scaffold
Quote: “Do you plan to take over the Bee Gees place down the road as well?”