The CC4 Museum of Welsh Cricket has been shortlisted for the Innovation in Multimedia Award at this year's Celtic Media Festival, which will be held in St Ives, Cornwall during April.
The Museum, which opened fully in March last year, is located at the National Cricket Centre at Glamorgan's headquarters the SWALEC Stadium.
Created in partnership with CC4 - the Cardiff-based multimedia company and e-learning specialists and developed thanks to generous financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Museum features a series of fascinating displays, which both celebrate the long and rich history of cricket in Wales besides helping to bring history alive.
There are 6 distinctive digital multimedia strands to be experienced within the Museum. Education is covered via CricEd, an online resource of over 100 curriculum based lessons, currently aimed mainly at KS2 and KS3. Batio is a unique and interactive wii-based game, featuring legends of Welsh cricket and designed to give every visitor the opportunity to experience the fundamental mechanics of batting. Indeed, it is proving to be a hit for experienced cricketers along with foreign tourists who have no prior knowledge of cricket whatsoever.
TaleEnders is a digital storytelling project developed with the University of South Wales, and 6 original club partners. Shwmae is an unique and innovative Database and algorithm driven, computer-based game for either one or two players using information on over sixty of Glamorgan Crickets's greatest players.
The bulk of the Museum's artefacts can be accessed via the Online Museum. The casual visitor can dip in and follow themes that have caught their eye in the main Museum in far greater depth, whereas research students and other visitors with specific enquiries can use the interactive timelines and topic lists on the touch-screen plasmas to explore and obtain information for their studies.
Finally, a series of digital presentations - using video, audio, graphics and animations - have been developed to introduce a number of specialized themes, including in 2014, the involvement of Welsh cricketers in the Great War.
Glamorgan Cricket Chief Executive Hugh Morris said, Glamorgan CCC is very proud and honoured that the CC4 Museum of Welsh Cricket has been recognised for the highly prestigious Innovation in Multimedia Award at this year's Celtic Media Festival. Through the support of many contributors, none more so than the Heritage Lottery Fund, we truly believe we have created in partnership with CC4, an innovative, bi-lingual attraction and the first of its kind in Wales.
The interactive and multimedia elements within the CC4 Museum of Welsh Cricket have proved to be hugely popular with visitors of all ages and backgrounds, not just for people in Wales but also from further afield. In particular the CC4 Museum of Welsh Cricket has enabled us to engage with the community in a stimulating and innovative way and our every growing audience have been able to effectively find out more about the rich heritage of Welsh cricket as well as learning about the basics of Wales' number 1 summer sport.
Following financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Visit Wales, the main production partners in the development of these Interactive elements of the Museum have been the Universities of South Wales and Southampton Solent; twofour Ltd; Creo Ltd; McAllister Design Academy; Tim Short; Natalie Clements; Phil Stead of Cwmni Da and The Cricket Foundation's A Chance to Shine scheme. The overall project was conceived and produced by CC4, with the pedagogic input being overseen by Dr Andrew Hignell, the Archivist of Glamorgan CCC.
Huw Owen Managing Director of CC4 added, This is fantastic news! Working with my favourite sports team doesn't require a great deal of reward, but to be shortlisted by the Celtic Media Festival is wonderful recognition for the creativity and endeavour that has been behind the CC4 Museum of Welsh Cricket.
The challenge for the development team was how to make Wales' oldest team game, with an organic collection of over 5000 mixed artefacts, representing around 250 years of history covering every corner of a bilingual country accessible to a wide audience. Amgueddfa Criced Cymru/ The Museum of Welsh Cricket naturally lent itself to a bilingual, digital interactive treatment and in their wisdom the quality of the end product and the benefits it brings to not just people in Wales but the wider audience it appeals to, has been recognised by Celtic Media Festival.
For more information please visit www.glamorgancricket.com/museum or www.celticmediafestival.co.uk