Citizen Curators

Citizen Curators is a free work-based training programme in museum awareness and modern curatorial practice aimed at volunteers from our community. The programme is provided by Cornwall Museums Partnership in collaboration with seven museums. It is funded for three years by the Museums Association’s Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund. The Programme Leader is Dr. Tehmina Goskar, Curator & Director of the Curatorial Research Centre. Successful candidates who complete the programme will receive a certificate endorsing their accomplishments.

Join Citizen Curators for 2019/2020

• Free course October 2019 to April 2020. Limited places.
• Introduction to museums and curatorial skills
• Hands-on with historic collections
• Learn how to create great museum and digital experiences
• No experience or qualifications needed
• Just bring your curiosity
• Shape and influence the Cornish National Collection
• Research and share untold and under-represented stories of Cornwall
• Champion the identity and diversity of Cornish society past and present
• Monthly day classes, optional training, field trips and events

Sign up as a Citizen Curator with one of these museums: Cornwall’s Regimental Museum, Bodmin, Wheal Martyn Clay Works, near St Austell, Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro, Falmouth Art Gallery, Museum of Cornish Life, Helston, Penlee House Gallery and Museum, Penzance, and Telegraph Museum Porthcurno.

Click here to download the Cornwall National Collection brief.

Click here to view the Citizen Curator Year 2 timetable

Growing confidence and competencies

The Citizen Curators course is based on supporting participants grow their confidence and competence in five key areas of curatorial work. Using a coaching-style of teaching, based on Kolb’s experiential learning cycle, the programme participants will self and peer-assess the change they experience through the 6-month programme, supporting each other in their learning groups (5 per museum, per year).

By learning through doing, each cohort and group will be able to provide invaluable feedback to their museum in areas of the collection that have been obscured or new ideas and stories that have been discovered. Participants learn how to turn one-way conversations into two-way conversations leading to new content, new knowledge and new relationships which the museum will be able to harness in its audience-focused programming.

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