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The Centre of New Enlightenment at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum Culture and Sport Glasgow, Glasgow City Council
The Centre of New Enlightenment (TCONE) is a programme of educational events and experiences that begin with a cinematic and hand-held-computer tour for young people at Kelvingrove. The aim is to use the unique museum environment – and in particular its collections, staff and spaces – to inspire young people to achieve success in their lives. The project has been funded with the help of a five million pound donation from the Hunter Foundation.
In developing the programme, the Museum asked teenagers for suggestions of role-models and admirable people that inspired them. Heroes were often celebrities, but occasionally friends, family community personalities and successful business people. There were four main themes or values that young people found attractive: Determination, mastering a skill; Endurance, showing inner strength; Trust, notably with close friends and families; and Compassion, people who help one another. These personality strengths were then identified in stories inherent in the Museum’s collections. For example, a person in a painting might suggest kindness or the extinction of the dodo seen as a test of human trustworthiness. By completing the video games the visitors express their own compassion trustworthiness, determination and endurance, and discover that they, in fact, share the attributes of their role models and heroes. Some of your comments: When I visited this, it was truly 'enlightening', so I think it deserves to win. I am working on an artist residency in Stirling aimed in particular at digital art. I booked a school in to visit the Centre since their theme was Titanic and were turning their classroom in to a museum. The children are primary six and aged between 10 and 11 years. I was confident that the class would enjoy experiencing a museum in a very different way than they had before. In fact, less than 30% of the class had visited a museum before. As a first experience of a museum I found their learning, behaviour and ability to act responsibly so encouraging. I was able to monitor their learning as they went and they stayed on task for an hour and a half. The children who would normally act up stayed on task. For a group of children to have such a positive museum experience will stay with them for a very long time, and acted as a spring board for future visits to galleries and museums. The pupils thought this was the 'coolest' museum workshop they had ever been to. Pupils normally not fully engaged showed great sustained interest and enthusiasm. Accompanying staff commented on how well the whole workshop was organised and catered for different abilities and needs. A totally unique experience! A fantastic programme that allows young people to engage with works of art and find them meaningful. As it inspires the young people who take part, so too should it inspire other museums and arts facilities! We visited this with a school party of 30 11-year-old pupils and their French pen pals who were over for a visit from Paris. Museum staff were very helpful in setting up bi-lingual presentations and instructions for the pupils who went round the ‘hands-on’ activities in mixed groups. Our French friends were thrilled and are coming back this year to repeat the experience. This was a novel experience which the pupils thoroughly enjoyed. They liked the PDA system and it made looking at the exhibits worthwhile while being informative. The time flew by and the pupils enjoyed it so much that they wanted to go back!! How often does that happen on a visit to a museum? We will return again as the programme can be changed three times. Excellent service and presentation by the enthusiastic staff. A great morning or afternoon visit which I have recommended to other members of staff in other schools.
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Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, long-listed for The Art Fund Prize for the second time, is the UK’s most visited museum outside London and displays over 8,000 objects relating to art, science, history and natural history.
The journey includes a series of challenges designed to use intense encounters with objects to help young people to discover their own character strengths and build their self-confidence.
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