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The Yorkshire Dinosaur Coast Community Projects

Jane Mee
Museums & Gallery Officer
Scarborough Borough Council

http://www.dinocoast.org.uk/
http://www.scarborough.gov.uk/

Access for all

The aim of the Yorkshire Dinosaur Coast Project is to provide opportunities for people to engage with their natural heritage – particularly geology.

The geological heritage of the area includes:

• Museums and collections
• The Jurassic geology of the coast
• The geological traditions of the area (research/teaching).

One of the advantages of this location is that it combines fantastic geology with popular beaches so there is potential for reaching huge numbers of people.

Project details

The project area covers the North York Moors National Park and the coast of North Yorkshire. Project Partners include Scarborough Museums & Gallery, a local authority run service, the North York Moors National Park, English Nature, Whitby Museum, an independently run museum with charitable status, and the Yorkshire Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The project budget is some £300,000 of which £250,000 has been provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). This is a 3 year project.

Approach

The Dinosaur Coast Project has used a range of approaches to involve people in geodiversity. Its Summer Events programme, for example, includes fossil hunts, hands-on activities, evening strolls and expert days – events catering for a range of interest levels held at popular locations so as to attract a broad audience. Fossil collecting guidelines have also been produced and a fossil recording and registration scheme is to be piloted in the next few months. However, it is the Dinosaur Coast Community Projects which provide the most opportunity for people to become involved with geodiversity.

Dinosaur Coast Community Projects

The Dinosaur Coast Project has worked with over 30 community groups, targeting disadvantaged groups that do not have ready access to the countryside, ie:

• young people
• children
• people with disabilities.

Our approach has been to work through existing organisations which cater for these audiences:

• after school and holiday play schemes
• youth groups (11-14 years)
• pupil referral units
• disability groups such as MENCAP.

The Community Projects have the same overall approach:

• objectives agreed with group leaders
• taster sessions/discussion with participants to agree theme of project
• visit to site/theme explored with specialist
• practical activity to interpret discoveries of group (with an artist for example)
• a celebratory event
• evaluation of project (with everyone involved/contributing).

On average projects run over a six week period. Each group spends from 2 hours to a day a week on their project (latter including travel etc). Projects usually involve 20 to 25 participants, although usually no more than 10 for disability groups.

Achievements

The Dinosaur Coast Community Projects have:

• raised self-confidence/self-esteem among participating groups and individuals
• given some groups the confidence to continue their project alone
• raised awareness and understanding of our natural heritage and created a demand for more…
• given people the opportunity to meet and work with specialists
• left a legacy of community artworks across the project area.

What did not work

Identifying community groups with which to work in sparsely populated rural areas was a problem. This was overcome to some extent by setting up groups in target areas (with the support of other organisations).

The Dinosaur Coast Project was not particularly successful at engaging with youth groups. Some were not sufficiently inspired and we failed to identify appropriate pre-project activities for some more demanding youth groups. The group leaders attitude was found to be critical (some visits were cancelled, by group leaders for example, which affected the group's attitude later).

Although Museums in the area hosted Dinosaur Coast activities and provided specimens for handling, their collections were not central to any of the Community Projects. This was a missed opportunity, reflecting the lack of a Curator of Natural Sciences on the Scarborough Museums team.

What worked

• separate post to manage the Community Projects
• appropriate budgets
• partnership approach – working with existing community groups
• use of freelance geologists, artists, etc., to contribute to the project
• getting to know group members and leaders beforehand
• booking artists and specialists well in advance, giving them time to plan
• group visits and artist-led work, lots of enjoyment and enthusiasm
• distribution of groups through project area
• variety of groups in terms of age and ability.

How to do better

• identify and use established good practice in working with youth groups
• work only with groups that meet every week to maintain momentum
• treat each group as unique, do not follow a formula or routine
• include adult groups of varying ages, who may be less mobile and have less access to Dinosaur Coast
• ensure that group leaders understand and agree their responsibilities (with regard to visits, obtaining consent forms, etc.)
• share good practice.