My university, Canterbury Christ Church, doesn’t have a permanent collection of any sort, but it does have a good high-street gallery space.
With the help of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, the university appointed a researcher who in turn recruited 20 volunteers and they all set off on a project to uncover 400 years of Canterbury’s history from 1600.
Volunteers were set themes to research and each theme corresponded to a large colour panel, which in turn would make a page of a book. A professional illustrator brought the whole thing to life.
When it came to fleshing out the exhibition, we are fortunate to have good links with two major local museums. Canterbury Archaeological Trust and the Kent Costumes Trust. Both have made loans.
It is understandable in the current difficult financial climate that museums are wary of using volunteers when people’s jobs are at stake. In this case, volunteers’ research skills were invaluable as they sped off to all sorts of places to find information that a small research team might not have been able to find.
Pop up exhibitions are often criticised for not being on for long enough. In our case we decided to bring out a book and promote a quiz via a website to allow the show to live on. First and foremost it is a show for the local community.
Museums, I feel, should use community assistance if they have the resources to manage it. If carefully set up, such projects can achieve surprising results, punch above their weight and immediately get public interest.
Mike Butler is cultural manager at Canterbury Christ Church University.
Canterbury from 1600 runs from 16 November–19 December at the Sidney Cooper Gallery Canterbury
With the help of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, the university appointed a researcher who in turn recruited 20 volunteers and they all set off on a project to uncover 400 years of Canterbury’s history from 1600.
Volunteers were set themes to research and each theme corresponded to a large colour panel, which in turn would make a page of a book. A professional illustrator brought the whole thing to life.
When it came to fleshing out the exhibition, we are fortunate to have good links with two major local museums. Canterbury Archaeological Trust and the Kent Costumes Trust. Both have made loans.
It is understandable in the current difficult financial climate that museums are wary of using volunteers when people’s jobs are at stake. In this case, volunteers’ research skills were invaluable as they sped off to all sorts of places to find information that a small research team might not have been able to find.
Pop up exhibitions are often criticised for not being on for long enough. In our case we decided to bring out a book and promote a quiz via a website to allow the show to live on. First and foremost it is a show for the local community.
Museums, I feel, should use community assistance if they have the resources to manage it. If carefully set up, such projects can achieve surprising results, punch above their weight and immediately get public interest.
Mike Butler is cultural manager at Canterbury Christ Church University.
Canterbury from 1600 runs from 16 November–19 December at the Sidney Cooper Gallery Canterbury
