During her visit, The Duchess received a briefing on the history of the Foundling Hospital and how at the Museum we continue to engage vulnerable and marginalised young people through our learning programme. Her Royal Highness met families and children who have benefited from our education and outreach programmes, including pre-school children from Thomas Coram Nursery who regularly visit the Museum, and young care leavers who are being trained to run their own creative workshops as part of our ground-breaking new project, Tracing Our Tales.
Our learning programme aims to bring the Foundling Hospital story to life in ways that are meaningful for young people, to help them see the world differently and to imagine new possibilities. All our programmes are created and delivered by practising artists from many creative disciplines, reflecting the involvement of not only painters, sculptors and musicians in the Hospital’s history, but also writers, performers and craftspeople.
Whilst our programme caters for audiences of all ages, we place particular emphasis on enabling creative individuals to work alongside disadvantaged young people. Our projects run for months or even years, as this enables us to build trust, embed best practice, and have a lasting and positive effect on participants’ lives. Our work gives young people new skills, an understanding of history, and a space in which to make their voices heard. Whether it’s local infants attending exhibition-themed workshops, children on Great Ormond Street Hospital’s transplant wards learning to make animated films, or young care-experienced adults being trained to devise and run workshops at the Museum, we strive to make a difference.