{"id":13649,"date":"2025-06-13T13:56:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T12:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=13649"},"modified":"2025-06-13T14:15:45","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T13:15:45","slug":"university-of-cambridge-museums-activity-update-april-june-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.museums.cam.ac.uk\/blog\/2025\/06\/13\/university-of-cambridge-museums-activity-update-april-june-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Cambridge Museums Activity Update, April – June 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following a year of change, transition and new ways of working, this period was one of reflection and consolidation as we focussed on the planning and delivery of a second year of programming. Our well-established themes of <\/span>Social Justice, Our Planet, Creating Opportunities, Health and Wellbeing, and Programme Enablement <\/b><\/em>provided a focus for activity and audience development; and b<\/span>uilding on last year\u2019s successful pilot of Social Justice and Our Planet <\/span>research and development grants<\/b><\/em>, a new round of funding was launched. Encouraging our collections to develop innovative approaches to working with audiences and creative practitioners, we look forward to hearing from colleagues as they share their learning as case studies and at consortium events.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Case Study: Social Justice<\/b><\/h2>\n

A new NPO year and a new partnership. We are excited to be working with the <\/span>Kite Trust<\/b>, a local charity whose work supports the wellbeing and creativity\u202fof LGBTQ+ young people in Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and the surrounding area. This partnership provides the UCM with the opportunity to develop its offer to LGBTQ+ audiences and families, while demonstrating that our collections are safe spaces for all communities to spend time in. As part of this, our collections will be hosting some of the Trust\u2019s <\/span>Meet and Eat<\/b> events – activities which enable families to spend time together in a fun and supportive environment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The first museum Meet and Eat session was held at the Whipple Museum in May. The session included a tour exploring the history of science and scientific instruments through stories of LGBTQ+ scientists, who historically were often unable to express their identities openly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI learned that it was common for scientists to live with their [same sex assistants] but it wasn\u2019t assumed they were gay or in a relationship.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI loved that all the stories we heard were connected to objects in the Museum.\u201d
\n<\/span><\/i>Participant comments<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"1980s
An electric calculator highlighted on the tour. This uses the ARM chip developed by Sophie Wilson (born 1957, transitioned 1994), which is now used in 95% of smartphones.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All participants agreed or strongly agreed that they felt welcome and able to be themselves in the Museum, with further feedback highlighting their enjoyment:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed hearing about the trans scientist (and the food!).\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI really liked the openness of the staff, their knowledge and the engaging tour.\u201d
\n<\/span><\/i>Participants\u2019 feedback<\/strong><\/p>\n

“We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the museum\u2026 I would most certainly love to bring more Meet N Eats to the museums. They are always a big hit.”
\n<\/span><\/i>Kite Trust Coordinator<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By hosting these sessions, feedback and suggestions from participants will be used to improve our offer:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe learned a lot from the visit, which has already gone into our LGBQT+ museum trail. This will continue to be improved as we engage more closely with the Kite Trust. The work we did for this visit will also inform our new Bridging Binaries tour, which we hope to roll out in February 2025 for LGBQT+ history month and then make a regular feature of our Saturday openings.\u201d<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span>Learning Coordinator, Whipple Museum<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We are delighted that the trust will be delivering LGBTQ+ inclusion training for staff later in the year\u2014part of a package of diversity and inclusion training for staff that also includes \u2018Trans-Inclusive Culture\u2019 training organised by our Change Makers Action Group.<\/span><\/p>\n

Case Study: Our Planet<\/b><\/h2>\n

Through our <\/span>Collections in Action<\/span><\/i> Our Planet<\/b> funding, we are continuing to enable our museums and audiences to respond to the issues of climate change, biodiversity loss and unsustainable living. Between April and June, we supported the development of three new initiatives, all of which will take place later this year. Each of these projects will involve a creative practitioner and will be targeted at specific audiences, such as families exploring evolution and the links between the collections of the <\/span>Zoology, Sedgwick and Whipple Museums<\/b>; young people finding out more about sustainable fashion at the <\/span>Zoology Museum<\/b>; or a local mental health community group responding creatively to the theme of plant evolution with the team at the<\/span> Botanic Garden<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Using our collections to facilitate discussions around the Our Planet theme in a positive and exciting way is a major aim of our new <\/span>Community Pop-Up <\/b>programme. Taking place at <\/span>ten different locations in Cambridge city between October and November 2024, <\/span>we hope this project will allow us to develop a better understanding of what our local communities think or feel about the environment, and how they think museums should be responding to this.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the Pop-Up will not be out until later in the year, this period has seen us working in new ways with creative practitioners on the development of the project. This started with an open call inviting proposals for an eye-catching, sustainable resource which would:<\/span><\/p>\n