World Museum in Liverpool has been shortlisted for the Kids in Museums Family Friendly Museum Award.
Charity Kids in Museums has run a prestigious annual award for the past 15 years, recognising the most family friendly heritage sites in the UK. It is the only museum award to be judged by families.
From April to 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 20 heritage attractions.
World Museum is vying against two other museums in the Best Large Museum category.
Anne Fahy, Head of World Museum, said: “We pride ourselves on being a family favourite museum, which explores the wonders of the world. Nothing delights us more than hearing stories of a love for our Museum being passed down generations through family visits.
We are thrilled to be shortlisted for the Kids in Museums Award and we’re up against strong contenders. I’d like to thank and congratulate all the World Museum team whose hard work and passion create memorable experiences for our visitors, especially the Learning and Participation Team which delivers brilliant activities for our younger visitors including Museums Playing Out and Up Close With programmes.”
Julia Bryan, Learning and Participation Lead, said “At World Museum, we go the extra mile to serve our community – we’ve provided family craft packs to local communities via foodbanks through lockdown, been going out into the community with collections and ensuring that families have felt safe when we’ve reopened with a survey and responsive plan.
Our Planetarium has reopened with new Relaxed shows. We know that family units are diverse and, through targeted surveys and partnerships with our local universities, we are also supporting older children and teenagers with exciting programmes linked to our collections and exhibitions.”
Young People inspired by the AI: More Than Human exhibition at World Museum, can try their hand at programming LEGO Robot Rovers with University of Manchester’s Computer Programming team; a science fiction flash writing competition with experts at University of Liverpool and the Science Fiction Foundation; and an introductory session exploring the Python programming language with experts from the University of Liverpool’s Computer Sciences department.
World Museum also recently launched a series of ‘Up Close With…’ sessions, allowing families to get close to incredible collections for a “Look Don’t Touch!” exploration with experts on rainforests; the International Space Station, insects, dinosaurs and fossil bones.
The Museum has also started running a series of ‘Museums Playing Out’ events including a bug hunt at the wildflower meadow and pavement pictures in the forecourt.
At World Museum, millions of years of the world’s history are revealed. Visitors, small and tall, can find out how humans have shaped the planet we inhabit, from Africa to the Americas, Asia and Europe and how human behaviour is impacting our world today.
They take you to the farthest reaches of a spectacular world, diving down into underwater life in the newly refurbished Aquarium (opening summer 2021) and blasting you off into the skies in the Space Gallery and their updated Planetarium (updated June 2021). Their Ancient Egypt gallery is home to one of the finest ancient Egyptian and Nubian collections in Europe.
The museum will now be visited by undercover family judges who will assess the museums against the Kids in Museums Manifesto. Their experiences will decide a winner for each award category and an overall winner of the Family Friendly Museum Award 2021. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October.
Follow the Family Friendly Museum Award on Twitter by following @kidsinmuseums and #FamilyFriendlyMuseum.
The Family Friendly Museum Award has been made possible by funding from Arts Council England.
See their website here.