Are children’s galleries just for science centres?
Michel'Angelo Grima Hall Annex
Interactive galleries are fun, exciting, and essential in captivating minds of the future. Enticing our visitors – especially the young - to use their skills, experiment - being curious, looking closely and thinking creatively is at the heart of these galleries and experiences. It is no surprise that more and more institutions are focussing on developing bespoke interactive experiences/children’s galleries as part of their core offer.
How do we design experiences for the very youngest minds that appeal to broad demographics?
How do you go about developing such galleries? Can the principles of creating memorable interactive galleries be translated to suit the setting and content specialism of any institution with a common learning philosophy?
What can we say about this common learning philosophy that drives organisations around the world to create children's galleries? What makes these galleries strategically important?
Outcomes: what will participants get from this session? Skills, knowledge, experience etc.
We speak to a panel of experts at various stages in the development process of children’s galleries and/or experiences and tap into their plans, ambitions and most importantly lessons learnt so far. What can we say about how we actually know if these galleries fulfill organisational strategic objectives?
Facilitator
International Project Curator
Session speakers
Senior Partnerships Manager
Henna Bhatti is speaking on behalf of Rose Mockford, Lead Interactive Gallery Curator at the National Railway Museum and will share the team’s experiences of creating a strategically linked vision for the Science Museum Group’s latest Wonderlab gallery.
Head of Museological Projects
2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the Cité des enfants, the main children's gallery space at Universcience. Raphaël Chanay will use this opportunity to discuss the legacy of this flagship space and what lies ahead for its future. The exhibition team at Universcience has been experimenting on new formats, content approaches and visiting experiences through a series of interactive temporary exhibitions for children in the past few years. Based on lessons learnt from those projects, Raphaël will discuss possible trends for the Cité des enfants renewal as well as venturing into new territories for interactivity in children's spaces.
Director of Public Programmes
Following the launch of the NHM’s strategy, the museum is transforming its public spaces. In the heart of its building, the museum is creating a children’s gallery aimed at building a connection to nature in the youngest minds and laying the foundations for scientific thinking. The gallery will bring together interactivity and specimens, support learning through play and create space for children and their adults to engage together. This talk will share the challenges and lessons of trying to create a new type of experience within the museum.
