Museum world culture collections project
Saffron Walden Museum and Epping Forest District Museum in Waltham Abbey have received an Arts Council National Lottery project grant of £100,000 to work in partnership on their world culture collections.
The aim of the project is to ensure the museums and their collections reflect their diverse communities by working directly with cultural groups to research different objects and tell their stories.
The project begins by focussing on Ethiopian items. The project's title, 'Greater in Spirit, Larger in Outlook' is inspired by Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. Museum staff will work with relevant community groups including the Ethiopian History Society, to explore, explain and exhibit the collection leading to a new permanent display at Epping Forest District Museum, due to be completed this year.
Other cultures represented in the collections include West and East Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
Both museums are looking to work with relevant community and cultural groups linked to these collections which will lead to a major temporary exhibition in 2023.
Hazel Edwards, Area Director (South East) for Arts Council England, said: "We're delighted to be able to support a project that will see source communities for these exciting collections given the important opportunity to work with Epping Forest District and Saffron Walden museums to research, reinterpret and redisplay the material for audiences to engage with, explore and enjoy.
"I look forward to the resulting exhibitions and seeing how it might inspire other museums to work with cultural organisations to deliver similar projects."
Funding for the project is being used to support two new part-time positions:
1. Community Connector Collections
2. Community Connector Audiences
To find out more about the roles or to apply, visit the EFDC jobs and careers webpage.
The deadline for applications is Friday 22 April 2022.
13 April 2022