Kids in Museums

This is where we keep you posted about Kids in Museum news, and all our past and forthcoming events.

WORKSHEETS DROWNING MUSEUMS?
Kids in Museums Trustee and Imperial War Museum chief Diane Lees raises debate and causes a stir, daring to ask if tides of schoolchildren with worksheets are drowning out museums. Read all about it here and join the debate on our Discussion Board.

WINNER OF THE GUARDIAN FAMILY FRIENDLY MUSEUM AWARD ANNOUNCED. Find out who won on our Award pages, and get your hands dirty…

SHOUT OUT FOR SURE START
One of our volunteers, Victoria Wallop, went along to a ‘Shout Out for Sure Start’ event run by 4ChilDren, to support the Family Ticket Watch. Here’s her son Dickon with Ed Balls, Melinda Messenger and Peppa Pig!

THE FLEXIBLE FAMILY TICKET CAMPAIGN launched in January. Find out more and tell us what you think on our family ticket watch page.

MANIFESTO FOR 2010 – the new Manifesto for is now live – click here to download your copy, packed with fresh ideas on how to improve family visits for everyone.

***WEBSITE ALERT!***

Read Kids in Museums’ recent interview with comedienne Josie Long, alongside other interviews, articles and reports relevant to Kids in Museums’ work, on our Features page.

IN THE NEWS The biggest community project in Falmouth Art Gallery’s history has concluded with the formal unveiling of Cornwall’s largest contemporary stained glass window and warm praise from the instigator of the pioneering Kids In Museums charity. You can find out more here: Falmouth Art Gallery welcomes new stained glass window.

MUSEUMMMMM…Childfriendly and tasty museums - On 12 November Director Dea Birkett spoke about Family Friendly food at museums at an international conference on Museums and Food in Brussels, Belgium, organised by EETiKET and the Flemish Ministry of Culture. EETiKET is a project about food culture for children in Flanders and Brussels, and gives a label to museums that make special efforts in food culture. The 22 Flemish museums that participate in EETiKET teach children about the food in their collection and serve special dishes in their restaurants. The dishes refer to what is to be seen in the museum itself. Hungry for a brainteaser soup in the toy museum and a Picasso sandwich in the museum of modern art? Go to the EETiKET website for further information. Dea Birkett has also written this article for Arts Industry about the importance of food in museums and EETiKET have covered the event on Slideshare.

Kids in Museums Director Dea Birkett has also featured on BBC Radio 4’s Food Programme about museum cafes. You can find more of Dea’s thoughts on museum food at Take the Family. To read about her experience of the Roald Dahl Museum, Great Missenden, click here.

DIRECTOR DEA BIRKETT VISITS EAGLE MAN IN MEXICO CITY - We owe a lot to Eagle Man. Kids in Museums was founded after a huge public response to Dea Birkett’s family being thrown out of the Royal Academy Aztec exhibition when her youngest son shouted ‘Monster!’ at the statue with beak for a nose. Dea Birkett, now Director of Kids in Museums, has just paid her respects to Eagle Man, now back in the Templo Mayor in Mexico City, where he was originally excavated. On this visit, she didn’t shout ‘Monster!’ at him but ‘Thanks!’ Due to you, Eagle Man, museums and galleries throughout Britain are working toward ensuring a more family friendly visit.

Click here to find out more about how Eagle Man made us.

PHILIP MOULD OUTWITS SOTHEBY’S IN £750,000 ART COUP - Kids in Museums Trustee Philip Mould has identified an unknown landscape put up for sale by Sotheby’s for between £10,000 and £15,000 as one of the earliest works of Thomas Gainsborough, worth £750,000. Mould, who values fine art on the Antiques Roadshow, chose to bid for the landscape over the telephone so as not to attract suspicion. He paid £50,000 for the painting, which Sotheby’s had described as of “the English school”. It is now valued at about £750,000. Click here to read more.

DEA BIRKETT DELIVERING KEYNOTE SPEECH AT BRITISH FRIENDS OF MUSEUMS ASSOCIATION AGM - On Saturday 3rd October Kids in Museums Director Dea Birkett spoke at the ‘Challenge and Change’ themed conference. Click here for more informationabout the BAFM.

(photo credit: Toby Weller)

TRUSTEE BRIAN STEWART AWARDED HONORARY FELLOWSHIP FOR EXCELLENCE IN EXHIBITION CURATING AND ACCESS - University College Falmouth conferred an Honorary Fellowship on the Director of Falmouth Art Gallery, Brian Stewart, at one of six ceremonies held at Falmouth’s Princess Pavilion in June. Click here to read more.

DIRECTOR DEA BIRKETT LAUNCHES NEW MONTHLY KIDS IN MUSEUMS COLUMN IN ARTS INDUSTRY MAGAZINE - Click here to read Dea’s column.

DESIGN COMPANY FOLDED SHEET SPONSOR PRIZE FOR 2009 GUARDIAN FAMILY FRIENDLY MUSEUM AWARD - Design company Folded Sheet are providing the winner of the 2009 Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award with 500 customised folded activity sheets, following the innovative and highly original folded sheet design. Watch this space for details of when the call for nominations for the 2009 Award will be announced.

Kids in Museums logo and banner illustrations all © Quentin Blake.

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