Out and About: ITP UK Partner Meeting in Nottingham
Written by George Peckham, ITP Assistant
Last week the ITP team were in Nottingham for a pre-summer programme meeting with colleagues from our UK partner museums. We were kindly hosted by Clare Pickersgill (Keeper) at University of Nottingham Museum, where we were also joined by:
- Ed Johnson, Assistant Curator, Glasgow Museums Resource Centre (GMRC)
- Louise Smyth, Training and Development Adviser, National Museums Northern Ireland
- Campbell Price, Curator of Egypt and Sudan, Manchester Museum
- Ronan Brindley, Head for Learning and Engagement, Manchester Art Gallery
- Sarah Gore, Teaching Museum Manager, Norfolk Museums Service
- Dawn Heywood, Senior Collections Development Officer, The Collection: Art and Archaeology in Lincolnshire
We traveled by train from London early Thursday morning and arrived in Nottingham before midday. Our first stop was to meet our UK partners for lunch at Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem – a pub in Nottingham which claims to have been established in 1189! If correct, this gives the pub a strong claim to be the oldest in England. It is also a place I know that previous ITP fellows have visited during their placement in Nottingham.
After checking into the wonderful Orchard Hotel (where the ITP fellows have the pleasure of staying while in Nottingham!), we made our way to the Victoria Hotel for a welcome dinner with our UK colleagues. It was great to catch up over dinner with the UK partners. Campbell told us about his recent trip to Uganda, where he had the chance to meet up with some ITP fellows. Clare shared the exciting plans her museum is preparing for over the next year.
The next day we met at University of Nottingham Museum. The museum has a wide collection of archaeological artefacts from Nottingham and the surrounding counties. There is also the Djanogly Gallery, which exhibits twentieth century and contemporary art, and the Weston Gallery which showcases the University’s manuscripts and special collections.
The meeting gave our partners the opportunity to share information and ideas for the summer programme and to be able to help and support each other with suggestions on what had worked well for them in 2019. They were also able to tell us about their projects and programmes for this year, to help us to decide which of our ITP participants 2020 will go to which of our partner museums.
The ITP team gave an update on our various ITP legacy projects, including our recently announced ITP Futures week with all 7 of our Senior Fellows! We also discussed the ITP’s social media pages and our new website.
We finished the day with a tour, guided by Clare, of the University Museum, Weston Gallery and Djanogly Gallery. It was fascinating to learn more about the Lakeside Arts venues and see the incredible collection. Clare even kindly showed us some of the fascinating objects in the museum’s stores!
Thank you so much to Clare and all our UK partner colleagues. It was a pleasure to see you all and your continued support and enthusiasm for the ITP is so very appreciated.
George