In Touch – an audience-centred interpretation project

About the ‘In Touch’ project

Combining educational outcomes with object-centred research, the approach used in the In Touch workshops elicits imaginative and personal narratives from the young participants through direct, hands-on encounters with objects, collection documentation, makers’ statements, archival material and ephemera from the Crafts Council Handling Collection.

In Touch uses a focus group format inspired by the Museums Libraries and Archives council (MLA) and Collections Trust’s ‘Revisiting Collections’ initiative.

The project’s name is intended to evoke the relationship between hands-on learning and ‘social’ contact between audiences and makers whose work has become represented by the Collection over the last 40 years (since it developed alongside Crafts Council gallery exhibitions and Primary Collection acquisitions). It was piloted last summer (2010) at Frances Bardsley School for Girls in Romford, Essex, where the partnership culminated in a vibrant ‘touch’ exhibition and Craft Month in their on-site community gallery, the Visual Arts Centre. Following this success, a further programme of interpretation workshops has been delivered with the support of the Royal College of Art’s outreach team, ReachOutRCA. This has taken place in the Summer Term 2011 with children and young people from:

• 2 Primary Schools (Muswell Hill Primary School, Harringey; Surrey Square Junior School, Southwark)
• 2 Secondary Schools (Cumberland School, Newham; The Business Academy Bexley, Erith)
• 1 contemporary art gallery with a group of young people with Special Educational Needs (Aspex, Portsmouth)

Each session or series of workshops with the In Touch participants culminates in a ‘curated’ object loan box with co-produced interpretation that is then accessible to schools and cultural venues to borrow and respond to in their own imaginative way. The representation of many young voices and ways of thinking in the interpretation included in each box is intended to encourage other learners accessing the loan in the future to feel their own responses are also valid and unlimited alongside others (such as the object’s maker, or the Crafts Council, for example).

About Revisiting Collections
‘Revisiting Collections’ is an innovative methodology developed in 2005 by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and Collections Trust to open up collections for scrutiny by those outside an organisation. It seeks to build and share a new understanding of objects, reveal and record their hidden histories, multiple layers of meaning and significance. It is based on the premise that providing opportunities to engage directly with objects from the collections is an enriching and empowering experience for all, breaking down the barriers to engagement with collections, especially for new and diverse audiences.
More information about Revisiting Collections can be found here

Views from participants and organisations:

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  A selection of Handling Collection objects laid out for an In Touch focus group with pupils from Muswell Hill Primary School ©Crafts Council/ ReachOutRCA, 2011

• Deborah Weston, Community Partnerships and Events Manager, Visual Arts Centre at Frances Bardsley School for Girls, Essex/ In Touch workshops with a Year 9 group (pre-Creative and Media Diploma) – June and July 2010.

  “The Handling Collection and In Touch Box are a great tool for gallery education for all ages and abilities. For the first time in the Visual Arts Centre visitors were able to fully interact with the objects on display.
  
  Two groups from our local Special Schools visited the exhibition; they really enjoyed being able to fully interact with the objects and feeling the different textures.
  
  They also enjoyed looking at the colours and talking about objects that were familiar to them…It was fantastic to see the children excited about handling the objects. Every time a new group came in to the gallery it was like Christmas Day, there was tissue paper everywhere and a lovely buzz of excitement as they un-wrapped their object.”

• 

  Year 9 pupil ‘a’, Frances Bardsley School for Girls, Essex

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  Year 9 pupil ‘b’, Frances Bardsley School for Girls, Essex

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  Amy Lloyd, Participation and Learning Manager, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth/ In Touch workshop with an ‘Aim Higher’ group with Special Educational Needs (SEN) -May 2011.

  “The activities were perfect for the children we work with. They require a really flexible approach because they have such a broad mix of needs, interests and abilities. Sitting and touching the objects at the beginning of the session was really important, as it allowed for some clear space to really engage with the collection. As a group we continued to evaluate the session throughout, using breaks as valuable opportunities for reflection. We talked about how the session was a great lesson in catering to the needs of different audiences – how the children were showing us what interested THEM about the objects, how this might be different to how other people engaged with the objects and how that might teach us to look at things in new ways.“

Enquiries about ‘In Touch’

The new In Touch object loan boxes, complete with co-produced interpretation coming out of these sessions, will be available to book for the new academic year. Further details will be announced shortly.

For more information about the In Touch project, or the Handling Collection in general, please contact Miriam Craik-Horan, Participation & learning Officer by email at m_craik-horan@craftscouncil.org.uk or by phone on 0207 806 2567