Tag: #author:Charlotte

“Feels like home…”

A post by Mitali Goel (DU Hindu Society President) and Charlotte Spink (Learning Coordinator)

The Oriental Museum has been collaborating with the local Indian community for the last decade to host annual Diwali celebrations.

However, 2023 marked our first formal collaboration with the Durham University Hindu Society. Working alongside Hindu Society’s fantastic President Mitali Goel and her dedicated exec team, the event was a shining success.

Tell us a bit about it, Mitali:

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Infinity Internship

A post by Learning Coordinator Charlotte Spink and Infinity Intern Ailsa

In early summer 2022, I was approached by the Careers & Enterprise and Disability Support Service to join their Infinity Internship Programme. Infinity places Durham University students with autism in paid internships both inside and outside the University with the aim of benefitting both parties. The programme aims to access a pool of often untapped talent, promote diversity and inclusion and develop students’ knowledge and skills.

Applicants go through an application and recruitment process to ensure they are a good fit for the host organisation. In July our first Infinity Intern – Ailsa – arrived at the Oriental Museum.

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Celebrating Holi

A post by Charlotte Spink, (Learning Coordinator), Poorva Batra and Kai

On Saturday 11 March the Oriental Museum celebrated the Indian festival of Holi. This year the weather was against us: freezing temperatures, snow and ice blanketed Durham, but we did not let that prevent us from hosting a wonderful indoor event, full of the joys of spring with musical performances, art activities and a retelling of the classic story of Prahlad and Holika.

Museum staff worked alongside Durham University student volunteers to deliver the event and I’d like to introduce to two of them here.

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Diwali 2022: 10 years and counting!

Member of the Hindu community saying prayers before goddess Lakshmi

A post by Charlotte Spink (Learning Coordinator) and Olivia Anderson (Graduate Intern)                                        

This year the Diwali celebrations at the Oriental Museum were extra special because 2022 marks ten years of partnership working alongside the local Hindu community.

Over that period the event has gone from being a small scale with a few Diwali lights, to being a spectacular, large scale public event with, at its peak, over 400 people attending.

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Celebrating Buddha’s Birthday

A post by Learning Coordinator Charlotte Spink.

On Sunday 15 May the Oriental Museum hosted Buddha’s Birthday celebrations. This event was particularly special after a two-year break owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was wonderful to welcome back our visitors and see the museum full of people.

Buddha’s Birthday, also known as Vesak or Wesak, is celebrated around the world and commemorates the birth of Buddha in around 563 BCE. Born a prince, Buddha went on to renounce his privileged royal life and become a holy man, ultimately reaching Enlightenment. 

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Coming to a living room near you…

Charlotte Spink, a Learning Assistant in our Learning and Engagement Team, reflects on transitioning Little Dragons under 5s group from a multi-sensory museum-based programme to a digital session families access from home during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Charlotte presenting Little Dragons from the Galleries at the Oriental Museum
Creating digital content in the Oriental Museum galleries

Lockdown brought with it many changes to ways of working in museums, especially when it comes to engaging with our very youngest visitors – preschool children and their families. Little Dragons, the Oriental Museum’s group for children under 5 has been running as a weekly gallery-based session for over 8 years, attracting an average of 15-20 children per session.  Each session is themed around exploring an object the children can see on display, with craft activities, songs and sensory stories. All these activities were very much based on sensory engagement, communicating directly with each individual child and personalising the session for them.

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Shining a light on community engagement

Diana Bayliss of Black Cat Theatre working her magic in the shadow puppet theatre.

As the days shorten and the cold winter nights are drawing in, Hindus over the world celebrate Diwali, the Festival of Light.  For several years we have worked closely with the local Indian community to host celebrations at the Oriental Museum.

In 2019 around 350 people, including local families, international and home students, and members of staff came together to mark the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance. People enjoyed delicious Indian food prepared by local chef, a shadow puppet performance of the story of Prince Rama and Princess Sita, and art activities.

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