The Museum of Gloucester joins The Wild Escape
The Museum of Gloucester joins The Wild Escape, the largest ever collaboration between UK museums…
Today, the Museum of Gloucester has announced that it will be joining The Wild Escape, a major new project uniting hundreds of museums with schools with families to find nature in museums.
Led by national art charity Art Fund and with support from Arts Council England, hundreds of museums, galleries and historic houses are coming together for the largest ever collaboration between UK museums.
Taking place from January to July 2023, The Wild Escape invites children to find a favourite animal in their local museum and create an artwork imagining its journey to a natural habitat. The pictures and stories children create will be brought together in a collective work of art that imagines a better future for the wildlife on our doorstep, launched online and in museums on Earth Day 2023.
As part of The Wild Escape, the Museum of Gloucester will be inviting local schools to work with its mounted animals and taxidermy collection, including glorious tropical birds and butterflies. With guidance from a local illustrator, the Museum education team and their own imaginations, pupils will create artworks which explore the idea of our creatures breaking free to their perfect habitat!
With a visit to Robinswood Hill to explore what is precious about our own habitats, local children will also come away with a deeper understanding of the fragility and value of our ecosystems and biodiversity…The Museum will be hosting workshops for school children to create their artworks as part of the Wild Escape in March 2023.
The Wild Escape is an opportunity to join the urgent conversation about climate crisis and biodiversity loss and look for nature positive solutions, in partnership with leading environmental charities the RSPB and WWF and cultural organisations National Trust and English Heritage.
The Wild Escape is inspired by Wild Isles, a landmark BBC series exploring the flora and fauna of the UK.
Jenny Waldman, Director, Art Fund, said: “I'm thrilled that The Museum of Gloucester is joining hundreds of organisations from the Outer Hebrides to Folkestone to connect thousands of children with the natural world through the UK’s truly great museums. Thanks to the invaluable support of Arts Council England, the Wild Escape will empower families and children across the UK to visit and discover our wonderful museums, whilst taking positive action to picture a better future for our wildlife."
The Museum of Gloucester is delighted to have been awarded funding to get involved in this venture.
Cllr Andrew Lewis, cabinet member for Culture said: “This is incredible news for the museum to be awarded funding for a national programme and I am delighted that the collection can be further used to engage schools and a new generation of young people around sustainability and environmental issues. The museum has shown how it’s commitment to engaging new audiences and desire to utilise its extensive natural history collection, has caught the eye of national bodies, keen to share and promote its significant importance. I am also proud that the team has been recognised for their new education programme co-created with schools and role in museum education with being asked to contribute to the project pilot.”
For further information, please visit our Wild Escape project page below.
Explore Gloucestershire
24 January 2023
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