PHILANTHROPIST Frédéric Jousset has launched a major campaign to tackle cultural inequality in the UK by bringing over a hundred thousand children on school trips to museums across the country.

His foundation, Art Explora, teamed up with the British Museum to launch Time Odyssey – a new interactive learning experience for seven to 11-year-old schoolchildren which takes pupils on a quest through their local museum physically and virtually.

And schoolchildren in Devon are at the forefront of this major new national campaign.

Exeter City Council’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) played a pivotal role in the pilot programme and welcomed nearly 544 pupils from 13 local schools — 82 percent of which had not visited the museum in the last 12 months.

Rural isolation often limits both cultural and educational opportunities, making initiatives like Time Odyssey vital in reconnecting these communities with museums and meaningful learning experiences, and helping pupils broaden their horizons.

Some schools travelled from as far as 80km, thanks to Art Explora’s coach grant scheme which covers the cost of transport and the museum visit for Time Odyssey.

The programme expects to take over one hundred thousand children on school trips to museums across the country.

Neil Heasman, Time Odyssey Facilitator at RAMM said: ‘The visits remain extremely popular and enjoyable for all, with some children saying, 'It's the best day ever!'’

The launch of Art Explora’s Time Odyssey programme comes after new data, commissioned by the charity, shows that school visits have not picked up since the pandemic.

Over 60 percent of teachers say they had not taken their class to a museum on a school trip in the last 12 months.

Despite 90 percent of teachers agreeing that every child should visit a museum on a school trip before leaving primary school, 14 percent of teachers have never taken their class.

More than half of the teachers surveyed said that cost is the main barrier with a greater disparity of access for children from lower socio-economic backgrounds outside London.

Frédéric Jousset, President and Founder of Art Explora, said: ‘School trips offer enrichment that cannot be experienced in the classroom.

‘This should be a fundamental right for young people, not be an optional extra.

‘Time Odyssey levels the playing field, making sure that all children have access to culture, no matter what their background.’