Change lives with creative learning: donate online TODAY

The Fitzwilliam today launches an ambitious fundraising challenge to bring about a life-changing new project with children in Soham and the surrounding communities. The £40,000 the Fitzwilliam aims to raise through online donations will create The Fitzwilliam Museum and Soham Schools Partnership, transforming the lives of young people in rural East Cambridgeshire by giving them unprecedented access to a world of cultural inspiration through the Museum. Children and young people in this area will be given exciting new opportunities not only to visit the Museum guided by experts, but also to get 'behind the scenes' and engage directly with the Fitzwilliam's collections in their own schools.

This fundraising challenge is part of the national initiative The Big Arts Give, which helps individual giving to cultural organisations go further by doubling the donations. Every donation made online from today (Monday 6 December) to Friday 10 December for the Museum to carry out this work will be doubled by The Big Arts Give's Challenge Fund, matching each gift pound for pound.

For many of the local young people involved and their families, this project will be their first opportunity to experience a museum and its collections. Working with Soham Schools, the Museum's initiative will offer creative opportunities to help young people across the area discover new ideas, develop fresh approaches to learning and raise aspirations and levels of achievement.

The online giving challenge will start on Monday 6 December through to Friday 10 December. Speed of giving is crucial, with the majority of donations needing to come in on the first day to qualify for as much of the challenge pot as possible and reach the project's target of £40,000.

Donate online Find out more about the Fitzwilliam's Big Arts Give project

6 December 2010