For generations we have been telling children to “stop playing around”. And in museums it’s even worse. Don’t touch that. No running. No talking.
Well, at the V&A’s Museum of Childhood we are calling time on the killjoys with plans for a major new redevelopment. The more we discover how children’s brains develop and the importance of the early years, the more we must we encourage the power of play. Dressing up, imagination, role-playing and making — these are the habits we need to encourage among London’s latest generation.
At the Museum of Childhood we have the advantage of one of the world’s greatest collections of toys and puppets, Star Wars figures and train sets to spark the imagination. Whether it’s Rachel Whiteread’s dollhouses or our upcoming exhibition on pirates, our objects inspire wonder in children’s minds. When so many kids are hooked on iPads and iPhones, the museum can prise young eyes away from the screen.
At the moment too many of our pieces are hidden in storage or locked up in Victorian cabinets so we want a “Toy Story” breakout to open up our Bethnal Green treasure trove. Our hope is to transform a much-loved but old-fashioned repository into a dynamic space full of coding clubs, creative communities, local artists and community-focused enterprises. We are going back to the V&A’s founding mission of using our collections to inspire designers, artists and engineers.
Because it is a Museum of Childhood we are putting young people’s plans at the heart of it. Local primary school children have been telling our architects what they want. Above all, it is a safe and trusted space in which they can experiment, play and pretend.
For despite all the gentrification of Shoreditch and Hoxton, child poverty in Tower Hamlets remains high. Schools and families do their best but with pressures on time and money the children of Bethnal Green and Whitechapel deserve more support in building their creative capacity. With art, design and music under pressure in the school curriculum, this is more important than ever.
I also think some of the new businesses in Tech City and Old Street could think more about their civic responsibility as well as the need to nurture potential talent. The only way we will secure young peoples’ futures against the rise of the robot is to encourage creativity.
The V&A first partnered with east London in 1872. The buildings which house the Museum of Childhood came from the 1851 Great Exhibition. Our Bethnal Green palace is a site of deep historic significance which now needs to work harder for the future.
Alongside all those exams and timetables, Kumon and cramming, we should never forget the importance of imagination and fun. The future of the Museum of Childhood is all about “playing around”.
- Tristram Hunt is director of the V&A.
