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Takeover Day

Takeover Day is when museums, galleries, historic homes, archives and heritage sites invite young people in to take over jobs normally done by adults.

Since Takeover Day began in 2010, over 40,000 children and young people have taken part.

We established Takeover Day to help historic institutions empower young people and give them meaningful roles in their organisations. Over 5,000 people, from toddlers to 25 year olds, now take part each year.

Many participants have gone on to become more involved in the life of the museum as a result.

How can children and young people take over at my organisation?

“I don’t think museums are boring and old anymore.”Takeover Day participant

Takeover Day exists in all shapes, scales and forms, from one child to hundreds of children. Over the years, young people have:

  • taken over museum jobs and become tour guides, curators, shop assistants, cleaners, welcome hosts, receptionists, press officers and even conservators
  • co-curated exhibitions and events, including late night gigs, sleepovers or performances
  • delivered learning sessions for other groups of children
  • created merchandise for the shop
  • given their perspective and feedback on museum websites, events and interpretation
  • taken over museum social media channels. (You can find more about holding a social media takeover on our Digital Takeover Day page.)

When is Takeover Day?

This year Takeover Day will take place on:

Friday 22 November 2024

Our national Takeover Day theme in 2024 is Careers. We are bringing Takeover Day back to its roots and highlighting how it can support young people of all ages to learn about different jobs in museums and develop their skills, both in the sector and beyond. The date also coincides with Discover Creative Careers Week. If you are based in one of the 77 Priority Areas, they may be able to support you to find a local school to work with.

Our national theme is optional and you are welcome to take part on any relevant theme to your organisation.

We encourage you to get involved on 22 November to make the most of being part of a national event. However you can hold a Takeover Day on whatever theme at any time of the year that works for your organisation. Remember to register it on our website to let us know.

Why should I take part?

“It has given us a fresh perspective on what is popular in our museums particularly as we are designing a brand new social history gallery currently.”Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon

For heritage organisations, Takeover Day is a great opportunity to connect with different groups of children and young people, attract new audiences and pilot new ways of working. It enables all museum staff to get involved with their youngest visitors. Takeover Day is a fantastic opportunity to shout about your work and gain media attention, press coverage and social media reach by taking part in a national event.

For children and young people, Takeover Day is a unique chance to learn outside the classroom to develop new skills and discover what it’s like to work behind-the-scenes at a museum. We know that it helps to boost participants’ confidence and gives them a sense of ownership over their local museum and heritage.

How do I take part?

  • Sign up on our website as soon as possible to let us know you’re taking part. We will add your event to our online map, provide you with support materials and information, and help to promote your event on social media and in the press.
  • Look at our Takeover Day planning resources, including case studies, templates and a step-by-step film guide, to help you plan your event.
  • Contact us if you have any questions by calling us on 07709 010273 or emailing us: [email protected]
  • If you are from a school or youth organisation that is interested in involving young people in Takeover Day, why not approach your local museum using our Takeover Day letter template?

Register your Takeover Day.

What happened on previous Takeover Days?

  • Takeover Day 2023

    On Friday 17 November 2023, over 80 museums, galleries and heritage sites were taken over by young people, from the Scottish Highlands to Somerset and Cornwall, and even as far afield as Turkey.

    Participating museums included the National Archives in Kew, Royal Society of Sculptors, National Library of Wales and Art UK. Two thirds of participants joined in our national theme, Let’s Play!, encouraging museums to give young people permission to be playful in their spaces.

    Takeover Day participants explored exhibitions and gave their feedback, created and displayed their own artwork, planned a Murder Mystery evening, shot their own films, role-played as Romans and Picts, and much more! Their online content with our hashtag #TakeoverDay trended on X/Twitter in the UK.

  • Takeover Day 2022

    On Friday 18 November 2022, around 85 museums, galleries and heritage sites were taken over by 3,160 young people.
    Young people designed and took part in exciting activities on our national theme of wellbeing, from sharing their favourite museum spaces to creating wellbeing trails, mindful crafts to museum yoga, singing performances to training museum staff!

  • Takeover Day 2021

    On Friday 12 November, around 70 museums, galleries, archives and heritage sites were taken over by children and young people for our first themed Takeover Day.

    Two thirds of participating venues joined in the theme of climate action. From Perth to Penzance, young people:

    • acted as sustainability consultants and carried out museum audits
    • created climate themed exhibitions
    • debated whether the Vikings and Victorians were environmentally friendly
    • promoted pollinator friendly gardens and the benefits of houseplants
    • created their own protest signs and slogans
    • considered the environmental impact of space travel
    • carried out experiments with visitors to explain ocean acidification
    • made their own reusable bags and recycling signs
    • became documentary film makers
    • learnt about the impact of climate change on heritage preservation.

     

  • Takeover Day 2020

    Despite being in the second national lockdown of the pandemic, 70 museums took part in Takeover Day 2020, converting their events into digital versions.

    Young people designed shop merchandise, shared their favourite bits of their local museum, took us on virtual tours, created artwork and animations, learnt about local history and Indian dance, discussed wellbeing and racism in museums.

  • Takeover Day 2019

    In 2019, we held a Takeover Day in June and in November to help more museums get involved, as well as a separate event in Wales. In total, 163 museums took part with 4,649 young people taking on museum jobs for the day.

    In November, tweets using our hashtag #TakeoverDay had a reach of 3.9million. There were over 2,200 tweets from more than 860 contributors.

    We once again partnered with Museums + Heritage Advisor to allow young people to take over the website with a series of blogs reporting on their own Takeover Day event.

    We also worked with Penlee House Gallery in Cornwall to create an online feature by young people for Museum Crush.

  • Takeover Day 2018

    In November 2018, 5,038 young people participated in Takeover Day, taking over 117 museums. Their #TakeoverDay tweets reached over 500,000 people.

    Toddlers took over the British Museum, girl guides took over their archive in Norfolk, pupils ran the aquarium at The Deep in Hull and pupils helped prepare for Christmas at Kensington Palace. Events in London were covered by the Evening Standard.

    Young people took over the Museum + Heritage Advisor website for the day, providing all the stories for the home page of the website.

    Students at the Mary Rose also wrote an article for Museum Crush about their favourite objects.

  • Takeover Day 2017

    For Takeover Day 2017, 139 museums were taken over by 3,960 young people.

    The entire V&A Museum of Childhood was taken over by primary school pupils, with Rushanara Ali MP and BBC Five Live there to follow all the action. Tristram Hunt, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, had his personal Twitter account taken over. Meanwhile, a local SEND school took over Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery and our ambassador Damien Dibben got locked up at Lincoln Castle!