Brilliant museum projects, funded by you

Today we wanted to share with you some of the fantastic projects that museums are currently undertaking thanks to your donations to our Together for Museums campaign.

Your support enabled us to create a new funding programme, ‘Reimagine’ – offering museums grants of between £5,000 and £50,000 to help them rethink and rebuild following the pandemic.

This vital funding is now helping museums across the UK to connect with new audiences, reimagine their spaces, forge deeper connections with their communities, and much more; and none of this would have been possible without you. Thank you.

Here are just a few of the exciting and innovative projects that your donations have made possible.

In a major project involving nine museums including the Museum of Liverpool, the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford and Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds, arts organisation Screen South/Accentuate is working with groups of D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people to explore museum collections through a disability lens.

Artist Emily Sorrell is investigating the human history of Bristol's Clifton Suspension Bridge, a popular spot for engagements - inviting people who have shared precious moments there to contribute.

An exhibition at Midlands Art Centre in Birmingham this summer will present work by artist Adeela Suleman alongside activities to engage with communities underrepresented in the visual arts. At Two Temple Place in London, a major exhibition running until 24 April 2022, Body Vessel Clay, showcases work by women ceramicists of West African heritage.

And arts charity Queercircle have organised a free series of talks with LGBTQ+ artists from around the world.

Other projects are focused on inspiring younger generations in and out of school.

In Launceston, Cornwall, the Charles Causley Trust are engaging young people in a creative writing project, taking inspiration from the market town and particularly its historic English Heritage castle. Museums and Heritage Highland are leading an ambitious project to bring together objects from 15 museums across the Highlands of Scotland in a digital learning hub, enabling children, young people and teachers to engage with these collections online. And at Jane Austen's House in Hampshire, young people will be empowered to explore the role of women at home and in society through Jane Austen's writing.

For other organisations, it was important to enhance their online activities to reach wider audiences of all ages.

The Vindolanda Trust in Northumberland have been working with a student from Newcastle University's Game Lab to create a special online exhibition for children. And at the Story Museum in Oxford, students have had a hand in creating a digital version of the Enchanted Library Gallery, gaining skills in narrative gaming and helping to share the museum's collection.

As many of these projects demonstrate, engaging children, schools and young people is high on the agenda for museums; but as their budgets continue to tighten, opportunities for the young are especially vulnerable to cuts.

That's why our current fundraising campaign, Energise Young Minds, is all about helping museums to provide more opportunities for young people.

If you'd like to find out more, why not watch our short film and hear from museums and young people why connecting with art and museums early on is so important. Plus, thanks to a generous supporter, every donation made to our Energise Young Minds campaign until 31 March will be matched, making twice the impact.

It's thanks to the generosity of donors like you that we're able to help museums thrive. Again, thank you so much for your support for Together for Museums. We look forward to keeping you updated with more of what your donations have made possible.