Your donations will help develop accessible activities and welcoming programmes for our older visitors who are living with dementia or affected by loneliness
SUPPORTING THROUGH CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT
As part of the Ashmolean’s mission to offer visitors of any age an opportunity to connect to and celebrate heritage, we are launching Meet Me at the Ashmolean – a programme focused on making the Museum more welcoming and accessible to all.
Meet Me at the Ashmolean will build on the Museum's existing work to support over-55s, including programmes to help fight loneliness and to make the Museum work for those living with dementia.
"Creative and cultural participation has been identified as the single biggest contributor to wellbeing in later life"
HOW YOU CAN HELP
By making a gift you will help us to enhance and improve our work with older people, and allow the Ashmolean to present an invigorating and inspiring programme to be enjoyed in an accessible and inclusive space.
All donations, whether a regular monthly gift of £5 or a single gift of £1,000, will help us reach our £45,000 target, keeping our doors open for free and ensuring that we are able to welcome the widest possible audience to the Museum.
How your gift will help:
£5 a month would keep the conversation going over a cup of tea, either in the Ashmolean at one of our popular social workshop sessions or at a local care home.
A single gift of £50 can train an Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Champion and 100 Dementia Friends to support dementia-friendly visits to the Museum.
£250 could support heightened access to the collection through digital innovations such as 3D printed objects.
£1,000 can fund changes to the galleries such as improved seating or ramp access and clearer labelling.
Thank you for your support!
INCREASING PROGRAMMES FOR OLDER VISITORS
The Ashmolean runs regular events for older visitors, including the popular, monthly social workshops which stimulate new conversations and learning through behind-the-scenes access, object handling, and specialist-led tours.
In recent years we have partnered with organisations including Age UK Oxfordshire, Young Dementia UK, and local care homes, to shape what we offer our older visitors. Feedback tells us that there is a real desire for more activities for older people to enjoy, alongside their peers, with their families and as part of the wider community.
We need your support to help us increase and develop new activities that will ensure the Ashmolean represents the voices and experiences of the elderly, becoming a social hub and providing opportunities to see old friends (and make new ones) whilst engaging with arts and heritage.
A NEW OLDER PEOPLE ACTION TEAM
We are committed to making our galleries and social spaces welcoming and accessible for all. To do this, we are actively seeking the opinions of older people, both regular visitors and those who may be put off due to real or imagined barriers. By supporting Meet Me at the Ashmolean you will enable us to create an Older People’s Action Team encouraging our older visitors to contribute to, and help co-curate the Museum’s programme, offering unique insight into how we can improve our physical spaces including signage, display cases and seating.
