Who are Ideas United?
They are a group of children from our local area. We recruit new faces for the board whenever we start something new, to make sure that we stay relevant.
Children advise us on everything, including:
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Gallery development
Whenever we design new spaces we involve children at every single stage – from initial concepts and themes, right through to the design and placement of individual exhibits.
For example, when we launched our gallery All About Me in 2013, we asked children for their ideas (they always have the best ones) as well as presenting our suggestions to them to receive VERY honest feedback – if our ideas are terrible, they’ll tell us about it! But likewise, when children see their ideas made real and being enjoyed by our other visitors, imagine just how proud they are!
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Projects
We approach specific groups of children to help us develop different projects and strands of work, to ensure that we are meeting the needs of relevant audience.
For example, when writing The Eureka! Story – a guide for visitors with sensory conditions, we worked with a group of autistic children when writing the content, and then on the look and feel of the guide itself.
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Shows and workshops
Whenever we launch a new show or workshop, or simply revise the content of existing ones, we invite groups of children in to watch the shows to give us their feedback and observe their reactions to hone the content. This way, we can ensure our shows and workshops are educational, accessible whilst being entertaining and loads of fun!