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Resources

For practical advice when setting up your own dance project in a museum or heritage site

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.

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Museums Association Manifesto

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

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.

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VocalEyes Heritage Access Report 2022

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.

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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.

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Public Dance Pack

A free interactive Public Dance Pack that considers how to support challenging and risk-taking work within the contexts of galleries and museums. The pack includes contributions from collaborative artists and explores the cultural, practical and socio-political relationship dynamics between audience, artists and venues.

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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.

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A manifesto for museum learning and engagement

This manifesto (written by David Anderson, Dhikshana Pering and Sharon Heal, director of the Museums Association) provides a framework for all museums to reflect on their purpose and develop their practice.

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Trust New Art

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

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A group of different dancers, using different dance styles, all wearing bright blues, pinks, black and white dance under the blue arches of a historical building.

Get Dancing Evaluation

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.

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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.

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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 (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.

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Creating Self-Guided Resources for Families

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

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Creating Family Friendly Interpretation

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

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3 dancers perform in an open gallery at Turner Contemporary, with windows looking out over the sea.

Spirit Wisdom: Lessons in best practice for dance in galleries

Reflections on Lucy Suggate's 'Spirit Compass', the first new dance work for galleries commissioned by the CONTINUOUS Network, which premiered in October 2019.

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SEND in Museums Advocacy Film

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.

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A large group of people lie down on the floor of the large open Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern gallery in London. The photograph is taken from above, and therefore it is possible to see the bodies making a pattern of concentric circles on the floor.

Why Dance in A Museum? How Art Became Active

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.

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A group of people gather in a circle standing in the centre of the Stone Henge circle of ancient stones. It is raining and many of them have their umbrellas up.

The 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.

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The Live List

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.

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Two young dancers perform in the foyer of the Horniman Museum. One is dressed in grey and lunges outwards towards a second dancer dressed in black who is leaping up off the ground.

Dance and Museums working together symposium report

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.

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Film: Waving goodbye to Victorian Dad

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.

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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.

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My primary school is at the museum

'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.

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A group of schoolchildren cluster around a costumed interpreter, who is dressed in Tudor costume. They are gathered in the courtyard of Hampton Court, with the red brick Tudor palace behind them.

Using dance in the primary history curriculum

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.

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A line of young dancers wearing white shirts and black leggings, with golden belts, walk slowly through the Roman galleries of the British Museum.

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.

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