Kids in Museums and Museum Development South West are pleased to be launching a partnership support programme focusing on creating a family friendly museum environment. This programme specifically targets museums within Levelling Up for Culture Places in the Hampshire Solent geographical area.
Kids in Museums Family Friendly Museum Cohort will benefit four museum organisations who will have access to mentoring, training and hands-on support. Museums will also benefit from working together as a cohort to provide shared learning and peer support. The programme aims to support museums who do not have a dedicated learning team or member of staff to become more family friendly organisations.
Through the programme, the cohort museums will learn the motivations and barriers for family audiences visiting them to help them attract more non-visiting families. They will be supported to develop family friendly interpretation which can help staff to create labels, trails and other resources. Kids in Museums will promote the family provision of the cohort museums to a wider family audience. The programme will enable museums to embed family friendliness as an organisation through online training sessions, one-to-one support, resources and signposting.
If you are interested in signing up for the Kids in Museums Family Friendly Museum Cohort you can read case studies from museums that took part in similar Family Friendly Museum Cohorts in other parts of the UK on the Kids in Museums Website.
Programme timeline
The programme will run from July 2024 to March 2025, with an expected time-commitment of one day per month. Additional work may be required to apply learning in between sessions, especially supporting the site visit.
Four virtual training sessions
- Cohort Training Session 1 – 9 July 2024, 10am-12.30pm
Introduction to the project and more in-depth exploration into how families experience museums and how to engage them.
- Cohort Training Session 2 – 17 September 2024, 10am-12.30pm
Top tips for developing family friendly content and consulting with families.
- Cohort Training Session 3 – 21 January 2025, 10am-12.30pm
Promoting your family offer internally and externally.
- Cohort Training Session 4 – 18 March 2025, 10am-12.30pm
Interacting with families training for front of house staff and volunteers.
Site visit
A Kids in Museums Consultant will visit your site to support a full review of each museum’s activities. This will be scheduled with participants during September and October 2024.
Virtual mentoring
Each museum will have a half day (three hours) of dedicated consultancy time split between October 2024 and March 2025.
Eligibility
Museums eligible join this programme:
- Your museum must be in: Gosport, Havant, Isle of Wight, New Forest, Portsmouth, Rushmoor.
- Your museum must also be Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation*.
* Priority will be given to organisations not in receipt of Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation funding. National museums, National Trust and English Heritage sites are ineligible for this programme.
Conditions of Participation
Cohort museums must commit to sign up two individuals from their organisation to take part in the programme. We recommend these individuals can make decisions, so changes can be made to the museum’s visitor offer. Equally the museums must have permission from their senior management team to participate. As part of the programme museums will participate in project evaluation and must provide a case study about the project.
How to apply
To apply for the Family Friendly Museum Cohort, please complete our online Expression of Interest form here: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/FamilyFriendlyEOI/
Deadline: 12 Noon Monday 3 June 2024.
Expressions of Interest will be assessed after the deadline with outcomes announced by Monday 10 June 2024.