An 18-month project to modernise and digitise the Gawthorpe Textiles Collection has begun.
The “Cherish the Past, Create for the Future’ project has been made possible through National Lottery Heritage Fund and lays the foundations for improving both physical and virtual access to the collection.
New director of the Gawthorpe Textiles Collection, Linda Drury, said: “We are extremely grateful to have received this funding, which goes a long way in helping us to reach more audiences and bring the collection up-to-speed in a digital world.”
The funding has already enabled the employment of two new members of staff; one to lead a programme of outreach across East Lancashire and a second to undertake a comprehensive review and digitisation of the Collection.
Bev Lamey, outreach programme leader, said: “We have already started a 10-week programme with the very talented local female artist Nazia Sultana in collaboration with The DEEN Centre, a faith-based organisation for women and children.
“This unique project focuses on activities to encourage story-telling and narrative building, where participants will learn about the shared heritage of textiles that spans global cultures.
“The project aim is to help women learn creative practices such textile surface designing, fabric manipulation techniques and we have already received positive feedback from those taking part.
As Collections Officer, Rachel Terry’s job is to photograph, categorise and digitise some 30,000 items within the Gawthorpe Textiles Collection.
She said: “I previously worked for the collection as curator, so am familiar with many of the popular items within the collection. But there are a whole host of other gems hidden away in boxes and I have the pleasure of unveiling these items and ensuring they are catalogued within the collection.
“I couldn’t do this without the help of our valuable volunteers.”
There is also funding within the project to modernise the textile displays at Gawthorpe Hall by introducing new perspectives and stories and bringing them to life with audio and film.
‘Cherish the Past, Adorn the Present, Create for the Future’ was a principle that Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth developed from the teachings of architect and designer William R Lethaby.
Linda added: “The ethos of using heritage to create for the future is something that we still hold dear at the Gawthorpe Textiles Collection, using our fabulous collection as a means of creating opportunities to learn and to inspire creativity.
“Our vision remains to develop a centre of excellence for textile learning based around the collection and this project will be a significant step in building towards that.
“We look forward to the next exciting chapter for the Collection.”