First Minister meets families at V&A Dundee

18th June 2019

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visited V&A Dundee this week to celebrate over 10,000 people taking part in free family workshops since the museum opened.

The First Minister also met with Home-Start Dundee, a local charity which supports families with young children through a range of issues including post-natal depression, isolation, physical health problems and bereavement. Before opening V&A Dundee worked with Home-Start Dundee to design the museum's activities for families.

Scotland's first design museum is free to enter, with a wide range of activities for people of all ages - from pre-school children, to schools, families, adults and creative professionals.

Since opening on 15 September 2018 the museum has recorded 11,552 people taking part in special family workshops led by a freelance team of artists, designers and educators. These sessions take their inspiration from the museum, its galleries and exhibitions, providing materials and professional support during each workshop.

V&A Dundee has also been nominated for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2019, the most prestigious museum prize in the world. The winner is announced on Wednesday 3 July.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "Since opening, V&A Dundee has exceeded visitor number expectations, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors to Dundee and putting the city on the world stage. Its nomination for Art Fund Museum of the Year is testament to its success.

"One of the visions of the architect was for the museum to be a ‘living room for the city’ so it’s wonderful that the free family workshops have proved so popular, helping people of all ages develop their own creativity."

Philip Long, Director of V&A Dundee, said: “V&A Dundee was designed to be a museum to welcome everyone, and our families programme has been a huge success.

“It is so important that people of all ages have high-quality, free opportunities to explore their own creativity, and to take inspiration from the galleries and exhibitions at V&A Dundee.

“We are all looking forward to welcoming many more people to our free activities during the summer holidays, and to enjoy our major exhibition Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt."

Laura Chow, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “It’s important that everyone, regardless of age, is able to express their creative streak, so I’m delighted that support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery is helping to run free family workshops at V&A Dundee.”

The Scottish Government is the biggest supporter of V&A Dundee, contributing £38 million to its construction as well as annual funding since before the museum opened.

The V&A Dundee families programme is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, through Postcode Culture Trust, with £1.55 million going towards museum activities since 2014.

Regular family events at the museum include Sunday afternoon Drop In + Design workshops for all ages, interactive workshops for under-fives every Monday, as well as specially designed workshops during each school holiday inspired by the museum’s exhibitions and galleries.

This summer will see Studio DISRUPT! run every day from 13 July to 11 August, giving families the chance to design and create videogame characters and stories, then bring them to life using green screen technology.

Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt, the current major exhibition at V&A Dundee, is on until 8 September 2019.