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Kate Knowlden

Kate Knowlden | Curator | Museum of East Anglian Life
Kate is the Curator of the Museum of East Anglian Life and leads their Search for the Stars digitisation project funded by Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund and the Headley Trust. With 17 historic buildings set in 75 acres of Suffolk countryside, the Museum of East Anglian Life is an accredited museum founded in 1967. The museum has a collection of c.40,000 objects that tell stories of life on the land and the production of food.

Kate has previously worked with StartEast, a project focused on supporting and growing cultural and creative organisations. She has experience in engagement and curation across a number of heritage and art organisations and has a particular interest of exploring human impact on the environment in her work. She holds an MA in Curation from Norwich University of the Arts and a BA in Photography from the University of Brighton.

Head shot of Kate Knowlden

Resources by Kate Knowlden


Screenshot of 25 volunteers taking part in an online get together

As Curator of The Food Museum in Stowmarket, Suffolk, Kate Knowlden manages the museum’s ‘Search for the Stars’ digitisation project, which has had fantastic success working with digital volunteers as the museum tackles the digitisation of its collection. In this resource, Kate shares her experience of recruiting digital volunteers ― what to look for, where to find people, the interviewing and induction process, and the management of volunteers. It includes volunteer testimonials.

There are many challenges and benefits of working with remote-based digital volunteers. In this case study Kate Knowlden from the The Food Museum (formerly Museum of East Anglian Life) shares her experience of working on the museum’s ‘Search for the Stars’ project, which is using remote-working digital volunteers to help transfer the museum’s 40,000 paper-based object records over to its online collections management system. Kate talks about the museum’s process of recruiting, training and supporting digital volunteers.

Digital Heritage Hub is managed by Arts Marketing Association (AMA) in partnership with The Heritage Digital Consortium and The University of Leeds. It has received Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and National Lottery funding, distributed by The Heritage Fund as part of their Digital Skills for Heritage initiative. Digital Heritage Hub is free and answers small to medium sized heritage organisations most pressing and frequently asked digital questions.

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