Museums at Night in Plymouth

The Museums at Night festival, from 25 to 27 October, will see venues across the area open their doors for exciting evening events and spectacular night-time displays.

Museums at Night was created to encourage new visitors to go to galleries and museums. The festival began in 2009 when 100 events were held across the country.

Museums at Night offers visitors the chance to experience some of the UK’s cultural venues, historic houses and museums in a new way. Activities that usually take place range from gallery gigs, art happenings, twilight screenings, all-night sleepovers, nature walks, and star gazing activities.

The October festival coincides with Halloween so many museums will be putting on events with a Halloween theme - from spooky sleepovers and story-telling to ghost tours. Many of the fun, family-friendly events will include dressing up, kids’ games, spooky stories around Halloween, movie screening and the opportunity to learn more. From trains to chemistry, comic books, true crime, fairy tale dress up, and more, there’s something to appeal to everyone.

See www.museumsatnight.org.uk to read more about the occasion

Crownhill Fort: Museums at Night Event

Crownhill Fort will be participating in Museums at Night for the third year in a row. The Fort will be open from 4pm to 8pm on Friday 26 October. The ramparts and grassed areas will close at dusk with the Parade Ground and museums open throughout the evening. For tickets see www.landmarktrust.org.uk/crownhill-fort/

Plymouth Museums Galleries Autumn ‘On Tour’ Programme

There are great opportunities for children to get creative with The Box, Plymouth’s ‘On Tour’ programme this half term. On Thursday 25 October, there’s a ‘Create a Family Portrait’ workshop taking place at Plympton St Maurice Guildhall.

Plympton-born Sir Joshua Reynolds was famous for his portraits of well-known people and their families. Join a textile artist from 2pm to 3:30pm to make a family portrait using a range of materials and techniques. This session is especially suitable for children aged 6 to 12 years.

A couple of days later, on Saturday 27 October, children can try some ‘Creative Collaging’ in the Levinsky Gallery at the University of Plymouth, formerly known as the Peninsula Arts Gallery.

The gallery has a brilliant exhibition on display called ‘Great Artists | Great Teachers’ featuring work by 14 different artists. Using the exhibition as a source of inspiration, a professional artist will teach children a range of techniques for collaging, using pieces of paper, photographs and fabric.

This session, also running from 2pm to 3:30pm, is most suitable for children aged 5 to 11 years. The cost for both events is £3.50 per child (accompanying adult free). Booking is essential via www.plymhearts.eventbrite.co.uk. For more information visit the what’s on section of www.theboxplymouth.com.

For updates on the museum’s redevelopment programme and outreach services see https://plymhearts.org/

Learning with Museums in Plymouth

Museums are learning resources that provide inspiration, information, unique experiences - and entertain. They can support the delivery of a wide range of national curriculum subjects including specialist knowledge for the history curriculum, inspiration for art and drama, opportunities to improve English skills and make an important contribution to the delivery of a broad and balanced curriculum.

Museums contain a treasure trove of artefacts, documents and photographs, just waiting to be discovered. They can provide workshop activities, topic-based visits, guided visits, handling boxes for loan, visits to schools, downloadable resources and much more.

Talk to your local museum to find out what they can offer to support the national curriculum, develop skills and help raise standards.