£10,000 Grant awarded for Novium Romans in Residence

The Novium Museum has been awarded a grant of £10,000 from Arts Council England to fund an exciting Artists in Residence programme which will celebrate the launch of the museum's Roman Gallery in August.

Funded by the National Lottery, Grants for the Arts is the Arts Council's open access funding programme for arts activities that engage people in England. It is used to help more people take part in the arts and to provide creative opportunities for children and young people. The Novium Museum is one of a select few museums to have been successful in achieving the funding.

Splodge Designs will become Artists in Residence at The Novium Museum between July and November 2016, to celebrate the overhaul of the museum's ground floor as a Roman Gallery. The project will involve working with community groups and schools to create two textile pieces with supporting soundscape which will explore the connection between Chichester residents and their Roman Heritage. The artists will work with participants to stimulate new thought processes, developing designs and audio recordings towards the final textile pieces with supporting soundscapes. During the sessions recordings will be made responding to the history and reflecting the present.

Work developed during the residency, created both by the participants and by the artists, will be designed into wall hangings using a variety of construction techniques. The soundscape will encourage the audience to 'hear' the hangings and 'see' the sound.

In addition, a series of drop-in family workshops at The Guildhall in Priory Park will help to create carnival costumes, using The Novium's collection as inspiration. The finished costumes will be paraded through the city centre on Saturday, 20 August in a spectacular procession to launch the new museum gallery.

Cathy Hakes, Manager of The Novium Museum & Chichester Tourist Information Centre said; 'This is yet another success for The Novium Museum. The project aims to give Chichester residents an ownership of their Roman heritage by involving them in a lasting legacy within their local museum.'

Splodge Designs first worked with The Novium Museum in October 2015, for their innovative 24 Hour Inventive Factory event. Their AV instillation used a combination of video mapping over the Roman Baths and a soundscape tailored to enhance the imagery based upon the nature of the images - creating a feeling of whispers.

Free drop-in family workshops will take place in The Guildhall, Priory Park on Tuesdays 26 July, 2 August, 9 August & 16 August between 10am -12pm. The family sessions will be followed by free in-depth master classes for those aged 17 years+ from 1-3pm, which can be booked by calling The Novium Museum on 01243 775888.