Sign Up Now For The BBC Civilisations Festival 2018

Museums across the UK are being encouraged to take part in an exciting new BBC festival in March next year. The Civilisations Festival is a partnership between museums, galleries and the BBC to coincide with the broadcast of BBC Arts’ Civilisations series in Spring 2018, presented by David Olusoga, Mary Beard and Simon Schama.

It is now nearly half a century since Kenneth Clark’s series Civilisation thrilled audiences with its authoritative interpretation of the glories of Western art and it is hoped that the new series – and festival – will introduce a new generation to the great masterworks of beauty, ingenuity and illumination created across the continents.

The Civilisations Festival will run from Friday 2 March to Sunday 11 March 2018 and will showcase ideas and events designed to engage the public and attract visitors to museums. The festival will run alongside the new Civilisations series on BBC2 and museums can align themselves with the programming by developing events, hosting public activities and taking part in local BBC programmes on radio and television.

Branding and toolkits will be available so that you can let your visitors know that the event is part of the Civilisations Festival and museums will also have the opportunity to use innovative, newly developed digital tools and apps designed by the BBC. You can see examples the BBC’s Taster platform. The BBC is also exploring opening up its archive to partners in the project for use in events or in the stories they want to tell as part of the Festival.

Why become a Civilisations Festival partner?

  • The BBC is looking for museums to be inspired by Civilisations to hold or incorporate existing events and some may end up featured on local television or radio
  • The BBC archives are hoping to make footage and media available for museum partners
  • Civilisations will be for a significant BBC season, with marketing and promotion taking place across the BBC and in national and local media, helping to attract visitors to your events
  • Festival branding will be made available for your own use subject to T&C
  • You can list all your events for free online at Museum Crush
  • Civilisations will explore the visual culture of societies from around the globe, revealing alongside the magnificent objects made in the West the wealth of treasures created by other cultures
  • A unique digital opportunity – some museums will get the opportunity for items from their collections to be on a purpose built augmented reality app, developed by the BBC’s Research & Development teams

Some ideas for festival events at your museum

The content of the events is up to your organisation. It could be a debate or a keynote speech, a performance or a hands-on workshop using an item from your collection as the starting point

  • Got an event or exhibition already planned for March 2018? If it links to the themes of Civilisations you could incorporate it into the Festival and become a partner with the branding & listing benefits
  • Workshops for young people based around your collections or local history
  • Design a digital app session with local schools
  • Talks by Museum curators or volunteers
  • ‘Festival selfies – gets your visitors taking selfies in front of Civilisations festival branding at your museum

How can you get involved?

The date of the festival is from Friday 2nd March to Sunday 11th March, but can include events beyond those dates. Register your organisation’s interest by emailing civilisations@bbc.co.uk

You’ll then receive regular newsletters to update organisations on the latest about the festival.

As a partner, you’ll be able to list your festival event for free on the Culture24 Museum Crush website.

You can find detailed information about the festival on the BBC website: Civilisations Festival – How to get involved

The use of the BBC branding will be subject to terms and conditions, and organisations will be invited to sign up as a Civilisations Festival Partner.

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