KENT’S OVER 60s GET RARE CHANCE TO SOUND OUT THEIR HERITAGE IN MAJOR NEW PROJECT
Date:
15/02/2010
KENT’S OVER 60s GET RARE CHANCE TO SOUND OUT THEIR HERITAGE IN MAJOR NEW PROJECT
The over 60s across Kent are getting a rare chance to take part in a project designed to help them draw on a lifetime of experience while being engaged in a stimulating and social series of workshops and informal opportunities to learn.
Sounding Out Your Heritage, which is being run by the Group for Education in Museums (GEM) with funding from the Transformation Fund, involves groups in Canterbury, Whitstable, Gravesend, Kemsing and Gillingham actively participating in a programme designed to help participants learn and discover by sharing personal experiences in a celebration of their social and historical knowledge.
GEM has been working with housing associations and councils - as well as its existing partners in the county’s museums and heritage sector - to reach an audience who are often neglected when it comes to learning, who may feel isolated, or have possibly had a bad educational experience in the past.
The six groups - which will typically be made of up 10 participants - will work with a range of professionals from areas such as education, museums, media and the arts over a number of sessions to explore their heritage through music and dance, photography, audio recordings and examining how objects can evoke memories and be invaluable in the retelling of personal stories and histories.
It is also planned that the groups will complete their involvement by producing a resource such as a photo essay book or recording and, crucially, that it will provide a springboard for both groups and individuals to continue and develop their learning experience. In addition, a series of “celebration” events will be held to mark the culmination of each project.
John Stevenson, GEM director, says: “It is all too easy for those of retirement age and over to fall off the radar when it comes to social inclusion, engagement and opportunities to unlock the potential of a lifetime of knowledge and experience.
“So often, projects like this involve just a couple of hours working with a group with no follow-up or a tangible outcome. Sounding Out Your Heritage is different. Participants will be involved in the creation of a resource marking the work of their group and, most importantly, we hope people will have developed an interest, nurtured a skill or acquired the confidence to take what they have learned to another level.”
Organisers are also hoping this pilot scheme will have a long-term future and are planning to produce a “tool kit” that will allow others to benefit from the success of Sounding Out Your Heritage and be inspired to develop their own projects.
The six groups which comprise the Sounding Out Your Heritage project are:
• Cranmer House, Canterbury (delivered in partnership with Canterbury Museums & Galleries and Canterbury City Council Housing)
• Windsor House, Whitstable (delivered in partnership with Canterbury Museums & Galleries and Canterbury City Council Housing)
• Snowdown Court, Aylesham (delivered in partnership with Canterbury Museums & Galleries)
• The Dynes Residential Care Home, Kemsing (delivered in partnership with The Abbeyfield Kent Society and Sevenoaks Museum)
• Edward Moore House, Gravesend (delivered in partnership with Abbeyfield Kent)
• Brompton Community, Gillingham (delivered in partnership with the Royal Engineers Museum, Gillingham)
-ends-
February 15, 2010
Issued on behalf of the Group for Education in Museums (GEM) by David Leck Associates. Press enquiries to David Leck on 01322 528580/07710 326256.
NOTES TO EDITORS 1. The Group for Education in Museums (GEM) believes that our heritage provides distinctive opportunities for learning for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. Places such as museums and historic houses help individuals explore and make sense of the world, generate curiosity, inspire self-confidence and give visitors a sense of achievement. Heritage organisations and the learning opportunities they provide can contribute to and enhance the welfare of the individual and society. 2. Sounding Out Your Heritage is one of over 200 projects awarded funding as part of the Transformation Fund’s “learning for pleasure” innovation spearheaded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Through Transformation Fund grants, partnerships of public, private and third sector organisations in England are creating projects to: • Encourage more and different people into informal learning, particularly people from disadvantaged groups; • Open up access to learning in new places, in new ways and at more flexible times; • Support people to set up self-organised groups and learning clubs; • Widen choice by developing and sharing innovative content; • Build partnerships and strengthen the capacity of informal adult learning organisations; • Improve connections and progression between different kinds of learning; • Make better use of broadcasting and technology to stimulate and support learning. The Transformation Fund adds to the £210 million that the Government has already ring-fenced to support informal adult learning. The Government also invests £360 million each year in museums. and galleries, £10 million in UK online centres, libraries and other community venues and £21.5 million in union learning.
