The Novium Museum receives Art Fund Grant to develop virtual field trips

The Novium Museum in Chichester will be developing a series of innovative virtual field trips for school groups, thanks to an Art Fund grant of £21,646.

Awarded through Respond and Reimagine programme, the museum is among just 18 successful grant recipients out of a total 114 applications from across the country.

The funding will enable the museum to develop an innovative digital learning programme in response to the challenges faced by primary schools as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Novium Museum will design three virtual field trips based on their Roman collection, as well as non-contact digital interpretation for the museum's Roman Gallery.

Aimed at seven to 11 year olds, each field trip will explore different periods of the Roman occupation and Roman daily life. Combining collection objects, actors and interactive elements, the virtual field trips will comprise:

• An hour of filmed content deeply rooted in The Novium Museum's Roman collection;

• Object-based activity sheets to be supplied digitally for use during the virtual field trip;

• An optional loan box including handling objects that feature within the filmed chapters;

• An optional virtual Roman city walk.

The new digital content will also be used to develop dynamic, non-contact family friendly interactive elements for the museum's Roman Gallery. Families and schools will be able to enjoy these when visiting the museum in person.

Councillor Roy Briscoe, Cabinet Member for Community Services at Chichester District Council says: "This is fantastic news for The Novium Museum. Developing virtual field trips will bring high quality museum learning directly into the classroom, allowing children to continue to benefit from our enriching learning programme and extensive museum collection during these times of social distance.

"In addition to the learning workshops, sleepovers and outreach sessions we already offer at the museum, virtual field trips will help to increase our reach moving forwards, appealing to schools further afield as well as within our local district. This will enable more people to access and engage with our fabulous heritage."

Art Fund's Respond and Reimagine grants offer flexible and responsive funding designed to meet immediate challenges connected to the Covid-19 crisis and reimagine future ways of working.

Developed in consultation with museums and galleries, the grants meet needs in four priority areas of collections, audiences, digital, and workforce. They may also cover costs to support reopening, as well as encouraging creative and innovative projects as organisations look to reopen with fundamentally different operating models. Respond and Reimagine Grants will provide £1.5m in 2020 to support museums, galleries, historic houses, libraries and archives, and non-venue-based visual arts organisations, and is part of Art Fund's £2m package of funding to support museums through crisis.

Information about The Novium Museum's learning programme, including updated Covid-secure measures, can be found online Learning or by emailing noviumlearning@chichester.gov.uk.

The Novium Museum is now open from Tuesday - Saturday, 11:00 - 16:00. Admission is free, with donations gratefully accepted, but tickets must be booked online in advance. For more information, visit the museum's website .

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Art Fund

Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art. It provides millions of pounds every year to help museums to acquire and share works of art across the UK, further the professional development of their curators, and inspire more people to visit and enjoy their public programmes. Art Fund is independently funded, supported by the 159,000 members who buy the National Art Pass, who enjoy free entry to over 240 museums, galleries and historic places, 50% off major exhibitions, and receive Art Quarterly magazine. Art Fund also supports museums through its annual prize, Art Fund Museum of the Year, which was won by St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff, in 2019, and through a range of digital platforms.

www.artfund.org