Letters – Opening access

From David Fleming, Director, National Museums Liverpool

In her interesting review of provision for young children in art galleries, Lindsay Brooks (AP issue 127, 31 July) neglected to mention probably the earliest of these ventures, the Procter and Gamble Childrens Gallery, which opened at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle in 1993. This was one of several access trails blazed by the Laing in the 1990s, some of which attracted disapproval from sections of the art establishment at the time. By contrast, the recently opened childrens gallery at the Walker Art Gallery, Big art for little artists, has received nothing but plaudits. How satisfying that the opening up of access to art for children has now become so accepted!