On his first full day as Council Leader, Julian German visited the Telegraph Museum in Porthcurno to hear how an innovative project to encourage more people to appreciate Cornwall’s culture and heritage started there.

Museum Director Julia Twomlow explained to Julian and to Bob Egerton, cabinet portfolio holder for economy and planning, how they are engaging the local community and visitors through the Augmented Telegrapher project. This is the ‘pilot’ for the wAVE project.

The wAVE project will eventually see five museums across Cornwall and Scilly using virtual and augmented reality technology to bring Cornish heritage alive.

The new technology will include virtual reality headsets, high definition projection techniques and computer generated imagery to create new, immersive visitor experiences, related to the museums own community stories.

Julia said: “Because the Telegraph Museum’s history is in technology, together with Falmouth University we are ideally placed to explore new ways of interpreting our story and collections to make the visitor experience even more dynamic and interactive.”

Julian said: “We’re committed to telling the story of Cornwall’s history, culture, arts and our heritage. Our culture makes us distinct and unique and it is not just good for our society, it is great for our economy.”

Bob added: “Our creative sector is a huge cultural and economic asset that is growing at twice the rate of the UK economy. We have a rich and diverse creative economy rooted in our distinctive sense of place.”

Julian said: “On my first full day as Council Leader it has been wonderful to go out and meet residents, volunteers and organisations from across Cornwall working on projects that are transforming their communities.”

“As a Council, we want every community, from Porthcurno to Bude to Cawsand, see real improvements in the places where they live. We will step up our efforts to help local people find solutions to issues that affect them and I look forward to learning more about these projects and meeting more inspiring individuals across the Duchy in the coming months.”

Julian also visited projects in Cawsand and Bude.