The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, an ASEMUS member, has recently launched a call inviting children aged 8-12 to join the Boijmans Children's Advisory Board. The Board was first established in 2016 and is renovated every year.

Why a Children's Advisory Board?

For a period of at least four years, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen has created a Children’s Advisory Board that will contribute to discussion about the museum’s policy, programming and identity. As part of its ambition to increase its young audience and in a period in which the construction of the Depot will bring about great changes, the museum is giving a voice to an important section of Rotterdam’s population: primary-school children. Market research shows that the ‘average museum visitor’ is a middle-aged, university-educated art lover. The museum has set itself the ambition of increasing the number of kids who visit the museum to 20 per cent of the total by 2020. That can’t happen without actively involving this target group in the policy around creating a child-friendly museum. The creation of the Children’s Advisory Board is part of this plan.

How does it work?

The Children’s Advisory Board comes together at least once a month for a meeting. Items on the agenda include the activities of the Boijmans Club, which has 2500 kids as members. The members of the Children’s Advisory Board also play a role in the activities programme: they take part in openings, give guided tours or think up special workshops. Children know best what other children like to do. The members of the Children’s Advisory Board also think about the museum’s general policy. They talk with the director, the curators and other policy-makers, thus helping to create a better museum. Workshops and special training sessions help them to express their visions. During a single year, each board member will experience all aspects of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and get to known the world of art and culture from the inside. In the past school year, the second Children's Advisory Board drew a mission and vision for the museum.

Further information

The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen has published a call (in Dutch) to invite children aged 8-12 to apply to become members of the Children's Advisory Board. The call closes on 23 September and will be followed by a round of interviews with applicants. For additional information about the Boijmans Children's Advisory Board, please visit https://www.boijmans.nl/en/boijmans-children-s-advisory