Children and Young People Conference 2023: Rebuilding Young Audiences
The CYP Conference 2023 is organised in conjunction with GEM. Join us online to hear about best practices in encouraging schools and young visitors to your museum. This conference consists of two, hour-long panel discussions.
The conference will be online, with pre-recorded presentations available from Tuesday 21 March and live panel discussions via Zoom on Monday 27 March.
Online Presentations
From Tuesday 21 March, there will be a range of pre-recorded presentations from the event panellists where they will describe their work. These will be available to view on the SHARE YouTube Channel. You can view the playlist here.
- Museum of London Dockslands family programme
The Museum of London and Museum of London Docklands learning team discussed its journey to rebuild family audiences after covid closures. The team covers its successes, what didn’t work so well, the changes in their family audience’s patterns and behaviours and how this changed again with the closure of the Museum of London.
Laura Thomson-Turnage, Senior Learning Manager at Museum of London Docklands
Cassandra Tavares, Learning Manager at Museum of London Docklands - Kids in Museums: sector support 2023
Kids in Museums describe their work and how they can support you to get involved.
Alison Bowyer, Executive Director at Kids in Museums - Re-engaging Schools
Kara and Emily explore the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on school audiences, including the threats and the opportunities.
Kara Wescombe Blackman, Museum & Learning Consultant and GEM Course Director
Emily Nelson, Learning and Access Officer at Leeds Museums & Galleries - Moving IT On: Connecting with Schools (a podcast)
Festival and Royal Opera House Bridges explore aspects of their work connecting schools and cultural organisations, including some great tips for communicating with schools.
Abi Marrison, Education Programme Manager at Festival Bridge
Isabel Morgan, Communications Officer at Festival Bridge
Zannie Fraser, Norwich Puppet Theatre
Plus there is some great content on other Youtube Channels from the speakers which we would like to highlight:
- How to Queer Your Collections!
After curating their own exhibition on LGBTQ+ history at Ancient House and for a tour of Norfolk, Teenage History Club share what they have learnt so other museums can better represent queer history and queer stories in their collections.
Teenage History Club, Ancient House Museum - Special Delivery in Halesworth
Special Delivery brings together primary school children and adults residing in care homes or independent living units to explore the art of communication, inspired by source materials held in the Suffolk county archives.
Halesworth and District Museum
Conference Schedule:
10:30-11:30 – Panel discussion 1: Welcoming children and young people to our museums
Recognising that schools are not always the best or only way for museums to reach children and young people, this morning session will focus on informal learning, both self-led and through organised activities like workshops and children’s clubs.
With panellists
- Alison Bowyer, Executive Director, Kids in Museums
- Cassandra Tavares, Learning Manager, Museum of London
- Melissa Hawker, Ancient House Museum, Thetford
13:15-14:15 – Panel discussion 2: Working with schools after the pandemic
The return of school groups to museums in the eastern region after the pandemic has been patchy, and some smaller museums are interested in attracting schools as a new audience.
With panellists
- Kara Wescombe Blackman, Freelance Education Consultant
- Emily Nelson, Leeds Museums & Galleries
- Abi Marrison, Education Programme Manager, Festival Bridge
- Matthew Studdert-Kennedy, Learning Co-ordinator, The Shuttleworth Trust
- Kayte Judge, Collaborative Community Creative Producer & Fundraiser
- David Woolweber and Brian Howard, Halesworth & District Museum
Speakers:
Alison Bowyer
Executive Director
Alison has worked in the cultural sector for over 15 years with previous roles at LAMDA, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Southbank Centre and the Academy of Ancient Music. She has a longstanding interest in museums and how people engage with heritage, having been a volunteer at Handel House Museum (now Handel and Hendrix) in London and completing degrees in Cultural Memory and History. Alison has been Executive Director of Kids in Museums for six years during which time, the organisation has become an Arts Council England sector support organisation.
Brian Howard and David Woolweber
Volunteers
Volunteer led Halesworth & District Museum took part in a project with Suffolk Artlink over 2021-22 bringing different generations together to explore the art of communication. Local primary school children exchanged letters with residential care home residents inspired by the Lincolne family letters in the museum collection. Both groups visited the museum and the children curated a temporary display. The project was a great success with both generations, and the museum volunteers. One particularly good result was a new, close relationship between the museum and school, the school now being keen to follow up with future projects.
Cassandra Tavares
Learning Manager
The Learning team for the Museum of London and Museum of London Docklands will discuss its journey to rebuilding family audiences after the covid closures. We’ll cover our successes, what didn’t work so well, the changes in our families’ audiences patterns and behaviours and how this changed again with the closure of the Museum of London.
Kara Wescombe Blackman
Museum & Learning Consultant and GEM Course Director
Kara’s work with collections, exhibitions and museums spans over two decades. With responsibility for learning, public programmes and visitor services for a number of prestigious museums (Courtauld Gallery & Somerset House, V&A, Watts Gallery Trust) and as a consultant, advisor and trustee for museums in different settings, she has wide-ranging insights and practical experience to share from engaging new audiences to creating new museum and learning spaces, including planning and delivering Arts Council England NPO and NHLF projects.
Kayte Judge
Collaborative Community Creative Producer & Fundraiser
Laura Thomson-Turnage
Senior Learning Manager
The Learning team for the Museum of London and Museum of London Docklands will discuss its journey to rebuilding family audiences after the covid closures. We’ll cover our successes, what didn’t work so well, the changes in our families’ audiences patterns and behaviours and how this changed again with the closure of the Museum of London.
Matthew Studdert-Kennedy
Learning Co-ordinator
Matthew will cover Shuttleworth’s post-Covid experience in attracting new audiences. In partnership with creative producer Kayte Judge, hyper-local schools, Polish Saturday Schools and Home Ed communities were targeted through an ROH Bridge funded learning offer development programme.
learning@shuttleworth.org
Melissa Hawker
Learning Officer
Norfolk Museums Service (Ancient House and Lynn Museum)
Melissa is Leaning Officer at two small museums in Norfolk. She has worked with Teenage History Club since it started in 2010. During that time the group have created murder mystery events, curated exhibitions, and formed a partnership with a museum in Japan. Their most ambitious project has been exploring Queer or LGBTQ+ history both at their home museum and elsewhere. Melissa’s educational philosophy focuses on creating an environment which encourages and promotes self-directed learning as its own joyful experience.
Melissa.hawker@norfolk.gov.uk