About the Detectives

The Detectives initiative was a project hosted by the Conan Doyle Collection, funded by the Arts Council's National Lottery Project Grants Libraries Fund to give people who have learning difficulties, disabilities, or come from a background of mental health or substance misuse the opportunity to learn new skills, gain work experience in a cultural setting and gain more confidence.

Detective's  co-produced projects using the Conan Doyle Collection as inspiration, picking a topic and project they were inspired by, to develop. They were supported by professional artists and creatives, the Conan Doyle Collection team, library and museum staff to develop their skills in all areas of project management. Detectives highlighted areas to work on for their own personal development and any skills they would like to develop. These could be using IT, social media, communication skills, creativity, navigating the journey to work, setting up and running projects in various ways or anything else we can support with.

Event Detectives co-produced events: exhibitions, workshops or online talks, took part in theatre productions and art workshops. Detectives selected books to write about for the 'Book of the Month' series and developed an ongoing blog.

We have Buddy Volunteers who work with Detectives to support them with whatever they may need. We have social media Detectives to regularly update and maintain the Conan Doyle Collection Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages with current events or activities and other information, to promote the Conan Doyle Collection wherever and whenever possible and we have a Detective who updates and maintains our website.

We currently have no vacancies for new Detectives as this project has now ended, but watch this space (or on HIVE!) in case a vacancy comes up! If you fill out this form, we will let you know if anything comes up that matches your interests.

If you would like to read more about The Detectives initiative please check out our activities. If you have questions about volunteering please check out our volunteering page on how to contact us.