{"id":13208,"date":"2023-11-28T16:17:53","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T16:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=13208"},"modified":"2023-11-28T16:28:31","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T16:28:31","slug":"university-of-cambridge-museums-activity-update-october-2022-march-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/2023\/11\/28\/university-of-cambridge-museums-activity-update-october-2022-march-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Cambridge Museums Activity Update,  October 2022 \u2013 March 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Read on for a roundup of the activity from the University of Cambridge Museums (UCM) between October 2022 and March 2023, the final six months of our Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation programme for 2018-2023. It draws on key statistics provided by the seven museums and Botanic Garden; and highlights some of the activity delivered under our new programme themes: Social Justice, Our Planet,\u00a0 Creating Opportunities, Health and Wellbeing and Programme Enablement.<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12573\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12573\" style=\"width: 652px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12573\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Power-and-Memory-dodo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"652\" height=\"814\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Power-and-Memory-dodo.jpg 652w, https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Power-and-Memory-dodo-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 652px) 100vw, 652px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12573\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This season, we\u2019ve collaborated with our communities on Power &amp; Memory, a programme of events, displays, workshops and discussions confronting Cambridge\u2019s colonial story<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Key statistics<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Our visitor numbers have recovered to pre-pandemic levels<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Between 1 October 22 and 31 March 23, the museums and Botanic Garden welcomed <strong>426,169<\/strong> visitors, making a final total of <strong>1,044,343<\/strong> for the year. This is almost 1.5 times more than our target of 700,000 and is over 60% higher than the number of visitors welcomed in 2021-22.<\/li>\n<li>Baseline audience research (which does not include participants in targeted programmes) indicates <strong>audience diversity is roughly consistent with the previous year<\/strong>. The representation of people who identify as d\/Deaf, Disabled or having a long-term health condition has continued to improve from 7.1 to 9.1%. 20% of our audiences identified as an ethnicity other than White British.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>We engaged with double the number of adults and young people than\u00a0 in the same period in 2022\u2026\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>8876 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">adults and <\/span><b>8451 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">children and young people aged 0-19 took part in\u00a0 informal learning sessions (events, talks and activities) making our total\u00a0 numbers for the year 26% and 31% above our annual targets (15,000 adults\u00a0 and 20,000 CYP).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We engaged with <\/span><b>93% <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of those participants in person (77% onsite and 16%\u00a0 in person at another location) and 7% online. Online informal learning <\/span>sessions were almost entirely for adults.<\/li>\n<li><b>938 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">early years children (0-4yrs) took part in activities with their families or\u00a0 nurseries, making our annual total of 1735 almost 2.5 times our target for\u00a0 the year (700).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>\u2026and are maintaining a significant hybrid learning offer for\u00a0 schools and higher education students<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>9% <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of school and HE participants engaged with us online, and 10% via in person offsite sessions. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>20,489 <\/b>CYP aged 0-19 took part in schools or formal learning sessions,\u00a0 making a total of 32,035 for the year, 60% higher than our target of 20,000. \u2022 We taught <b>4,271 <\/b>undergraduate and postgraduate students, an increase of\u00a0 30% on our annual figure for 2021-22.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Research\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We welcomed <\/span><b>892 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">research visitors and supported <\/span><b>1750 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">research inquiries. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2022 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We loaned <\/span><b>12 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">objects for research and teaching purposes.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Exhibition loans\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We enabled <\/span><b>424 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">incoming loans and <\/span><b>81 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">outgoing loans, exceeding our\u00a0 target for the year.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13212\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13212\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13212\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/sedgwick-mus-1024x721-1-e1700750507926.jpg\" alt=\"Bronze cast of a T-rex head on top of museum display cabinet\" width=\"800\" height=\"563\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/sedgwick-mus-1024x721-1-e1700750507926.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/sedgwick-mus-1024x721-1-e1700750507926-300x211.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/sedgwick-mus-1024x721-1-e1700750507926-768x540.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13212\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Outgoing regional loans included the Sedgwick Museum\u2019s iconic T-Rex cast to Wisbech &amp; Fenland Museum for its Dinosaurs! exhibition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Case Studies: Social Justice<\/h2>\n<h3>Power &amp; Memory<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A major focus of the last six months has been our work and research into the\u00a0 legacies of empire and enslavement, and our related <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/theme\/power-and-memory\"><b>Power and Memory<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">programme of events, displays, workshops, and community-led discussions.\u00a0 Underpinning this is our ambition to continue to explore place, power and\u00a0 identity within and beyond our collections.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Informed by our evaluation of how we can best support staff confidence and\u00a0 training in this area, CPD for staff and volunteers continues (see Programme\u00a0 Enablement below); this has been delivered alongside a broad range of public\u00a0 events and work with our local community.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Power Walks <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">have allowed us to develop a new, collaborative approach to the\u00a0 traditional museum tour. Led by museum staff, these events invite the public to\u00a0 explore six or seven objects across two of our collections and the Museum of\u00a0 Cambridge. While walking between collections, participants are encouraged to\u00a0 discuss the conflicting and challenging stories behind the objects and their\u00a0 colonial links, and to share their own experiences and knowledge. Feedback from\u00a0 participants indicates that they have welcomed the opportunity for a different\u00a0 kind of consultation with us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13213\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13213\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13213\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Untitled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman of colour stands beside a carving in front of a group of people.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Untitled.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Untitled-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Untitled-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13213\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Power Walk at the Museum of Archaeology &amp; Anthropology<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<blockquote><p><strong>It was fantastic &#8211; the two museums\/talks were very complimentary &#8211; gave an excellent insight into a range of items that otherwise we would have no idea about<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I had a very positive experience on this walk, a really inviting and welcoming environment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>It was fantastic, there is so much to see &#8211; we could have been there even longer\u2026 More time<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Feedback from Power Walk Participants<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Working with a group of artists, university students and early career museum professionals, <strong>Museum Remix: Power &amp; Memory<\/strong> provided another opportunity to explore our museums\u2019 complex relationships with power, racial inequality and colonialism. This two-day event featured workshops on storytelling, developing ideas, and audio mentoring and invited participants to create audio content offering an alternative interpretation of some of our objects.<\/p>\n<p>Six audio tracks were created in response to objects from the Museum of Classical Archaeology, Sedgwick Museum, and the Whipple Museum. These are available to access via QR-coded labels within the museums and are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/theme\/power-and-memory\">showcased on our website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13216\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13216\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13216 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/RW-1.jpg\" alt=\"2 woman sitting on floor in front of glass display cabinets featuring model globes\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/RW-1.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/RW-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/RW-1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13216\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Museum Remix participants take part in a storytelling session<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Those taking part in the project described their experience as:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Exciting, intense, empowering, thought-provoking<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Fascinating, challenging, fun, fulfilling<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>All the participants agreed that, <strong><em>\u201cI feel that my voice\/contribution has been valued by the University of Cambridge Museums\u201d<\/em><\/strong>, with additional feedback indicating the further value:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>[I valued]<br \/>\n<strong>Listening to the thoughts, ideas and visions of the museum curators. Helping expand my understanding of what museums are hoping to achieve in their initiatives to better their visitor experiences and teaching\/learning methods.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The freedom to intervene in the interpretation of museum displays and tell empowering stories. Meeting interesting and friendly people.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Having the freedom to approach collections in a very different way to work (as a Collections Assistant)!<\/strong><em><br \/>\nComments from Museum Remix participants<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Case Studies: Our Planet<\/h2>\n<p>Climate change is one of the single-most pressing challenges we face today and affects us all at an individual, organisational and global level. For this reason, we remain committed to work which explores environmental change, biodiversity loss and unsustainable living.<\/p>\n<p>In recognition that big problems require collective action, our <a href=\"https:\/\/carbonliteracy.com\/\">Carbon Literacy <\/a>training is bringing together a fully-trained team of museum staff to develop and deliver peer-to-peer training sessions across the consortium. Based on the <a href=\"https:\/\/carbonliteracy.com\/toolkits\/museums\/\">Carbon Literacy Museums Toolkit<\/a>, the project offers everyone a day of Carbon Literacy learning covering climate change, carbon footprints, how to \u2018do your bit\u2019, and its relevance. Delivering training in this way aims to bring us together and share skills, learning curves, and create a collective voice to bring about change across our museums.<\/p>\n<p>Six staff are now accredited to deliver further training with plans to develop a pilot programme of sessions from June 2023.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>We have the unique position of being a trusted public space where people can <\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>come to learn, engage and relax. I hope that by training staff to be Carbon <\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Literate we can encourage advocacy and change within our ways of working and <\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>outputs as museums.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I\u2019m taking part in the Carbon Literacy project because I want to be part of the <\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>positive action that will keep our institutions relevant and responsible. As <\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>museums, we owe the communities we serve, as well as the cultures and lives we <\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>represent, our best efforts in the pursuit of a liveable future.<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Feedback from Carbon Literacy training participants<\/em><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12615\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12615\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12615\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Zoology-Museum-Sustainable-Fashion-Event-UCM-14-October-2022-52-of-162-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Groups of people sitting at tables using assorted fabric and wool to make clothing items\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Zoology-Museum-Sustainable-Fashion-Event-UCM-14-October-2022-52-of-162-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Zoology-Museum-Sustainable-Fashion-Event-UCM-14-October-2022-52-of-162-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Zoology-Museum-Sustainable-Fashion-Event-UCM-14-October-2022-52-of-162-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Zoology-Museum-Sustainable-Fashion-Event-UCM-14-October-2022-52-of-162-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Zoology-Museum-Sustainable-Fashion-Event-UCM-14-October-2022-52-of-162-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Zoology-Museum-Sustainable-Fashion-Event-UCM-14-October-2022-52-of-162-2048x1365.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12615\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Museum of Zoology hosted a Sustainable Fashion late, Make Zoo and Mend, with<br \/>students from Cambridge Visual &amp; Performing Arts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Case Studies: Creating Opportunities<\/h2>\n<p>Over the last six months, we have continued to work with young people to raise aspiration, build skills and creative capacity. In addition to providing opportunities for participants to raise their confidence and develop skills in communication, leadership and creativity; recent projects have also focussed on providing paid career development opportunities as alternative pathways into the sector.<\/p>\n<h3>Inspiring young parents<\/h3>\n<p>Our partnership with the charity Romsey Mill is an integral part of their Young Parents Programme aimed at families with children under 5 who may be facing disadvantage. Over the course of a ten-week Bronze Arts Award course, six young people aged 17 &#8211; 25 explored the theme of Power within our collections, inspired by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/theme\/power-and-memory\"><strong>Power &amp; Memory<\/strong><\/a> programme.<\/p>\n<p>Activities including interviewing artists; skills sharing; teaching others; banner making; and exhibition reviews, allowed the participants to collaborate, share their learning, and develop new skills &#8211; all of which allowed them to increase in confidence.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>The project allows you to be creative in free time and it allows you to make <\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>friends, have fun and explore new skills.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I\u2019ve gained my creative space back.<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Feedback from participants<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Although the programme has recently finished, its impact continues. Out of the three young people who have passed their Bronze Arts Award, two are going on to a Silver Arts Award. The participants have also become more confident in accessing the general opportunities available across our museums with some<br \/>\nparents signing-up for \u2018Gurgling in the Galleries\u2019 early years activities at the Fitzwilliam Museum.<\/p>\n<h3>Celebrating Black History in Cambridge<\/h3>\n<p>We recognise that a strong cultural sector requires new skills and new talent and we remain committed to providing alternative pathways into the sector, especially for those who are underrepresented in our workforce.<\/p>\n<p>A recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/2023\/04\/14\/meet-our-celebrating-black-history-in-cambridge-interns\/\">Celebrating Black History in Cambridge<\/a> project created two paid internships at the Fitzwilliam Museum which centred on developing resources for the public highlighting the stories of Black people in Cambridge. The interns were given free rein to develop their ideas while receiving support, guidance and expert knowledge from two of the Museum\u2019s curators. This resulted in the creation of a \u2018Zine\u2019 and a colouring book which we are currently exploring how to market commercially.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12853\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12853\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12853\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Feature-4-e1701185425815.jpg\" alt=\"3 woman of colour pose for the camera while holding examples of their illustrations\" width=\"800\" height=\"597\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Feature-4-e1701185425815.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Feature-4-e1701185425815-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Feature-4-e1701185425815-768x573.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12853\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jade and Selena share ideas with Exhibitions Project Curator Wanja Kimani<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<blockquote><p><strong>I hope my colouring book and its texts will inspire future generations, helping\u00a0 them know their potential for greatness and that it will help to continue the\u00a0 legacy of Black excellence in Cambridge! I [want to] continue creating and\u00a0 developing. I would love to have more opportunities to share my work in\u00a0 Cambridge and around the world.<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Selena Scott, Celebrating Black History in Cambridge Intern<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Local Black history has largely been absent in imaginings of Cambridge, so learning about the accomplishments of these important figures has been important for me; I\u2019ve learnt such a lot\u2026 and have enjoyed being given lots of background and context.<br \/>\n<em>Jade Pollard-Crowe, Celebrating Black History in Cambridge Intern<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Case Studies: Health &amp; Wellbeing<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Research <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">shows that taking part in creative activities helps us live well and feel\u00a0 better, however, socio-economic barriers to accessing culture continue to exist.\u00a0 Working with a range of strategic partners, the work carried out by the UCM\u00a0 Inclusion Team is focussed on promoting wellbeing and supporting agency,\u00a0 confidence and access for those experiencing health inequalities.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Age Well<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recent participants in our <\/span><b>A<\/b><b>ge Well <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">programme have been invited to look,\u00a0 imagine and move in response to our collections. This project has seen us work in\u00a0 partnership with the Independent Living Service (ILS) to support older people\u00a0 living in sheltered housing and care settings to overcome limitations in accessing\u00a0 activities and spaces which are known to have a positive impact on their\u00a0 wellbeing. With older participants facing a range of barriers including mobility\u00a0 issues, social isolation, a sense of \u2018not belonging\u2019 and difficulty accessing the City\u00a0 Centre, the programme is specifically structured to ensure that participants feel\u00a0 less isolated, and focuses on promoting relaxation, cognitive and physical health.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>85% of participants <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">felt that taking part in the programme <\/span><b>made them feel \u2018better\u2019.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further evidence suggests that the programme is helping to break down life long cultural barriers with <\/span><b>65% of the participants having not been to a\u00a0 museum <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in the past 5 years outside of the Age Well programme activities.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12336\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12336\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12336\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/UCM-ahe-well-blog-post-image-3-scaled-e1648811627568.jpeg\" alt=\"Group of older people stand round a glass cabinet filled with globes with their arms raised above their heads\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12336\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dance with the Museum Independent Living Service, Whipple Museum, Globes collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>I was invigorated today &#8211; I felt calm, my heart sang with happiness!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>What lovely friendships we have made &#8211; sitting here together today under this tree &#8211; we are all safe and we are all happy!<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Feedback from participants<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Programme Enablement<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The UCM Partnerships Team supports a range of work across our consortium\u00a0 including evaluation and insight, communications and digital, community and\u00a0 practitioner partnerships, and workforce development. Much of this is enabled\u00a0 through our local partnerships and our commitment to engaging a wider range\u00a0 of external voices and experiences in the work of our organisation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Throughout this reporting period we have delivered a series of <\/span><b>Legacies CPD\u00a0 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sessions to ensure that our staff and volunteers have the knowledge and\u00a0 confidence to engage with this subject. In addition to three Legacies bitesize\u00a0 lunchtime talks focusing on museum education, Romantic literary archives and\u00a0 acknowledging violence in collections, we have provided in-depth training for\u00a0 learning and engagement colleagues on the following:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Communities and different perspectives: exploring how to engage with\u00a0 source communities, storytelling and creating engaging learning spaces <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Racism, classism, ableism, sexism and intersectionality in the museum\u00a0 context: exploring the experiences and impact of these on us, the museum\u00a0 sites and collections, and our audiences <\/span><\/li>\n<li>The role of museum education within our museums and in the wider\u00a0 society: exploring the practicalities of diversifying museum education and\u00a0 what this looks like.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><strong>I found the CPD sessions really useful and helpful. It&#8217;s not often that we as learning and engagement professionals find the time to get together and discuss and learn like this. The sessions definitely improved my confidence in engaging with this work. In particular the openness of the session leader to the complexities of this topic, and how important time and space can be when engaging with audiences on it.<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Participant feedback<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This period has also seen us consult and engage with external partners. We have\u00a0 now appointed an <\/span><b>NPO Board <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to oversee our new programme of ACE-funded\u00a0 activity 2023-26, made up of a majority of external stakeholders and\u00a0 representatives, and monitored annually to ensure it is representative of the\u00a0 diverse communities we serve.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our <\/span><b>Community Panel <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">regularly brings together twelve individuals from the local\u00a0 area to engage with the activities of the University Museums, and aims to\u00a0 empower community voices to challenge, and influence our activities. The\u00a0 inclusion of different perspectives and viewpoints on our exhibitions,\u00a0 programming, and other work ensures our museums have a wider appeal,\u00a0 making them more accessible to a broader audience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following the completion of a successful pilot phase, the Panel is now in its\u00a0 second iteration and museum staff who have consulted with the group have\u00a0 commented on the benefit of learning from its feedback and how they might\u00a0 continue to consult external community partners in the future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Members of the Panel have also highlighted the value of being listened to by the University Museums and museum staff and learning from each other:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>It made me feel like UCM is interested in, and values opinions from a diverse set\u00a0 of people. It made me feel like I had some ideas and opinions worth listening to.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Experts shared their ideas and were prepared to listen to our views.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The participants analysed it from a whole spectrum of views &#8211; some of which\u00a0 were similar to mine, others shed a completely different new light on an issue for me.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Read on for a roundup of the activity from the University of Cambridge Museums (UCM) between October 2022 and March 2023, the final six months of our Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation programme for 2018-2023. It draws on key statistics provided by the seven museums and Botanic Garden; and highlights some of the activity delivered under our new programme&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/2023\/11\/28\/university-of-cambridge-museums-activity-update-october-2022-march-2023\/\" class=\"excerpt-more hide-for-medium\">Read full article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":13232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165,419,420,166,369,167],"tags":[221,223,219,298],"coauthors":[389],"class_list":["post-13208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engagement","category-engagement-engagement","category-health-and-wellbeing","category-making-change","category-museum-life","category-research-practice","tag-access-inclusion","tag-cyp","tag-collections-engagement","tag-green-museums"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13208"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13233,"href":"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13208\/revisions\/13233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13208"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=13208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}