Black Cultural Archives shortlisted for national Family Friendly Museum Award

Black Cultural Archives has been shortlisted for the Kids in Museums Family Friendly Museum Award, it was announced today.

Charity Kids in Museums has run a prestigious annual award since 2004, recognising the most family friendly heritage sites in the UK. From February to late April, families and museums across the UK could vote for their favourite heritage attraction on the Kids in Museums website. A panel of museum experts, children and young people then whittled down hundreds of nominations to a shortlist of 18 heritage attractions.

This year, a new category, Best Museum Youth Project: Social Justice, was introduced. In a recent survey about what young people think about museums, 88% said they felt it was important for them to address social justice issues. Young people want museums to tell stories that are relevant to them, give them space to think about big questions and understand their place in the world. This new award category is dedicated to museums that have given young people meaningful opportunities to explore social justice issues. It was open to museum applications only and will be judged by an expert panel, including young people.

Black Cultural Archives is vying against two other museums in the Best Museum Youth Project: Social Justice category.

“We are deeply honoured that the BCA Youth Programme’s project celebrating Black LGBTQ+ histories has been shortlisted by Kids in Museums for the Best Museum Youth Project: Social Justice Award. This recognition reflects the transformative power of centring young people in conversations about Black British History, identity and justice. At BCA, we believe museums and heritage centres to be spaces for activism and belonging. Thank you to our incredible young collaborators, partners Lambeth Links and Brixton Umbrella Circle, and the Kids in Museums team for amplifying this work,” said Hannah Shury-Smith, Learning and Engagement Officer.

Over the summer, the team at Black Cultural Archives will present their work to an expert panel. The panel will decide the winners to be announced at an awards ceremony in October.

Meanwhile the museums shortlisted in the other award categories will be visited by undercover family judges. Their experiences will decide a winner for each award category and an overall winner of the Family Friendly Museum Award 2025.

Follow the Family Friendly Museum Award on social media by following @kidsinmuseums and #FamilyFriendlyMuseum.

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

About Kids in Museums

We are an award-winning 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

Find us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and BlueSky. 

About the Family Friendly Museum Award

Kids in Museums began the Family Friendly Museum Award in 2004 to recognise heritage sites that are the most welcoming, fun and accessible for families. 

Previous winners of the Family Friendly Museum Award include Young V&A (2024), Craven Museum (2023), the National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield (2022), Bailiffgate Museum & Gallery in Alnwick (2021) and Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum in Dunfermline (2019). 

The full list of museums shortlisted for the Family Friendly Museum Award 2025 is: 

Best Accessible Museum

·       The Beaney, Canterbury

·       Eureka! The National Children's Museum, Halifax

·       Worsbrough Mill Museum and Country Park, Barnsley

Best Small Museum

·       Abbey House Museum, Leeds

·       Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea

·       Experience Barnsley Museum and Discovery Centre, Barnsley

·       North Lincolnshire Museum, Scunthorpe

·       Showtown Blackpool

Best Medium Museum

·       The Amelia Scott, Tunbridge Wells

·       Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle upon Tyne

·       National Waterfront Museum, Swansea

·       V&A Dundee

Best Large Museum

·       The Burrell Collection, Glasgow

·       Horniman Museum and Gardens, London

·       London Transport Museum, London

Best Museum Youth Project: Social Justice

·       Black Cultural Archives, London

·       Glasgow Life Museums

·       Wiltshire Museum

About Arts Council England

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 everyone of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. From 2024 to 2026 we will invest over £440 million of public money from Government and an estimated £93 million from The National Lottery each year to help support the sector and to deliver this vision. www.artscouncil.org.uk.