After years of being envisioned, and months of development, we are delighted to announce our Bloomberg Connects guide, launching in February!
Bloomberg Connects is an accessibility-meets-interpretation app designed to enhance your experience, and get you closer to the collection. The guide can be used as a point-to-point map, a learning resource, a podcast, a selection of videos to hold up next to the real artwork, or simply as background noise, whilst you navigate the site.
Our guide is a fantastic resource for additional content as you enjoy the space for yourself. For those who can’t experience the site in person, there’s never been a better way to get a sense of what it’s like to be here than now!
What to expect
The guide offers a whole host of different content, covering past and present exhibitions, as well as our permanent collection. You can expect details on works from curators, including personal reflections on exhibitions from members of staff and volunteers.
You can access a variety of tours, including an ‘Essential Tour’, for those short on time, and looking to find key pieces in the collection. In addition to art-focused content, there are tours of the garden, the architecture, and a nod to some of the cultural landmarks around Sudbury that informed Gainsborough’s art and life.
Accessibility was key in our decision to create the guide. As such, a range of accessible content is available, including audio descriptions for those with visual impairments, British Sign Language videos for members of the Deaf / Hard of Hearing community, and a Sensory Guide, offering a unique view of the museum through soundscapes. While the Sensory Guide was developed with neurodivergent visitors in mind, we hope it offers a valuable and illuminating experience for all.
Reimagining Art
Connects has also given us the chance to use past content, or tidbits we’d have limited or no use for. Images that precede my tenure at GH, the redevelopment, and indeed the decade leading up to it, all find their way onto the guide. It’s been such good fun digging through the archives to find original documentation. A personal favourite amongst the Marketing Team is a poster of The First Exhibition of Art at Gainsborough’s House, dated 1959.
For instance, a few years ago, Lex filmed with President of the Royal Academy, Rebecca Salter describing pieces from her fantastic 2023 In View exhibition. This meant we had fantastic resources from a captivating artist and speaker, but seemingly little to do with them. Those clips have now found new life in our ‘Featured Past Exhibition’ section of the guide.
With the guide, we can now utilise clips from events or conversations with artists, curators, and other fascinating figures otherwise lost to the annals of time. We hope we can continue to bring past exhibitions back to life through new and different voices, and through storytelling.
Stay Tuned!
Look out for our guide as it launches this February. You can expect to see it advertised around the site, with posters, signs and QR codes. They will take you very neatly to the Bloomberg Connects app, available on Apple and Android, from which you can access hours of exclusive content.
Have fun, enjoy, and stay connected!
