Students are at the hear of the BDC Museum through the material we bring to the classroom as part of the curriculum but also through the volunteering opportunities we provide and the activities we can offer based on our collections.
In 2024 we began some wellbeing activities for students, including neurodivergent students, using the collection. Student interns Catherine Hurcombe and Ella Marston ran the sessions. Below Catherine writes about the experience. We are continuing Ctaherine and Ella's good work and are running further sessions based on their model.
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As my time as a student at the University of Exeter comes to an end, I am going to miss some of the fantastic opportunities available on campus. And although I will almost certainly be coming back to visit the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum as a member of the public, I have really enjoyed finishing off my studies with my internship here.
Over the last month, I have been working alongside my fellow intern and student, Ella Marston, and with the supervision of Sarah-Jayne Ainsworth and Phil Wickham, to organize and lead a range of events designed to aid student wellbeing. These have included drop-in cafés, arts and crafts, free-writing, special interest research, and even a board games afternoon. It’s been great to learn more about the museum’s collections, and to see other students get to appreciate them as well.
The connection between the arts and wellbeing is a crucial one, and in recent years, more and more museums have come to explore this link through mindfulness in their exhibits. From the Mindfulness in the Museum project at the Getty, to the mindfulness sessions run at Exeter’s own RAMM, this has become an important part of how we engage with our culture and history.
Designing wellbeing sessions targeted at students has been particularly rewarding. I have struggled personally with mental illness during my education, having suffered from severe OCD for the past decade, and I know all too well how academic, social, and even accommodation stress can impact student mental health. Ella and I have both worked extremely hard over the last month to create activities that students will not only enjoy, but that will offer them much-needed support in the difficult exams period. The work of its staff and content of the museum itself have both been invaluable in organizing these unique events. We’ve been able to include resources from all around the museum – from optical illusions and kaleidoscopes to memorabilia and board games.
While I’ve enjoyed hosting all of these activities (and brainstorming a few more that I hope can be used in future years!), my particular favourite has got to be our arts and crafts session. As someone who isn’t exactly the best artist, having so many forms of media to draw from was incredibly helpful, and I loved seeing all the different sketches and illustrations from everyone who came.
I’d like to thank Sarah-Jayne and Phil for being so accommodating and helpful in making these sessions happen, and of course, thanks to Ella, for all her brilliant work. I can only hope that future university students will benefit from these wellbeing activities as much as I have, and can enjoy the incredible collections the museum has to offer.
