Culture, Arts and Refugees

Project Focus:

Engaging Refugees and Asylum Seekers aimed to explore the contribution that museums and galleries could make to supporting refugees and asylum seekers. It tried to make the museums service more accessible to this group and provide opportunities to expand their interests, skills and experiences.

Background:

National Museums Liverpool is a group of eight heritage venues – museums, arts galleries and conservation centres - in Liverpool which house varied collections covering social history to space travel, entomology to ethnology, dinosaurs to docks, arts to archaeology. National Museums Liverpool identified the need for a project to involve refugees and asylum seekers after running a series of summer activities and fun days for refugee families. The museums successfully applied to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport for funding working in partnership with three other museums services:Tyne and Wear Museums, Salford Museum and Art gallery, and Leicester City Museums. The project worked in partnership with Merseyside Refugee Support Network, the Education Coordinator for refugees and asylum seekers at the local authority, ESOL Young Learners from Liverpool City College and with other orientation providers,community groups and bi-lingual centres.

Participants:

150 refugees and asylum seekers over a six month period including a group of young people aged from 14 to 16 years, and their families.

Activities:

Museums worked with ESOL teachers to identify the needs and interests of the groups, around which visits and activities were planned e.g. one group interested in English History attended a Victorian Museum. Workshops were provided with different activities: One group got involved with a traditional North West rag rugging project and developed their own designs using traditional Islamic patterns and images. Other groups did glass painting, explored African textiles and painting, and participated in digital art forms including digital photography. Another group were involved in developing an audio trail peer group for a gallery using photos of painting and objects and an accompanying script in two languages.This was developed in partnership with the BBC for the museums’ and BBC website. The museums worked throughout with ESOL teachers to enable them to gauge the level of understanding of the groups. It was not possible to use interpreters because some groups contained up to seven languages. Information was sent out about visits in advance to allow groups to research

Outcomes:

• Uptake by groups was far higher than anticipated.Numbers exceeded those expected and have continued to grow.
• Built confidence and communication – the museums noted that when participants attended the museums they were more confident in asking questions.
• Greater access to museums and galleries was developed - participants were noted to have returned to the museums and galleries with their families.
• There has been particular demand for events and activities during school and college holidays.
• Museums visits and learning in museums activities has supported English language learning in the classroom.
• Participants gained important knowledge and orientation about the history of the city.
• Museums adapted their own facilities and styles of working to fit in with participants e.g. Education Officers learned how to work with non-English speaking groups using visual aids; museums had to accommodate prayer space and put up signs.
• E Friendships were formed particularly between unaccompanied minors participating in the project.
• Participants were informed of other drop-in groups they could attend.
• The Museums are now looking at adapting the project for other user groups including people over 50 and young people.
  

Sources:

Interview with National Museums Liverpool outreach officer

Contact details:

National Museums Liverpool

127 Dale Street, Liverpool,
L69 3LA, England
Tel: +44 (0) 151 478 4612
E: stephen.guy@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk