Taking over our CEO’s Twitter
Over the summer, the Museum Collective youth group took part in Digital #TakeoverDay, an initiative by Kids in Museums to encourage museums, heritage and arts sites to invite young people to take over jobs normally done by adults.
This year’s Digital Takeover Day had the theme of wellbeing, something that is particularly pertinent for young people after the last couple of years.
The collective were invited to take over the personal Twitter account of our Chief Executive Officer, Hedley Swain, for the day and they jumped at the chance to have their voices heard.
They planned how to visit all five sites within Brighton & Hove Museums, linking wellbeing to their tweets. They also had other topics they wanted to include — environmental concerns, the cost-of-living crisis and accessibility.
They achieved their challenge and tweeted from each site that day, using humour, creativity and empathy to express their views.
Charlie said ‘My favourite part of our Digital Takeover Day was travelling around all five of the Brighton & Hove Museums sites – although it was a bit hectic and tiring. I have done a lot of things as part of the Museum Collective over the years, but this was definitely the most I’d done in one day.
We assigned each site with one of the five ways of wellbeing and used this as a starting point for our discussions both on and offline. I particularly enjoyed taking some time to notice the sights and sounds in the walled gardens at Preston Manor. It gave us a moment of calm on our adventure, and served as a reminder to take some time for yourself no matter how busy you are.’
Eliph noted, ‘It was really fun looking around for new things; a chance to look at the sites in a slightly different way, which was interesting. I feel like I learnt things, like I appreciate the sites more.
It was good to work together in a small group as we had different ideas, it was fun. I enjoyed learning about what was important to other members of the group. It was interesting seeing Jacob’s family photo at the Pavilion and seeing where it was.
It was a really good opportunity to tell other people what is important to us – taking notice of nature around us and the environmental concerns of young people. We started to notice the gardens more. It was a chance to touch on some of these things and see that everything fed into wellbeing.’
Jacob continued, ‘I use drawing and photography as a way of relaxing and dealing with my wellbeing and anxiety, so I thought it was important to express that for Takeover Day. I used a Box Brownie camera, it’s very basic to use, as the camera is from 1932. I drew pictures of the Pavilion, Preston Manor, and took photos of Preston Manor too. I also liked the hidden painting in the Pavilion of the old employee, it’s been painted over with his face.
I really enjoyed going round the Booth Museum too, as it is quite a childhood place for me, having been there a lot when I was young. It was nice being there when it was quiet and the smell takes me back.’
The Museum Collective
The Museum Collective is a small group of people aged 14-25 who meet regularly at Brighton Museums – we usually meet once a month on a Wednesday evening. The group takes part in a number of different things, including meeting staff, behind the scenes tours, creative projects and it acts as a consultation group for the organisation.
If you’d like to join the Museum Collective please contact Hazel Welch / Sarah Pain for more information on hazel.welch@rpmt.org.uk