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

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Discover new ways of working at this artist led workshop.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
01 Aug 2019

Discover new ways of working at this artist led workshop.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Discover new ways of working at this artist led workshop.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Join Dr Victoria Avery, Keeper of Applied Arts, to touch and explore beautiful marble sculpture and architecture in the newly restored Main Entrance of the Fitzwilliam.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Join Dr Victoria Avery, Keeper of Applied Arts, for a talk on the exhibition Collecting and Giving, followed by a discussion and behind-the-scenes handling session of beautiful bronze sculpture.

Museum of Classical Archaeology
04 Mar 2019

Join Educators Jennie Thornber and Jacqui Strawbridge on a touch tour of classical casts - get hands on with life-sized statues and hear stories from ancient Greece and Rome.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
01 Sep 2019

A practical workshop lead by Penny Price, a leading botanical watercolour illustrator, painting local scenes where man-made structures interact with the natural world.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
03 Mar 2019

Join artist Sally Todd for this creative session inspired by the organic, often abstract sculptures of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. 

The Fitzwilliam Museum
03 Nov 2019

The Anglo-American James McNeill Whistler is one of the world’s best known 19th-century artists. Less well known is the interaction of nature and science in his work and thought.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
03 Sep 2019

Work with artists and experiment with materials to create your own artworks inspired by collections at the Museum, and present them in a mini-exhibition at the end of the week.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

A specially designed programme of practical art workshops and gallery research for students preparing for their art exams, particularly GCSE, A Level, BTEC.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Learn some useful techniques to remain mindful and focused in the lead-up to your exams.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Visit the exhibition Whistler & Nature with guest artist Caroline Wendling to explore colour and composition in the paintings.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

When is a pot a sculpture? Explore art in clay with sculptor Susie Olczak. 

The Fitzwilliam Museum

How do you make your face a symbol of power? Put it on a coin!

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Find out how money was made in the Tudor and Stuart era, then create your own art currency with guest artist Iona McCuaig

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Clay is a wonderful material to work with. Look at the ceramics in our collection with sculptor Susie Olczak to inspire your own clay work. 

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Join artist Caroline Wendling to look at art work in our exhibition Whistler & Nature.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

A private guided tour of the Whistler & Nature exhibition for individuals and groups, up to 20 people at each session, before the Museum opens.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
01 May 2019

A private guided tour of the Whistler & Nature exhibition for individuals and groups, up to 20 people at each session, before the Museum opens.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
02 Dec 2019

A private guided tour of the Whistler & Nature exhibition for individuals and groups, up to 20 people at each session, before the Museum opens.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

A private guided tour of the Whistler & Nature exhibition for individuals and groups, up to 20 people at each session, before the Museum opens.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Artist Iona McCuaig, Royal College of Art MA graduate, and Hannah Kershaw, Fitzwilliam Museum Exhibitions Coordinator, will be available for an informal Q&A.

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
02 Jul 2019

Join the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology for a celebration of all things Pacific.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 

Join us for an evening in the Botanic Garden's impressive glasshouse range with atmospheric light displays.

Kettle's Yard

Looking for a different take on Cambridge nightlife?

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Book a 20-minute slot with the Deputy Head of Cambridge School of Art at Anglia Ruskin University, to review your portfolio and talk about art courses and career ideas.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Look at powerful people on coins in the exhibition Making a Nation. Then create your own 3D response in the Studio.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

This gently structured session allows babies to discover aspects of our collection through sensory exploration of colour, shapes, texture, sounds and movement.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
02 May 2019

Whistler heard music as he drew and looked at pictures. We will too! 

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Exploring art together can be magical. Hear stories about objects in our collection, and make art of your own to take home.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
02 Jun 2019

Explore the Whistler exhibition through music and sound, and be inspired to create musical art together with instrumentalists from the Academy of Ancient Music.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Join us for a family-friendly musical tour with stories and music from cultures across the world performed by Britten Sinfonia Academy.

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Run by Sophie Smiley

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
01 Sep 2019

Run by Sophie Smiley

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Run by Sophie Smiley

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
02 Sep 2019

Run by Sophie Smiley

The Polar Museum
03 Jun 2019

Paradise Planet is English Touring Opera's latest opera for children

Museum of Zoology
03 Jan 2019

Have a whale of a time as we explore some of the giants of the Museum with stories and play.

Museum of Zoology
03 Jan 2019

Book onto a tour and uncover the fascinating stories behind our collections, from the beetles of Charles Darwin to the tale of our fin whale.