From the pioneers of the first Pride in 1970s, to Queer voices in the illusive Bhangra scene of the 1990s. Through a vast public open submission programme ‘Grown Up in Britain’ supported by specially appointed ‘Outreach Champions’, the project has proudly received over 2500 publicly submitted photographs, 6500 new photographic scans, 67 hours of Oral Histories, launched a podcast series, YouTube videos, and fully researched music mixes with support of 83 volunteers contributing over 5000 hours and learning archival skills in transcribing and metadata renovation. Supporting this incredible undertaking of new content, and in spite of COVID-19, the Museum of Youth Culture has conducted 3 major physical & online exhibitions, 5 public online symposiums, scanning socials, a volunteer training programme, and undergone a full re-cataloguing of it’s digital and physical collections geared towards inclusivity, hosted digitally on a new freely accessible archival platform, a new storytelling Museum website and backed up by collaborations with the Institute of Historical Research (IHR), Homeless Youth Charity ‘Accumulate’, Fred Perry, Google Arts & Culture and Printworks.

The project saw vast improvements in public engagement, with a 121% increase in online activity, a press reach of over 2.5 million people, and a newly developed framework for tackling the future challenges of a modern museum, vitally setting the tone for a radical new Museum of Youth Culture dedicated to the specialist treatment and conservation of youth culture heritage for years to come.

Project Partners