Museum additions will see digital tour and room redesign
The legacy of Lancashire's 'Hope Streets' youth programme has manifested in two new learning experiences which will enhance the experience of visitors to some of Lancashire's museums.
The Hope Streets East Lancashire and Lancaster Producers are hosting events in the coming weeks to offer a new vision of some of the county's best heritage sites.
On Saturday, 25 March, Hope Streets East Lancashire Producers will take over Queen Street Mill in Burnley to present 'A Brief Look Back', a digital tour which follows the story of Mary, a new weaver, on her first week at work in the mill. Audiences will meet different characters on her journey and discover what life was like for mill workers in the Edwardian period.
On Saturday, 1 April, discover the re-imagined picnic room at Judges' Lodgings, by Hope Streets Lancaster Producers. The room re-design was imagined, created and DIY'd by the Young Producers themselves to make a welcoming space for people of all ages. Join the Young Producers in a hands-on drop-in workshop lead by a local young artist Hannah Robinson and get the chance to put your mark on the final piece of artwork for the room.
Hope Streets is a 5-year National Lottery Heritage Funded project that aims to make institutional change to the way that heritage sites work with and for young people. The resulting fixtures will be permanent additions to the visiting experience.
The scheme has worked to connect young people to sites and their local heritage through a series of workshops, trips, event planning activities and artist-led sessions.
In 2020/21 the group worked with various industry professionals and artists to create a film about sense of place, and life under lockdown for young people. In 2022, the Hope Streets Young Tour Guides created a reimagined tour of Gawthorpe Hall which brought in elements of puzzle-solving and gamification to make tours more engaging.
David Brookhouse, Heritage Learning Manager at Lancashire County Council, who has seen the project through since the beginning, said: "It is amazing to see the creativity and energy of the young people involved in these projects.
"Our thanks to everyone who has put in the hours to present these experiences to the public and our partners Curious Minds and the National Lottery Heritage Fund."
The Queen Street Mill event is free and will run from 1pm to 4pm on Saturday, 25 March (Last entry 3pm), while Lancaster's Judges' Lodgings event will run on Saturday, 1 April from 1pm until 3.30pm with standard museum entry charges only.
Notes to editors
Journalists are invited along to the two launch events, which are a culmination of months of project work by the Hope Streets teams. Project leads are also available to speak to the press.