The Cooper Gallery shortlisted for national award for its lockdown activities

The Cooper Gallery has been shortlisted for the Kids in Museums Family Friendly Museum Award From Home, it was announced today.

Kids in Museums has run a prestigious annual award for the past 15 years, recognising the most family friendly heritage sites in the UK. This year, the charity asked families and museums to vote for what they thought was the best online activity for families during lockdown. A panel of museum experts whittled down over 400 nominations to a shortlist of 26 museums.

The activities were linked to the exhibition ‘Wow said the Owl’ which was funded by the Arts Council England Project Grants and unable to open in the Gallery due to the pandemic.  They included high quality films around crafts, art, virtual storytelling, puppetry and dance which engaged thousands of families during a critical time in history.

The Cooper gallery is vying against four other museums in the best film category.

Cllr Tim Cheetham, Cabinet Spokesperson for Place (Regeneration and Culture) said:

Barnsley Museums offer an outstanding family programme with the aim to entertain, stimulate, educate and relax the thousands of young people who visit each year.  These activities were needed more than ever during the pandemic and they instead turned their creativity towards digital methods of engagement.  A whole host of films where created which offered hours of fun activities for families near and far and we are delighted that they have been recognised through a nomination for this prestigious award.

Over the summer holidays, family judges will try out all the activities and their feedback will decide a winner and highly commended award for each category. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October.

Follow the Family Friendly Museum Award From Home on Twitter by following @kidsinmuseums and #FamilyFriendlyMuseum.

The Family Friendly Museum Award From Home has been made possible by funding from Arts Council England.