The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum joins international Bloomberg app

A virtual guide providing deeper insight into the history of moving images on display at The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum (BDCM) has gone live this week.

Visitors to the museum on the University of Exeter campus can access the guide from their smartphones and enjoy audio tours, additional information on exhibits, and a curated selection of favourite artefacts chosen by staff and volunteers.

It follows BDCM joining the global Bloomberg Connects platform, which is a free app that provides interactive guides to more than 1,500 museums, galleries, and other cultural spaces worldwide.

With more than one million users, BDCM’s presence on the app, alongside the likes of the National Portrait Gallery and the Statue of Liberty, promises to raise its profile, both locally and globally. The BDCM is home to Britain’s foremost collection on cinema and moving image history, with more than 95,000 items, 1,000 of which are on display at any one time.

Dr Phil Wickham, Curator, said: “We are delighted to join Bloomberg’s global app and introduce more people to our amazing museum so they can engage further with a people’s history of cinema and cinemagoing.”

Museum staff Sarah Spencer and Natasha Thompson curated the guide and provided imagery, expert descriptions and even video to bring it to life. Users can explore both current and past exhibitions and locate artefacts within the museum’s floorplan.

The guide, which can be accessed via the Bloomberg Arts and Culture website, was previewed to staff and guests at an event on Monday celebrating Heritage Open Week.

It also follows last week’s announcement that BDCM has been awarded Designation status by Arts Council England.

“This is an exciting start to the academic year for the museum and demonstrates its standing in the British heritage landscape,” adds Dr Wickham. “We have an exciting programme ahead, which we cannot wait to share with both new and returning visitors.”