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Art History in the time of COVID-19

Photo of Dr Leah Clark being filmed in the Victoria and Albert museum, London

In this blog, Dr Leah Clark, Senior Lecturer in Art History at The Open University, draws together a range of work being led by the OU in response to COVID-19. Find out more about the vast role Art History plays in helping us to make sense of the pandemic and how existing materials are being adapted.

Building on the outreach work we’ve been doing in schools, the Art History department has provided a number of free resources to support the teaching of Art History online.

As soon as lockdown hit, we knew that teachers would struggle to suddenly go online. So we compiled some resources from Open Arts Objects, our online platform that supports the teaching of Art History in schools, with over 50 free open access films. We also added to this list some of our other wonderful online resources to help Art History teachers with going online, both for A-level and in higher education.

Dr Leah Clarke speaking in a school to studentsRight before lockdown, we had the chance to go into schools and get students to make their own Open Arts Objects films. This was such a successful venture that we decided to put together a resource pack for students to make their own open arts objects films from home. You can see a few examples of student films below. Feel free to download a pdf of the instructions too.

With museums closed, many felt like they were missing the hands-on experience of going into museums and seeing works of art. So we circulated on social media as part of the BBC/Arts and Humanities Research Council ‘culture in quarantine’ #MuseumFromHome day, how we have brought the museum into the classroom and into the home through our ‘virtual handling sessions with museums’ films. See the list of Open Arts Objects films that have been filmed in museums with handling sessions by curators.

Finally, we’ve also been giving students and viewers of our films an opportunity to meet the team behind our course materials and the Open Arts Objects films, through our Who’s Who blogs in Art History.

Dr leah Clarke being filmed The Arts have been increasingly underfunded, especially in schools, and with the current and projected economic downfall from COVID-19, it is likely there will be further cuts. However, it is the Arts that have been a creative and emotional outlet during the pandemic crisis, bringing communities together. It is essential that everyone has access to Arts subjects, not just the elite. Indeed, key findings from the Cultural Learning Alliance evidences the positive impact arts education has on the welfare and future potential of children, particularly those from low-income families (for example, more likely to stay in school; more likely to get a degree; more likely to volunteer; more likely to do better at other non-arts subjects such as Maths; less likely to reoffend).

The Art History department, and specifically the Open Arts Objects team, is working hard to ensure Art History is accessible to all, and we are working on a number of projects to make sure the Arts continue to be offered in schools during and after the pandemic, so watch this space!

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