LAUNCH OF 2010 KIDS IN MUSEUMS MANIFESTO THURSDAY 14th JANUARY
Sitting at a computer screen or fingering a fossil? Families want less technology and more simple hands-on experiences in museums.
The new 2010 Kids in Museums Manifesto is being launched, compiled entirely from visitors’ comments. And this year families have made it clear – they don’t want ‘hands on’ to mean passively pushing buttons. They want hands on to mean just that – handling real things, dressing-up, getting messy. They want a bit of bone to handle or a replica of a Tudor costume to pull on. Families can sit in front of a computer screen or play on a Wii at home. Museums should be different. They have the thrill of the real.
‘I remember my first visit to the British Museum with my father at the age of eight. I was fascinated by the Rosetta Stone. I was thrilled to be able to touch it – it was uncovered at the time – and physically connect with history,’ says Neil MacGregor, Director, British Museum.
‘Of the thousands of visitors’ suggestions we received for the 2010 Manifesto, hardly any mentioned technology and gadgets. Families talked about making paper planes in a gallery like Leonardo da Vinci, or shining a torch into a dark corner of a glass cabinet as if they were discovering something for the first time. There’s nothing hi tech about that,’ says Dea Birkett, Director, Kids in Museums. ‘Museums need to listen to families, and provide sensual experiences, not clean and clinical ones.’
The demand for better hands-on, interactive exhibits is just one point in the 2010 Kids in Museums Manifesto – 20 ways to make a museum family friendly – being launched at the British Museum on 14th January.
Other big new points in the 2010 Manifesto include:
Provide a place to leave prams
Families are fed up of being told there’s nowhere to store their prams and pushchairs in museums. Museums and galleries should provide a place for families to leave all their baggage, so they’re free enjoy Picasso, ancient pottery or prehistoric artefacts without being encumbered by buggies stuffed with changing bags and piles of winter coats. And if the galleries weren’t crowded with unwanted prams, visitors without kids would have a better time, too.
‘Don’t touch!’ is never enough
Families tell museum staff – be positive when you speak to us! Stop telling us off. Say things like, ‘Isn’t that a great painting. Let’s look at it together from further back.’
Have flexible family tickets
Don’t dictate the size of a family. Families come in all shapes and sizes. We want a family ticket even if we have three kids, or are a lone parent family with a grandparent too.
Kids in Museums – a Brief History
In 2003, writer Dea Birkett was thrown out of the Royal Academy’s Aztec exhibition when her youngest son, aged two, shouted ‘Monster!’ at a statue of Eagle Man who looked rather like – well – a monster. Four days later, Dea wrote a piece about her family’s expulsion in the Guardian. By the end of that day, hundreds of families emailed to say they were fed up being treated badly in Britain’s museums, and wanted to see change. Kids in Museums was born, a voice for every family visitor.
Today Kids in Museums is an independent charity, working with museums to make them more welcoming to families, in particular those who have never had the opportunity to visit before. Kids in Museums believes in changing museums, we can change lives, giving opportunities and experiences to new families.
Further details, interviews and copies of the 2010 Kids in Museums Manifesto contact:
Telephone 020 7250 8338
Email manifesto@kidsinmuseums.org.uk
Website www.kidsinmuseums.org.uk
Images and Quentin Blake illustrations available for press use.
Kids in Museums logo and banner illustrations all © Quentin Blake.
Registered charity number 1123658
