For a child, the experience of walking into most art exhibitions is an unwelcoming one. Adults are a gallery’s primary audience, and exhibitions are designed with adults in mind. The midpoint of works hung on the wall is 155cm (‘eye-level’). Work labels are written for an adult audience. No running is allowed. No loud shrieks of delight. And touching is definitely out.
I’ve been followed by staff around a gallery while I tried to make sure my children didn’t do anything too childish, so I know it can be a stressful experience for parents too.
And yet, studies have repeatedly shown that when children visit museums and galleries with their parents, they are far more likely to return as adults. This means that the experience children (and their adults) have in a gallery has a direct impact on the future of arts audiences.
There are some shining examples in Australia of pioneering, world-leading spaces dedicated to art programs for kids and families. GOMA's Children’s Art Centre in Brisbane was the trailblazer in the early noughties. NGV Kids Corner at The National Gallery of Victoria arrived in 2010, and the Tim Fairfax Learning Gallery and Studio at the National Gallery of Australia opened mid-2019. These are permanent spaces inside the institution that run a free year-long program of contemporary art exhibitions and events for kids and families. Here, children aren’t being catered to in adjunct public and education programs. They are the main event.
The formula works. These spaces are jam-packed year-round. A GOMA staffer once told me that when they open the doors in the morning, children burst through and run from the gallery entrance to the Children's Art Centre as fast as they can.
Unbridled enthusiasm and a fundamental sense of belonging for kids and families? Yes, please.
While a few big cultural institutions are nailing it, pickings become slim when looking around for other contemporary art experiences designed to delight all ages. From toddlers through to retirees.
Over the last few years, I’ve developed intergenerational art programs for the likes of Sydney Festival, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences and Fairfield Museum and Gallery. At the time, the project frameworks we came up with were intuitive. With hindsight, it is easy to see the common threads between them and recognise a successful model for family-centric art experiences.
If creating programs for kids and families is your gig, listed below are five tips to hook them on contemporary art.
1. ADULTS ARE THERE TOO.
To create programs that excite children but ignore the grown-up brains in the room is a missed opportunity. If our higher intention is to share ideas with a broad audience and build a sustainable culture for the arts, programs with multiple access points and layers of meaning do this better.
This was the aim for Jurassic Plastic presented at Sydney Festival 2018. It featured the work of Japanese artist Hiroshi Fuji and was a sprawling colourful landscape of over 150,000 discarded plastic toys. Over the course of 20 days, 35,000 people interacted with the work, participated in a workshop, listened to a talk, or worked with the artist.
In one sense the project was a spectacle. It was a gigantic room of colourful toys that children were able to run into and play with. But it also had conceptual weight. The artwork spoke to mass consumption and waste, and the enormity of the plastic problem. It sparked conversations between children, between adults, and between generations. That was the genius of this artist’s work. Everyone, of all ages, was able to connect with the ideas and take away meaning for their own lives.
2. COVER THE BASICS
Borrowing Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a framework, there are many (many!) basic needs that a parent or carer need to consider when planning to attend an event with their kids. They are practical, unglamourous - and absolute deal-breakers. Does it work around naps? How will my children eat? How long will it take to get there and back...?
As a parent who works in the arts, you’d assume that I’m a regular at all the great arts programs for kids in my hometown. While I do make an effort to get to as many as I can, it’s surprising how many brilliant-looking events fall by the wayside for the most basic of reasons. (Why do so many galleries only open at 10 am or 11 am!? With children who nap after lunch, once you factor in travel and eating time…...out.)
Wherever possible, design programs that minimise the number of hoops parents and carers need to jump through. Once basic needs are met, parents shimmy up the pyramid and can connect with the enriching and minding-expanding experience on offer.
3. OFFER SOMETHING THEY CAN'T GET AT HOME OR SCHOOL.
I’m forever impressed with the level of arts activities offered by my children's pre-school and primary school. And like most family homes I know, we have cupboards full of coloured pencils, paper, scissors, glue and myriad other craft materials that are available at any time of the day to make, create and play.
So when I see ‘kids programs’ comprising a table with some basic craft materials on it, my heart sinks. If I can do that at home, why bother going out?
The answer lies in providing an experience that children and their families can’t get at home or school.
Enter: Artists!
Artists create aesthetic wonderlands that bring joy to audiences. They bring a depth of thinking that can provoke, challenge, inspire or reveal a different perspective on the world. And importantly, connecting with living artists is something that most children and families can’t access on their own.
Not every artist and their work suits all-ages programming and understanding audience needs are critical. As is testing ideas in advance with a group of children as part of the development process.
But, when an all-ages program is built around an artist and their work rather than a general ‘creative’ flavoured activity, audiences catapult into a different, more impactful experience.
4. COLLAPSE THE SILOS
It’s time to re-think the silos of “exhibition”, “public program” and “education programs”. The elements can all still be present, but they can exist as an integrated, connected experience. This necessitates finding the right artist and the right work, but when you do, the result is a magical experience for audiences.
Like Jurassic Plastic, Tanabata: Star Village at the Museum of Applied Art and Sciences collapsed the divide between 'exhibition' and 'public program'. Slow Art Collective created a monumental site-specific installation that was both the artwork and activity pavilion. Inside the structure, audiences could weave, make origami, write a wish, or play with sound. It was unclear (and irrelevant) where the artwork ended and activity space began. The result was a wondrous immersive environment that 75,000 people enjoyed over 18 days.
5. BALANCE EDUCATION, ENTERTAINMENT AND EXPERIENCE.
Education and entertainment have long been understood as drivers of material for kids and families. ('Edutainment' is a thing.) And yes, “the experience economy” is the buzzword of the moment, but let’s not hold that against it.
Because where education, entertainment and experience intersect is the sweet spot that creates compelling and inspiring all-ages programs.
We parents all try our best to make sure our children don’t touch the artwork - but it is such a relief when they can. Children are endlessly curious and touching is part of how they discover and learn. Embracing children’s innate desire for participatory experiences goes a long way to delivering successful cultural experiences for kids and their families.
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In summary, most kids love getting stuck into creative activities. And yes, a table with craft materials on it will keep them happily occupied for a good amount of time. But why not shoot for more? If you’re developing arts and cultural programs for kids and families - be it in a gallery, shopping centre, festival, or local council - there is an opportunity to deliver something bigger, more enriching and transformative for everyone in the room.
In my experience, the key to unlocking that door is working with contemporary artists to create immersive, participatory works, rich with layers of meaning.