This is a video interview, with Kirsty Rose Parker, founder and director of The Evaluator in conversation with Surrey County Council discussing an evaluation. Our thanks go to Daniel Murray, and Patricia Huertas from Surrey County Council for agreeing to be filmed for this case study.
When you hear Ancient Egypt for Modern Times, what do you think of? We thought of pyramids, and mummies and actually the whole of Egyptian Culture. We have loved evaluating this project around connecting modern people to ancient themes. This project aims to take the whole of that culture and make it relevant now. Of particular poignancy is how people have coped with tough times, and bereavement throughout the generations, which is timely given the last few years.
The Evaluator is delighted to be working the Manchester Museum team to understand the impact of their project, which includes an inter-generational project working across schools and care homes and an online project, of which more is below.
The official project description is:
To Have and to Heal is a unique new arts and wellbeing programme, supporting Covid recovery and resilience, which explores Manchester Museum’s World Class Egyptology collection and popular fascination with ancient Egypt. Sessions provide a safe space to share responses to and personal reflections of experiences of the pandemic.
Participating groups are invited to explore a chosen theme, through which discussion and reflections are shared in relation to the objects and the personal experiences they may connect with. Themes range from Magical Healing and Touch, to Loss and The Meaning of Art.
The interactive online programme includes real time engagement and Q & A with the Museum’s Curator of Egypt and Sudan, showcases high quality digital images of rarely seen objects from the collection, together with a behind the scenes virtual visit to the Museum’s storerooms.
The online programme uses Manchester Museum’s collections as a catalyst for providing inspiration, and meaningful support to groups and organisations that have been heavily affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and is open to:
*Third sector organisations offering vital support to people at risk of social isolation, with health conditions, or caring responsibilities.
*Schools and home-schoolers seeking inspirational new resources to support ‘catching-up’ on disrupted education
*Care homes and living independent living facilities
You can find out more about the project by clicking here. There are a number of short films which can be freely viewed to explore some of the project themes and objects from Ancient Egypt on the same link.
This project is funded by The Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund – delivered by the Museums Association.