Ipswich Museum is awarded a £110,000 grant by The Wolfson Foundation towards the refurbishment of Ipswich Museum

Published12th January 2022

Wool-I-Am, Ipswich Museum’s mammoth will be getting a gallery of his own thanks to a £110,000 grant from the Wolfson Foundation.

This new gallery will present Wool-I-Am in a wondrous space that brings to life his prehistoric world and the local, related archaeological digs at Stoke Tunnel. Wool-I-Am will stand impressively centre-stage in the space, surrounded by a series of angular flats and plinths depicting the Steppe landscape of his homeland that will be animated using stylised graphics and gobo lighting. Display cases will be embedded into the walls and plinth tops, presenting some of the many unique items discovered locally from this period including tusks, teeth and bones. Stoke Tunnel will be recreated as a crawl space for children where inside they can conduct their own archaeological discoveries of mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses through a range of sensory and tactile exhibits.

Other funding for the £8.7m project includes £4.3m from National Lottery Heritage Fund, £3.6m of Ipswich Borough Council funding, £40k from Friends of the Ipswich Museums, £340k which will be raised through fund raising with Trusts and other charitable foundations plus £300k of various other including volunteer time.

Councillor Carole Jones, Ipswich Borough Council Portfolio Holder for Museums, says:

“We are delighted to receive this support from the Wolfson Foundation. As well as providing an impressive backdrop for Wool-I-Am, this new gallery will look in detail at the human story and the long-term impact early modern humans had on other species, our environments and the planet. We are really looking forward to working with the people of Ipswich and our funding partners to inspire a new generation through the new stories we tell within Ipswich Museum.”