As Making Egypt draws to a close at Young V&A, we have been on a fascinating journey through the ancient past to modern day, exploring ancient Egypt’s creativity and how it continues to influence art, design and popular culture, in a beautiful, content-rich exhibition that put sustainability at the forefront of its design. Many thanks to all colleagues who worked so hard to bring the exhibition to life. With only two weeks to go, we are making the most of the time left to inspire our young visitors with the exhibition.
October Half Term
Upcoming this October, Young V&A is hosting a fulsome programme of half term activity centred around the theme of the exhibition. Young visitors can create a wearable piece of art inspired by Egyptian designs; step into the world of ancient Egyptian art to discover artistic techniques used by ancient Egyptian creators, or join storyteller, oral historian and author Wendy Shearer for a tale introducing the ancient Egyptian creation myths, featuring some of the well-known Egyptian gods and goddesses from the exhibition.
Design Club
Making Egypt was the inspiration for Design Club, our annual collaborative project with the V&A retail team, designers and curators. Each year, students are inspired by exhibition themes at Young V&A to create designs for a new range of products. They explore the creative process and learn how to bring a product to market through a live brief.
This year’s cohort, a group of 11–14-year-olds from Oaklands Secondary School have launched a quirky new range of colourful stickers, a bag charm, and a sketchbook for the Young V&A shop, inspired by the Making Egypt exhibition. Find out more about the process behind their co-designed product range.
Kids in Museums Family Friendly Award
On Monday 13 October, Young V&A was delighted to host the Kids in Museums National Family Friendly Awards 2025. As last years’ winners of the award, we were delighted to pass on the baton to Experience Barnsley Museum and Discovery Centre who were recipients of the Best Small Museum category, going on to win the overall Family Friendly Museum Award 2025.
It was inspiring to welcome our national peers to the museum, all advocating for an excellent family friendly experience in the museums, galleries and heritage sector. Congratulations to V&A Dundee, The Burrell Collection – Glasgow, Eureka! The National Children’s Museum and Black Cultural Archives for their triumphs and to all the incredible museums who were nominated. Launched in 2004, the Family Friendly Museum Award recognises the venues that are most welcoming, fun, and accessible for families – and is the only museum award in the UK to be judged by families..
And a concluding note on the theme of awards, as last week I presented Young V&A to an international group of peers in Barcelona as part of the ‘Best in Heritage’ 2025 conference. The invitation to speak was part of the legacy of Young V&A’s Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024 award and was a wonderful way to reflect on and celebrate Young V&A in an international context.
