Community Arts Projects & Resources

Leicestershire's Open Museum uses the loans collections of museum objects, artworks and displays to inspire creativity. It also develops innovative arts based resources from creative projects.

It has worked in partnership to develop these, with: local arts organisations, artists, adult learning tutors, teachers, care workers, school children, community groups...

Some of the arts resources and projects the Open Museum has developed are:

This unique 'artbox' contains 13 tactile objects small enough to be held in the hand. 13 artists from around the UK were commissioned to create these wonderfully imaginative pieces, which include an Alien Seed Pod, a Fairy Tooth Calculator and a Suit of Armour for a Bird.

Due to the popularity of this resource, three more Held in the Hand boxes have recently been produced. Again, fascinating objects have been created by commissioned artists but the target audience for these boxes are SEN schools. The small sculptural objects they contain have been specifically designed to provide sensory experiences – including ‘Rocks’ that chime and a Rainstick that makes the sound of rainfall when shaken!

Creative Memories was an intergenerational community arts project that brought together people from Wigston Age Concern, 6th form students from Guthlaxton College, and a member of Wigston Day Centre’s Works Unit.  

The project was an exploration of the way history is recorded, made and interpreted. Leicestershire’s textile, knitting and hosiery industries were used as a theme: through their creative writing the group explored how words can be woven together, made into patterns, layered, and reused to make memories – and ultimately history.

Working with a local community poet and a visual artist, the group used objects from the Resource Box collection, the archives at the Record Office and local heritage (including the Framework Knitters Museum) as inspiration for creative writing.

The group worked with the Open Museum to present their creative writing in an original way, and the Creative Memories Moving Objects display was the result.

More information about the Creative Memories Moving Objects display

i.D. Sign was a partnership project with Charnwood Arts that worked with local people to promote and celebrate the cultural diversity of Charnwood Borough.

Community artists supported local people to explore culture and identity in terms of; their own history and family background, their interests, hobbies, religion, food and fashion. 64 people took part in the project, aged between 9 and 83. Involved in the project were; pupils from Cobden and Rendell Primary schools, a Sure Start group, a local Reminiscence group, and the Jagruti group.

The Moving Objects display that resulted from the project is a museum display with a difference; it does not exhibit any ‘real’ artefacts. Through artwork and individual testimonies, the display offers a snapshot of the  objects participants felt were important to them, and that they felt represented their identity.

Go to the i.D.Sign Moving Objects display

The JunKit project raised awareness of environmental issues by creating an exhibition of artwork and sculptures made entirely from reclaimed and recycled materials.

A local community group worked with a community artist to produce artwork in a variety of media all sourced from ‘rubbish’ – their own household refuse as well as waste discarded by local services and industries.

The JunKit exhibition at Charnwood Museum was so popular that the exhibition was toured to other venues. It was then turned into a Moving Objects display.

More information about JunKit Moving Objects display