PK Porthcurno wins best Family Engagement Team
PK Porthcurno, Museum of Global Communications in West Cornwall has won ‘Best Family Engagement Team’ in the Kids in Museums Family Friendly Museum Award 2022, it was announced at an awards ceremony in London on Wednesday 19th October 2022.
Run by the charity Kids in Museums, the Family Friendly Museum Award celebrates museums, galleries, historic homes, or heritage sites in the UK that go the extra mile to provide a great experience for families.
Since it launched in 2004, the award has become a benchmark of excellence in the heritage sector. Each year Kids in Museums receives hundreds of public nominations, which are whittled down to a shortlist by an expert panel. The final say goes to families, who visit each shortlisted museum over the summer holidays and decide the winners.
This year a new Best Family Engagement Team category was introduced to recognise the dedication and innovation of museum staff and volunteers. It was judged by an expert panel.
Competing against two other museums in the Best Family Engagement Team category, PK Porthcurno won with the expert panel impressed by its commitment to encouraging play and sustainability across the whole museum. Judges felt the team was thoughtful in reaching out to families, both local and holidaymakers, and responding to their feedback. The panel also praised its teamwork and support for volunteers.
PK Porthcurno is a museum experience that explores the amazing story of our connected world, with an award-winning environmental programme called Planet PK. There are family trails free to pick up, interactive displays, playful interventions in and around the museum and a giant communications squid in the gardens for families to explore!
‘I think it’s the best museum! I really like the morse code with the headphones’ (visitor feedback, age 8 years).
The PK team deliver out-of-school and holiday activity sessions including the ‘Planet PK Champions’ environmental club and Pop- up activities for families during the holidays. Events this past summer designed specifically for families included Mini PK tours and Animal Printing in the museum, as well as an Animal Long Jump activity on Porthcurno beach! The team also deliver playful outreach sessions with local toddlers, take activities out to local events and festivals, as well as host Fun Palaces and annual Takeover Days.
‘My 2-year-old loved playing with the bubbles. I won’t be able to drag her away! Thank you!’ (Parent feedback at Golowan Festival in Penzance)
Julia Twomlow, Creative Director & CEO of PK Porthcurno says,
“This amazing achievement is all down to the dedication, energy and creativity of our Engagement Team at PK Porthcurno. They never fail to impress me with their ideas and enthusiasm, finding new ways to bring our museum collections and the science of communications to life for young audiences. It is very well deserved!”
Kay Dalton, Learning and Participation Manager at PK Porthcurno says,
“We are so happy to receive this amazing award from Kids in Museums. Our small team works really hard to connect with local and visiting families with playful and inspiring events and interventions. Having that work recognised and celebrated at a national level is incredibly important to us.”
About Kids in Museums
We are a charity dedicated to making museums open and welcoming to all children, young people and families. We support and champion family-friendly organisations through wide-ranging initiatives, including the Family Friendly Museum Award and Takeover Day. We invite heritage organisations to sign up to our Manifesto, which sets out simple guidelines for making museums easy to reach for all ages. www.kidsinmuseums.org.uk
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Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. We have set out our strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where every one of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. We invest public money from Government and The National Lottery to help support the sector and to deliver this vision. www.artscouncil.org.uk