Nominate our blog for Best Website Activity for the Kids in Museums Family Friendly Museum Award From Home: www.kidsinmuseums.org.uk

Charity Kids in Museums is inviting families and museums to share what they think is the best virtual activity created by a museum, gallery, historic house or heritage site. They are celebrating the most creative ideas keeping families occupied and entertained during lockdown.

In these past few weeks of lockdown, the learning and curatorial teams at GoMA have been busy working on the new section of our blog, At Home. This is an invitation for audiences to join us in activities, discussions and readings while we are in unprecedented times with no access to our buildings, exhibitions and rethinking what our public programme might be.

The Family Activities section is updated every week with a new project inspired by our successful Saturday Art Club. Each week you will find a different and easy art activity for the whole family to try at home.

If you would like to support us in this new endeavour, please nominate us on the Kids in Museums website: www.kidsinmuseums.org.uk

The deadline for nominations is 5pm on 30 June 2020.

An expert panel will meet in mid-July to whittle entries down to a shortlist. These activities will be reviewed by family judges. Their feedback, combined with the views of an expert panel, will decide the award winners.

Saturday Art Club at GoMA

For over 16 years, the Learning Team at GoMA have hosted the Saturday Art Club (SAC), a programme for families with children aged 3-12 to get creative and make their own artworks. SAC is held every Saturday morning, 10:30am-12:30pm and is a free, drop-in session. Each workshop consists of a different theme and technique to learn something new about our permanent collection and  temporary exhibitions using a hands-on approach.

SAC provides an accessible space where families can have a creative and enjoyable experience in a relaxed environment. Not only is it a great way for families to spend time together, but also allows children to socialise and interact with each other. We want families visiting us to know that they can have a fun learning experience in our gallery, getting messy and creative. Our SAC is very popular and many of our visitors regularly come back to spend some quality time with their children on Saturday mornings.

GoMA Goes Green

Since the beginning of 2020, we launched a new initiative part of SAC to support the global fight against climate change: GoMA Goes Green. This brought some important changes to our workshops: we are now committed, more than ever, to produce less waste and use recycled materials for our projects,  while learning about climate change in our activities. The most innovative change, however, was the introduction of our Green Passport system to reduce travel emissions. Each family local to Glasgow is given a passport (made out of recycled paper) where they can collect stamps on each visit: 2 stamps if they walked or cycled, 1 stamp if they got public transport or used an electric vehicle. Every 6 stamps collected is rewarded with a green prize, such as seeds, recycled and recyclable drawing materials, and home gardening kits. This has been very popular with families, encouraging them not only to return to SAC but also to help the planet along the way.

We will bring back the Green Passports as soon as we’re back in our building, so don’t forget to ask for yours and start collecting stamps!

Some interesting facts about SAC:

• GoMA is managed by Glasgow Life, a charity that relies on the generous donations of our visitors. As Saturday Art Club is a free workshop whereby all materials are provided, donations are vital and so appreciated. You can support us by donating at the venue or online: https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/support-us/support-glasgow-museums

• Saturday Art Club is an amazing opportunity for volunteers. We have many volunteers of different ages and backgrounds who are looking to develop skills, gain experience or just give something back to the community. We have volunteers who have been part of our team for many years, and others who have gone on to join both our front of house and learning team, or other organisations in the museum and heritage sector. You join our team of volunteers by downloading this application form and sending it to GoMABookings@Glasgowlife.org.uk 

‘Love to all the GoMA Saturday Art Club volunteers – my daughter used to go religiously every week’

• The sessions take places in our rooftop studio, which was our cafe space when we first opened in 1996. The walls are covered in a bright and colourful mural by Scottish artist Adrian Wiszniewski, a graduate from the Glasgow School of Art and one of a talented group of figurative artists who became known as the New Glasgow Boys. Many visitors are amazed by how uplifting and beautiful our studio is and it’s the perfect space for families to unleash their creativity.

What our visitors have said: 

‘We took our daughter to the kids’ art club a the @GlasgowGoMA today. The GoMA studio is such a gorgeous space with beautiful views of city centre’ 

‘Our daughter was in her element’ (referencing the Big Draw Saturday Art Club)

‘Endlessly inventive Saturday Art Club @GlasgowGoMA this morning- drawing imagined artist’s studio using charcoal’ 

‘Great fun’ 

‘Lovely flag-making workshop!’