Learning Programmes with Portraits

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• Learning in Museums and Galleries
• Why develop a learning programme
• What programme will you run?
• How to develop a learning programme
• Who is your programme for?
• Evaluation
• Themes around Portraiture
• Case Studies
• Festivals and National Events
• Acknowledgements
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Black Minority Ethnic Communities

Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities comprise a vast number of different cultural groups in the UK, from fairly recent Polish immigrants to long established Jewish residents, from Afro-Caribbeans to Bangladeshis. The best way is to work with and programme learning activities for specific communities.

Your collection may have a connection to a specific BME group - for example you may have portraits of nineteenth-century soldiers who served in India under the British Empire - or you may have a number of BME communities on your doorstep. It is best to do some research to find out what groups are around and what are their needs that your museum, gallery or site can serve.

A useful resource is a list of cultural and heritage organisations for BME Communities which has been compiled by the Heritage Lottery Fund:

http://www.hlf.org.uk

A good example:

The Equiano Exhibition

The Equiano Exhibition at Birmingham Museum was part of the 'The Equiano Project', which celebrates the life and times of the 18th Century writer and campaigner Olaudah Equiano. The programme consisted of exhibitions, educational resources, events and a project website.

The exhibition also generated a number of public events and talks and as part of the project a KS3 educational resource was produced.

Also refer to the Bristol Black History Archives Partnership Case Study