The Pitt Rivers had a strong presence at the
Oxford University Museum Staff Conference, held on Monday 26th September i
n the Ashmolean's Lecture Theatre. The Conference allowed colleagues to share their work through a series of 5-8 minute 'lightning talks'.
It was great to see the public engagement work of the Pitt Rivers represented by Beth McDougall, VERVE Activities and Outreach Officer, and Madeleine Ding, VERVE Volunteers Officer. They talked about how the
HLF-funded project VERVE has enabled them to better connect the public with displays in the Pitt Rivers Museum:
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| Visitors in the Museum © Pitt Rivers Museum |
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| Public Engagement © Pitt Rivers Museum |
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| Rejuvenating Collections and Display © Pitt Rivers Museum |
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| Outreach Activities © Pitt Rivers Museum |
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| From boat-building to kintsugi workshops © Pitt Rivers Museum |
One of the successful VERVE Takeover Events was described further in the lightning talk on 'Joint Museums Youth Forum Project'. This was a sell-out evening event on
Mythology by Moonlight organised by
Matthew Arnold students with the support of the Secondary School and FE Education Officer, Katherine Rose.
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Poster Advertising Youth Takeover Event
© Pitt Rivers Museum |
The Conference ended with a director-led panel discussion in which future strategy was touched on. Dr Xa Sturgis, Director of
The Ashmolean, stressed the importance of the University Collections working closely together and communicating to their audiences that they are part of the University of Oxford's mind-blowing collections.
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| Lucy Shaw(left) leads a discussion with Directors © Pitt Rivers Museum |
It was great to see so much energy and enthusiasm emanating from the conference and there are lots of new initiatives to look out for from a LGBT trail across the University Collections to a mobile app on which you can play musical instruments at
The Bate Collection.
Becca McVean
Education Officer (Primary)
