The Imagination Museum returns with new opportunities for dance and heritage to come together

Following a pilot in 2019, The Imagination Museum returns this spring, offering dance and heritage professionals the opportunity to be part a vibrant network and imagine new ways to collaborate and enliven heritage sites and collections with memorable dance activity.

Through a series of national online and in-person advocacy events and a wide range of resources, The Imagination Museum will share extensive knowledge and experiences of working in the heritage sector to build meaningful connections across the country. Following this phase of networking events, The Imagination Museum will work towards a series of co-commissioned works by dance artists, which are planned to be presented at four partner sites across the country next year.

To coincide with the relaunch, The Imagination Museum’s website has been redesigned to bring together a range of resources and case studies to inspire those interested in collaborating and assist them in developing their own ideas.

The first introductory event takes place online at 10am on Thursday 21^st March. This will be followed by a series of four in-person events on specific themes held at partner venues in Ipswich, Cornwall, Blackpool and London.

The first in-person advocacy event at Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich on Monday 13^th May looks at the role dance activity can play in connecting collections with new audiences. Held in partnership with Colchester and Ipswich Museums and DanceEast, the event will be followed by a practical session for dance artists on Tuesday 14^th May at DanceEast.

On Wednesday 22^nd May the second in-person advocacy event at Wheal Martyn Clay Works, Cornwall, asks how dance in museums can support a greater understanding of the environment around us. This will be followed by a practical session at the museum on Thursday 23^rd May, led by dance artist and strategic lead for The Imagination Museum, Katie Green.

Heading to Blackpool’s brand-new Showtown museum on Thursday 20^th June, The Imagination Museum’s next advocacy event looks at ways to sustain and celebrate the city’s historical connection to social dancing. Following this on Friday 21^st June the practical session will be held, venue TBC.

Focusing on the legacy of dance and heritage partnerships over time, The Imagination Museum’s final in-person advocacy event will take place at Trinity Laban on Wednesday 4^th September. Reflecting on 10 years since Trinity Laban and the Horniman Museum and Gardens’ formative ‘Dance and museums symposium’, this event will uncover the benefits of meaningful, long-lasting partnerships between the dance and heritage sectors.

A final online event held in September will share the findings following The Imagination Museum’s relaunch this spring and reveal plans for how the network can support dance and heritage collaboration into the future.

The Imagination Museum’s initial pilot in 2019 saw it connect just under 150 well-established dance artists and heritage sites, gathering more than 50 case studies, including from AboutTime Dance Company, Lea Anderson, Theo Clinkard and Leah Marojević, Light, Ladd & Emberton and Jeanefer Jean-Charles, amongst many others.

To find out more and signup to the network see https://imaginationmuseum.co.uk/about/.

Speakers at each event will be announced shortly.