The Fitzwilliam Museum - University of Cambridge

Education & Public Programmes
Nicola Upson
Even by its own exceptional standards, the work of the Fitzwilliam’s Education Department in
the two years following the redevelopment of the Museum has been truly astonishing in its
scope and imagination, and has embraced projects which have proved ever more challenging
and worthwhile for both participants and staff.
It is a tribute to all involved - and that includes the
staff of the museum as a whole as well as dedicated
education personnel - that, despite working with a
bigger and broader audience and often in
experimental ways, the Fitzwilliam’s work with the
public has avoided the trap of spreading itself too thin;
its education programme remains as unique and
special as the place itself. ‘I believe fervently in depth
and quality,’ says Frances Sword, Head of Education. ‘If
you’re going to commit yourself - and it doesn’t matter
to whom - good work demands real thought, time
and energy. We have to have an eye on visitor figures,
but not at the expense of developing real relationships
with all sorts of people. The Museum itself is such an
extraordinary place, with a great depth of collections
and concepts, that to do shallow work in it is a
nonsense. It’s got to match up.’
And match up it does. As with all successful
redevelopments, physical changes to the fabric of
the building at the Fitzwilliam have facilitated less
tangible but equally enduring transformations
amongst those who visit and work there. The
Department’s new spaces - a studio, seminar room
and schools lunch/cloakroom - and a collaboration
with educator Denise Casanova have enabled
extension activities to take place which, when added
to the continued work in the galleries, create an
experience which does justice to the richness of the
collections and to the potential of those who come
to work with them. ‘It’s changed everything, for every
single audience and on every layer of our work,’
Sword explains. ‘Before, when the Alzheimer’s
Society visited the Museum, they’d have to wait in
the old entrance hall. There was nothing else for it,
but these are vulnerable people, some of whom are
elderly, some very confused. We’d have a lovely time
in the galleries, but then they’d just have to go. Now,
they come down into the education studio as they
arrive and have coffee, and we can focus on an idea
before going up to the galleries.’ Different ways of
working have, she adds, brought a new dimension to
the bond between object and viewer, a new way of
seeing. ‘It means people bring themselves to these
sculptures and paintings in a completely different
way: the work becomes their work as well as the
work in the gallery, and that’s such a fundamental
change for everybody, from the Alzheimer’s Society
to schools to people who are homeless.’
The education work now delivered by curatorial and
conservation staff has, says Sword, ‘changed out of all
recognition’. New spaces have ensured that teaching can
take place through demonstration as well as lectures
and talks and, she explains, ‘there’s a real hunger
amongst people, not just for knowledge but for getting
knowledge from the people who are completely
wedded to these objects, who know them like no one
else does; when they get up and speak about them, it is
A participant in a session devised in partnership with
the Alzheimer’s Society
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Education & Public Programmes
LEFT
A mummy-wrapping
workshop - one of
the special events to
mark the re-opening
of the Egyptian
galleries in May
2006