Ceredigion Museum in Aberystwyth has been awarded £115,894 development funding by the National Lottery Heritage Fund for a project to explore how collections can create community in the coastal county.
Perthyn ‘belonging to/possessing’ is an ambitious project that aims to ensure that every Ceredigion resident can find something in the museum collection that resonates with their sense of identity and values, regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity, beliefs, sexuality, ability or other characteristics that they identify with.
Carrie Canham, museum curator, said: “We’ll be working with the Common Cause Foundation to explore how shared values can build bridges between Ceredigion’s various communities.
“We want to find out what matters to people in Ceredigion, why and how the museum’s collections can reflect their values.”
The project will also investigate ways of giving people access to the whole collection, as only about 10% is on display currently. As part of the second phase, the possibility of a new Ceredigion Heritage Collections Centre, where adults and children would be able to have behind the scenes tours and attend workshops, will be explored.
A number of jobs could be created to support the project, including digitisation of the collections, creative community engagement, audience development, collections management and skills development.
Meinir Ebbsworth, Ceredigion’s corporate lead officer for schools, said: “We are very grateful to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for supporting this project. It will be a fantastic resource to help us meet the aims of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act and to deliver the new curriculum for Wales, which will support exciting cross-curricular learning of history, science, art and other key subjects.”
This development phase of the project will bring together all the people with the skills needed to develop a further application for funding for the second phase of the project.
Thanks to National Lottery players, more than £30 million goes to good causes across the UK every week.
