In March, Museums in Cambridgeshire announced the fantastic news we had been awarded a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £61,100 for an exciting heritage project, Fenland Changemakers set in the Cambridgeshire Fens and Ramsey. This project has been made possible by money raised by National Lottery players, the project focuses volunteer engagement along with exploring local changemakers who have made a social impact in the area and started in April 2021.

Supported through The National Lottery Heritage Fund and working with our arts partners, 20/Twenty and Cambridgeshire County Council Essential Skills the project will engage local young people and families to lead on a volunteering training programme which will include research, exhibitions, training, social media and digital design.    A year-long project in two phases which will provide young people in Fenland, Thorney & Ramsey, Cambridgeshire with new, flexible ways to get involved in volunteering at local museums, enabling greater diversity in the museum workforce and greater cultural equity between generations of local residents.

Since April we have recruited Freelance Volunteer consultants and a Freelance Evaluator, to work along side our Arts Partners, 20/Twenty.  The first part of the project has been to carry out a volunteer audit at each of the 6 museums, identifying training needs and assessing the museums’ readiness to welcome young volunteers aged between 13 and 25. Our consultants are in the process of producing a Volunteering report and resource pack with suggestions and immediate to long-term actions.  Each museum has 1 or more Youth Champions to support the new volunteers and DBS checks have been carried out.  The training needs for each museum have been identified and a volunteer training plan has been outlined, which include: Social Media, website, safeguarding, risk assessments, equality, inclusion and diversity and arts advisor awards.

Once the museums have completed the audits and training the second phase of the project will commence.  This phase invites creative young people to discover their heritage through the stories and actions of Fenland’s great social reformers. Taking inspiration from these extraordinary stories our young Changemakers will lead on their own exhibition programme and a social action campaign reflecting their own interests and community concerns. These two phases will encourage our young Changemakers’ transition into the museum sector and facilitate relevance and resilience for the museums. 

If you would like to be involved please contact emma.bunbury@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Huge thank you to our National Lottery Players, this project would not be possible without funding from the National lottery.