Grant boosts opportunities for young people

Children and young people will have access to exciting new engagement opportunities at our partner museums, thanks to a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Wessex Museums has been awarded over £83,000 for its Bridging the Gap project. The project includes a range of innovative and pioneering initiatives, such as:

• A programme of employability skills development for disabled young people.
• Contemporary Collecting – the opportunity for young people to contribute objects to the museums’ collections, and co-curate exhibitions on themes relevant to them. 
• An Artist in Residence programme, wherein children and young people at risk of not being in education, employment or training, can work alongside professional artists to gain skills and experience.
• The chance for young people to work alongside professional animators and digital producers to create digital interpretation for the partnership’s major Thomas Hardy exhibition in 2022.

The project will be overseen by a new engagement lead for the partnership, who will facilitate a strategic, collaborative approach to maximise meaningful engagement opportunities across the museums. 

Kristina Broughton, Wessex Museums Partnership Manager, said:

“This generous grant funding could not have come at a better time for our museums, with Covid-19 forcing us to fundamentally reconsider how our museums can engage meaningfully with young people from across our local communities. We hope that Bridging the Gap will transform engagement in our partner museums, making it more collaborative, more digital and more sustainable.”