Kids in Museums has been campaigning for better family facilities in museums since 2003.
The charity Kids in Museums has revealed its longlist of 20 museums competing for the 2009 Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award.
As well as highlighting the range of UK museums that actively encourage family visits, the longlist also boasts a broad geographic spread with venues drawn from the length and breadth of Britain.
Included in the 20 are the Highland Folk Museum in Inverness-shire, National Waterfront Museum in Swansea and the Porthcurno Telegraph Museum in Cornwall.
“All of the museums on the long list shine as being imaginative and pioneering in their provision for families,” says the charity’s Director Dea Birkett. “These are museums who have gone the extra mile – they have not only welcomed families but also consulted and involved families.”
The longlist also shows how far museums have come since the charity took up its mantle in 2003 following a now-fabled visit by then Guardian columnist Birkett to the Royal Academy.
After her youngest child shouted “monster” at one of the displays in the Museum’s Aztec exhibition, Birkett and her brood were asked to leave. It’s a measure of how far times have changed that the Royal Academy was the venue for the launch of the Kids in Museums Manifesto in 2009.
A young museum visitor with the Kids in Museums Manifesto. © Kids in Museums
“More and more museums are becoming more welcoming of families, and it was more difficult than ever to draw up a long list this year,” concedes Birkett. “But at the same time families are becoming more discerning of what they want from a museum visit.
“Everyone wants to win the Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award but to win it they have to be extremely family friendly. The award itself is both a stick and a carrot to encourage museums to welcome families, so I think it has had a very positive effect.”
A distinguished panel of judges chaired by Jenny Abramsky, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, will wade through the longlist to come up with a short list of between four and six. Families will then road test the finalists anonymously to decide the overall winner, using the Kids in Museums Manifesto as a guide. The winner will be announced later in 2010.
See all the longlisted museums on the Kids in Museums website.
