‘Museum of Now’ brings together a diverse range of people to co-create work inspired by collections in their local town museum, encouraging personal responses to contemporary local and global issues whilst weaving these stories into newly created objects.

In 2015 ‘Museum of Now‘ took place in Torquay, culminating in an exhibition of unique objects hand made entirely from local, natural or recycled materials by people who live or work in the town.

Several of these objects have now been chosen by the museum to become part of their permanent collection.

We are currently developing ‘Museum of Now’ in order to bring it to other communities, initially in Torbay but then further afield across the region. The programme will link to the venues specific mission and public engagement outcomes and will be highly aspirational in bridging collections and exhibitions with the contemporary concerns of local people through the making of objects.

Curating safe spaces both inside and outside museums where guided conversations, craft learning and creative expression can thrive amongst participants, the potential makes range from large communal objects to smaller individual ones. Walking and talking, meeting and making, and communal gathering, researching and sorting of materials will be central to the programme. With skilled craftspeople attached and subject specialists bringing depth to the ‘themes’ of each object, the end works will be of a high quality and imaginative content, reflecting vital social histories to be preserved for the future.

For generations we humans have made sense of our lives and communicated our experiences through making.

Museum of Now invites us all to do this for our times.

Comments from Participants about Museum of Now:

“It brought people together who wouldn’t have met otherwise”

“it felt empowering to see something we’d made housed alongside ‘valuable objects'”

“we can make something constructive with our thoughts. Old skills and creativity have been lost so I’ve become active in learning and sharing these skills’.

“I realised I’m capable of doing and achieving more than I believed’.