What is the Campaign about?

Welsh language information

The Family Arts Campaign is a national Sector Support Organisation funded by Arts Council England to raise family engagement with arts and culture.

Since our beginnings in 2012, we have focused on three main areas of work:

  • Increasing the amount and range of artistic work available to families
  • Increasing the quality of experience for families
  • Improving marketing to reach more families

 

We are here to support National Portfolio Organisations, museums, libraries, community groups, individuals, and anyone else looking to better connect families with arts and culture.

You can take part by signing up to the free Family Arts Standards and Age-Friendly Standards quality-marks, by attending training and events, or accessing our online resources library. You can also promote all of your family and age-friendly events for free as part of our Fantastic for Families  campaign.

Who is running the Campaign?

We are a cross-sector and cross-artform initiative steered by a consortium of ten organisations and trade bodies. Our lead partner organisation is The Albany.

Association of British Orchestras Independent Theatre Council Society of London Theatre UK THEATRE_CORE_rgb_100

 

 

 


The campaign is overseen by a Project Board:

Helen Featherstone  Deputy Director, Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Cassie Chadderton Head of UK Theatre & Membership Development, UK Theatre
Charlotte Jones Chief Executive, Independent Theatre Council
Cath Hume Executive Director, Arts Marketing Association
Robert O’Dowd Chief Executive, Rose Theatre Kingston
Gavin Barlow Chief Executive/Artistic Director, The Albany
Matthew Swann Chief Executive, City of London Sinfonia
Mark Pemberton Director, Association of British Orchestras
Katy Spicer Chief Executive & Artistic Director, efdss
Anne Torreggiani Executive Director, The Audience Agency
Karla Barnacle-Best CEO, Discover Children’s Story Centre
Paula Graham-Gazzard National Coordinator, Contemporary Visual Arts Network
Helen Laws Head of Industry and Artist Support

Central co-ordination is led by a small team:

Anna Dever Head of Campaign
Clair Donnelly Project Manager

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Age Friendly Standards

Meet Me at the Albany

Meet Me at the Albany cr. Ros Chesher

The Age-Friendly Standards are a national self-assessed accreditation for cultural organisations and a recognised and trusted symbol for older audiences and family groups including older people. Organisations that sign-up to the Age-Friendly Standards value all generations and want to provide a welcoming and positive experience for visitors, regardless of their age.

The Age-Friendly Standards are designed to complement the existing Family Arts Standards which codify good practice in welcoming families. The Age-Friendly Standards provide specific guidance on welcoming older generations. Displaying the logo affirms that an organisation has considered the often more complex needs of older visitors.

Whilst many of the Age-Friendly Standards relate to general inclusive practice and strong customer service, they also acknowledge that older generations may be more likely to experience barriers to engagement than younger family members and that there is a need for organisations to implement comprehensive measures to discourage drop-off in cultural engagement in later life.

The Age-Friendly Standards do not aim to replicate or replace existing specialist guidance, particularly in the case of addressing specific conditions, such as dementia, and we have provided a reference section of Useful Links and Resources for further specialist advice.

Further information on implementation of the Standards for non-venues and touring companies can be found in the accompanying Guidance.

> Read the Age-Friendly Standards

> Read the Guidance Document

Sign up

 

 

Who has signed up so far?

To see a list of organisations meeting the Age-Friendly Standards please click here.

How were the Age-Friendly Standards developed?

These Standards were developed in consultation with older arts attenders, a range of arts and ageing experts, and a large number of arts and cultural organisations across the UK.

Thank you to the following who contributed during initial consultations:

Age UK, Kate Organ, New Vic Stoke, Sadlers Wells, Luminate Festival, Entelechy Arts, Equal Arts, Age of Creativity, participants of Meet Me at the Albany, Arts Council England.

Thanks to the arts and cultural organisations contributing to further development: Anvil Arts, Architecture Centre, Arcola Theatre, Assembly Hall Theatre, Attenborough Arts Centre, Ballet Lorrent, Barnsley Civic, Big Fish Little Fish Productions, Birmingham Museums Trust, Blackpool Grand Theatre, Bournemouth Pavilion, Bridport Arts, Bristol Music Trust, Buxton Opera House, Cast in Doncaster, Chichester Festival Theatre, Culture Coventry, Dance City, Discover Children’s Story Centre, Discovery Museum, Haslemere Educational Museum, Horniman Museum and Gardens, Ideas Test, Impressions Gallery,  Inspire Nottingham, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Leeds Discovery Centre, Lets Make Art, London Symphony Orchestra, MAC Belfast, National Glass Centre, The North Wall Arts Centre, Oldham Coliseum, Orchestras Live, Reading Rep, Regis Centre Royal Collection Trust, Royal & Derngate, Royal Northern College of Music, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Sadlers Wells, Seven Stories, St George’s Bristol, Sticky Fingers Arts, Telford & Wrekin Libraries,  Theatre by the Lake, Theatre Hullabaloo, Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham, Unicorn Theatre, Warwick Arts Centre, Wild Rumpus, Whitworth Art Gallery, Wigmore Hall.

And thanks to the wider network of arts and cultural organisations who completed the initial survey.

For further Age-Friendly training, resources, and promotional opportunities visit our Age-Friendly page.

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