Profile: Chris Power – Museum magician

While it may not be the archetypical rags to riches story, Chris Power’s career at the British Museum, from security guard to heading up its a-v department, takes some beating.

Power was an art student, studying illustration and animation, with an interest in film-making. When he finished college in 1979, he got a job at the British Museum as a security guard, patrolling the many exhibits at night. Around five years later, he noticed an internal vacancy for a projectionist, which appealed to his love of film. Nearly 30 years later, Power is still there and is now head of a-v at the Museum, heading a team of five staff, overseeing about 1,000 events a year in two theatres and five seminar rooms.

The use of a-v at the Museum has grown organically since the early 1980s. What used to consist of a small lecture, with 16mm film or slide projection, grew into bigger academic conferences and live events. ‘There had been small inroads before 2000, in some galleries we had small displays, but the building of the Great Court changed everything. Even down to using signage creatively, there is a much bigger scope for it now than there was before,’ says Power.

The building of the Great Court, completed in 2000, and the Clore Education Centre, where the seminars and lecture theatres are housed, saw an increase in technological investment. ‘After a slow, friendly, small-scale start, we went from 0 to 60 pretty quickly.’

The Museum now has an exhibitions department, conferencing department and a broadcast unit. ‘A-v was here before most of these other departments, so we’ve always acted in an advisory role. A lot of these things are now being done by other people, but we are always on the periphery in case we are needed.’

Power has his hands full with a large workload for just a team of five. The Clore Education Centre runs events seven days a week and planning for these events takes up most of his time. ‘I’ve always thought that a-v (when you are delivering live events) is delivering what people want, but often people don’t know what they want, so if you have enough skills, it’s like having a huge toolbox.’

A typical day at the Museum consists of public lectures, small conferences, school events, and some film programming, with high-profile lectures running in the evening. As AV was going to press, Power was putting the final touches to a large, free evening event called ‘Babylon Late’, which consists of a photographic lecture and exhibition, live music, poetry readings and a fashion show, all tied into the ‘Babylon: myth and reality’ exhibition.

Going digital

Another big project on the horizon is the Samsung Digital Delivery Centre, due to open this month. It will allow groups to interact with the Museum digitally, to search the databases, print images and use projection.

Power’s pet project is the improvement of the two main theatres, which he would like to upgrade to d-cinema. What else does the future hold? ‘More and more, the different areas of the museum meet in the middle, especially when it comes to technology, signage, exhibitions and live events. In 10 years’ time, I think there will be just one big area that deals with all the technical aspects of delivering the museum’s message. However that manifests itself, everything will be interactive.’

How does Power define his role at the Museum? ‘My job is to be outfacing towards the many different users. I do get my hands dirty, and if there is no one else around, I have to do almost anything. I liken all of the events we deal with to old music-hall magicians, you didn’t really know what was going on in the background, but the effect is what is important.’

Despite coming from a technical background, Power’s move up the career ladder has seen him shift from technician to project manager. ‘My job is to look out and see what’s coming. It’s a bit like being a flight controller, I joke we are just bringing in planes to Heathrow, but thank goodness if something does go wrong it doesn’t have that kind of impact – although people would get upset if their event didn’t work.

‘A lot of the time with events, a-v is the filter it has to go through before it happens. People will have a grand scheme for something and it’s my job to put it all together to deliver it as a unified project. I’m pointing out the practicalities of what they want to do and also playing devil’s advocate to make them justify why they want to do something in a certain way.’

Sharing the knowledge

Worried that his busy role was making him insular, Power had the foresight to organise a meeting this year between the heads and managers of institutions such as the British Museum who work within the a-v industry. Organised in conjunction with a-v recruiter Jacob Massey, the event saw visitors from the Science Museum, Tate Modern and the British Library, among others. The idea behind it was to share knowledge among like-minded individuals. The event was such a success that Power hopes to repeat the event two or three times this year, with the possibility of turning it into a conference.

He has been relieved to see a-v treated with more respect in recent years, but still feels the profession has a bad name. ‘A-v does suffer from the perception that an a-v person is a “techie”, someone who brings a telly somewhere. There’s a lot more to it. You prepare for a week and when the event comes around, no one has any idea what’s gone on behind the scenes.’

In this cynical day and age, it’s heartening to see someone who appreciates the position he’s in. ‘I find my job a challenge and enjoy everything I do because I learned everything from the bottom up. I’ve had to adapt, I used to run a small theatre, like an old school hall with 100 seats, to a huge conference centre with hundreds of seats.”

While it is not uncommon to find someone in the a-v industry who enjoys their work, there are few who take so much pleasure in their working environment as Power does.

‘I find it inspiring to be here, I come into work before the museum is open to the public. When I walk around, sometimes I’m thinking about my next meeting, but every so often I just stop and look around me, and if you can still do that after nearly 30 years – well there aren’t a lot of places that have that affect,’ he says.

QUESTIONNAIRE

- What do you like about your job?

Days are never quite the same, you are always meeting interesting creative people like film makers. We see hundreds of creative and intelligent people here, from film makers to academics.

- What do you dislike about your job?

I would like more resource, but we are working in hard times. There’s nothing I dislike about the Museum, it’s the thing that has kept me here, it’s such a unique place to work.

- How has the credit crunch affected your job?

It’s a global thing and will affect everything, people will have to use the resources they have until things gets better. At the Museum we generate a lot of our own income, it feels like a secure environment. The Museum has been around 250 years and, barring a cataclysmic event, will be around for another 250 years and more.

- Have you had problems finding trained a-v staff?

The last time we recruited we couldn’t find anyone who had all the skills we wanted. I tend to go for people with the right attitude, with a reasonable skill base, and offer training on site. A calm personality is key for us, a-v is normally the last thing checked at an event, which brings with it a lot of pressure.