Museum’s ‘Young Explainers’ win South West award

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery’s ‘Young Explainers’ have scooped a regional learning award at a special ceremony at the British Museum.

The student volunteers from Plymouth University are joint winners in the South West category of the 2012 Marsh Awards for Museum Learning, alongside a fellow volunteer group from the Holburne Museum in Bath.

They received the accolade for their work on the Museum and Art Gallery’s ‘In Pursuit of Art’ exhibition, which ran from September to December 2012 and charted the life and career of Plymouth-born 19th century artist and Director of the National Gallery, Sir Charles Eastlake.

While the exhibition was on display the students wrote and researched a series of themed talks, created audio and family-friendly resources and organised special events.

The Marsh Award judges were impressed with the way the group made a difference to their Museum, helped to improve the experience for visitors and received positive feedback from visitors and staff.

Councillor Peter Smith, Deputy Leader of Plymouth City Council, said: “The Marsh Award for Learning recognised best practice and the innovative ways in which volunteers work in museums and galleries to engage the public with collections. The Young Explainers come from a range of disciplines at Plymouth University, including art history, business studies and illustration.

"Working with the City Museum and Art Gallery is really valuable experience for them and also brings great benefit to the Museum and its visitors. The work our 2012 group did in support of the Sir Charles Eastlake exhibition was excellent and they thoroughly deserve their award.”

Four of the Young Explainers travelled to London recently to collect their award and a £250 cheque. They were accompanied by Dr Susanna Avery-Quash from the National Gallery, with whom the Sir Charles Eastlake exhibition was developed.

The next group of students are already hard at work on their next project for the Museum and Art Gallery. Launching in September, this will focus on the historically significant Cottonian Collection – an amazing collection amassed during the 18th century and containing oil paintings, drawings, watercolours, furniture, a library and thousands of fine prints. The collection is protected by an Act of Parliament and was gifted to the city in 1852.

Mary Costello, Lecturer in Art History at Plymouth University, said: “The Young Explainers programme is a remarkable initiative that complements and enhances our degree programme here at Plymouth University. It inspires our students and gives them the opportunity to practise in the 'real world' outside of the lecture theatre.

"The participating students have grown in confidence and developed their knowledge, and this award is testament to their enthusiasm in embracing the Young Explainers programme, and making it into an exciting and rewarding experience for all involved.”

More information about the Young Explainers and the Cottonian Collection can be found at www.plymouthmuseum.gov.uk. More information and downloadable versions of some of the resources produced by the Young Explainers in connection with the Sir Charles Eastlake exhibition are available at www.plymouth.gov.uk/sircharleseastlake.