Young Futures

Rania Nur (00:35):
The Museum of the Home is a museum that explores what home means to us in a variety of different ways.

Kitty Cooke (00:42):
We exist to reveal and rethink the ways we live in order to live better together.

Christine Chang Hanway (00:47):
The Museum of the Home is a very, very special place. I don’t think there’s another museum of the home in the world.

Alain Clapham (00:54):
I think people need to realise this life shouldn’t be taken for granted. There are people who’ve come before us, and there are people who come after us, and the museum focuses on those stories.

Kitty Cooke (01:04):
What we’re really trying to do and to change is to actually show homes that you or your Nan might have lived in.

Christine Chang Hanway (01:12):
And it uses its collections in a very imaginative way to get our communities to think about issues about homes and homelessness or what makes a home.

Alain Clapham (01:25):
And I love the idea that the museum is a mirror to society, British society, all that’s been good and all that’s been questionable and challenging.

Christine Chang Hanway (01:42):
My name is Christine Chang Hanway. I am a trustee here at the Museum of the Home, and my role in Young Futures is that I founded it with a few committee members. As a trustee and a mother and a mentor, the most important thing to me about Young Futures is that it’s a community of young people working together to create a legacy for future generations.

Kitty Cooke (02:16):
We came to collaborate with Young Futures through Christine, one of our wonderful trustees. Now, she saw that there was a problem in that we wanted to offer more paid work experience for young people in the museum. It’s a massive problem in the sector, but particularly it’s telling those diverse stories of home that everybody can relate to. It’s really important that the people who are making those decisions actually reflect modern London or ordinary people.

Alain Clapham (02:47):
What excites about Young Futures is literally in the name. It is young people taking charge of their futures. Quite often the media and society at large look at young people as vulnerable and perhaps lacking in direction. I don’t believe in that at all. It couldn’t be further from the truth. And what Young Futures does is demonstrate that young people are active citizens, that they’re passionate about their future, and they take ownership. They show up, and they make a difference both in their presence and their ability to raise money for institutions such as the Museum of the Home. I think it’s a really powerful leadership programme, and it was very exciting to be asked to be part of it. And I really admire Christine’s drive to bring it to life.

Colm Hanway (03:27):
Homogeneity of voice is one of the most pressing issues that’s facing the cultural and heritage space. And I think this problem is only becoming more exasperated as increasing budget pressures come up against the government and also our donors. So those internships and those entry level roles are the first cost-cutting measures which are made, and then therefore it precipitates the problem and it becomes a negative cyclical loop because the only people who can enter these spaces are people who can afford to work for free. And so Young Futures and organisations like us, we can play a really critical role in breaking that loop and actually providing people with the opportunity to take that first step in their career.

Rania Nur (04:11):
I have benefited from being able to get involved, particularly with this museum, the Museum of the Hom,e at a really young age. So I started volunteering at the Museum of the Home when I was in university and actually did a paid internship experience over the summer. I think it was 2019. So I feel like it gave me benefits that I want other young people in the community, in the area, to be able to gain from the museum. So what Young Futures means to me is opening that opportunity as far as we can to as many people as we can.

Christine Chang Hanway (04:46):
In the two years that we’ve been going, we’ve had some really fun and incredible events where we raised money for these paid work experiences. We’ve had a pub quiz, we’ve had chats with museum curators, tours with museum curators, and we’ve had some very, very moving poetry readings.

Young Poet (05:06):
Here I am and I’m performing in front of loads of people, and I never actually thought that I would do that a year before at 15. These are the spaces that we need to see more of. There is so much going on out there, but when you come into a space like this, you feel like you can actually make a difference and that’s what’s important.

Alain Clapham (05:26):
I felt the pitch part was really interesting. A lot of my work is around facilitation and I call it transformative storytelling. So to utilise those professional skills at the museum was fun. And to look at these young people who perhaps haven’t had that big pitch moment at work yet, they’re still learning the ropes, but to teach them the art of persuasion, how to be clear about your asks, exciting, challenging, but they rose to the challenge.

Colm Hanway (05:53):
So the auction was a fantastic event, which we hosted right here in museum, and it was in collaboration with lots of local artists and local businesses. So my father is an architect and he did this beautiful drawing as he always does, and he, out of the goodness of his heart, auctioned it up.

(06:10):
Watercolour of your home by my very own father, Bill Hanway, has gone to number 54.

(06:20):
My mum’s part of the committee, my older brother’s part of the committee. And to have my dad be able to donate a gift and something he worked really hard on and was really proud of to the museum, just meant so much to me. And this museum is an extension of my family now.

Rania Nur (06:36):
We’re very excited that in the past few months and in the past year, people and especially people who’ve come out to the events and have got to know us that way, have joined the committee and become more involved. And we’re hoping that even more people, young people get involved, come on the committee, help us continue to raise funds and make change in other ways.

Kitty Cooke (07:00):
It’s really been a group effort and so many people across all the different teams in the museum have taken part, and I hope they’ve enjoyed it as well. I have. It’s been brilliant.

Christine Chang Hanway (07:11):
I just wanted to thank everybody from the museum and the committee. You know who you are. You’ve all worked really, really hard and this legacy is yours. Thank you. That’s it.