Since 2012, we’ve undertaken projects of all shapes and sizes. To deliver this program, we’ve collaborated with a huge variety of organisations – from the University, local area and further afield. Find out more about our past ventures here: 

Annual Reviews
Giving an overview of our work in each year, you can read our annual reviews online.
2021-2022 Year in Numbers
2020-2021 A year like no other
2018-2019 Highlights

Operation Survival and Cambridge Codebreakers: The Last Secret
We partnered with Fire Hazard Games to deliver two high-octane digital adventure games across a number of our museums. Imagine head-scratching puzzles and a madcap rush between venues (not in the galleries!). Find out more on our Collections in Action blog:
Operation Survival
Cambridge Codebreakers: turning museum visitors into players
Cambridge Codebreakers: developing a codebreaking adventure across four museums
2017-2019

India Unboxed
To mark the UK-India Year of Culture 2017, we celebrated a shared season on the theme of India - a programme of exhibitions, events, digital encounters, discussions, installations and more within the museums and the city of Cambridge.
Rooted in our collections, the programme explored themes of identity and connectivity for audiences in both the UK and India, with support from Arts Council England. Read the India Unboxed Evaluation Report
2017-18

The Museum as Method
This conference, run in collaboration with the University's Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CRASSH), brought together scholars from disciplines interested in material culture and curators from across the arts and sciences, to reflect on both questions of methodology and public policy.
2016 

Curating Cambridge
Curating Cambridge: our city, our stories, our stuff was a collaborative arts and cultural season which took place over October and November 2014. Read the Curating Cambridge Evaluation Report
2014

Artist in Residence, North West Cambridge Development
The Artist in Residence programme at the North West Cambridge Development ran throughout the development of the site, with three artists being appointed each year. 
2014-2016

Discoveries: Art, Science and Exploration
In 2014, Discoveries, the first major show to bring together the fascinating collections from all eight University of Cambridge Museums, took place at London's Two Temple Place and the Fitzwilliam Museum.
2014

House Guests
From March to July 2013 specimens, objects and artworks from the University of Cambridge Museums and collections took up residence at Kettle's Yard. The 'guests', from butterflies to Inuit carving, invited visitors to see Kettle's Yard in a new light and to discover more about the University of Cambridge Museums.
2013

Thresholds
In 2012 Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy invited ten of the best UK poets writing today to take part in a series of residencies at the University of Cambridge Museums. Each poet spent time in their host museum or collection, exploring the collection and working with young people, helping them to develop their critical thinking skills as well as their writing.
2012-13

What's On

University Library
29 Sep 2022
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Join us at the University Library for this fascinating talk by the Assistant Director of the Museum of Zoology, Jack Ashby. 

Norris Museum
25 Aug 2022
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Drop-in for family crafts and activities on a treasure island theme

The Fitzwilliam Museum
11 Oct 2022
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Examine the interplay between money, power and dissent over the last 200 years.

Whipple Museum of the History of Science
18 Jul 2022

Craftswomen is a new exhibition at the Whipple Museum exploring the work of women in the British instrument trade between the 17th and 19th centuries. It exposes the often unseen work of the ‘craftswomen’ who made instruments for measuring, modelling and investigating the world.

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
26 Jul 2022

An exciting new exhibition where the displays harness the allure and power of colour to inspire reflection and creativity.

Kettle's Yard
02 Jul 2022

Howardena Pindell: A New Language, the artist’s first solo institutional exhibition in the UK. 

The Fitzwilliam Museum
26 Oct 2022
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The Greek and Roman body is often seen as flawless – cast from life in buff bronze and white marble, to sit upon a pedestal. But this, of course, is a lie. Classicist Caroline Vout reaches beyond texts and galleries to expose Greek and Roman bodies for what they truly were: anxious, ailing, imperfect, diverse, and responsible for a legacy as lasting as their statues.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
12 Nov 2022
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Sign up to this creative workshop with artist Aida Wilde, where you will have the opportunity to learn new techniques making your own artwork based on Aida’s piece ‘Dreamboat II’.

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
09 Oct 2022

Explore Cambridge's connections with Empire led by Uncomfortable Cambridge 

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
02 Nov 2022
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Visit the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology after-hours!

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
19 Oct 2022
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Explore the significance of goldweights with Benjamina Efua Dadzie.

The Polar Museum
15 Oct 2022
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Visit the Polar Museum and try out our re-launched interactive Arctic Ice Exhibit

The Polar Museum
15 Oct 2022
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Visit the Polar Museum and try out our re-launched interactive Arctic Ice Exhibit

Kettle's Yard
10 Oct 2022
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Borrow a work of art from the Kettle's Yard collection.

Kettle's Yard
13 Oct 2022
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The 2022-23 Chamber Music programme includes a diverse and exciting season of recitals to enjoy in the House at Kettle’s Yard. This year we are delighted to be welcoming back some old favourites as well as new faces to Kettle’s Yard.

Kettle's Yard
13 Oct 2022
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Kettle's Yard
20 Oct 2022
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Kettle's Yard
27 Oct 2022
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Kettle's Yard
03 Nov 2022
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Kettle's Yard
17 Nov 2022
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Kettle's Yard
24 Nov 2022
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Museum of Classical Archaeology

A trail to bring colour to Classics

Whipple Museum of the History of Science
12 Sep 2022
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Curated by student intern Eleanor Brittain, Secret Science showcases quirky objects that are not what they seem.

Whipple Museum of the History of Science
12 Sep 2022

Collecting the Nation examines how geology relates to nationalism and colonialism.

Museum of Zoology
14 Oct 2022
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Can you make your clothes last longer? How do you transform old clothes into something new? Join us for a fun, practical evening all about sustainable fashion. 

Museum of Zoology
08 Oct 2022
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Join us for your FREE tours as our volunteer guides share their personal selection of fascinating stories about gender and sex in the animal world at the Museum of Zoology

The Polar Museum
22 Oct 2022
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Pick up our Reindeer Escape trail at the Polar Museum this half-term.

Kettle's Yard
25 Oct 2022
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Kettle's Yard
27 Oct 2022
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Kettle's Yard
30 Oct 2022
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Kettle's Yard
04 Nov 2022
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Museum of Zoology
26 Oct 2022
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Join us this Half Term as we learn all about barnacles! 

Kettle's Yard
12 Nov 2022
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Impressions of carnival by Paul Dash, Errol Lloyd & John Lyons in dialogue with works from The Fitzwilliam Museum & Kettle’s Yard

Museum of Zoology
23 Oct 2022
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Browse the specimens whilst listening to a string quartet! 

Kettle's Yard
12 Nov 2022
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Join us at Kettle’s Yard to celebrate the opening of our next exhibition Paint Like the Swallow Sings Calypso. Explore the galleries after hours and enjoy a drink with friends.

 

Kettle's Yard
18 Nov 2022
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Join us in the galleries for an informal exhibition tour of Paint Like the Swallow Sings Calypso with exhibition curator Habda Rashid.

FREE, come along

Kettle's Yard
01 Dec 2022
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Join us in the galleries for an informal exhibition tour of Paint Like the Swallow Sings Calypso with Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Eleanor Ling and exhibition artist Paul Dash.

 

Kettle's Yard
11 Dec 2022
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Join us for a disability friendly quiet Studio Sunday session aimed at children and families with additional sensory needs.

Kettle's Yard
11 Dec 2022
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Join us in our Clore Learning Studio for free, practical art making workshops. Respond to the displays and exhibitions to make your own artworks. Get creative with artists and our education volunteers, no previous art experience needed!

Kettle's Yard
20 Jan 2023
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Join us in the galleries for an informal exhibition tour of Paint Like the Swallow Sings Calypso with Curator Guy Haywood and artist Errol Lloyd.