Art Explora: Time Odyssey
If you are a primary school teacher who wants to take your class to a museum but, once you do the sums, find that it is prohibitively expensive, read on because Art Explora and Time Odyssey have a solution.
Art Explora is an international charity founded in 2019 to make art and culture accessible to everyone, regardless of background. It runs innovative initiatives including mobile museums, a free online art history academy, artist residencies, and the world’s first museum-boat. Its projects bring art directly to communities, fund school visits, and use digital tools to break down cultural barriers and promote lifelong learning and engagement with the arts.
Time Odyssey is an immersive learning experience designed for groups of students aged 7 to 11. It has been created by Art Explora and the British Museum.
Using a tablet, students will explore the museum collection, discovering stories and artefacts guided by a series of four characters. Revna the Viking of the sea, Cheng, a trainee scribe from ancient China, Felix the Roman centurion, and Hori a tomb painter from ancient Egypt. Students choose a character and then take on a series of challenges to help them get back home by gathering enough energy from the museum objects to open up a time portal.
It has been piloted across the UK and has received great feedback. Of the 4500 students who participated in the pilot scheme, 60% had not visited a museum in the past 12 months.
“I’ve got a lot of children with varying ability and different needs in my class; it was accessible and appealed to every single one. It worked wonders! Nothing has done that before, especially when we’ve gone to a museum.“
Year 5 teacher.
If you reflect on your school experience, I would bet that some of your favourite memories were experiences outside of the classroom. This might have been outdoor pursuits, theatre or music, nature visits, historic sites or museums and galleries. The importance and power of these educational trips cannot be underestimated. They enhance academic, social and personal development; they provide cultural capital.
14% of teachers say they have never taken a class to a museum on a school trip. Outside London, there is a greater disparity of access for children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. More than half of the teachers surveyed by Art Explora said that cost is the main barrier.
Time Odyssey addresses this inequality by offering a completely free experience-both the museum visit and the transport costs are covered through the program.
“The fact it’s free is a very important factor. Our catchment really struggles with money.”
School Administrator.
Which Museums are Involved?
The Yorkshire Museum, York
The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
The Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle Upon Tyne
South Shields Museum and Art Gallery
Manchester Museum
The program will expand in 2025 with new partners, including the National Museums Liverpool, Danum Gallery, Library and Museum, Doncaster and Tees Valley Museums.
How do you plan a Free Visit to Time Odyssey?
The Time Odyssey website has links to all the participating Museums. There is a useful page here that has all the links you need to find participating Museums and booking links.
Next, you need to apply for the Travel grant of up to £500 to help cover the costs of coach transport to the museum. A school may apply for up to 3 transport grants per school year, so it is possible to take more than one class. Information, including terms and conditions, can be found by accessing the online Art Explorer Time Odyssey transport grant application form or by emailing timeodyssey@artexplora.org
You could also see and download the application form here.
It’s a no-brainer, isn’t it? Time Odyssey by Art Explora is incredibly well designed, has proven to be highly engaging for children, and is free.
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