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Kids in Museums Manifesto: add your ideas to make museums more child friendly
I have recently come across to the brilliant Kids in Museums organisation that promotes family friendly visits to museums and art galleries across the country. The organisation was founded after writer Dea Birkett’s son was thrown out of the Aztec’s exhibition at the Royal Academy for shouting “monster” at an exhibit. A fair reaction one might have to a scary exhibit so why not express it? Six years later Kids in Museums published its second Manifesto comprising 20 guidelines suggested by families to help make museums more family friendly. The Manifesto was launched at the Royal Academy of all places where Dea Birkett received a warmer welcome than in 2003. The Kids in Museums Manifesto is compiled with suggestions by families on what makes museums kids friendly and ideas to improve the experience for the whole family during museum visits. I have been taking my son to museums and art exhibitions from a very early age and found some places are more child friendly than others, but I never let highbrow rising stop me from introducing my child to fine art.
And why should kids be confined to certain museum areas and not be taken to art exhibitions? Who decides what kids appreciate visually? Should they not be stimulated by observing a painting and have the freedom to express what they see and how they feel about it? Every time we visit the Tate Modern we pull up one of the fold-up seats available and let Luca sit for a while to observe his favourite paintings and then express what he sees and why.
It’s about time the expression “Children should be seen and not heard” is removed from today’s society.
