YOUTH voiceS: inspiring the museum sector

In our latest guest blog Emily Breedon from Children in Scotland discusses a new project giving young people a voice in the museum sector:

For many young people, museums and art galleries are spaces where they feel like they don’t belong. Exhibitions can be boring and irrelevant, with activities and displays either for families or older visitors.

There’s no in-between.

I’m determined to change this. As a Policy Officer for Children in Scotland, I’m leading the delivery of the Living Museums project, an exciting project that aims to impact the museum sector by opening their eyes as to how they can become more accessible to young people. It’s an ambitious project, working with three groups of young people across Stirling, Perth and Dumfries.

In Stirling, we’ve partnered with the wonderful Battle of Bannockburn Experience, who are hoping that this project will attract young people to visit their venue and make the most out of the immersive experience they provide. I’m working with a lovely bunch of young people, exploring together their views and experience of museums as well as the barriers they’ve encountered when accessing them, including price, dated exhibitions and a lack of social media. They believe that museums need to listen and consult with young people if they want to stay relevant.

For me, collaboration should be at the heart of what museums do. It’s a real cyclical process; if we inspire young people now, it will make all the difference in the future to both the young person and the museum sector in general.

I’ve only had a couple of sessions with the Stirling group, but now until the end of August, we’re going to be working together to produce our own creative output at Bannockburn for other young people. This might be an exhibition, an event, some workshops…it’s exciting to see what the young people are going to decide and develop for themselves.

I’m immensely proud of this project and what it hopes to achieve, especially during the turbulent times of COVID-19. I believe that throughout the pandemic, young people have been side-lined and ignored, and through Living Museums, I hope to provide a platform for young people to have their voices heard.

For further information on the project, click here.