Lockdown Life
East Grinstead Museum needs your help to document life in lockdown, in our town. Send us your photographs or short films of daily life, both at home and in the town, stories of local individuals who have made a difference, creative works inspired by the lockdown, or even a short diary entry about this unique moment.
Using these collected items, the museum plans to create an exhibition documenting how COVID-19 impacted life in East Grinstead and the surrounding villages.
This page contains the details on each area we are collecting, as well as how to submit it to the museum.

Guidelines
For Photographs:
- Share up to five photos
- Upload as large a file as possible
- Please ensure that you have read the "Permissions and Copyright" section
For Short Films/Songs:
- Recordings should be around 1 minute long
For Artworks/Poems:
- Two-dimensional artworks should be no bigger than 1 metre squared. However, if you have a larger piece, please contact the museum to discuss this with us. Please contact us to discuss any 3-Dimensional objects.
- We can arrange for artwork to be loaned to the museum, if that would be preferable. Please contact the museum to discuss it with us
- Poems should be no longer than 300 words
For Diary Entries:
- Please share up to three entries. Each entry should be a maximum of 300 words
- If you want to censor something/someone for privacy reasons, please do
- Be kind - remember that other people will read these entries
For COVID Kindness:
- Tell us in up to 100 words about the act(s) of kindness that have made all the different to yourself or others in this town
- Include a photograph that enhances this story. You can find good advice on taking a Covid Kindness portrait photograph here
- You must have permission of the person you are describing, and permission to submit the photograph, if it is not your own
For COVID Conversations:
- Entries should be no more than 5 minutes of video or sound recordings.
- You can send MP3, MP4 or wav. files
Permissions and Copyright
Your contribution will be part of our "Lockdown Life" Exhibition and collection within the museum.
We are sharing some of the photos and experiences on our website, social media channels and in the press, and will showcase them in our galleries at East Grinstead Museum. The collection will also be used for research purposes and be publicly accessible.
East Grinstead Museum reserve the right to make a final decision about the acquisition of items based on it's Collections Development Policy.
We will not publish full names or addresses. If you wish to protect the identity of yourself or others please ensure your submissions don’t show faces.
You will need to agree to our Lockdown Life Agreement. This includes giving permission to use your stories in the collection and exhibition. You will you also need to confirm whether you transfer the copyright of the items to the Museum, or whether you retain your copyright but grant the museum permission to use the items.
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Submitting your Items
Please click the button to email the museum.
Please ensure that you include the name of the piece, your details and a completed Lockdown Life Agreement
We won't let tech get in the way - if you've a story to tell and are not sure how to send or get it to us, just give us a call on 01342 302233.