our courses

What to expect

 

 

Attingham courses offer a unique opportunity to examine the history, architecture and contents of historic buildings and their gardens and estates in situ.

For over 70 years Attingham has been welcoming heritage professionals from around the world onto our courses. Attingham promotes an equal, inclusive, open and intellectually stimulating environment in which everyone can benefit from shared experiences and enjoy common interests. A major benefit of the courses is the ability to learn and debate with colleagues from diverse and varied backgrounds and thus build understanding of other cultures and approaches.

We strive for academic excellence. Course tutors are drawn from a variety of backgrounds and professional disciplines, including curators, academics, conservators, art market practitioners, historic house managers and house owners. Special access allows close-up study of buildings and collections.

The courses comprise a mixture of lectures, discussions, handling sessions and on-site tuition. Important areas of study also include the management and interpretation of historic properties, both public and private, and engagement with a wide range of issues around presentation and re-presentation.

‘I have been attending courses throughout my working life, but I have never received such inter-disciplinary and complex treatment. The Attingham Summer School was the most powerful experience of my professional life.’

 

Senior Curator, Regional Museum Maribor, Slovenia

‘The value of such a course is not only the access to treasures otherwise rarely glimpsed, and the stimulating discussions with fellow students, but also the chance to compare approaches to the management of the historic house.’

 

Senior Curator of Decorative Arts, Royal Collection Trust

‘As a conservator I got a real sense of context, why and how things were made and for whom in the eighteenth century – it has been so very beneficial to my role as National Trust regional conservator.’

 

National Trust Regional Conservator, Northern Ireland

‘Informal discussions have created bridges across continents, and I realise our challenges, whether in India, USA, Australia, England, and the rest of Europe are similar: funding, supportive governance, community engagement, and the need to collaborate widely, encouraging scholarship and research on the collection’

 

Editor and independent art historian, India

‘… each day I found myself speaking with such interesting people from various parts of the globe. It was wonderful to find our joint deep appreciation for historic buildings.’

 

Associate Architect, Donald Insall Associates, London

'I am compelled to share what I did, put good new techniques into practice and internalise this rare opportunity in making my fine museum even better.'

Director, Davenport House Museum, USA

'Without my Attingham experience I would never have moved to the next step in my career.'

Head of Collections, Länsmuseet Gävleborg, Sweden

Course participants repeatedly tell us that they value the inter-disciplinary nature of the programmes and the opportunity for in-depth, intensive study with their international peers. The courses are intended to be as interactive as possible, allowing all participants to have a voice and share their experiences.

Object-focused sessions allow the materiality and making of works of art to be studied, alongside issues of context, provenance and interpretation.

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