In 2018 we were set what surely must be one of the best design briefs in our sector by our young co-designers - children aged eight to fourteen from three local schools. This brief was to create ‘the world’s most joyful museum’ for children from birth to early teens. Five years later, Young VA opened its doors in early July 2023 to crowds of excited children. Within 18 months, Young VA had celebrated its millionth visitor and exceeded all its opening targets, topping the sector consortium of London museums as a destination for family visits at 88%, at a time when family visits to museums more widely were dropping off.
This Best in Heritage presentation will share the story of how we got to that point and provide a snapshot of what we’ve been up to since opening, what we’ve learned, and what we still need to figure out!
Why Young VA?
Young VA is a clarion call for the vital role of creativity in children’s lives. The 2018 inception of the capital project was to transform the former Museum of Childhood in East London’s Bethnal Green into a creative powerhouse with and for children. It was driven by recognition of the positive impact creative experiences in early years through to early teens has on young people’s futures. Creating Young VA from the outset has been underpinned by hyper-local work in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, home to many of the nation's most deprived children but also one of the fastest growing young populations with the highest density of residents working in the creative industries nationally. The Covid-19 pandemic and its ongoing impact on the young; the cost-of-living crisis; and over a decade of systemic under investment in creative education in England further underpin the rationale for Young VA.
In this context, this new museum strives to be a powerful community asset relevant to the lives of children, young people and their families. From local and national to the international, it speaks to global recognition of the need for creative mindsets and skills, advocated by the World Economic Foundation, the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organisation, and the Office for Economic Development and Co-operation. And in the context of increasing understanding of the need for smart-phone free childhoods, Young VA provides a haven for playful learning that is predominantly analogue, social, active and relevant to young lives.
Children told us they wanted the most joyful museum in the world. With the gauntlet thrown down, we set out to design an uplifting optimistic museum that is a powerhouse of creativity for children and their families, rigorously informed by expert input on childhood development and learning through play. It is a place full of colour and light, with almost 2000 wondrous objects from across time and the world, drawing on the world class VA collection and presented in ways to inspire, excite, to provoke curiosity, to fire the imagination. With displays that recognise children’s developmental needs from birth to early teens, the museum engages young visitors when their brains and bodies are at their most formative, and the need for learning through play is critical to social, emotional, cognitive and physical development and wellbeing. It’s also a place that supports parents and adult carers to develop their own creative confidence and play skills through intergenerational family learning.
Young VA, Play Gallery, view across the Mini Museum © Luke Hayes courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum
Two guiding principles informed the development of Young VA. At the outset these were loosely defined and increasingly came into focus as the project progressed. Working with rather than for children was essential if the new museum were to be meaningful. This became the ‘co-working’ guiding principle. Building design skills through imagination and curiosity broadened to become the ‘creative confidence’ guiding principle. Both still hold true.
Along the way we questioned and played with some deep-seated approaches to museum-making. These included: who museums are primarily for; how they are designed; how collections are displayed and interpreted; how to learn playfully in a museum; how to maximise visitors' experience; and whose voices and what kinds of knowledge are given agency and status. Just as children learn through play, trying things out to make sense of themselves in and of the world, so too we adopted a playful, iterative approach. At times, we were bamboozled. At others, we had a lot of rules to break. In the manner of anything new worth designing, we lived in a space of ‘what if’ and ‘how might we’? We invariably figured out solutions but never worked to a blueprint.
Without asking these questions, Young VA would not be what it is today: Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024; Kids in Museums Family Friendly National Winner; New London Architecture Retrofit and Mayor’s Award Winner and RIBA London Awards winner. And, most significantly, as one of our young visitors shared after visiting on a Quiet Morning, for children with special educational needs; ‘Today I saw a perfect place. Just perfect.’
AOC co-Director Gill Lambert viewing a model of the potential new museum with pupils from the Children’s Forum. © Getty, Jeff Spicer
2025 is a key moment to further galvanise our sector to continue to promote child-centred museums, with a new UK Government in power and a manifesto commitment to creative education in England. Museums are both stewards of the past and sites to nurture the engaged, curious, adaptive citizens of tomorrow. Historically, museums have not been designed for children, let alone with them. The literature on child-centred museum design is nascent, and concomitant professional practices are likewise emergent and not yet codified. There’s plenty of space to play around with new ways of museum making. There’s still a lot to learn.
Jenny Waldman, director, Art Fund, and chair of the judges for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024, said: “Young VA is a truly inspirational museum. With a brief from its young co-designers to create ‘the world’s most joyful museum’, Young VA has achieved that and more. It has radically reimagined the museum with and for young people, creating a museum experience that’s active, empowering and dynamic, centred on learning through play. Young VA has established a deep engagement with its local community and, at the same time, it has become an international beacon for what a children’s museum can be.”