Thank you for your interest in joining the Fitzwilliam Museum Syndicate.
The Fitzwilliam Museum is a remarkable collection of the human- made, housed in a spectacular building at the heart of Cambridge, a flourishing city and a world-renowned university, united by a culture of discovery and innovation. The Museum has long been a scholarly resource and a public treasure, local, regional, national and global in scope. Today, we continue to explore that dual identity with pride, grounded in academic excellence while open to all.
We are a Museum shaped by research and animated by creativity. We are a space for deep looking and open questioning, a destination for ideas, beauty, challenge and enjoyment. As a team, we are expert, committed, collaborative and responsive. As a cultural institution embedded in the East of England, we know we operate in a region marked by stark social and economic inequalities, and we take seriously our responsibility to enable conversations and to welcome a wider and more diverse demographic than ever before.
We strive to be inclusive, thoughtful, distinctive, welcoming, rigorous, challenging, unexpected, uplifting and entertaining. At a time when public discourse is becoming increasingly polarised, we believe cultural spaces like ours must offer something different, not more noise, but clarity, care and generosity.
This is an exciting moment to consider joining the Syndicate. We want to be a destination for Cambridge and the East of England as well as a cultural landmark with national and international reach. We want to be a Museum of now, a place that engages directly with the urgent issues of our time through exhibitions, acquisitions and programming, while embracing complexity over certainty. We want to be a source of civic pride, a beacon for creativity, a space for difficult conversations, and a model of inclusive practice and generous scholarship. And we want to be all this while remaining, at heart, a great day out.
The Syndicate plays a vital role in helping to guide and support this work. As a member, you will work closely with the Director and senior leadership team, the University of Cambridge, and a range of external partners and communities. You will help shape the Museum’s strategic direction, provide governance and oversight, and act as an advocate for our mission and value. We are looking for individuals who can bring energy, insight and diverse experience to this role, people who believe in the power of culture to connect and transform, and who are excited by the possibility of helping a historic institution evolve into its most dynamic and relevant self.
Over the coming years, we will be advancing an ambitious Masterplan to create new display spaces, teaching and research facilities, digital platforms and visitor experiences that are truly accessible, inclusive and inspiring. We are committed to growing a collection that is both excellent and equitable, investing in contemporary works, and reinterpreting historic objects in light of today’s social and cultural realities. Our collaborative research priorities include art and science, visual awareness, making, belonging, representation and identity, all rooted in public engagement and designed to shape not just what we do, but how the wider museum sector might evolve.
None of this work is easy or straightforward. It requires patience, sustained partnerships, courage and imagination. It also requires a strong foundation, stable funding, imaginative collaborations, a thriving internal culture, and a governance body that helps us think clearly and plan wisely. That is why we are now seeking new Syndics members to support this next chapter.
If you share our belief that art and culture are essential, emotionally, intellectually and socially, then we hope you will consider joining us. This is an invitation to help shape our Museum, serious and joyful, inclusive and ambitious, and as rooted in its great tradition as it is committed to an exciting future.
Dr Luke Syson
Director & Marlay Curator
The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge