Hello everyone and welcome to the new Blog for the Ure Discovery project.

Ure Discovery expands on the great success we had last year with the Ure View project (http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/stories-of-the-world/2011/11/16/welcome-to-the-ure-view-blog/) which as part of the Cultural Olympiad was also showcased in Arts in Parliament on 24th July 2012 (see http://rpmcollections.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/ure-view-bringing-ancient-greece-to-life/).

We are delighted to have received further funding from the Arts Council England after submitting our proposal in November. Ure Discovery recruited a panel of University students who will once again work with the pupils of local schools to create an innovative exhibition voicing their own interpretations of the collection.

The young people will be encouraged to use portable modern technology (iPads) to create a virtual tour of the Museum, in which technology enhances and sustains the visitor’s experience of the collection. Under the supervision of the student panel, the team of school pupils will use digital images and sounds to bring ancient art to life and the use of tablets will allow a much more flexible, accessible and personalised approach to the final result.

The student panel worked really hard throughout the first term of this academic year to build up a project plan and framework with the digital artist Steve Simons who will once again collaborate with the Ure Museum for this year’s project. They have begun to engage with the 3 schools (Addington School, Kendrick School and Maiden Erlegh School) to organise dates and times for a series of workshops in the New Year.

This space will give voice to the thoughts, impressions and ideas of all of us working on this project.

I would like to wish everyone happy holidays and I will update the blog again in the New Year with some more details and a progress update.