Culture Syndicates CIC

  By Sophie Hazelwood On Sunday 25 th July I travelled over to Cambridge to conduct non-user surveys for CS’s ongoing audience development project. Using the Museum of Cambridge as a base, I ventured into the city centre to talk with the general public.   By doing so, I was able to start to collect data to understand why people are not visiting the museum, how we can entice them into visiting and who these people are. As I was the first of my colleagues to conduct the non-user surveys in the city centre, I also took note of good places to stand to talk with the general public and the survey response rates. It was lovely being able to get out and explore the city a little and interact with the public. After finishing my work for the day, I took advantage of the better than expected weather (thunderstorms were forecast!) and hopped on a punt for a tour down the River Cam! A view of New Court, St John’s College from the River Cam. A view of the River Cam taken from G...

Culture Syndicates are sad to be saying goodbye to Natasha Clegg who has developed her role through the company from Heritage assistant to become the Acting Head of Projects. In that time she has worked tirelessly to enhance not only her own skills but of all those around her. She has enabled Culture Syndicates to thrive through lockdown by securing the much needed funding and training  to carry on our mission. She will be missed by all members of the team who have appreciated her professionalism and honesty but we know she will go on to do great things in the future. Natasha says: 'I started my journey at Culture Syndicates as a Heritage Assistant in September 2017. Almost four years to the day, I will be leaving CS to start the next chapter of my career. I will be leaving with a wealth of experience, skills and confidence and meaningful relationships with a group of insightful and inspiring people. There have been several standout moments during my time in the company, some of wh...

  Image credit: https://www.nottinghamcastle.org.uk/ By Natasha Clegg. At the end of June I visited the newly reopened Nottingham Castle. After a few years of seeing it under scaffolding and under development, I was excited to walk back through its doors.  I last visited the Castle on its final day of being open in 2018, so the old exhibitions were relatively fresh in my mind. Three years on and lots of media hype later, I returned to see what the £30m refurbishment project had achieved. Here are my main takeaways from the visit: ● The Castle is now a go-to tourist destination in Nottingham. With a high-tech Robin Hood exhibition, two cafes and a large temporary exhibition space, the Castle seems geared towards entertainment. With many museums struggling to compete against other leisure time activities, I was pleased to see the Castle busy with people enjoying not only the objects and displays, but also the park, refreshments, and the outdoor events space.  Image c...

  Do not make the same mistake I did when I drove to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park a couple of days ago. Or maybe do! I pulled into the Western Entrance thinking it was the main entrance and was immediately thinking wow this is kind of small considering the amount of people that have recommended I go, and the vast number of brown signs I had been following off junction 38 of the M1. It is my old school attitude of making my own way somewhere using only map memory and road signs my son even said, ‘Mum how do you know where you are?’ I said ‘son we don’t need sat navs’ then he asked what a sat nav was and I gave up! Anyway, it turns out that the western entrance is absolutely perfect as there is a wonderful café and amenities as well as a lovely little shop stocking of amongst other things cleaning brushes which I nearly bought they were so beautiful although the relevance I’m not sure! This entrance leads you straight into where Damien Hurst is exhibiting his giant bronze sculptu...

  In the small village of Navenby in Lincolnshire sits Mrs Smith’s cottage. Mrs Smith’s cottage is a step back in time, it dates to the 1830s with some later additions. Mrs Smith’s cottage was first opened as a museum in 1999 but had to be closed in 2012 due to structural needs. Renovation completed in 2020 means that Mrs Smith’s Cottage has been brought back into use as a popular heritage attraction. The cottage is funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund and North Kevsteven District Council and run by a small team who have a programme of events that run through out the year. Culture Syndicates recently have been assisting with evaluation at some of these events. Who is Mrs Smith? Hilda Craven was born in Navenby on 28th October 1892. In 1922, for £75 Hilda bought the Cottage using money from a legacy.   1926 she sold the house to her employer Tom Smith, for £95. In 1937 Hilda bought the Cottage for the second time, paying just £95. It was not until 1956 when Hild...

   By Neville Stankley  Why do people visit art galleries? The reasons can be many fold - aesthetic, cultural, social etc. A yearning for beauty coupled with a need to understand motivation, technique, and context perhaps? I would bet visitors do not go to an exhibition to learn about the Napoleonic Wars, gain a greater understanding of the industrial revolution, behold the evils of slavery, or even what it is like being tied to the mast of a ship in a storm. Yet this is the ambition of Turner’s Modern World (at Tate Britain until September 2021). The artist as chronicler, historian, and social commentator.  Fortunately for the curators, Turner wasn’t yearning for an idealised past, he was, perhaps cynically, chasing the newly wealthy and how their wealth was generated - canals, railways, piers – their, and to some extent the artist’s own, personal gain going hand in hand with the social pain this new wealth caused.  Windmill and Lock c.1811 He shows how war imp...

 By Neville Stankley- Culture Syndicates Chief Operating Officer. During the pandemic, I have been helping Culture Syndicates become a fit-for-purpose organisation for a post-COVID heritage sector whilst remaining true to its original social mission of supporting the sector and those wishing to pursue a heritage career. During this time, I became more and more convinced of the need for an organisation such as Culture Syndicates, and more and more motivated at the prospect of being part of the company during its next phase of development.  Culture Syndicates is a small organisation, light on its feet and AGILE and adaptable. It can make an instant impact and influence the future from day one for both the organisation and its clients. Culture Syndicates’ supports itself, although it is a social enterprise, it is a BUSINESS and engages sector entrants with that mindset to take into the heritage sector. I love that Culture Syndicates works to give sector entrants the CONFIDENCE ...