Day One: 11.20am Concurrent Sessions

1. Every Child, Every Visitor – Radical Inclusion in Museum Design

How can museums welcome every child and make them feel they belong?
This session shares inspiring examples from across Europe:

• Wonderlab: The Bramall Gallery (UK) – a codesigned engineering playground for all abilities
• Miffy Museum (Netherlands) – redesigned for disabled children
• Karlovac City Museums (Croatia) – tactile art that builds empathy
• Eureka! (UK) – play as a tool for equity and wellbeing

These projects show how inclusive design helps children feel safe, strong, and part of their community.

Speakers:

• Emilia McKenzie, Science Museum Group
• Yolanda van den Berg, Centraal Museum / Miffy Museum
• Lana Bede, Karlovac City Museums
• Rachael Bevan, Eureka!

2. Co-Creation in Action – Reimagining Museums with and for Young People

What if museums were made with children, not just for them?

This session shares global examples of how young people help shape museum spaces, stories, and exhibitions:

• Taoyuan Children’s Art Museum (Taiwan) – children lead storytelling through the senses
• Groninger Museum (Netherlands) – a Children’s Biennale co-created with young voices
• National Football Museum (UK) – football as a way to explore identity and community
• Universcience (France) – a model for designing fair and relevant experiences with youth

These projects show how co-creation builds confidence, creativity, and shared leadership.

Speakers:

• Yi-Ting Hsieh, Taoyuan Children’s Art Museum
• Ellis Hendriksen, Groninger Museum
• Stacey-Leigh Dolan, National Football Museum
• Raphaël Chanay, UNIVERSCIENCE Paris

3. Young Makers, Real Impact – Empowering Children as Cultural Creators

What if children helped shape history instead of just learning about it?

This session shares global examples of children as researchers, designers, and curators:

• Dublin City Council Culture Company (Ireland) – youth-led tours and podcasts
• KIMUS Kindermuseum Graz (Austria) – 15 years of student-led invention
• Kindermuseum München (Germany) – children take on real museum roles
• Amsterdam City Archives (Netherlands) – children become archivists, shaping the city’s story

These projects show how giving children real roles builds skills, confidence, and a more fair and creative society.

Speakers:

• Dervilia Roche, Dublin City Council Culture Company
• Nikola Kroath, KIMUS Kindermuseum Graz
• Antonia Huber & Christina Lemmen, Kindermuseum München
• Stefanie van Odenhoven, Amsterdam City Archives

4. How Powerful is a Network? Supporting Home-Educated Families Through Cultural Collaboration

How can museums and cultural spaces better support families who home educate?

Learn how a group of museums, theatres, and science centres in Northeast England worked together to create flexible, welcoming programmes for home-educated families by offering STEM days, creative learning, and Arts Award pathways—designed with families, not just for them. This model shows how cultural organisations can become trusted spaces for learning, connection, and belonging outside the classroom.

Speakers:

• Morgan Fail, Great North Museum: Hancock
• Nichola Peaker, Life Science Centre
• Mark Calvert, Theatre Royal Newcastle

5. Opening Pathways – Inclusive practice, Creative dialogue & Real-World impact

How can cultural spaces help young people grow, feel seen, and shape their futures?

This session shares powerful examples of inclusive programmes:

• Francis Crick Institute (UK) – co-designed placements for care-experienced and disabled youth
• UCL Art Museum (UK) – printmaking that builds skills, confidence, and public voice
• Museum Catharijneconvent (Netherlands) – art-led dialogue to debate identity and equity

These projects show how creative learning and strong partnerships can prepare young people for life—not just work—and help cultural spaces drive real change.

Speakers:

• Ellie Horner, The Francis Crick Institute
• Celine West, UCL
• Hannah Kalverda, Museum Catharijneconvent

6. What a Wonderful World: Education for Humanity

How can museums and cultural organisations help children imagine and build a more just and connected world?

Led by the Hands On! International Board, this interactive workshop explores education for humanity, one of the core quality criteria for children’s museums. Rooted in 21st-century learning, the session invites participants to examine how museums can foster empathy, global citizenship, and social responsibility in young audiences.

With rapid-fire global case studies and a dynamic World Café format, this session models how cultural institutions can become community-rooted institutions of dialogue, care, and action – preparing children not just for work, but for life in a diverse, interdependent society.
Join them for a dynamic session on the ‘Better World’ goal in 21st-century education, featuring quick global case studies and a World Café workshop. Connect, share, and spark action for a more humane future through museum learning.

Leaders (Hands On! International Board):

• Jörg Ehtreiber
• Susanne Gesser
• Pia Laedrach
• Adam Langer
• Mariëlle Pals
• Andrea Zsutty

Day One: 2.25pm Concurrent Sessions

7. Purpose, Participation & Impact – Rethinking Value in Children’s Museums

What does success look like when children’s voices, lived experiences and rights are at the centre? This session shares new ways to measure impact with purpose and meaning:

• House of European History (Belgium) – uses a Theory of Change model to connect families through hands-on learning
• Junges Museum Frankfurt (Germany) – children debate their rights in a playful, mobile ‘parliament’
• Explora (Italy) – turns audits into tools for child-led impact
• Association of Children’s Museums (USA) – shares global data on justice-focused museum work

These examples show how child-led evaluation can help museums become more fair, responsive, and socially connected.

Speakers:

• Pauline Gault, House of European History
• Susanne Gesser, Historisches Museum & Junges Museum Frankfurt
• Silvia Di Benedetto, Explora – Museo dei Bambini SCS
• Jennifer Rehkamp, Association of Children’s Museums
  
• Lisa Farley, York University (Canada)

8. Power in Partnership – Co-Creating Exhibitions, Experiences & Spaces with Children

What happens when children help design not just programmes, but the spaces themselves? This session shares creative ways museums are working with children to shape exhibitions and learning:

• Museum aan de Stroom (Belgium) – families co-curate the Anybody Home? exhibition
• Children’s Museum Singapore – playful consultation as a design tool
• The Creative Core (UK) – rethinking design thinking for families
• Eureka! Science + Discovery (UK) – young voices lead STEAM learning

These projects show how co-creation builds deeper equity, imagination, and relevance—putting children’s ideas at the heart of change.

Speakers:

• Tammy Wille, Museum aan de Stroom
• Mishelle Lim, Children’s Museum Singapore
• Jodie Lees, The Creative Core
• Liz Peniston, Eureka!

9. Beyond the Familiar – Reimagining Spaces, Stories & Sustainability in Children’s Exhibitions

How can children’s exhibitions explore deeper ideas like fairness, feelings, and the environment? This session shares bold, design-led approaches:

• Margaret Middleton (UK) – challenges traditional museum design and calls for more welcoming spaces
• MUSE (Italy) – Maxi Ooh! connects young children to nature through sensory play
• Wereldmuseum (Netherlands) – children explore climate action through Indigenous knowledge
• National Folk Museum of Korea – turns light pollution into a poetic, multisensory experience

These examples show how exhibitions can be emotional, meaningful, and driven by children’s ability to imagine and care.

Speakers:

• Margaret Middleton, Independent Exhibit Designer and Museum Consultant
• Walter Inama, MUSE
• Lisa Kleeven, Wereldmuseum
• Minji Yoo, Children’s Museum of the National Folk Museum of Korea

10. Exceptional Experiences – The Power of Partnerships to Broaden Reach & Deepen Impact

What happens when big heritage organisations work together to reach more children?

This session tells the story of Henry VIII on Tour – a major partnership between Historic Royal Palaces, English Heritage, and the National Trust. Together, they brought 5,000 pupils, including SEND learners, into exciting, hands-on history through festivals, workshops, and creative outreach.

By combining travel bursaries, inclusive design, and shared planning this project shows how strategic partnerships can break down barriers to access, amplify learning through the arts, and create deeply participatory experiences – no matter the size or scale of your institution.

Speakers:

• Saira MacNicol & Deborah Hogan, Historic Royal Palaces
• Katherine Armstrong, English Heritage
• Roxanne Cooper, National Trust

11. Evidence, Empathy & Impact – Long-Term Learning in Action

What does real impact look like—and how can we measure it over time?

This session highlights long-term, evidence-based programmes that support children’s learning and wellbeing:

• Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (UK) – In Harmony, a 17-year music programme building confidence and life skills
• Centre for Life (UK) – 25 years of science learning through research, creativity, and experimentation
• POLIN Museum (Poland) – uses empathy and co-creation to explore history, refugees, and early years learning

These examples show how thoughtful, child-centred evaluation can fuel more joyful, welcoming, and emotionally intelligent museum practice – grounded in lived experience and built for long-term change.

Speakers:

• Zoe Armfield, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
• Andy Lloyd, Centre for Life
• Anna Cz, POLIN Museum

Day One: 3.50pm Concurrent Sessions

12. Spaces that Speak – Building a Storytelling Network for Impact

What happens when storytelling venues work together to inspire creativity, connection, and care?

This session explores the Story Venue Cohort—a network of UK organisations including:

• Discover (London, UK)
• Grimm & Co (Rotherham, UK)
• Z Arts (Manchester, UK)
• The Reader (Liverpool, UK)
• The Story Museum (Oxford, UK).

With support from Arts Council England, they’ve moved from informal sharing to joint research—creating exhibitions, performances, and writing programmes that support literacy, wellbeing, and equity. This is a session for anyone interested in how stories and spaces can drive real change.

Speakers:

• TBC Discover
• TBC Grimm & Co
• TBC Z Arts
• TBC The Reader
• TBC The Story Museum

13. Creative Communities – Re-imagining Civic and Public Spaces

How can everyday public spaces become places where young people feel heard, included, and inspired? This session shares three creative projects that turn libraries, parks, and civic buildings into spaces for youth-led learning and action:

• Ignite! (UK) – uses council chambers and local spaces to spark curiosity and science learning
• STFC Daresbury Laboratory (UK) – partners with libraries to create welcoming, story-rich science experiences
• Young Museum Frankfurt (Germany) – brings museum activities into parks, focusing on mobility and local relevance

These examples show how reimagining public space can build belonging, unlock creativity, and put youth at the heart of cultural life.

Speakers:

• Catriona Kelly & Megan Shore, Ignite!
• Wendy Cotterill, STFC Daresbury Laboratory
• Laura Hollingshaus, Education & Outreach, Young Museum Frankfurt

14. Out of the Blue, Into the Bluecoat – Breaking Barriers Through After-School Arts

How can after-school arts programmes build trust, creativity, and confidence in children?

This session shares the story of Out of the Blue, a 10-year programme at Bluecoat (Liverpool UK). It connects children from underserved communities with contemporary art through artist-led workshops, gallery visits, and school outreach—reaching over 3,700 interactions each year.

Rooted in joy and equity, the programme shows how long-term engagement can open doors to creativity and learning beyond the classroom.

Speaker:

• Laura Yates, The Bluecoat

15. Making a Difference in STEAM – Engaging Young Minds Through Chemistry

How can hands-on science inspire curiosity, confidence, and real change?

This session from Liverpool John Moores University’s Absolute Chemistry Research Group (ACRG) shares how a decade of STEAM outreach is transforming science engagement for children aged 5–19 across underserved communities in the Liverpool City Region.

Through interactive demonstrations, theory-informed tools, and robust evaluation, ACRG shows how evidence-based, playful science education can foster belonging, deep learning, and real-world impact – building future skills and shifting attitudes one experiment at a time.

Speakers:

• Andrea Mallaburn
• Professor Linda Seton
• Dr Victoria Brennan
• Menna Goodwin

16. Learning Without Walls – Reimagining Museums as Everyday Classrooms

What if museums were part of everyday learning—not just special trips?

This session explores how cultural spaces are becoming regular, welcoming places for children to learn and grow:

• National Gallery of Ireland – turns the gallery into a full-time classroom
• GEM (UK) – shares new research and a toolkit for working with home-educated families
• Miami Children’s Museum (USA) – blends exhibits with early years education in a museum preschool
• MoMA Warsaw (Poland) – Primary Forms lets students become curators in a school-museum partnership

These projects show how museums can support daily learning, creativity, and belonging for every child.

Speakers:

• Erin Laidlaw, National Gallery of Ireland
• Shannen Johnson & Nicky McIntosh, GEM UK
• Maria Giulia Voltini, Mary Anne Ullery & Natalie Williams, Miami Children’s Museum
• Sebastian Cichocki, Museum of Modern Art Warsaw

Let’s Talk About It – A Global Conversation on Difficult Topics

In this interactive, talk-show-style session, Jörg Ehtreiber (Austria) will facilitate a bold dialogue on how children’s museums can confront themes like death, migration, identity, and democracy – amid rising political pressure and cultural division.

Drawing on global case studies, the session explores how institutions can navigate risk, uphold empathy and equity, and remain courageous community-rooted institutions in turbulent times.

This is a session for museum leaders ready to move from silence to substance and reclaiming their role as places of meaning, not just amusement.

Join this bold, solutions-focused conversation and leave with renewed strategies, shared strength, and global solidarity in using your platform to shape a more just, welcoming future for children.

Facilitator:

• Jörg Ehtreiber, President of HandsOn International Association of Children in Museums (Austria)

Day Two: 9.40am Concurrent Sessions

17. Museums as Catalysts – Empowering Young Learners for a Sustainable & Equitable Future

How can museums help children build the skills and empathy needed for a changing world? This session shares global examples of how cultural organisations support sustainability, equity, and future-ready learning:

• University of Valencia (Spain) – TOWCHED project links museum learning to the UN Sustainable Development Goals
• Walker Art Gallery (UK) – The Eridge Project supports underserved students through creative, career-focused learning
• Uganda National Museum – uses storytelling, craft, and play to bring heritage to life
• London Transport Museum (UK) – shows how short-term programmes can build real-world skills and confidence

These projects show how museums can help children imagine and build a fairer, more sustainable future.

• Mar Gaitán, University of Valencia
• Frankie Reed, Walker Art Gallery
• Linda Neruba & Christopher Ssebuyungo, Uganda National Museum
• Emma Crew & Kate Hunter, London Transport Museum

18. Language, Healing & Play – Designing Culturally Responsive Museum Experiences

How can museums become places of healing, joy, and cultural connection? This session shares four powerful projects where language, play, and emotional wellbeing help children feel welcome and understood:

• Queens Museum (USA) – uses multilingual storytelling and identity-focused learning
• Talkin’ Potters (UK) – celebrates dialect and heritage through playful, intergenerational wordplay
• POLIN Museum (Poland) – supports refugee children with trauma-informed creative programmes
• Design School Kolding (Denmark) – uses playful exhibit design to spark creativity and lasting engagement

These examples show that culturally responsive design is essential for building belonging, resilience, and meaningful learning.

Speakers:

• Kimaada Le Gendre, Queens Museum
• Christina Buckingham, University of Salford & Reform Heritage – Middleport Pottery
• Anna Dybala-Pacholak, POLIN Museum
• Sune Gudiksen, Lucia Malley, Ask Fogsgaard & Francesco Aloisio, Design School Kolding

19. Reclaiming Risk – Creativity, Safety & Purpose in Children’s Play

How can we move beyond over-safe play and give children space to explore, take risks, and grow? This session shares three bold approaches to show how creagtive, courageous play helps children thrive:

• CAPCO (UK) – challenges “ultra-processed play” and calls for more freedom and imagination
• Safety Superhero Academy (UK) – uses empathy-led STEM to empower underrepresented children, especially girls
• Timberplay (UK) reframes managed risk as essential for resilience and joy beyond offering practical strategies for play design and policy.

Together, these talks show how creative, courageous play helps children thrive.

Speakers:

• Johnny Lyle & Simon Egan, Creating Adventurous Places Ltd. (CAPCO)
• Bethany Holroyd, Safety Superhero Academy
• Hayley Ashby & Mark Grimshaw, Timberplay

Day Two: 10.35am Concurrent Sessions

20. Building Together – Community Partnerships That Create Lasting Impact

What happens when museums work with communities, not just for them?

This session shares how deep partnerships can reshape exhibitions, education, and local impact:

• Children’s Museum Verona (Italy) – turned an exhibit into a wide-reaching social project with builders, camps, and sustainability workshops
• Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum (USA) – reimagined corporate partnerships as creative collaborations
• Eureka! Science + Discovery (UK) – co-designed their new attraction with young people and STEAM partners

These examples show how true collaboration builds equity, innovation, and shared ownership—creating museums that reflect and serve their communities.

Speakers:

• Paolo Poerio, Children’s Museum Verona
• Addison Dover, Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum
• TBC, Eureka! Science + Discovery

21. Stories That Open Doors – Inclusive Reading in Italian Museums

How can storytelling foster equity, empathy, and belonging in museums?

Italy’s Kid Pass shares Avventure tra le pagine – Leggiamo al Museo, a nationwide festival transforming 150+ museums into welcoming, family-friendly reading spaces each November.

Through animated stories, sensory workshops, and LIS interpretation, the initiative supports literacy, creativity, and emotional connection for children aged 0–12. Co-created with museum educators, authors, and accessibility experts, the programme adapts to each venue focusing on diverse learning styles, access needs, and local voices.

This session offers practical tools for using storytelling to build community connection, cultural access, and joyful learning in your museum.

Speaker:

• Marianna Vianello, Kid Pass

22. Creativity on the Move – Mobile Museums Bringing Learning to Life

How can museums bring learning to children wherever they are?

This session explores creative mobile projects that make cultural learning fun, accessible, and community-led:

• Medicine History Museum (Latvia) – Museum in a Box sends playful, co-created kits like Do Cats Cry? to classrooms
• DE DRIFFT GbR (Germany) – brings pop-up science to parks and markets through joyful, hands-on activities
• Kenaz Art Studio (UAE) – delivers traditional and modern arts programmes to remote areas, blending creativity with cultural pride

These projects show how mobility and imagination can turn any place into a space for learning.

Speakers:

• Zane Zajanckauska, Medicine History Museum
• Beke Fahrenbach, DE DRIFFT GbR
• Ghaleya Almansoori, Kenaz Art Studio

Day Two: 2pm Concurrent Sessions

23. Dinosaurs on Prescription – Culture, Care & Creative Social Prescribing

What if a child’s first museum visit happened from a hospital bed?

This session shares Creative Pathways, a unique partnership between National Museums Liverpool and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. The programme brings dinosaurs, art, and storytelling to young patients in hospital wards—from oncology to mental health—offering joy, connection, and creativity.

We will explore how museums can support wellbeing in clinical settings, showing that cultural experiences can heal, comfort, and help children feel seen.

Speakers:

• Siobhan Cull, Maddy Eggleston & Dave Brown, National Museums Liverpool
• Representatives from Alder Hey Children’s Hospital

24. Beyond the Tick Box – Rethinking Skills, Learning, and Evaluation

What if impact measurement felt as joyful as the learning itself?

London Transport Museum shares its pioneering, skills-first approach to evaluation – rooted in six core green skills: curiosity, creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving.

Co-designed with schools and families, their playful tools – like bingo cards and drama games – invite children to reflect on their own growth, not just tick boxes.

In this hands-on session, delegates will explore metacognition, failure as learning, and how museums can measure what really matters – supporting ownership, confidence, and future-ready mindsets through co-created evaluation.

Speakers:

• Kate Hunter & Emma Crew, London Transport Museum

25. Nurturing Artful Beginnings – The Power of Process, Art & Play

How can we welcome families into museums through creativity, empathy, and wonder?

This session from National Gallery Singapore explores the newly redesigned Keppel Centre for Art Education—a joyful space for children aged 4–12 focused on play, sensory exploration, and hands-on learning.

Participants will try activities from Gallery Toddlers! and reflect on how process-led design builds curiosity, confidence, and connection. Perfect for anyone designing spaces for early learners or championing family-friendly engagement.

Speakers:

• Susanne Goh & Clarice Chan, National Gallery Singapore

26. Creating Change – Museums as Spaces for Dialogue, Identity & Inclusion

How can museums respond honestly to the real lives of young people?

This session brings together three powerful voices exploring identity, inclusion, and dialogue:

• S.M.A.K. (Belgium) – shares S.M.A.K. Moves, a programme born from a young visitor’s act of “vandalism” that turned disruption into civic conversation
• Margaret Middleton (UK) – challenges what “family-friendly” means and shares ways to include LGBTQ+ stories in exhibitions
• Explora (Italy) – presents the award-winning #NOGAP campaign, which breaks down gender stereotypes in everyday museum practice

These inspiring examples show how museums can lead with values and create spaces of joy, justice, and belonging.

Speakers:

• Aline Van Nereaux, S.M.A.K.
• Margaret Middleton, Exhibit Designer & Museum Consultant
• Alessandra Arcella, Explora – The Children’s Museum of Rome

Day Two: 3.25pm Concurrent Sessions

27. Future Thinkers – Creative STEAM Learning Rooted in Place, Culture & Collaboration

How can STEAM education build not just skills – but confidence, identity, and community?

• Fairplayed Media (UK) – Animates use storytelling and song to connect children with invention, green tech, and civic identity
• Sci-Tech Daresbury (UK) – The Halton Project co-designs coding kits for mainstream and SEND learners
• ArtScience Museum (Singapore) – ArtScience Laboratory blends AI, poetry, and emotional intelligence to spark cross-disciplinary thinking
• Sabahattin Zaim University (Turkey) – shows how toy museums can become playful STEAM classrooms rooted in culture

These projects show how joyful, place-based STEAM learning can help all children become creative problem-solvers and future-ready thinkers.

Speakers:

• Natalie Reeves Billing & Alex Cousins, Fairplayed Media
• Gina Czarnecki, Sci-Tech Daresbury
• Kimberly Arriola, ArtScience Museum
• Ayse Nihan Zengin, Sabahattin Zaim University

28. Engaging the Earliest Learners – Designing Meaningful Museum Experiences for the Under-5s

What does powerful learning look like before children can speak?

This session explores how museums can welcome babies, toddlers, and caregivers through play, creativity, and empathy:

• Victoria & Albert Museum (UK) – Design Baby uses design thinking and artist input to create playful, sensory experiences that grow with families
• Deutsches Museum (Germany) – Minis im Museum features mobile “experimentation islands” co-designed with caregivers and based on child development research
• Eureka! The National Children’s Museum (UK) – Little Explorers takes a whole-museum approach to early years, focusing on emotional learning, language, and exploration

These projects show how museums can spark curiosity and connection from the very beginning.

Speakers:

• Kathryn Box, Victoria & Albert Museum
• Ludwig Vera, Deutsches Museum

29. Radically Inclusive – Transforming Access and Expression in Museum Learning for SEND Audiences

How can museums create truly inclusive learning for children and young people with SEND?

This session shares three UK-based programmes that centre creativity, care, and co-creation:

• Attenborough Arts Centre – SENsory Atelier transforms galleries into sensory-rich spaces for child-led expression, inspired by Reggio Emilia
• Leeds Museums and Galleries – Slice of Blueberry Pie uses mindfulness, collections, and community to support young adults with EHCPs
• Eureka! – shares how accessibility is built into everything they do, from sensory exhibits to neurodivergent-led innovation

These models offer practical tools and inspiration for embedding equity and creativity in museum learning and communication.

Speakers:

• Lisa Jacques & Sian Watson-Taylor, Attenborough Arts Centre
• Dionne Matthews, Leeds Museums and Galleries
• Sophie Ballinger & Leanne Wise, Eureka!

30. Picture One Artwork! – Empowering Young Learners Through Artistic Discovery

How can one artwork spark creativity and confidence in early learners?

This hands-on workshop from National Gallery Singapore explores Picture One Artwork!, a preschool programme that uses guided looking, movement, and sustainable artmaking to spark creativity, inquiry, and confidence.

Learn how multisensory engagement connects galleries, classrooms, and families, turning early learners into curious, empowered participants in cultural spaces.

Facilitator:

• Shaherah Bte Arshad, National Gallery Singapore

Day Two: 4.20pm Concurrent Sessions

31. Beyond the Screen – Inclusive Digital Experiences That Empower, Engage, and Transform

How can digital tools support equity, creativity, and meaningful learning?

This global panel shares four innovative approaches where tech meets co-creation, wellbeing, and civic purpose:

• Science Museum Group (UK)– Wonderlab+ is a playful STEM platform designed for accessibility and impact
• ZOOM Museum (Austria)– connects hospitalised children through collaborative animation and adaptive tech
• Explora (Italy)– Genius Loci blends AR, nature, and open-source tools to spark exploration
• Alchemilla Social Cooperative (Italy)– empowers young children as digital co-creators through theatre and metaphor.

Using these case studies this session will explore how digital experiences can deepen participation and transform museums into community-rooted spaces.

Speakers:

• Emilia McKenzie, Science Museum Group
• Andrea Zsutty, ZOOM Museum
• Daniela Bassi, Explora
• Elisa Rota, Alchemilla Social Cooperative

32. Open Up the Mic – Comedy as a Catalyst for Confidence and Connection

Join Showtown Blackpool (UK) for an energising, hands-on workshop that uses comedy as a tool for wellbeing, resilience, and civic connection.

Rooted in Blackpool’s iconic entertainment heritage, we’ll discover how humour can break down barriers, build perspective, and spark creative participation.

Try practical techniques for storytelling, reframing, and playful engagement – ideal for anyone looking to embed joy, equity, and confidence into museum learning.

No punchline required – just a willingness to laugh, share, and connect.

Facilitators:

• Kari Singleton, Showtown Blackpool
• Ruth Cockburn, Black Liver

33. Creative Collaborations: Tinkering with Tech Together

This hands-on session invites you to explore how simple tools – motors, lights, sound, and everyday materials – can transform learning into joyful, collaborative experimentation.

Build, play, and co-create in a welcoming space that values curiosity, creativity, and resilience.

Leave with practical, low-pressure ideas to spark open-ended engagement and amplifying children as confident, tech-literate makers of their world.

Facilitators:

• Emma Callow & Vicky Cave, Constructionist Educators

34. Baby Steps – The Art Museum as a Territory for Babies

How can museums nurture creativity and connection from the very beginning?

Oscar Niemeyer Museum (Brazil) shares MON Primeiros Passos – a multisensory programme that welcomes babies aged 1–3 as curious, capable participants.

Through play, touch, and shared discovery, we’ll unpack how galleries can become welcoming, responsive environments for early development, caregiver bonding, and cultural belonging.

Speaker:

• Samantha Baldissera, Oscar Niemeyer Museum

Pre-Conference Social – Tues 25 November

Join us at the iconic Cavern Club “the most famous club in the world!” for an exclusive pre-conference welcome and social event, allowing delegates to immerse themselves in the history of Liverpool, meet up with colleagues and make new connections.

The Cavern Club is a legendary music venue on Liverpool’s famous Mathew Street, renowned for its association with the Beatles.

Opening in 1957 as a jazz club, it evolved into a hub for the rock and roll scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Beatles performed there almost 300 times between 1961 and 1963, significantly shaping their early career.

• Visit the Cavern Club website
• Read about the history of the Cavern Club