Every few years, a question reappears on social media regarding museums and young people in museums by themselves and just like clockwork, the Scotsman ran another article title: Why we need to give kids the freedom to learn for themselves by Cameron Wylie was published.  The issue was around allowing a 10 year old into a museum on their own. 

There is always much debate around this so I ran a Twitter Poll

Now two things:

1. I’m an idiot.  I said I was going to run the poll for 5 hours and ran it for 5 days.
2. I knew it was going to be contentious so decided to not get involved in discussions as I didn’t want to sway any opinions.

Charlotte and I were able to take the Buckingham Palace State Room Tour last week with Laura from AboutLondon and her 7 year old daughter. Charlotte and I have never been inside Buckingham Palace so were very excited to have a tour let alone a tour which was also exhibited the special exhibition to mark the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty’s Coronation.

Having been on the Windsor Castle tour, we knew to get the Children’s Audio guide (and we convinced everyone in our party to do the same).  The Children’s audio tour deals less with dates and facts and more with fun facts and trivia.

The audio tour allows you to go through the State Rooms at a good pace and ensures you see the interesting paintings and other objects within the rooms.  The ushers are very sweet and mindful of dealing with children.

What was very hard, but understandable, was the No photo policy in all but the exhibition room.  I’m a culture snatcher and love to take photos of everything!  However, this allowed me to put my phone away and appreciate the tour more. Read the rest of this entry »

Takeover Day is an initiative created by the Children’s Commissioner in England in which every sector (public and private sector) is invited/encouraged to allow kids to take over for the day.  Kids in Museums runs the museums sector.

This year, the Children’s Commissioner of Wales took part with a Taking Over Day for museums for the first time.

Over 1500 children and young people – from toddlers to young adults – took over 85 museums on Takeover Day 2012 on Friday 23rd November. Museum directors, front of house staff, curators, conservators, website designers and catering staff were replaced by children.

Once again, I had the privilege of travelling with Paul Hutchinson from Virtual Shropshire to several venues to capture Takeover Day / Taking Over Day 2012 on film (or digital…).

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On Tuesday November 20th, Paul Hutchinson from Virtual Shropshire and I made our way to the National Slate Museum in North Wales to cover Taking Over Day for Kids in Museums.  This was the first time Wales participated in this event.

The National Slate Museum is very similar to Blists Hill in Ironbridge for those who have been there – it’s an open air museum that consist of working machinery and buildings to help bring to life the history of Welsh slate industry.

Did I mention the rain?  It was pouring. A lot.

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What is the first thing that pops into your head when you think of the Tower of London?

• Anne Boleyn?
• Blood?
• Ravens?
• Crown Jewels?

You’re right, of course, but it’s so much more than that.  Its traditions and value to the UK history are something that the Yeoman Warder (aka Beefeaters) manage to maintain to this day.

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I was able to read and tweet my thoughts the day the Cultural Education in England (#culturehenley) report came out.  While there have been some lovely summaries, I have decided to ‘Storify’ my tweets as they were produced while I read the report (eg are raw and real thoughts).

Cultural Education in England http://bit.ly/yEcC5h #culturehenley (Official report now online)

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Ashmolean Museum‘s history is as interesting as the items and artifacts it holds. It lays claim to Britain’s First Museum and was named after Elias Ashmole, an aficionado of antiquities who studied at the University of Oxford while posted to the military

The collection began modestly in the 1620s with a handful of portraits and curiosities displayed in a small room on the upper floor. In 1636 and 1657, Archbishop Laud and Ralph Freke added notable collections of coins and medals, later installed in a strong room of their own and now incorporated into the Ashmolean coin collection.

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My family went to Oxford to visit Pitt Rivers Museums and Oxford University Museum of Natural History.  While there, and as it was so close, we also went to Britain’s First Museum Ashmolean Museum (next blog).

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This was original posted on Guardian Culture Professional Network

It’s not enough to be family-friendly – we need to persuade teenagers that museums are for them too, says Mar Dixon

In recent years, a lot of emphasis has been placed on ensuring young people are not only welcomed but actually encouraged into UK museums and cultural institutions. Almost every venue now has, or is developing, a family scheme with children their main target.

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I visited the Lost in Lace exhibition at the Birmingham Art Gallery.  I am not a textile fan but have heard nothing but good about this exhibition so decided to see for myself.  I was not disappointed.

There is a small taster exhibition in the main art gallery by the Round Room.  There used to be access to the other section of the gallery but they are currently under going major refurbishments so this access has been cut off.

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