I was lucky enough to be chosen to represent the Amgueddfa Cymru Producers (ACPs) from National Museum Wales at the Youth Summit in Bedfordshire, to celebrate and discuss all that has been achieved across the UK over the last four years, as part of the Kick the Dust initiative.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Kick the Dust initiative was launched in 2016, aiming to make heritage relevant to the lives of young people aged 11-25. Sums of money were distributed to different organisations across the country, in order for them to fund various activities for young people, surrounding the theme of heritage.
Projects involved in the funding:
- Don’t Settle – BeatFreeks
- Reimagine, Remake, Replay – The Nerve Centre
- Our Shared Cultural Heritage – British Council
- Keeping it Wild – London Wildlife Trust
- Ignite Yorkshire – We Are IVE
- Scotland 365 – National Museums Scotland
- Hope Streets – Curious Minds
- Future Proof Parks – Groundwork UK
- Y Heritage – Leicester YMCA
- Hands on Heritage – National Museum Wales
Background on Hands on Heritage, National Museum Wales:
Working alongside National Museum Wales, Hands on Heritage is the initiative I have been involved with. The project has aimed to connect young people with history, giving us the opportunity to handle and conserve some of the museums’ objects and curate displays, as well as getting involved in marketing and digital activity. The two projects I have been most involved with as an ACP are the BBC100 in Wales exhibition and the Demystifying Acquisitions project.
Internal projects funded through the Hands on Heritage initiative:
- BBC100 in Wales
- Demystifying Acquisitions
- Trawnsnewid
- Young Carers
- Reframing Picton
- The Future has a Past
- Future is Funghi
- Lamb-cam
- LGBTQIA+ tours
- Pitch Black Lates Event
BBC100 in Wales
The BBC100 in Wales exhibition has involved a group of ACPs working collaboratively and focusing on the news broadcasting desk section and the future of the BBC sections within the wider exhibition. We are raising a critical eye to the BBC and its pledge of due impartiality through critical case studies and by highlighting BBC coverage on Tiger Bay, Cardiff. We are taking a journey to the past by looking at the history of BBC broadcasting in Wales and focusing on several iconic news headlines, and travelling to the future by raising the questions to the public on where the BBC needs to develop in the years to come. The exhibition is set to open at the end of 2022.
Demystifying Acquisitions
Demystifying Acquisitions has been my favourite project I have worked on with the museum, as it links so closely to my personal interest in the curation of Art. Through this project we have been learning about the roles of a curator, gaining insight and experience into the acquisitions process. We came to the decision as ACPs to acquire Chris Offili’s 10 etchings from North Wales, to be displayed in the exhibition in a room to be fully curated by young people. As ACPs we have freedom in the decisions of what to acquire and how to curate the space. Particularly exciting, we are focusing towards displaying the work of emerging artists in Wales, to provide often hard to come by exposure for emerging talent. The process has been documented by one of the ACPs as well as in a one-off film with Sky Arts.
Anyway, back to the summit!
Youth Summit Day 1:
After a delicious breakfast at The Swan Hotel in Bedford, I took the 30-minute coach ride to Wrest Park, the stunning location hosting the summit. On arrival, I enjoyed the first of many, many pastries over the course of the 2-day event. Welcoming and introductions from Shout Out Loud English Heritage, who were running and organising the event started the day off. A creative writing workshop with Antosh Wojcik, lead writer and facilitator of Artful Scribe, ignited an interest in poetry within me that I didn’t know I had. I wrote about my microclimate, what I could see out of the window, and a rather questionable haiku! After the workshop I filled up an already full belly on an amazing buffet, and explored the vast and stunning grounds of Wrest Park.
The afternoon began with part 1 of the Pechakucha presentations of projects involved in the Kick the Dust initiative. This could only be described as chaotic, and which we would experience for ourselves on day 2 of the summit. The last activity of day 1 was canapé questions, an opportunity to informally chat to everyone at the summit This was designed for young people who wanted to join the arts and heritage sector, to talk to those already in it. Waitresses came around with “canapés” (question cards) to ignite stimulating conversations. Before I knew it day 1 had ended, and I was on the coach back to the hotel. My evening in Bedford consisted of me making the most of the last of the day’s sun by eating a Wagamamas on the bank of the River Great Ouse with Annie and Cerian.
Youth Summit Day 2:
I was welcomed back on day 2 of the summit the right way, with a coffee and a cinnamon swirl! The first event of the day was a 2-part panel discussion with the young producers and youth placements of Shout Out Loud. This was a chance to hear and to ask them about their experiences with English Heritage. Following this was a film screening and panel discussion of Photoworks England’s New Lenses: Artist Voices. We had the chance to hear from Kemka Ajoku and Mia Parker-Tang about their photography projects through Photoworks, inspired by heritage of people and their landscapes. This was an incredibly interesting and thought-provoking talk that I really could have spent all day listening to. Photography is an area I have rarely explored and so there is a level of mystery and intrigue for myself, as well as a great level of admiration.
In the afternoon we took a tour of Wrest Park’s interiors, as so much already had been focused on the undeniably beautiful grounds of the property. This was an opportunity to see and hear about new acquisitions to the property, and to discuss what the future of this house should be. A large focus of the discussions was on the problematic history of several of the portraits within the collection, with their depictions of individuals tied to the slave trade. Understandably there is large debate surrounding how these artworks should be displayed. As I write, they are hung in the property with no plaque to comment on the subjects’ actions. This reminded me a lot of the Reframing Picton project that National Museum Wales has been collaborating on with ACPs, and it was suggested that Wrest Park look to the work we have achieved to “de-throne” these problematic individuals and shed light on their hand in the darkest parts of history.
Photography and Wayfinding
Photography and way finding, an hour-long workshop to explore photography as a form of wayfinding. On a walk around Wrest Park, we used photography-based processes and the interventions and improvisations we created along the way to help capture a sense of place and time. This workshop gave me, a complete novice, the opportunity to play and experiment with photography to navigate through my landscape. I managed to produce some interesting images that broke my perceived boundaries of what the landscape is. Although not on the same level as Kemka Ajoku and Mia Parker-Tang’s photography, I was nonetheless pleased with my final results!
It was time for round 2 of the Pechakucha presentations, and our turn to present. No amount of practice could have prepared us for the speed and ferocity in which you must talk. I think it is fair to say the style of 20 slides 20 seconds each, was not the style for us, as we had far too much to talk about in what the museum had achieved. Despite our bumbling and messy performance, our presentation went down incredibly well, and we received the most amount of applause of any of the presenting organisations. Afterwards we were inundated with complements of how entertaining our presentation was and how we really captured the energy of Pechakucha presenting, much to our surprise!
With that the Youth Summit came to a close, and it was time to catch the train back to Cardiff.
Reflections
I thoroughly enjoyed this once in a lifetime experience. I was so well looked after the entire time, and it was so inspiring to hear from all the other projects involved in the Kick the Dust initiative. It became clear pretty soon into the summit that National Museum Wales are steps ahead in the development of youth engagement, and how lucky we are as ACPs of NMC that our opinions are valued and that we are paid for our contributions, as nearly if not all of the other projects were not. This highlighted to me that the heritage sector has a long way to go in youth engagement and that several changes need to be made to increase engagement with young people. Many don’t have the luxury of time to volunteer with heritage, and institutions need to recognise this, especially in recent climates with the heightened cost of living. It also demonstrated to me how National Lottery Funding schemes such as Kick the Dust are vital for youth engagement with heritage and in broader sectors. I wish there had been more time to hear from other projects involved in the funding instead of as much from Shout Out Loud, as it became increasingly clear that the Pechakucha format didn’t work for this event. Most of all this summit has really re-ignited my passion for the arts and heritage sector, and was a fantastic networking opportunity. I really enjoyed getting to know Cerian and Annie better. It was an unexpected bonding trip which has made me even more excited to continue my work with the ACPs. I want to say a massive thank you to National Museum Wales and to Kick the Dust for such a wonderful experience both personally and professionally, and for the lasting memories!
Evie Banks 