Maidstone Museum shortlisted for national Family Friendly Museum Award

Maidstone Museum has been shortlisted for Kids in Museums Family Friendly National Museum Award, it was announced today.

Charity Kids in Museums has run a prestigious annual award since 2004, recognising the most family friendly heritage sites in the UK and is the only UK museum award to be judged by families.

From late March to early June, families across the UK voted for their favourite heritage attraction on the Kids in Museums website. A panel of museum experts then whittled down hundreds of nominations to a shortlist of 18 heritage attractions.

Maidstone Museum is vying against two other museums in the Best Accessible Museum.

This category celebrates museums making excellent efforts to include families with children or young people who have special educational needs and disabilities. Shortlisted museums will also be given feedback on how they can further improve their offer for families.

Maidstone Museum is owned and manage by Maidstone Borough Council (MBC). Cllr Claudine Russell, Cabinet Member for Communities, Leisure and Arts at MBC said:” It is such an honour for our wonderful museum to be nominated for this prestigious award. I know the staff work so hard to be as inclusive as possible and always warmly welcome everyone into the Museum

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The family said: “Spike and the backpack have changed our family life. Before Maidstone Museum introduced Spike and the backpack, our average museum visit was 20 minutes. Any thought of a day out to a heritage or museum site was filled with dread. By being able to interact with Spike and use the backpacks we were able to normalise family visits.

“All of that is because Maidstone Museum made time and space for JJ to be himself and encouraged him to use the backpack to help with his sensory needs and be at peace in the museum. He is at the stage now where he will just wander off, find a chair or space and just sit or stand and engage. He now often asks to go to museums or heritage sites and encourages others to do likewise.”

Over the summer holidays, the museum will be visited by undercover family judges who will assess the shortlisted museums against 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 award category and an overall winner of the Family Friendly Museum Award 2023. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October.

Follow the Family Friendly Museum Award on social media by following @kidsinmuseums and #FamilyFriendlyMuseum.

The Family Friendly Museum Award has been made possible by funding from Arts Council England.

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Maidstone Museum is based in Chillington Manor – an Elizabethan mansion on St Faith’s Street.  It is home to a vast collection of fine art and historical artefacts, with over 600,000 items of international importance that are free for all visitors to discover. Founded in 1858 as the Charles Museum – after local Doctor Thomas Charles bequeathed his art and antiquities to the borough council in 1855 – the museum is housed in Chillington Manor, a charming Elizabethan mansion in Maidstone town centre.

About Kids in Museums

We are an award-winning charity dedicated to making museums open and welcoming to all children, young people and families. We support and champion family friendly organisations through wide-ranging initiatives, including the Family Friendly Museum Award and Takeover Day. We invite heritage organisations to sign up to our Manifesto, which sets out simple guidelines for making museums easy to reach for all ages. www.kidsinmuseums.org.uk

Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

About the Family Friendly Museum Award

Kids in Museums began the Family Friendly Museum Award in 2004 to recognise heritage sites that are the most welcoming, fun and accessible for families.

Previous winners of the Family Friendly Museum Award include the National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield (2022), Bailiffgate Museum & Gallery in Alnwick (2021), Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum in Dunfermline (2019), Leeds City Museum (2018) and the People’s History Museum in Manchester (2017).

The full list of museums shortlisted for the Family Friendly Museum Award 2023 is:

Best Large Museum

• Horniman Museum and Gardens, London
• National Maritime Museum, London
• Museum of Liverpool

Best Medium Museum

• The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge, Canterbury
• Compton Verney, Warwickshire
• Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle upon Tyne
• The MAC, Belfast

Best Small Museum

• Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea
• National Civil War Centre, Newark
• Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro
• Valence House, Dagenham
• Wolverhampton Art Gallery

Best Accessible Museum

• Cannon Hall Museum, Park and Gardens, Barnsley
• Craven Museum/ Skipton Town Hall
• Maidstone Museum

Best Youth Project – Climate

This new category recognises innovative and thoughtful projects engaging young people on the topic of the climate emergency and sustainability. It was open to museum applications only and will be judged by an expert panel.

• Falmouth Art Gallery – Splanna
• London Transport Museum – Green Skills Hackathon
• Tullie – Once Upon a Planet
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About Arts Council England

 

Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. We have set out our strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. From 2023 to 2026 we will invest over £440 million of public money from Government and an estimated £93 million from The National Lottery each year to help support the sector and to deliver this vision. www.artscouncil.org.uk.

 

For further information please contact the Maidstone Borough Council Communications Team email: communications@maidstone.gov.uk or call:  01622 602560