Skip to main content
About Us
Close up photograph of part of the Norman Arch, which was the entrances to the North Hall

Charlotte Spink  

Learning Coordinator 

Email: charlotte.spink@durham.ac.uk 

 

Overview    

Charlotte is a Learning Coordinator within the Learning and Engagement team with 10+ years’ experience working in community engagement.  

Biography  

After completing a BA (Hons) in History at Lancaster University, Charlotte began volunteering in various museums across north-east England gaining experience in a number of roles including tour guiding, museum collection cataloguing and community curation. Initially working as part of the front of house team and setting up an under 5s programme, family programme including Durham Archaeology Explorers, she transitioned to the Learning Team and began the Access and Community Engagement Officer.   

In this role she has led on developing and delivering the community and faith events programme including Diwali, Holi, Lunar New Year and Eid al-Fitr celebrations and forged new links in those communities and working alongside artists and practitioners.  

Charlotte is primarily focused on removing barriers to engagement with museums, including the blind and partially sighted community, refugees, people living with dementia, vulnerable adults, lifelong learners (Women’s Institute, U3A) and many others.  

Recently she was Creative Producer on Street Museum, an award-winning project aimed at connecting underserved communities to Durham University collections, funded by the Museums Association and UKRI. 

Charlotte supports teaching on the Museum Communication module of the MA Museum Studies, as well as BA Visual Arts and BA Education through guest lecturing and supporting student placements.  

Charlotte is currently undertaking the Group for Education in Museums (GEM) Rising Leaders programme.  

Areas of interest 

  • Community Engagement and participatory practice in museums 
  • Early Years Foundation Stage learning in museum settings. 
  • Co-creation in museums 
  • Creativity and play in museums. 
  • Equality, diversity and inclusion in museums 
  • Accessibility 

Publications  

Making museums dementia-friendly and accessible to the mental health community  Access and Inclusion in South and South Asian Museums - Learning from the Commonwealth Association of Museums’ regional workshop 2019, in partnership with the Mehrangarh Museum Trust.

Recent conference presentations 

Group for Education in Museums Conference: Street Museum – a case study                                       Museum of Making, Derby UK - September 2022 

Making museums dementia friendly and accessible to the mental health community            Commonwealth Association of Museums conference on Access and Inclusion in South and Southeast Asian Museums, Jodhpur, India - November 2019 

Community Engagement and Working with Audiences with Special Needs                                          Department of Museums Malaysia, Malaysia Museology 2nd series workshop - September 2019 

Live Well Project
Live Well Symposium, Discovery Museum, Tyne and Wear Museums and Archives - June 2019 

 

Membership of Professional Bodies  

  • Museums Association  
  • Group for Education in Museums  

Grants 

Museum Development Programme Recovery and Development Grant (2023/24) - £8,000 to develop audio descriptive tours of the Oriental Museum in collaboration with the visual impaired community.  

 

Awards 

Inspiring the Extraordinary: Championing Respect, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – January 2023: Highly Commended 

Best Arts and Education Partnership at North-east Culture Award: Street Museum Project - December 2022:  Winner 

Investing in Children Award, institutional award for Oriental Museum - 2014