Ipswich Museums Young Associates – Meet the team!

Hi, my name is Sam, and I am a member of the Ipswich Museum Young Associates (IMYA) and have been since early 2025 after I first heard about the group whilst volunteering for the Colchester and Ipswich Museums organisation. It is an excellent initiative led by Jade Anderson, and it has provided me with both an invaluable insight into the heritage sector as well as the opportunity to help make museums more appealing to a younger audience.

Some of the most memorable sessions the IMYA has hosted have been the talks given by members of staff of Ipswich Museum, which at time of writing is undergoing redevelopment. The first of these was given by the exhibitions and display team at Christchurch Mansion, wherein they talked about their time creating temporary exhibitions that went on to win prestigious awards.

During this talk, they highlighted how small elements like lighting, colour palettes, etc. can massively impact the environmental feel of a gallery; and they also brought up how they have preserved these exhibits for posterity by uploading scans of these exhibitions to virtual 3D spaces hosted by websites like Matterport Virtual Tours (something which I never considered).

Then there were the talks given by Ipswich Museum’s curators about the new galleries they are working on. These not only, as I have already said, given me an interesting insight into the behind-the-scenes processes of museum redevelopment but also the themes and ideas these curators seek to explore and display in their works.

Finally, there was the talk given by a member of the Historic Towns Trust about their work on historical maps; their group aims to remind townspeople of their urban history and to encourage them to take pride in it.

The group has also made some progress towards realising its end goal of creating events designed to entice young people to come to museums. This programme has been worked on by local youths for local young people, and a few ideas have been brainstormed and put forward, from Christchurch Mansion hosting a tabletop gaming night to talks by local historical experts and artists.

These events would be advertised through social media and by reaching out to local youth organisations. These sessions have taught the IMYA’s members important lessons in planning, realising and executing their ideas as well as made us more appreciative of the amount of effort that goes into making such initiatives possible.

Overall, my time with the organisation has made me more appreciative of the immense amounts of work that goes into running museums and maintaining groups such as the IMYA, as well as shown me what other young people would like to see more of in museums. I have and will always encourage people to support local initiatives such as the IMYA. It has been an interesting time being part of this group and look forward to what the future has in store for it.