̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Liz Hide

Cambridge museums recognised with substantial Arts Council England funding

sjr81 — Tue, 27 Jun 2017 09:29:58 +0000

Kettle’s Yard, who work in partnership with UCM, has also been awarded £1,163,028 as part of ACE’s National Portfolio, further enhancing the role of the ̽��ֱ��’s Museums and Botanic Garden as the largest cultural provider in the region.

Today’s announcement will enable the ̽��ֱ�� museums and collections to continue their mission of connecting more people with world-class collections of more than eight million objects, to reach new audiences who may face barriers to enjoying and participating in the museums, as well as facilitating and sharing exceptional international research for both Cambridge academics and a global community of researchers and scholars.

̽��ֱ��total economic impact of Cambridge ̽��ֱ��’s Museums and Botanic Garden was estimated to be at least £16m in 2015-16. ̽��ֱ��collections contribute to major academic studies at home and abroad, and last year the museums and Botanic Garden welcomed nearly one million visitors through their doors.

Professor Eilis Ferran, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Institutional and International Relations at Cambridge, said: “This significant announcement from Arts Council England recognises the important role that the ̽��ֱ��’s Museums and Botanic Garden play in research, learning, understanding and enjoyment. ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums exist for all of us, and are open free to the public, and this funding will enable them to continue to share this resource for the future.

“Audience-focused programmes like India Unboxed are a perfect example of our museums’ engagement with communities not just at home, but many thousands of miles away, too. We are working with Indian designers and artists to enable more people to experience our outstanding collections from India, marking the UK-India Year of Culture 2017.

Fitzwilliam Museum Director and Chair of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums Steering Group, Tim Knox said: “National Portfolio status for both the UCM and Kettle’s Yard is a huge privilege and one we take very seriously. Arts Council England has fully supported the huge changes and development we have made in bringing the work of the museums and the Botanic Garden together, and with their continued support there is plenty of exciting work yet to be done.”

UCM Museums Officer Liz Hide said: “ ̽��ֱ��eight ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums and Botanic Garden represent the country’s highest concentration of internationally important collections outside London. Since 2012, Arts Council funding has transformed the way the museums can work together to open up their collections for everyone. We are delighted that Arts Council England recognises the positive impacts through their continuing support.”

Arts Council funding will enable the UCM to continue its work reaching out to public audiences and bringing the ̽��ֱ��’s exceptional collections and research to many more people, through popular programmes such as Summer at the Museums and a huge range of partnership work with schools, charities, community groups and other cultural organisations across Cambridgeshire and the wider region.

Through temporary and permanent exhibitions, visitors can explore paintings by Titian, Monet and Picasso, biological and geological specimens collected by Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton’s notebooks, Captain Scott’s last letters, early hominid tools discovered in East Africa by Louis Leakey, rare material from now-extinct Dodo, local archaeological and natural history collections, one of the world’s finest collections of casts of Greek and Roman sculpture, and meteorites and moon rock from beyond our planet.

Both Kettle’s Yard and the Museum of Zoology are currently undergoing major redevelopments and will reopen in the coming year with substantially improved exhibitions, visitor facilities and resources, demonstrating the ̽��ֱ��’s ongoing commitment to improve and increase access to its collections.

Recent innovations and successes for UCM have included Cam Lates – alternative, after-hours events at the museums featuring improv comedy, music and film screenings , Twilight at the Museums, where families explore the museums by torchlight after hours– and the launch of India Unboxed, a wide-ranging programme of exhibitions, events and a film series.

Cambridge’s reputation as a centre of excellence for museums and culture in the UK received a vital boost today when Arts Council England (ACE) awarded ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums (UCM) more than £4.8m and National Portfolio Organisation status from 2018-2022.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums exist for all of us.

Eilis Ferran

Martin Bond

Twilight at the Museums, ̽��ֱ��Fitzwilliam Museum

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes

Major Partner Museum status for UCM

sjr81 — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 16:39:51 +0000

Over the last three years, Cambridge has made full use of previous Arts Council funding to transform the way its eight major museums work in partnership, and to unlock their world-class collections for both Cambridge and the wider world.

Major successes have included the Thresholds poetry project, curated by Carol Ann Duffy, and Discoveries at 2 Temple Place in London.

Discoveries, now transferred to ̽��ֱ��Fitzwilliam Museum, is the first-ever joint exhibition to involve all ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums and the first exhibition of Cambridge’s globally important research collections to be held outside the city.

And there was further good news today as Kettle’s Yard received first stage backing from Arts Council England to support the creation of a new Education Wing. ̽��ֱ��Arts Council funding, totalling £3.5m, is a substantial step towards the campaign target of £8.7m. Arts Council England have also renewed Kettle’s Yard National Portfolio Organisation status and committed £446,271 funding for the next three years.

Dr Jennifer Barnes, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International Strategy), and Chair of the General Board Museums Committee, said: “These significant awards announced on the same day, recognize the essential role museums and collections play in research, teaching and understanding. Each collection is of global significance, adding an extraordinary dimension to our university, community and region. Cambridge Museums, whether working as a single collection or together, demonstrate that curating the past is about understanding the present and creating new futures. These awards allow us to share that future with all who come to Cambridge, of all ages, whether as visitors, students or researchers.”

UCM plan to use the next round of Arts Council funding to consolidate ongoing progress into understanding, widening and diversifying its audience. Major steps to achieving this have already been undertaken with imaginative learning programmes, digital innovation and deeper connections with communities both in and beyond Cambridge.

UCM is also taking the lead in joining up arts and cultural provision across the city, with Curating Cambridge – a five-week programme of cultural events and activities from October 20 – typifying this new approach.

Tim Knox, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, said: “Being afforded Major Partner Museum status is a huge privilege and one we take very seriously. Arts Council England has fully supported the great strides we’ve made in recent years and, with their continued support, there is plenty of exciting work yet to be undertaken.”

Liz Hide, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums Officer, said: “Here in Cambridge, we are lucky in having many exceptional museums, each of which contribute to the academic, social and community work of the ̽��ֱ��. Our ongoing goal now is to open up the cultural riches of Cambridge to as wide and diverse an audience as possible.”

Hedley Swain, Area Director, South East, Arts Council England, said: “We are pleased to continue supporting ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums. It proposes to deliver an ambitious and broad ranging programme of activity that will support transformational access to its key collections. Its programme of activity will help further develop its position as a leading centre of excellence for conservation and collections based research. It will also continue to build on its pioneering community and lifelong learning programmes, whilst also establishing itself as a centre for innovative digital engagement. ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums also plans to reach more children and young people, with a particular emphasis on using digital platforms, ensuring they have the opportunity to engage with and be inspired by its collections. This work will be underpinned by its exemplar commitment to environmental sustainability, resilience and its support for museums and gallery career and workforce development.”

̽��ֱ��vision of securing Cambridge’s reputation as an international centre of museums excellence received a major boost today when Arts Council England awarded ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums (UCM) nearly £4.5m for 2015-18 and continuing Major Partner Museum status.

Each collection is of global significance, adding an extraordinary dimension to our university, community and region.

Jennifer Barnes

Sir Cam

Polar snow goggles from Discoveries at London’s 2 Temple Place, the first joint exhibition from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums, and the first to be held outside the city.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page. For image rights, please see the credits associated with each individual image.

Yes

Licence type:

Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike

̽��ֱ��importance of university museums

sj387 — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 13:23:34 +0000

This publication, launched at the recent Museums Association Conference in Liverpool, celebrates the growing success of university museums as part of the UK higher education sector, showing the unique benefits these collections deliver to the Higher Education, and wider cultural, sector.

̽��ֱ��report recognises that large, high-profile museums such as the Fitzwilliam Museum are the “major cultural provider[s] in their areas”, while also highlighting the contributions of smaller and specialist museums such as the six ‘embedded’ ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge museums, attached to different Departments, including the Polar Museum, the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences and the Whipple Museum.

̽��ֱ�� museums make a unique contribution to the public profile of universities across the UK; they hold 30% of nationally-significant collections but constitute only 4% of England and Wales’ museums. ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums (UCM) encompasses five of these nationally significant (‘designated’) collections, one of the largest clusters outside of London.

Last year, more than 100 UK university museums hosted four million public visits to 200 exhibitions and 3,500 public events.

Liz Hide, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums Officer, said: “Here in Cambridge we are lucky in having many exceptional ̽��ֱ�� museums, each of which contribute to the academic, social and community work of the ̽��ֱ��. This report also celebrates the important leadership role they play in the wider museums sector.”

̽��ֱ��report, Impact and Engagement, recognises the important role that ̽��ֱ�� Museums play in supporting and delivering research, as well as inspiring students and enhancing their learning. For example, the Fitzwilliam Museum, working with the Faculty of Education, has enabled object-based learning to be embedded in Primary PCGE courses, and in English, Religious Studies and Modern Foreign Languages in secondary education. In 2013, museum staff ran sessions that were attended by more than 200 Cambridge PGCE students.

̽��ֱ�� Museums also contribute substantially to widening participation, often being the first contact that children and young people have with Higher Education Institutions. ̽��ֱ��UCM’s own Children and Young People’s and Widening Participation Officer, jointly funded through the ̽��ֱ��’s Widening Participation fund, is quoted as an example of good practice in the report.

̽��ֱ��full report is available at http://issuu.com/universitymuseumsgroup/docs/impact_and_engagement

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge museums are among those highlighted as examples of best practice in a new report focusing on the outstanding contributions made by the ̽��ֱ�� Museums Group UK.

Here in Cambridge we are lucky in having many exceptional ̽��ֱ�� museums, each of which contribute to the academic, social and community work of the ̽��ֱ��

Liz Hide

Whipple Museum/James Linsell-Clark

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page.

Yes