News
Award Proves Youth Participation is More Than Just Talk for Leeds City Museum
19 May 2011
Leeds City Museum’s commitment to placing young people’s voices at the heart of its operations has been recognised after being named the first organisation in the country to achieve a prestigious award.
The museum, based at the Leeds Institute building in the city centre, has been awarded with the National Youth Agency’s Hear by Right Bronze Award.
The Hear by Right Award was developed and launched by the National Youth Agency in 2010 to showcase the achievements of organisations that take youth participation seriously and highlight the contribution of the young people they work with. There are three levels available – Bronze, Silver and Gold, each measured across different levels of the recognised Hear by Right Framework for youth participation.
To become the first organisation to achieve the Bronze level recognition, Leeds City Museum has developed and implemented a clear plan to guide how youth participation informs strategic decisions.
The museum worked in partnership with The Youth Association (TYA) to meaningfully involve young people in assessing the museum, and making recommendations. TYA also helped to facilitate a workshop between the young people and senior decision makers to embed participation into the culture of the museum.
Their approach includes establishing a steering group of young people from all ages and backgrounds. Known as the Preservative Party, the youth body is far more than just a discussion group, with participants taking part in mystery shopping at the museum, attending events and providing input into strategic planning with the senior management team.
The museum chose to go for the Bronze award after taking part in the London 2012 project Stories of the World.
Stories of the World is part of London 2012 Cultural Olympiad programme which presents exciting new museum exhibitions across the UK, created by young people. The project is led by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) in partnership with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).
Working with the National Youth Agency and Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), the Leeds City Museum project brought together members of the local community to share stories across the generations and cultures, and identified the museum’s emerging strengths in youth participation.
Leeds City Council executive member for leisure Councillor Adam Ogilvie said: “It is fantastic to achieve this award, especially as we are the first organisation in the country to be awarded it. It is a great recognition for the efforts that everyone has put in, especially for the group itself who have all worked incredibly hard and come up with some great ideas to encourage young people from all over the city to not only visit Leeds City Museum, but to get involved in its future development. We are very proud and pleased.”
Fiona Blacke, National Youth Agency chief executive, comments: “Embedding youth participation into the development of museums is vital to ensure they are relevant to young people.
“Many congratulations to Leeds City Museum on this significant accomplishment, which demonstrates its commitment to actively bringing young people into the fabric of the organisation through positive participation.”
For further information on the work of Leeds City Museum visit www.leeds.gov.uk/cityMuseum and for further details on the National Youth Agency visit www.nya.org.uk