RPM (The Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove) has been awarded a £10,000 grant by the Museums Association to develop new activities with other museums in the region using its natural history collections housed at the  Booth  Museum.
 
The aim of the grant is to enable museums to share their collections more widely with other institutions, to ensure that museum objects are not simply acquired and preserved, but that items in store get used.
 
The grant will establish Brighton & Hove’s museums’ service as a champion to be called upon by the wider museum community for advice and support in developing new uses for their collections. The scheme will ensure that people have greater access to what museums contain, and perceive them as places to learn and enjoy.
 
Initially RPM will work in partnership with Bexhill Museum,  Horsham Museum and Worthing Museum & Art Gallery.  In the first 12 months of the project, six more museums will take part from across East and West Sussex, and  Surrey .
 
Concentrating on natural history collections, the first activities will:
·        create outreach boxes examining the coast’s natural environment
·        initiate an exhibition on taxidermy
·        use collections to explain why natural sciences specimens were collected during the Victorian period
 
Councillor David Smith, Cabinet Member for Culture and Tourism, said:
“Collections need to be used, not locked away in a museum store hidden from public view.  The Booth Museum of Natural History houses collections of national importance and we are delighted at this further opportunity to share our expertise with partners across the region.”
 
Brighton & Hove’s service was one of only seven museums and museum services across the country to be awarded funding under the scheme.

For more information about The Royal Pavilion & Museums view:
www.royalpavilion.org.uk