The French philanthropist Frédéric Jousset is funding a new scheme enabling schoolchildren from across the UK to visit a range of cultural venues including the British Museum in London.
The project, launched by Jousset’s Art Explora foundation, aims to tackle cultural inequality in the UK by bringing over 100,000 children on school trips to museums across the country. According to data provided by Art Explora, more than 60% of teachers have not taken their class to a museum in the past year.
“It is a commitment of over £1m for the next four years,” Jousset tells The Art Newspaper. Asked why he feels the need to provide funding for services which should be covered by local councils, he says: “Unfortunately this is where public deficit brings us—this is the case with most countries in Europe, not just the UK. There is not enough money for education.”
The accompanying Time Odyssey digital “learning adventure”, which was developed by Art Explora and the British Museum in collaboration with the digital developer Arcade XR, launched today at the London museum. The activity, which is aimed at schoolchildren aged 7 to 11 and played on a tablet, encourages pupils to engage with museum collections through characters such as Revna, the Viking of the Sea, and Cheng, a trainee scribe from Ancient China.
In 2024, the Time Odyssey programme was launched at a number of partner organisations: The Yorkshire Museum, York; The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter; The Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle upon Tyne; Manchester Museum; South Shields Museum & Art Gallery; and the British Museum. National Museums Liverpool is among the new partners planned for this year.
Keith Merrin, the director of North East museums, said at the launch: “The North East faces challenges [such as] child poverty. Museums can offer transformational experiences; children have travelled from over 60 miles away.”
Jousset, the son of former Centre Pompidou curator Marie-Laure Jousset, is the founder of WebHelp—a tech support and outsourcing company that was valued at €2.4bn in 2019 according to Business Review magazine. The tech mogul has since he has stepped down from the company, and in 2016 acquired the French art magazine Beaux-Arts.
Jousset is making his presence felt in the UK cultural scene. He is among the funders of the V&A East Storehouse which opens in Stratford, east London, later this month. Meanwhile his £32m catamaran that doubles as a mobile museum is due to dock in the UK next year.
