Young people, aged 15 to 25, were for long the untouchables of museums audiences. Museum’s skepticism towards youth audiences grounds itself in the preconceived ideas about the challenges of working with this age group, lack of staff training, and resources. The answer to why turned to youth and shifted from the margins to the center of their practices, is not linear. Yet, a deeper awareness and concern with the visibility of their education mission, allied with the visitor-centred ethos that emerged in the last decades of the twentieth century, contributed to the growing investment of museums in their younger audiences. Historically, it is possible to highlight two main moments in the expansion of the art museums-youth relations: the mid-1990s and the mid 2000s. The former saw the launch of the first long-term programs outside of formal education for youth in the U.S. and the U.K which, despite all changes still exist today. The latter represents the establishment of these initiatives as a core part of museums educational provision for young people, especially in contemporary art museums across North America and Europe. Looking into the Portuguese context, the work being done with youth beyond school provision is at an early stage, although there is a strong interest from younger audiences to be actively involved in museums, which stresses the need to develop and research programs for this age group.
The main objective of the project YouthInMuseums was to research the educational provision and professional training available for youth in contemporary art museums, with an emphasis on Portuguese institutions, and how can these programs enhance young people’s sense of agency and career opportunities in the creative sector. Considering the emergent turn in contemporary art museums across Europe towards programs that offer young people professional training, the research project YouthInMuseum aimed to further analyze the potential of a tier-based structure when engaging with this age group, as this gives participants distinct access points into the life of museums, as well as new possibilities for their personal, social and or professional growth outside formal education. Overall, it aimed to: 1) further embed young people’s voices in Portuguese cultural institutions, and 2) expand their professional routes in the creative sector. Part A. Mapping of the research plan aimed to describe the youth programs of a selected group of museums, what they do with and for young people – goals, strategies and evaluation, and what were the key social, cultural and organizational factors that have influenced their engagement with this age group. Focusing on the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology in Lisbon, Part B. Co-Development of the research plan aimed to further expand and embed their youth program in the local ecology – young people, community organizations and peer institutions, as well as internally. Part C. Creative Careers of the research plan aimed to map the turn to professional training for youth in contemporary art museums. Focusing on the analysis of MAAT’s internship program the main objective was to develop strategies for recruitment and training to further engage local young people, mainly from underrepresented groups.
The project was planned before the COVID-19 pandemic and it started in September 2020, when most museums were still operating under very restricted conditions. The contingency plan implemented by the researcher incorporated the issues raised by the pandemic in order to further understand how due to their specificity, namely being long-term and youth-led, youth programs in contemporary art museums were in a unique position to respond to the challenges imposed by lockdown. The goal of this new strand of research was to analyse the collaborative methodologies tested when working online with youth during lockdown. Despite the idea that young people are fluent in digital activity, the abrupt turn to the digital realm, imposed by the pandemic, made visible equity issues around technology and opened new questions around digital safe spaces, well-being, and ethics.
