Kids in Museums is an independent charity dedicated to making museums open and welcoming to all families, in particular those who haven’t visited before. With a dedicated Board of Trustees and an exciting range of events, partnerships and initiatives, Kids in Museums gives families visiting museums and galleries across Britain a dynamic and powerful voice. The Kids in Museums Manifesto and the Family Friendly Museum Award have been incredibly successful ways of encouraging and guiding museums and galleries across the country to make family visits engaging and enjoyable.
Kids in Museums Timeline
Here’s a brief rundown of our history so far…
2012
16th January – Launch of the Kids in Museums Manifesto 2012 at the Wallace Collection2011
11th November – Takeover Day – hundreds of young people ran museums for a day
September – Telegraph Family Friendly Friendly Museum Award launched by Michael Rosen
April – Mansfield Museum wins sixth Family Friendly Museum Award.
March – First Family Fortunes Workshop held, helping museums value families
17th January - Launch of Kids in Museums Manifesto 2011 at London Transport Museum. Welsh translation launched for the first time.2010
December - Over 100 museums nominated for sixth Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award.
2nd December - Flexible Family Ticket guidelines launched, helping museums to introduce a ticket for families of all shapes and sizes.
12th November - First Takeover Day at museums, with over 60 museums taken over by young people.
September - Your Museum Café project begins, striving to make museums cafés more family friendly.
August - I Can’t See It! pilot filmed at Herbert Art Gallery and Museum and Coventry Transport Museum, showing a museum visit through a young person’s eyes.
April - Herbert Art Gallery and Museum wins fifth Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award
14 January – Launch of 2010 Kids in Museums Manifesto at the British Museum.2009
October – Record number of nominations for fifth Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award.
5 February – Kids in Museums Manifesto launched at the Royal Academy London. The Manifesto becomes an annual document.2008
9 September – Second Great Museum Debate with National Museums Liverpool on ‘Museum I’d Like’.
May – Weston Park Museum, Sheffield, wins fourth Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award.2007
July – Kids in Museums website launched.
17 May – First Kids in Museums / National Museums Liverpool Great Museum Debate at Merseyside Maritime Museum.
May – Second Kids in Museums Manifesto is launched.2006
September – Kids in Museums becomes an independent charity managed by a Board of Trustees.
July – Falmouth Art Gallery wins third Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award.2005
July – Pitt Rivers Museum and Oxford University Museum of Natural History are joint winners of second Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award.2004
February – Killhope North of England Lead Mining Museum wins first Guardian Family Friendly Award.2003
September – The Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award is introduced with a logo designed by Quentin Blake. It’s the first museum award in Britain to be judged by families and children.
July – The Guardian Kids in Museums Campaign is launched. A 20-point Kids in Museums Manifesto is compiled from visitor comments.
15 March – Dea Birkett reports her family’s expulsion in her column in the Guardian newspaper. Hundreds of families write in to say they’re fed up with feeling unwelcome in Britain’s museums and galleries.
11 March – The two-year old son of writer Dea Birkett shouts ‘Monster!’ at a statue of Eagle Man at the Royal Academy, London – and gets thrown out.
