Today charity Kids in Museums reveals the shortlist of its Family Friendly Museum Award. Each year the charity celebrates museums, galleries, castles, historic homes and heritage sites that are most welcoming, fun and accessible to all ages. It’s up to families to decide the winner!

From the end of March to the beginning of June, families voted for their favourite attraction on the Kids in Museums website. The charity received hundreds of nominations from across the UK. An expert panel, including young people and accessibility experts, whittled down the nominations to the shortlist announced today.

From Tyne and Wear to Truro, the museums shortlisted for this year’s award go above and beyond to offer a friendly welcome, hands-on interactives and great facilities. Some of the inspiring ways the museums are welcoming families include: co-designing dedicated family spaces, having a Play Strategy, planning exciting events like Stroller Tours and Jerk Cookouts, providing free ‘caught short’ supplies, becoming Warm Spaces, recruiting a VR artist in residence and much more!

Vanessa Eke, Chair of Kids in Museums, said: “Congratulations to our wonderful shortlist! What made these venues stand out in an exceptionally strong year of applications was how embedded they are in their local communities. Many are actively supporting more families to get involved, from creative workshops for Ukrainian refugees to special ticketing offers during the cost-of-living crisis. I’m thrilled we can recognise their ambition and dedication on a national level.

“Museums across the UK are an amazing resource for families looking for a memorable, affordable and fun day out this summer. We hope families enjoy visiting the shortlist over the holidays!”

The shortlist for the Family Friendly Museum Award 2023 is:

Best Large Museum

  • Horniman Museum and Gardens, London
  • Museum of Liverpool
  • National Maritime Museum, London

Best Medium Museum

  • The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge, Canterbury
  • Compton Verney, Warwickshire
  • Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle upon Tyne
  • The MAC, Belfast

Best Small Museum

  • Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea
  • National Civil War Centre, Newark
  • Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro
  • Valence House Museum, Dagenham
  • Wolverhampton Art Gallery

Best Accessible Museum

  • Cannon Hall Museum, Park and Gardens, Barnsley
  • Craven Museum | Skipton Town Hall
  • Maidstone Museum

Over the summer holidays, undercover family judges will visit the shortlisted museums and rate them on how well they meet the Kids in Museums Manifesto, a set of guidelines on what makes a great museum visit for all ages. Their experiences will decide a winner for each museum category and an overall winner of the Family Friendly Museum Award 2023 to be announced at an awards ceremony in London in October.

If you would like to get involved with your family, you can sign up to become an undercover family judge on the Kids in Museums website: www.kidsinmuseums.org.uk/families

This year, a new award category also recognises innovative and thoughtful projects engaging young people on the topic of the climate emergency and sustainability. The category was open to museum applications only. The museums will present their work over the summer to an expert panel to decide the winner.

Best Youth Project – Climate

Follow the Family Friendly Museum Award on social media by following @kidsinmuseums and the hashtag #FamilyFriendlyMuseum.

The Family Friendly Museum Award has been made possible by funding from Arts Council England.

Notes to Editors

For further information, images or interviews, please contact Jocelyn Murdoch, Content and Communications Manager at Kids in Museums: [email protected]

About Kids in Museums

We are an award-winning charity dedicated to making museums open and welcoming to all children, young people and families. We support and champion family friendly organisations through wide-ranging initiatives, including the Family Friendly Museum Award and Takeover Day. We invite heritage organisations to sign up to our Manifesto, which sets out simple guidelines for making museums easy to reach for all ages. www.kidsinmuseums.org.uk

Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

About the Family Friendly Museum Award

Kids in Museums began the Family Friendly Museum Award in 2004 to recognise heritage sites that are the most welcoming, fun and accessible for families.

Previous winners of the Family Friendly Museum Award include the National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield (2022), Bailiffgate Museum & Gallery in Alnwick (2021), Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum in Dunfermline (2019), Leeds City Museum (2018) and the People’s History Museum in Manchester (2017).

About Arts Council England

Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. We have set out our strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. From 2023 to 2026 we will invest over £440 million of public money from Government and an estimated £93 million from The National Lottery each year to help support the sector and to deliver this vision. www.artscouncil.org.uk.