Every year the University of Cambridge Museums (UCM) run a 10 week bronze arts award project with a young parents group from local charity Romsey Mill. Our 2020 project had to finish early due to the first lockdown and our 2021 project had to be adapted and re-planned in a week, after the country moved from the tiered system to…
In 2018, the University of Cambridge Museums (UCM) extended the opportunity for blind and partially sighted people to engage with collections through a pilot creative workshop series . Proving instantly popular, this work has gone on to become a core part of the Museums public programme, both pre and during the Pandemic. Working very much in the frame of collaboration…
Every year the University of Cambridge Museums (UCM) run a 10 week bronze arts award project with a young parents group from local charity Romsey Mill. Our 2020 project had to finish early due to the first lockdown and our 2021 project had to be adapted and re-planned in a week, after the country moved from the tiered system to…
In 2020, Playlanders was chosen as ‘Playgroup in Residence’ at the Fitzwilliam Museum. After the research residency came to a premature end due to coronavirus, staff at the museum and playgroup have continued to find ways to help the children build connections with art. In previous years Fitzwilliam Museum has enjoyed welcoming children from Playlanders on visits, not least during…
In 2018, the University of Cambridge Museums (UCM) extended the opportunity for blind and partially sighted people to engage with collections through a pilot creative workshop series . Proving instantly popular, this work has gone on to become a core part of the Museums public programme, both pre and during the Pandemic. Working very much in the frame of collaboration…
Nathan Huxtable shares his experience here of developing and delivering a remotely delivered pilot art programme designed to engage the University of Cambridge Museums‘ (UCM) Portals to the World participants, people with a dementia diagnosis or cognitive impairment and their care partners. Nathan is the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Education Assistant and a practicing artist. In its tenth year, Portals is a partnership programme…
Last month, we marked one year since the introduction of measures to limit the COVID-19 pandemic. Our last update was published in October 2020, just as the University of Cambridge Museums and Botanic Garden (UCM) were prepared to be fully open to the public again for the first time in six months. A return to normality? Not quite. Our pandemic journey…
The University of Cambridge Museums (UCM) pilot Community Panel aims to test a process to enable dialogue between the UCM and individuals from the community, bringing local voices and perspectives to the work we do as a consortium, and challenging our group ways of thinking and working. The concept of a UCM Community Panel was first developed way back in…
Last month, we marked one year since the introduction of measures to limit the COVID-19 pandemic. Our last update was published in October 2020, just as the University of Cambridge Museums and Botanic Garden (UCM) were prepared to be fully open to the public again for the first time in six months. A return to normality? Not quite. Our pandemic journey…
What can data tell us about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the University of Cambridge Museums’ audiences? This question and more were explored by the University of Cambridge Museums Team at March’s Datafest. You can catch up on the series of bitesize talks and other resources here. QR Codes in Museums- the basics and latest findings, with Sarah…
A lot of buildings and architectural features in and around Cambridge have historically been made of limestone as it was readily available and relatively easy to quarry and to carve. Today, some of these features and objects can be found in local museums, like for example, the sculptures at the Museum of Cambridge (shown above) that used to decorate the…
What if a storage container could tell you when a museum object needed treatment? Why are so many toys sacrificed in the name of conservation? Should we clean plastics like we clean paintings? Is sustainable cold storage a pipe dream? How can we get the most from collections that are doomed from the start? These questions and many others were…
