Resources

Imagination Museum Participant Profiles

During our Imagination Museum Advocacy Events in 2024, we were given permission to collate profiles from some of the people attending the events in Ipswich, St Austell, Blackpool and London. If you are interested in reaching out to like-minded people in different areas, please contact The Imagination Museum via our 'Join In' page, and we might be able to help you make a connection.

Power of Stories Evaluation

Colchester and Ipswich Museums

Breaking record footfall at Christchurch Mansion when the exhibition was first on display, the Power of Stories project used film costumes – including those from Marvel’s Black Panther – historic museum objects, and local stories to explore storytelling and identity. Read some of the project's key findings in this illustrated evaluation.

A Digest on Nature, Health and Wellbeing

Restoration Trust and Helen Shearn

How the natural environment can support health and wellbeing through social prescribing and nature-based interventions/activities.An advocacy and information tool for social prescribers, produced by creative health consultant Helen Shearn as part of our work with the Brecks Fen Edge and Rivers Landscape Partnership Scheme.

Precarious Movements

Brannigan, Erin et al.

This freely available, online resource focuses on choreographic work in the context of the museum and addresses how we can better serve and represent the artist in this context. It is intended as a reference for artists working with museums to provide knowledge and to support their agency and autonomy in such situations. The Precarious Movement resource is also available as an open access publication.

Performance: Conservation, Materiality, Knowledge

Bern Academy of the Arts, Institute Materiality in Arts and Culture

Performance: Conservation, Materiality, Knowledge is an ambitious research project based on the premise that performance art can be conserved.

Restoration Trust Heritage Linkworker

Restoration Trust and Historic England

Read more about the Restoration Trust's Heritage Linkworker project. Collaborating with local health and heritage services, the Heritage Linkworker connects local people who are referred to social prescribing services with heritage activities and organisations in Great Yarmouth and Waveney.

GEM – The Group for Education in Museums

GEM is for everyone interested in learning through museums, heritage and cultural settings. It was founded in 1948, and strives to support and empower our community of colleagues to connect and learn together.

Museums Association Manifesto

Museums Association

The Museums Association have launched a manifesto calling for everyone to have the right to access to museums and for new public investment in museums across the UK. The manifesto covers a range of topics, including access, funding, local museums, environmental responsibility, repatriation, fair pay and Exhibition Tax Relief.

Creatively Minded and Heritage

Commissioned by The Baring Foundation and produced by The Restoration Trust

How can heritage and creativity support mental health? This new report showcases work from 18 heritage and arts organisations using our wealth of heritage assets, and the creativity of artists, to improve mental health and community connections.

VocalEyes Heritage Access Report 2022

VocalEyes, Stagetext, Autism In Museums and the Centre for Accessible Environments

VocalEyes, in partnership with Stagetext, Autism in Museums and the Centre for Accessible Environments, is delighted to publish a report which highlights the importance of online access information for the UK museum and heritage sector, and tracks the changes in the state of access over the past four years.

Dancing Museums website

Dancing Museums was developed in two phases: Old Masters, New Traces (2015 - 2017) and The Democracy of Beings (2018 - 2021). To culminate this research project, a new website has been created to document what was discovered throughout this period as well as give the project an ongoing legacy to urge a change in the position of the audiences and artists alike within the museum context. Image Ben Harriott.

Public Dance Pack

Grace Nichol and collaborators

Arts&Heritage

Arts&Heritage forges collaborations between contemporary artists and heritage organisations to create new perspectives for diverse audiences. Its projects bring to life the narratives, atmosphere and architecture of histories and places. Visit the Resource Hub via their main website (log-in required) to access Case Studies, Tools and Templates.

A manifesto for museum learning and engagement

Museums Association

Trust New Art

National Trust

The National Trust's 'Trust New Art' programme includes visual arts, crafts, architecture, performance, writing and immersive installations. Working with artists to create new work inspired by the spirit of National Trust sites and properties. Picture National Trust, Anthony Chappel-Ross

Get Dancing Evaluation

Ruth Melville, Ben Morgan, Rebecca Ranson

An evaluation of Showtown's 'Get Dancing' project (2020-2022) with community arts organisation, LeftCoast, and local dance collective, House of Wingz, to bring together communities from all over the world to create a brand new social dance, inspired by a long tradition of novelty dances in Blackpool.

Kids In Museums

Kids in Museums

The Kids in Museums mission is to work with museums nationwide to make them more welcoming of children, young people and families. They support and champion family friendly organisations all over England and Wales through a range of simple, but powerful programmes (including Takeover Days), the majority of which are free of charge to access.

Trans-Inclusive Culture: Guidance on advancing trans inclusion for museums, galleries, archives and heritage organisations

The University of Leicester’s Research Centre for Museums and Galleries

The University of Leicester’s Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG) has developed comprehensive guidance on advancing trans inclusion for museums, galleries, archives and heritage organisations. The guidance is supported by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Creating Self-Guided Resources for Families

Kids in Museums and Sarah Shaw (Director of Museum Tales Ltd)

Top tips for creating self-guided resources for children and families at your museum or heritage site. Photograph by Stephen Garnett for Kids in Museums

Creating Family Friendly Interpretation

Kids in Museums and Sarah Shaw (Director of Museum Tales Ltd)

Top tips for creating accessible family friendly text and panels in your museum or heritage site. Photograph by Msc1photography for Kids in Museums.

SEND in Museums Advocacy Film

SEND in Museums

A ten minute advocacy film showing the reason why children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) should be welcomed in museums and galleries.

Why Dance in A Museum? How Art Became Active

Tate; Jacky Klein

The first in a series of 5 ‘TateShots’ presented by art historian Jacky Klein, exploring five different ways in which performance is found inside, and sometimes outside museums and galleries.

The Restoration Trust

Restoration Trust

The Restoration Trust initiates and runs projects that connect people who live with mental health issues with heritage, including archaeology, ancient landscapes, historic places and archives.

The Live List

Collecting the Performative Research Network

A set of prompts to consider when bringing a live work into a collection. The text was jointly authored by the participants in the final meeting of the research network 'Collecting the Performative', which examined emerging models for the conservation and documentation of artists’ performance.

Dance and Museums working together symposium report

Emma McFarland

The Dance and Museums Working Together Symposium took place in November 2014 and was produced by Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and the Horniman Museum and Gardens. This external evaluation began to outline a model for the different ways in which museums and artists/arts organisations can collaborate together.

Film: Waving goodbye to Victorian Dad

Bristol Culture, Elliott Mayhew

Why use diverse performance in museums? 'Waving goodbye to Victorian dad' was organised by Bristol Culture as part of 'Doing Things Differently'. Supported by Bristol City Council and Arts Council England. Film by Elliott Mayhew.

Subject Specialist Networks

A Subject Specialist Network (SSN) provides advice and guidance about collections, acquisitions, preservation, access, and research on a specific subject area. Find out more about the SSN Consortium or get in touch via their website here.

My primary school is at the museum

Kings College London

'My primary school is at the museum' tested the hypothesis that there may be beneficial learning, social and cultural outcomes for primary school children and their families when a significant portion of their learning takes place in a museum setting, as well as demonstrating the benefits for museums.

Using dance in the primary history curriculum

Emma McFarland, EMC Arts

From July 2016 – March 2017 dance company Made By Katie Green undertook a research project exploring how dance might be used to teach history in primary schools, supported by an 'Arts-based learning Explore and Test grant' from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

British Museum Fieldnotes – Dance and Movement

On completion of the 'Exploring Objects Sharing Cultures' supplementary schools project, dance artists were invited by the British Museum to write some thoughts about using movement in museums, particularly with children and young people.