Working in the context of the visual arts, Mary Johnson looks into the family-friendly phenomenon, what exactly it means and how a venue can achieve it.
Ten years ago, when my son was very young I visited several arts venues where the staff seemed nervous and unprepared for our visits, while other people visiting the venue were hostile and frowned upon a child being there at all. Time has moved on since then, thankfully, and now families from all backgrounds, with children of all abilities, are welcome in most arts venues round the UK.
A warm welcome
At Giant Productions I am involved with a variety of venues, such as galleries, cinemas, museums and churches, and get the chance to see different approaches to offering a family-friendly service or product: some may be very child friendly but seem to forget the adults; some have created designated family areas; and some simply rely upon using bright colours and small chairs. A venue has to find its own way of being family friendly. It has to look at the main function of the venue and work out how to build on that to open it up for the modern-day family. For me, running a family-friendly venue means that it actively embraces and encompasses the whole family ? parent, grandparent, carer, child, baby, teenager ? with all their qualities and idiosyncrasies. In the run-up to events and in their aftermath, I work closely with the staff at all venues, from box office and kitchen staff to management and in-house art workers. We exchange knowledge to help make the event a pleasurable experience for all involved. Our aim is to make everyone feel welcome and encourage them to take part in what?s happening.
Lights on the Bus
An example of a successful project was ?Lights on the Bus?. On five different days, a brightly decorated bus transported children and their families through the streets of Glasgow to a location where a workshop was held exploring light and projection. The places visited included a theatre, a church, a storytelling centre, a museum and a football stadium. Each day the participants sat back to listen to the on-board storyteller relating stories about Glasgow. The route was different each day, opening up new sights and different buildings along the way. The children were given a sketch pad with pencils and crayons to draw the different sights we stopped at. They were also able to draw on the windows of the bus ? a treat for the adults and the kids, but I?m not sure what happened on their return home!
After our tour around Glasgow in the morning we stopped at a venue for lunch. The lunchtime stop proved to be one of the more difficult things to organise as I wanted to give the families the choice to bring their own lunch or buy items at a venue. There turned out to be very few places where people were allowed to eat their own food indoors ? but I persevered and found them in the end!
After lunch we headed for our afternoon destination where we took part in a story trail and a light-based workshop. At each venue we had commissioned a site-specific story trail round the building that took into account the history behind the building and incorporated this into a sensory and imaginary trail. This was followed by the workshop that allowed the families to experience light in many forms. The children and adults were able to play with lighting equipment and design their own light show; they played with coloured gels and made stained glass windows. They also made costumes to wear in the environment that we created in each venue and that became part of the light show.
Access and promotion
The bus held a maximum of 24 people, but seats could be removed if needed for a wheelchair, and, while this lowered the total numbers on board the bus, out of the five days of the project there were wheelchair-users on four days. We gave the artists we worked with (visual artists, storytellers, a lighting designer and a puppeteer) training on working with groups with a range of abilities and how to include everyone in the creative process. All the venues we attended were accessible for different users and open to a group of children and their families with a range of abilities and different needs.
The project was promoted to people on our database and was advertised through the local papers and listings. Each venue we called at, as well as various other venues, displayed the printed flyer for people to pick up. We also advertised it through the National Children?s Art Day website and our own website.
Mary Johnson is Visual Arts Director of Giant Productions. t: 0141 334 2000;
e: mary@giantproductions.org; w: http://www.giantproductions.org