£2 million funding milestone reached
V&A Dundee has reached the huge milestone of £2 million of funding, thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
Scotland’s design museum has been supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery for eight years, enabling crucial community outreach and engagement work before the museum opened, as well as supporting its Communities and Families programmes since opening in 2018.
Projects that have recently been made possible by the funding include the free Design Busters phoneline and activity book to support families with creative activities during lockdown, virtual tours with organisations including Alzheimer Scotland, a partnership with Barchester care homes across the UK, as well as the current major exhibition Night Fever: Designing Club Culture which runs until 9 January 2022.
Before opening V&A Dundee the support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery made possible activities which engaged over 100,000 people, including the Design in Motion travelling exhibition which visited 84 locations across Scotland and ended outside the V&A in London.
Leonie Bell, Director of V&A Dundee, said: “The support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery has been incredibly generous to V&A Dundee over the last eight years. It has allowed us to develop long-lasting and meaningful Communities and Families programmes that bring the joy of design to many thousands of people.
“Events such as our Sensory Friendly Days give visitors with a range of complex needs the opportunity to experience the museum in a totally different way, inspiring people to engage with design and enjoy what might otherwise be a challenging environment for them. This simply wouldn’t be possible without this support.”
Laura Chow, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “It’s incredible to reach this funding milestone with V&A Dundee, and it wouldn’t have been possible without our players. We believe that access to museums and the arts should be available to all members of the community, and V&A Dundee is a great example of this in action.”
The support of players of People’s Postcode Lottery supported V&A Dundee to reopen in 2021 with the major exhibition Night Fever: Designing Club Culture and run Sensory Friendly Days to provide a safe, relaxing environment for people with sensory needs, including autism spectrum conditions, sensory processing differences, or profound and multiple learning disabilities. These events were provided free of charge.
Visitors to the Sensory Friendly Days could also make use of materials tailored to a range of needs, from ear defenders to new sensory backpacks, co-developed by V&A Dundee and PAMIS. Through discussion with users and expert advice from PAMIS, the backpacks were carefully created to enable people with profound and multiple learning disabilities to better connect with and enjoy the exhibition.
The support of players has also enabled young parents in Dundee to gain SQA-approved qualifications in partnership with local charity Front Lounge. The Kindred Clothing course takes learners through the key stages of the garment production process, while teaching practical fashion photography skills and techniques to present themselves, their stories and their clothes.
