PRESS RELEASE
National Maritime Museum Shortlisted for National Family Friendly Museum Award
The National Maritime Museum (NMM) has been shortlisted for the Kids in Museums Family Friendly Museum Award. Charity Kids in Museums has run a prestigious annual award since 2004, recognising the most family friendly heritage sites in the UK. It is the only 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.
The National Maritime Museum is vying against two other museums in the Best Large Museum category.
Katie Cassels, Families and Young People Manager at the NMM said, ‘We're so excited to be nominated by our visitors for this award and to be shortlisted. Having an enjoyable family day at the Museum drives our team and it's wonderful to hear that families are finding this from the NMM.’
Alongside a number of thematically arranged galleries and exhibition spaces, the NMM has two galleries which are especially for children and families, AHOY! and All Hands. The Museum also runs a year-long programme of family-friendly events, including the regular workshops Play Tuesdays and Discover Sundays, as well as Safe Harbour, a regular session for families with fostered or adopted children; SENsory Sailors, which is a sensory play group for children with special educational needs and their families; and the LGBTQ+ Network, a safe space for local LGBTQ+ families to meet each other and engage in creative activities. The Museum also holds several festivals and public celebrations throughout the year, including Lunar New Year, World Oceans Day, Windrush Day and Diwali, during which thousands of visitors come to the Museum to enjoy the festivities with their families.
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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Notes to Editors
About the National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum holds the world’s largest maritime collection telling stories of Britain’s relationship with the sea. The National Maritime Museum is part of Royal Museums Greenwich which also incorporates the 17th-century Queen’s House, Royal Observatory Greenwich and the famous clipper ship Cutty Sark. This unique collection of museums and heritage buildings form a key part of the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site and is also a major centre of education and research. The mission of Royal Museums Greenwich is to enrich people’s understanding of the sea, the exploration of space, and Britain's role in world history. For more information, visit www.rmg.co.uk
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
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.