Museums/Galleries

Museums/Galleries networking/collaboration

To contribute to the identification of what might comprise 'mutually appealing oportunities' I have undertaken a brief survey of educational and enhancement activities offered by local museums and galleries. I have also explored the delivery of academic papers in non-academic contexts (the Leeds Psychogeography GroupLeeds City Art Gallery Exhibition talks and other local Lunchtime Lecture Series, e.g. at Holy Trinity, the Royal Armouries and Leeds Grand Theatre) and formats (BettaKultcha).

Discussions with a number of individuals from different Departments in Leeds City Art Gallery has resulted in a large group meeting, which will investigate the range of opportunities available, enable mutually beneficial possibilities to be identified and establish the precise details of the Classics Department's new role as partners in the delivery of the Art Gallery's educational remit. This role particularly recognises academic's ability to communicate the content of ancient myths depicted in art to a non-specialist public in terms of both their mythological and symbolic content.

The identification of the appropriate individuals within the Leeds Museums network and other museums is ongoing.

September 2012 update
October sees the launch of a new talks series Classics in our Lunchtimes, supported by a Leeds University EKT Innovation grant during its pilot phase, at Leeds City Museum, the talks series links the classics with later periods and explores a range of media. Talks are initially for the 2011/12 academic year (October-July). Attendance and feeback will enable the Department and Museum to decide whether a further series is viable. The monitoring of data such as how attendees heard about the talks and what topics they might be interested in hearing about will enable decisions about advertising and programme construction to better sustain the initiative in future.

Touchstones Rochdale's
Link4Life programme now includes a trial pair of workshops comprising a short academic introduction followed by acting workshop.
"Greek tragedy: the art of masked acting", with talk and workshop by Dr. Eleanor OKell, Saturday 29th October 2012 for 10-16s
"What did the Romans Laugh at?", with talk by Dr Regine May and workshop led by Dr Eleanor OKell, Friday 17th February 2012 for 10-16s
This trial will enable the popularity of such events (i.e. combining an educational and fun activity) to be gauged, a member of academic staff to be trained with regard to combining such activities and the timing of events in half-terms to be explored.
 
February 2012 update
Numbers and feedback from Classics in our Lunchtimes, both on the day and through the "catch-up" website, have been sufficiently good to justify extending the series - at Leeds City Museum's request - to encompass a full year of talks, with talks for August and September being added.
 
Both Link4Life events at Touchstones, Rochdale, received very positive feedback, with attendees being inspired to further learning, greater confidence and return visits to the museum (especially to take part in further activities on offer). The second workshop had repeat attendees and was picked up and advertised by the BBC's "things to do" feed.
 
Touchstones has proposed a number of ways forward ranging from drop-in "talks days", talks linked to objects in the collection, family activities and further workshops for different age groups, which will now be explored through discussion.
It is intended to link some further activities to specific objects within the museum's collection as a way of affirming the place of the activity at/for Touchstones and also demonstrating the link to academics' research. This coincides with a reorganisation of the collection, with several items of classical interest being brought out from the store and put on public view. 
At a broader level the intention is to investigate what kinds of activities with an academic dimension attract attendance and are most appreciated, with some attention being paid to relating to groups who are under-represented in attending museums or cultural events.