Helping Novium Museum go virtual during lockdown | Vicky Meets

• What does your work entail?

Since the first lockdown my role has evolved, now including lots of videography. Before Covid struck I was planning an immersive VE Day 75th anniversary indoor street party, taking over the whole museum. Sadly it was cancelled, but instead an online exhibition was created by the team, including the photos and memories of local people. This is still available online. I’ve been really lucky that I’ve been able to help develop the museums online presence. My days are never really the same, but they usually include answering wedding enquires, helping plan for events such as Roman Week, a little bit of social media and, now, filming and editing too!

• Any particular highlights?

I love working at The Guildhall in Priory Park, which we hire out for events and weddings. It is such a beautiful building, so whenever I have the opportunity to meet potential wedding couples at The Guildhall I feel very lucky to spend time there. When we re-open after this lockdown we hope to open the Guildhall’s doors once a month for visitors to come and have a look inside. There’s a lot of history there!

• Will you tell us more about the virtual offering available from The Novium Museum?

We have provided lots of online content for the community and for family audiences. In March 2020 I created the virtual museum exhibition films and it spiralled from there. We now offer storytelling films, audio stories, and educational films. We even had one of the films I produced recognised by The Museums Association as one of their favourites. Thanks to funding from Arts Fund we were able to create an exciting series of innovative Virtual Field Trips for schools, with each ‘trip’ exploring different periods of the Roman occupation and Roman daily life. I was heavily involved in the creative side, which I loved. All films and activities can be found on our website, as well as on our YouTube channel.

• A trained actress and comedy writer too, will you tell us more about yourself?

I trained as an actor and acting is my first love. Since graduating I’ve been lucky enough to work on a variety of productions, including playing Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at Bognor’s Alexandra Theatre. I have also worked on films including Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns, Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again and Overlord. Currently I am co-hosting South West London’s Riverside Radio’s Friday Breakfast show and working as one-third of the comedy writing and performing trio, Quirks & Foibles. My experience through different genres of theatre and performance really helps me to connect different styles of arts and media to create exciting new projects for The Novium Museum.

• Visit The Novium Museum’s website at www.thenovium.org/virtualmuseum to view the online content or find all the films on YouTube – search ‘The Novium Museum’. For virtual field trips visit www.thenovium.org/vft. Subscribe to Quirks and Foibles on YouTube or follow on social media @QuirksAndFoiblesSketch.

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