More than 650 young people took charge of content being shared by British institutions including the National Portrait Gallery, the National Archives and the RAF Museum, with international participants also getting involved in Qatar and the USA.

The success of this year’s initiative can be equated to #TakeoverDay trending on Twitter, with posts featuring the hashtag reaching three million people on the platform.

Kids in Museums reaches landmark 1,000 Manifesto signups, unveils 2021 programme

Since 2014, Kids in Museums has been encouraging cultural institutions to creatively engage with young audiences as a way of making the sector as exciting as possible to the next generation. 2021, despite all the limitations imposed by the pandemic, saw this continue.

Highlights included London Transport Museum offering a group of young autistic transport enthusiasts the opportunity to share their passion for rail heritage on Twitter and Instagram.

Whitehall Historic House in Sutton welcomed Year 6 pupils from a local school to learn about biodiversity and environmentalism, sharing their experiences on social media throughout the day.

Teignmouth & Shaldon Museum let secondary school students loose on TikTok, representing a first foray onto the burgeoning platform for the heritage attraction.

While some youngsters busied themselves on social media, students visiting the National Civil War Centre took on a far more analogue task.

Another of Kids in Museums’ highly popular annual fixtures is the Family Friendly Museum Award, which closed for applications earlier this month. The shortlist for 2021 finalists will be released in the coming weeks.

Back to top