MANCHESTER.- Connection and inspiration is needed during challenging times like these. Manchester Museum is a social space loved by many and very much missed by its visitors, as the museum is currently closed due to COVID-19. The need for some awe and wonder in difficult times is something museum staff has been thinking about and they wanted to continue to offer access to exhibitions, learning resources and volunteering opportunities, for all ages. To address this the museum has curated ‘Manchester Museum in Quarantine’, uploading some of its most engaging digital content onto a mobile site so everyone can explore and enjoy the museum in their own homes. The purpose of the site is to help entertain, educate and spark joy and wonder until the museum reopens.

Esme Ward, Director of Manchester Museum said: ‘Manchester Museum aims to be the most inclusive, imaginative and caring museum you might encounter and the Manchester Museum in Quarantine is shaped by this too. There are multi-lingual exhibitions, films, a Cultural First Aid Kit for carers, home-schooling resources and a daily dose of awe and wonder in our Encyclopaedia of Wondrous Objects.’

Although the museum already had existing fantastic online resources, they were difficult to find. By organising and ‘curating’ them in one place on an easy to navigate site, Manchester Museum could be opened up to people not just locally but across the world. The social media campaign #MMinQuarantine was launched on social media and within twenty-four hours received an amazing response with a reach of over 200.000 impressions and great feedback from the public, with many comments from schools and parents enjoying ‘virtual trips’ of the museum.

The mobile site includes:

• You can explore the museum’s current exhibitions and displays Beauty & the Beasts, A Ming Emperor’s Seat and Minerals: Sustainability and Hidden Stories. There is also multilingual interpretation available too.

• Manchester Museum has worked to raise awareness of overlooked and rarely told histories and the site has a section that helps shed light on the things they didn’t teach us in schools – a great resource for everyone!

• Parents and teachers are catered for over the next few weeks with home-schooling and fun activities for the family.

• The site includes creative and fun activities and workshop ideas for carers that can be completed at home, including a Cultural First Aid Kit produced in collaboration with The Whitworth. The activities have been created by artists, musicians and therapists.

• If you’re looking to keep occupied and learn something new the site includes resources for adults and researchers. These include online volunteering opportunities to help archive our collections and online learning courses about our fantastic Egyptology collection.

• Manchester Museum has launched a new campaign ‘Encyclopedia of Wondrous Objects’, a daily dose of awe and wonder from Manchester Museum’s encyclopedic collection of over 4.5 million objects.