Logo Courtesy of Kids in Museums
Pioneering charity Kids in Museums is set to launch its new manifesto in February 2009 at the Royal Academy and wants your suggestions.
The charity was founded after director Dea Birkett took her children to the Royal Academy’s Aztec exhibition but was thrown out after one of her children shouted ‘Monster’ at a statue of Eagle Man.
Since the incident, the Royal Academy has worked with the charity to ensure it is now a family friendly and welcoming venue and Dea feels that this is the perfect place for the launch.
“We are re-launching at the Royal Academy as it is a symbol of how places can respond to the challenge and change. We work with museums to support and drive change and move towards making museums more family friendly,” she said.
“The Royal Academy is where it all began with throwing us out and the progress they have made shows that you can work with museums and that museums themselves are doing wonderful things.”
Kids in Museums is now planning to update its manifesto on a yearly basis to keep up with the ever changing needs of visitors and to respond to the many improvements that museums have already made since the charity was launched.
“Since we launched, museums have been changing very rapidly which is a good thing but I think that needs have now moved up a notch,” explained Dea.
“On the last manifesto we asked museums to consult with children, not just adults and parents, about what they want. Museums are now already doing this and many of the points on the manifesto are being increasingly met.”
She added: “I believe that we have shifted the centre-ground so that being family friendly, inclusive and welcoming is in the centre and increasingly anywhere that isn’t like that is on the fringes.”
Courtesy of Kids In Museums
The charity is appealing for families to put forward their suggestions for the new manifesto by January 5 2009, to ensure it is a direct response to current needs.
Culture24's Anra Kennedy, a trustee of Kids in Museums, said: "This is an opportunity for visitors' voices to make a real difference to the experience of visiting a museum or gallery. We want to hear the good stuff as well as the gripes, it will all feed into making our next manifesto an inspiring and practical guide tool for museums."
Comments are already coming in and Dea explained that she expects the new manifesto to look beyond the actual time spent in the museum and consider the family’s needs both before and after their visit.
“What I think might emerge is a need for changing what happens outside the museum building itself," she explained. "For example, a website that allows you to plan the visit before you go.
“Visitors need more information so that they can decide ‘Is this for me?’ ‘What can I expect?’ ‘What are the practical facilities going to be?’
“The reason that many families are non-visitors is because they don’t know what they are going to find. Transport is another big issue, which although the museums don’t control, they can accurately inform you about how to reach them effectively.
“It’s important to have something that visitors can take away with them so that the visit can be valued as more than just a day out," she added.
“There is the experience itself, which is intangible, but there are also small and simple things that are tangible and can be relatively low cost. Some innovative exhibitions give you a password so that you can view the exhibition online. This continues the visit outside the museum and adds further learning value to the experience.”
To contribute your suggestions to the new manifesto go to www.kidsinmuseums.org.uk/category/manifesto/ before January 5 2009. The manifesto launch will take place on February 5 2009.
