What do you do when you mount an exhibition – and then close for lockdown two days later? Pivot online, of course! If these past months have taught us anything, it’s been the sheer power and potential of digital to reach audiences both old and new. But for small museums, without large teams to strategise or resources to draw upon,…
Could a work experience placement work in the virtual world of the 2020 lockdown summer? We decided to find out in the best possible way: by putting our apprehensions away, and just trying to do it. The Museum of Classical Archaeology runs a work experience programme for A-level and university students every summer. We advertised for it at the beginning…
What do you do when you mount an exhibition – and then close for lockdown two days later? Pivot online, of course! If these past months have taught us anything, it’s been the sheer power and potential of digital to reach audiences both old and new. But for small museums, without large teams to strategise or resources to draw upon,…
Could a work experience placement work in the virtual world of the 2020 lockdown summer? We decided to find out in the best possible way: by putting our apprehensions away, and just trying to do it. The Museum of Classical Archaeology runs a work experience programme for A-level and university students every summer. We advertised for it at the beginning…
Bramley Court Care Home joined the Dance and Time with the Museum programme at the end of 2019. For two weeks we visited residents in the familiar comfort of the care home setting, taking high quality images of paintings to promote conversation and enquiry, inviting them to share their thoughts and feelings about the paintings, introducing music to complement the…
On 19 March, the University of Cambridge Museums and Botanic Garden closed to the public following Government advice. This week, we will be fully or partially open again across all sites for the first time in over six months. This post describes some of the activity we have delivered in that time, how we continued to serve our audiences, and…
The RePresent Project, led by researcher Danika Parikh, aims to bring the voices of historically excluded communities into museums. This year, the project worked with the Cambridge African Network and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) to bring the voices of people of African descent into the museum’s galleries. Tell us a little about the project Danika: The…
As a curator, I want to make visitors stop in their tracks, look, think, and engage. I want to confront, critique, and challenge. High ideals for sure but great art is powerful, provocative and profound, and has the ability, especially when mediated through careful curation, to transcend and transform. Sensual/Virtual: Two Coloured Sculptures juxtaposes two masterpieces of carved and painted…
As a curator, I want to make visitors stop in their tracks, look, think, and engage. I want to confront, critique, and challenge. High ideals for sure but great art is powerful, provocative and profound, and has the ability, especially when mediated through careful curation, to transcend and transform. Sensual/Virtual: Two Coloured Sculptures juxtaposes two masterpieces of carved and painted…
The University of Cambridge Museums Shop is going online! In the quest to find new ways to connect with our visitors, we’ve teamed up with Click It Local, a service that encourages sustainable, community-focused online shopping. In common with other areas of museum life, this year at the UCM Shop we have had to think differently about what we do…
Plaster casts aren’t just small objects which sit in tidy museum storage drawers. Oh no. Here at Museum of Classical Archaeology (MOCA), we have some pretty big plaster casts – and some of them are hung up really quite high on the walls. So what happens when we need to access them for essential conservation work? Read on to find…
On 19 March, the University of Cambridge Museums and Botanic Garden closed to the public following Government advice. This week, we will be fully or partially open again across all sites for the first time in over six months. This post describes some of the activity we have delivered in that time, how we continued to serve our audiences, and…
