Thanks to the Association of Independent Museums ‘Tackling Inequalities Hallmarks Grant Award’ supported by Arts Council England, we were able to develop and launch ‘Breaking out of the Museum’, a new outreach programme bringing the Powell-Cotton Museum into the classroom.
This exciting year-long project kick-started a sustainable, long-term outreach programme for the Museum. Bringing cultural heritage into the classroom is more important than ever. As schools continue their amazing work under difficult circumstances, we will support children’s learning. Taking our passion for discussing the past from multiple points of view, these resources will not only feed into the National Curriculum but also provide age-appropriate and thoughtful ways for children to think critically about the world around them.
The grant funded two projects; ‘What’s in the Box?’ and ‘World on our Doorstep’. Between April 2021 and July 2022 the loans box service reached over 750 pupils.
‘What’s in the Box?’
This resource offers KS1-2 pupils the use of a museum loans box, including objects, activities, and curriculum links, as well as a virtual session with one of the Museum’s Learning and Engagement Officers.
We have two loans boxes: Natural History and Trading Textiles. Each box contains real museum objects, a teacher’s guide, and suggested learning activities, and is linked to the National Curriculum. The Natural History loans box offers a unique hook into Animals and their Habitats, Adaptation and Teeth. The Trading Textiles loans box introduces designing and printing textiles that tell stories. It looks at the history of Kente, Adinkra and Kanga textiles from Africa, and the techniques and symbolism used to produce them.
‘World on our Doorstep’
The unit of work, suitable for KS2 children, uses the life and collections of the Powell-Cotton family to support learning about the British Empire, colonialism, local history, and how ideas and attitudes of the past impact us today. We created this resource in collaboration with Ramsgate Arts Primary School. A series of meetings, testing resources, and gathering feedback ensured this product met the needs of teachers and children. Nick Budge, Headteacher said:
The World on our Doorstep topic really helps to diversify the history curriculum. The content is easy to use and the objects in the loans box bring it to life, as well as visiting the museum. The topic enabled our children to talk about colonisation and discuss if it was a good or bad thing and form their own opinions.
This approach has led to sustained engagement, which has benefited both parties, and we are looking forward to working together on more projects in the future.
Project Team
Director
Emma-Jayne Hamlington
Learning and Engagement Officer
The Powell-Cotton Museum, Quex House and Gardens
Fiona Moore
former Learning and Engagement Officer
The Powell-Cotton Museum, Quex House and Gardens
Dr Inbal Livne
former Head of Collections
The Powell-Cotton Museum, Quex House and Gardens
You may also be interested in
Loan Boxes
What's in the Box? We are excited to offer our new loan boxes to primary and secondary schools in the local area.
Learning
We have an exciting and engaging learning programme for schools and home educators. Teachers, parents and students, we are here to help enrich your learning experience.
Collections
The majority of the Museum's collections originate from the African and Asian continents. This includes over 20,000 world-culture objects, 6500 mammal specimens, and fine and decorative arts.
We're On Instagram
Thank you to everyone who came along to hear Napandulwe Shiweda talking about her recent work to bring contemporary women’s craft from Northern Namibia to the Powell-Cotton Museum. She had a great discussion with Nicola Stylianou and there were lots of interesting questions from the audience.
The collection includes bright pink skirts made of cloth (odalela) and ostrich eggshell (ondjeva) as well as beaded jewellery and dolls (ounona). They will be on display this autumn…stay connected with us for the official exhibition launch date!
You can find out more about the Namibian Narratives project on our website.
#reimaginingthemuseum #Namibia
Musicians Spotlight! 🤩
We're very excited to confirm Sunday's musician for 'Percy's world trip - Japan'... @hibiki.ichikawa! Hibiki is a specialist musician with over 15 years experience of performing the Tsugaru Shamisen, a very special instrument.
Performing in our opulent oriental room, visitors will have the opportunity to ask questions in between performances and learn the history of this unique instrument.
Tickets to this event are £2.50 and include entrance to the museum, house and gardens as well as all event activities!
#reimaginingthemuseum
Musicians Spotlight! 🤩
We're delighted to confirm Aki Kitagawa will be performing the absolutely beautiful koto instrument in our opulent oriental room on Saturday 16th and Monday 18th April as part of our 'Percy's world trip - Japan!' event.
Visitors will have the opportunity to speak to Aki between performances and ask questions about the history of this beautiful instrument.
Tickets are £2.50 to include entrance to the museum, house and gardens as well as all event activities!
#japanesekoto #livemusic #museum #reimaginingthemuseum
🌸 Our lovely museum team have been busy creating origami #sakura blossoms for our #Japanese event next weekend. With live music, crafts and games there's something for the whole family to enjoy and all for just £2.50 per person! 🌸
#reimaginingthemuseum
It’s the end of another lovely weekend🌸Thank you to the artists who shared their beautiful work with our visitors as part of @powthanet - our visitors loved it.
Next weekend we are hosting @dtcartdesign as part of our Natural History Project “Colonial Critters” so make sure you come along on Saturday or Sunday, 11-3. See you there!
#reimaginingthemuseum #blossom
Bring Art and Science together with our new workshop ‘Drawing from Nature’. Get up close and explore our amazing animal skulls through drawing in this fun, interactive workshop. If you are learning about Animals and their Habitats or Animals including Humans in Science or are looking at still life and drawing in Art, then this will make a school visit to the Powell-Cotton Museum even more unforgettable. To find out more and book email learning@powell-cottonmuseum.org
#ReimaginingTheMuseum
🎉Visit Us in 2022!🎉
The Powell-Cotton Museum, Quex House, and Gardens will re-open for the season from Saturday 12th February at weekends and bank holidays.
We’ve revived the visitor experience and tickets have a new standard price of £2.50 per person including guided tours.
Tickets will be released for pre-booking on Monday 17th January.
For more information visit powell-cottonmuseum.org/
#ReimaginingTheMuseum
Wishing all our friends and visitors a warm and wonderful Christmas. Thank you for your ongoing support of the museum.
Enjoy this festive video featuring some creations made by the Thanet Community Service volunteers. 🎉🎄
#ReimaginingTheMuseum
We just want to say a big thank you to South East Steel for their very generous sponsorship of last Saturday's screening of The Muppet's Christmas Carol. Some special local families were treated to the full film experience including snacks and transport to the event!
Your generosity has really spread some festive cheer this year! https://www.southeaststeel.co.uk/
🎄
#ReimaginingTheMuseum
This is the skull of a female western lowland gorilla from Cameroon. As we take the time to research more deeply into our collections, we start to address questions around the ethics of collecting natural history for museums.
Find out more here: http://bit.ly/westernlowlandgorillaskull
#reimaginingthemuseum #objectinfocus
The winter garden, beautifully decorated and ready for our first ‘Plot to Plate’ event with @angelas_of_margate
#reimaginingthemuseum #quexgardens
Our pop-up museum will be @westwoodcross on Saturday 31st July & Sunday 1st August. Come along and get hands-on with real museum objects!
#popupmuseum #reimaginingthemuseum #meettheteam Visit Thanet- Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate
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