A free day out at a museum may be one of the only days out open to many families this year, so museums should consider how they can make a family day out as comfortable as possible.

Earlier this year, the children’s charity Go Beyond highlighted the impact of the rising cost of days out and that many vulnerable children are likely to miss out, as reported in this BBC News article. Recent data from the Audience Agency’s Cultural Participation Monitor shows that it is not only vulnerable children who are missing out. More than half of those surveyed said they are feeling less well off than last year and nearly 60% are attending few cultural and heritage events as a result.

July 2023 saw the largest fall in consumer confidence for a year, meaning it is likely that families are going to continue to look for free days out or paid days out that are perceived to offer good value for money.

Research from UK Youth in spring 2023 shows the impact of the cost of living crisis on young people with nearly a third saying they are more lonely because they are having to cut back on socialising outside the home as a result of concerns about money. The Barnardo’s report, A crisis on our doorstep, shows that over 50% of parents are worried their children are missing out on a normal childhood because of the current economic conditions.

Based on the six points of our Kids in Museums Manifesto, this guide sets out how you can enhance your offer to support your community and how to communicate this to the families that need it the most.

1. Be welcoming

Invite families in at all times of year. A museum may be some of the only free public space they are able to access. A visit to a museum can be a low cost or free day out during the school holidays, a space to stay cool if temperatures rise or to stay warm when they plummet. Ensure that all staff are aware that people may be visiting to stay warm or cool down and enable them to comfortably spend time in your space.

Last winter, some councils, such as Gateshead Council, created networks of ‘warm spaces’ in their local area. Find out if your local council is doing something similar and how you can list your venue, if you are able (this Guardian article outlines some of the challenges for museums). CILIP have produced a guide to setting up warm spaces in your community.

The Greater London Authority has compiled a network of cool spaces, which includes several museums such as the Brunel Museum. Check if your local council has a similar initiative.

Train staff to be able to signpost to other local organisations for people who need support. Most local councils have directories of services for families and of local voluntary and community organisations. The Mix UK has a free searchable directory of local services for young people and Homeless Link has a database of housing and homelessness services in England.

2. Be accessible to all

Raising a child with a disability is already more expensive than raising a child with no disability or long-term illness. According to Scope in their 2023 Disability Price Tag study, inflation means that a household with a disabled child or adult now needs over £1,000 extra to have the same standard of living as a non-disabled household.

Think about what you offer for families with a child with a disability. If the activity isn’t already free, can you make it free or lower the cost? The National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield has made its Sensory Play Sessions free (although you still need to buy a museum ticket) and accessible to all ages, not just under 5s.

Many SEND families benefitted from the emphasis on digital activities provided by museums during lockdown, so some museums, like Barnsley Museums, have continued to share free crafts, stories and recipes to help visitors experience the museum from home.

Can you promote local transport offers that give families free or low cost travel over the summer holidays? For example in the North East, the Great North Museum: Hancock links to the free travel offer on the Metro.

3. Make it easy and comfortable

Make sure you have plenty of seating that is comfy for families to take a break. If you can, offer free WiFi.

Museums such as the Museum of the Order of St John and Maidstone Museum (see the museum’s Instagram post) are offering free space after school for children and young people to do their homework. This is particularly valuable to those who live in temporary or crowded accommodation.

If you have spare clothes in lost property, make them available if a child is travel sick on the way to the museum or has an accident during a visit.

Offer spare nappies, wipes and sanitary products as part of a ‘caught short box’. London Museum of Water and Steam promotes a spares box on their website.

If you have a café, can you do an offer on hot food for children over the winter? The Barbican Kitchen has a kids under 12 eat for free offer.

Can you put aside a room so that families have somewhere indoors to eat their own food if they can’t afford to eat at a café? Read our Museums Cafés resource about what families want from a picnic area. Offer free tap water, particularly during hot weather.

If you don’t have a café, signpost families to economically priced places to eat in the local area. The Big Issue has a list of places where children can eat for very low cost or free over the 2023 school summer holidays.

You could also consider holding events themed around food and cooking, such as these family cooking and gardening courses at St Fagans National Museum of History.

4. Remember that families come in all shapes and sizes

If you charge for admission, can you review your ticketing? Museum and galleries have been urged to sign up for a VAT refund to support free entry to the public. Can you consider giving anyone who buys a family ticket or equivalent annual admission? Read our guide to flexible family ticket guidelines for ideas on creating flexible ticketing that works for different groups.

During the school holidays, you may want to think about offering additional discounts for families or free child tickets. Avoncroft Museum of Buildings is offering two free child tickets with every adult ticket purchased in summer 2023. Bow Street Police Museum is offering half price admission for people in its local boroughs and Dorset Museum has a discount for all family tickets booked online.

London Transport Museum offers £1 entry tickets for people on Universal Credit and Pension Credit. This Londonist article shares other London museums that are discounted or free entry to people who are unemployed or on Universal Credit. The Story Museum in Oxford has a ‘pay what you can’ Sunday once a month.

You could set up a ‘Pay it Forward’ scheme to fund family days out where they can’t afford the ticket prices. The Design Museum has the Ticket Mate Scheme, which enables visitors to donate a ticket that is then distributed to a local charity.

Some museums have given out tickets or vouchers for activities to local foodbanks, such as the Shire Hall Museum in Dorset.  If you do this, think about offering a full day of activities so that families aren’t spending a lot on travel for a short visit.

5. Communicate well

Clearly outline your offer to families, children and young people on your website. Use our family web page template to create a dedicated page for families where they can find all the information they need. The London Museum of Water and Steam has a guide to top five things for each age group on its website, which is a great example. Barnsley Museums have created a page about ‘Purse Friendly’ summer holiday activities.

List what your museum has available for families, such as:

  • warm or cool space
  • free activities
  • indoor space to eat lunch
  • free tap water refills
  • breastfeeding friendly
  • ‘caught short’ boxes.

Reinforce this offer regularly on your social media channels to increase awareness.

ALVA research shows that visits to free attractions are continuing to increase. If you offer free admission, make sure you shout about it! Consider making some simple flyers and give them to local food banks and other community organisations so they can distribute them to families you might not otherwise reach. Make sure the flyers clearly show that families are welcome over the winter and there is plenty to do for free.

Additionally, make sure you share your free offer with your local council or local tourist information office as they often create lists of free local activities over school holidays. You can also list any free or low-cost events on the government’s Help for Households map using this online form.

If you are a paid attraction, ALVA research illustrated there is a perception that paid attractions are getting more expensive, so think about how you can communicate why your venue is value for money. Messaging around reduced-price admission, annual passes or other discounts remain important for encouraging family visits.

6. Be an active part of your community

Build partnerships with local community organisations, even if you haven’t worked with them before. The Museum of Homelessness sees its role to provide practical, direct action to those who are or are at risk of homelessness. The Florence Nightingale Museum in London is working with a nursing foundation to offer targeted support to those in hardship, as described in this Museums Association article (paywall). Colchester and Ipswich Museums held a free week-long series of events at the Ipswich Jobcentre Plus for customers and their families.

Some organisations, such as the Association for Suffolk Museums, have offered activities as part of their council’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme. The final year of the current HAF funding is 2024/25 so there may be opportunities for your museum to be involved during the next financial year.

Provide space for community groups or services, but make sure you don’t duplicate provision that already exists. For example, the London Museum of Water and Steam hosts community advice sessions in their café every Thursday morning.

Support a local food bank or beauty bank by acting as a drop-in centre or setting up a collection point. The Museum of the Home hosts Hackney Foodbank every Monday when it is closed to the public. Rochdale Pioneers Museum collaborated with local partners to develop a community food share scheme called The Pioneer Pantry.

If you create a new display or exhibition, can you include a donation box for local charities?

Can you offer free supported days out for local organisations, like refuges or homelessness organisations? Make sure that you offer simple refreshments at the end of the visit.

Can you partner with other local cultural sites to enhance access to your venues? For example, the Science and Industry Museum and The Lowry were two partners of ‘We Invented the Weekend‘ in Salford, a free festival held in response to the cost of living crisis and its impact on spending on culture.

As museums did during the pandemic, can you sensitively collect the experiences of families, children and young people in your local area? Check out the Story of Place exhibition, which was displayed at Segedunum Roman Fort and Museum, for a great example.

 

What else can we do?

As a museum professional, you can:

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