Today charity Kids in Museums reveals the shortlist for its Family Friendly Museum Award. Each year the charity celebrates museums, galleries, castles, historic homes and heritage sites that are most welcoming, fun and accessible to all ages. It’s up to families to decide the winner!
From the end of March to the beginning of June, hundreds of families from across the UK voted for their favourite venue on the Kids in Museums website. An expert panel, including children, young people and accessibility experts whittled down the nominations to the shortlist announced today.
From Swansea to Glasgow, the museums shortlisted for this year’s award have demonstrated their commitment to providing a memorable experience for families of all shapes and sizes. Some of the innovative ways the museums are welcoming families include: converting single visit tickets into free annual passes, family activities for Deaf families, outreach activities in libraries, schools and hospitals, planning welcoming events like B.Y.O.B (Bring Your Own Baby/bump) gallery tours, creating sensory maps and much more!
The shortlist for the Family Friendly Museum Award 2024 is:
Best Accessible Museum
Best Small Museum
Best Medium Museum
Best Large Museum
This year, a new award category celebrates museum staff and young people working together in a long-term, meaningful and impactful way, such as through youth panels or forums, young volunteer schemes, and history or art clubs. It was open to museum applications only and will be judged by an expert panel, including the Kids in Museums Youth Panel.
Best Museum Youth Group
Over the summer holidays, undercover family judges will visit the shortlisted museums and rate them on how well they meet the Kids in Museums Manifesto, a set of guidelines on what makes a great museum visit for all ages. Their experiences will decide a winner for each museum category and an overall winner of the Family Friendly Museum Award 2024 to be announced at an awards ceremony in Yorkshire in October.
If you would like to get involved with your family, you can sign up to become an undercover family judge on the Kids in Museums website.