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

Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
27 Aug 2019
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Discover how animal senses and characteristic have adapted over millions of year. 

The Fitzwilliam Museum

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

The Fitzwilliam Museum
07 Feb 2019

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

The Fitzwilliam Museum
05 Apr 2019

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

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Ever wanted to know how you balance a chair on your chin or if you can juggle liquid? StrongWomen Aoife and Maria reveal the scientific secrets behind their astounding tricks.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
05 Mar 2019

Showcasing rare and exquisitely decorated fans from the collection of the Hon. Christopher Lennox Boyd, allocated to the Museum by H.M. Government in lieu of inheritance tax in 2015, this display reveals the techniques behind the making, investigation and conservation of fans.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
06 Dec 2019

A talk with Dr. Andrew Burnett former Deputy Director of the British Museum.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
05 May 2019

A talk with Flavia Ravaioli, Assistant Conservator.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Dr Lisa Gee reveals some of the significant connections, secrets and surprises preserved in the Hayley Papers, one of the largest manuscript archives held by the Fitzwilliam Museum.

 

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Drop-in and enjoy half an hour looking at and talking about art.

 

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Drop-in and enjoy half an hour looking at and talking about art.

Museum of Classical Archaeology
05 Jun 2019

An exhibition of contemporary works by Loukas Morley

 

The Fitzwilliam Museum

A talk with Dr Catriona Cooper, Dr Abi L. Glen and Dr Jennifer Wexler, AHRC Creative Engagement Economy Fellows.

Museum of Classical Archaeology
05 Aug 2019

An exhibition of photographic work by course participants at Cambridge Community Arts.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
07 Mar 2019

A talk with Melanie Pitkin, Research Associate and Helen Strudwick, Associate Curator.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

A talk with Professor Chingfei Shih, Art History Department, Taiwan University.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

A talk with artist Jennifer Lee.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
06 Oct 2019

A talk with Eliza Spindel, Curatorial and Research Assistant, Kettle’s Yard.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

This exhibition is the second of two successive selections of works on paper which celebrate the outstanding generosity of benefactors and donors who have helped to enrich the collections.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
08 Jan 2016

 

Over the past fifty years, Francesca and Massimo Valsecchi have built up a remarkable collection of paintings, furniture, sculpture, glass and ceramics. This includes the renowned nude portrait of Patricia Preece by Stanley Spencer (Gallery 1), a Spanish 17th-century polychrome wood sculpture of the Christ Child (Gallery 6), Art Nouveau Tiffany glass (Gallery 22) and an extremely rare Meissen porcelain vulture (Gallery 27).

30 Jun 2019
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Release your inner artist!

01 Aug 2019
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Release your inner artist!

The Fitzwilliam Museum

The Salisbury family, based locally in Cambridge, have kindly lent part of their studio ceramics collection to the Museum. This collection, formed over many years, includes pieces by some of the finest artists to work in clay from the mid-20th century onwards. These include Austrian and German emigrés Lucie Rie, Hans Coper and Ruth Duckworth, and contemporary artist Jennifer Lee, winner of the Loewe Craft Prize 2018.

06 Aug 2019
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Release your inner artist!

13 Aug 2019
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Release your inner artist!

08 Aug 2019
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Release your inner artist

15 Aug 2019
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Release your inner artist 

20 Aug 2019
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Release your inner artist

22 Aug 2019
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Release your inner artist 

27 Aug 2019
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Release your inner artist 

The Fitzwilliam Museum
01 Feb 2019

This display highlights some of the outstanding pieces of decorative art on loan to the Museum from the Keatley Trust.

29 Aug 2019
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Release your inner artist 

The Fitzwilliam Museum
06 Feb 2019

David Sciacca (solo guitar) performs pieces from Italian Opera with arrangements of works by Bellini, Rossini and Mascagni.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
05 Sep 2019

Sarah Bowden (clarinet), Sam Alberman (violin), Tom Taylor (viola) and Jon Fistein (cello) perform Penderecki’s Quartet for Clarinet and String Trio and Beethoven’s String Trio in G.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

A chance to restore, refresh and relax. Join us for 40 minutes of stress release with a combination of body awareness and mindfulness. No previous experience needed.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

A chance to get close to small Tudor and Stuart coins in our Making a Nation exhibition with a special talk by Richard Kelleher, Exhibition Curator and Assistant Keeper of Coins and Medals. Afterwards create your own topical currency, with a twist, back in the Studio.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Put your creativity to the test and craft your very own sterling silver pendant during this hands-on workshop.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Exquisite examples of still life paintings can be seen in our Beggarstaffs exhibition. Join guest artist Penny Price to experiment with the painting techniques used to create these seemingly timeless works of art.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

Elspeth Owen’s ceramics are found in museum collections all over the world and are all made in her studio in a former cricket pavilion in Grantchester. Elspeth will talk about the centrality of touch in the making and enjoying of pots and there will be an opportunity to handle some of her works.