Communities
Tours
Each tour can accommodate 1 to 15 people and runs for around 60 minutes. Larger groups can also be accommodated with multiple tours. Where possible, we will book a learning studio as part of the tour. All guided tours can also be made available as an amplified tour with portable hearing devices, British Sign Language interpretation or live audio description.
Scottish Design Galleries
Exploring over 500 years of design and creativity in our permanent collection, covering everything from fashion and textiles to comics, jewellery and videogames and a visit to the incredible Charles Rennie Mackintosh Oak Room at the heart of the galleries.
Creating V&A Dundee
Exploring the inception, design, engineering and construction of V&A Dundee, a thoroughly modern museum. Taking place inside and outside (weather permitting!), the tour explores the history of the site, the hidden challenges of construction and unique design solutions that made Scotland’s design museum possible.
Discovering our temporary exhibitions
Guided tours of our temporary exhibitions are free for school groups. Led by experienced museum educators, it’s a fantastic opportunity to find out more about the exhibition. about our blockbuster shows.
Projects
Through the communities programme we also support external initiatives such as Dementia Awareness Week, Refugee Festival Scotland and Respitality, providing free breaks for unpaid carers.
We are keen to explore new ways to use the museum to support health and wellbeing in the communities we serve. If you are interested in working with us, please get in touch.
Workshops
Each workshop can accommodate up to 15 people and runs for approximately two hours, although this is often dependent on the abilities and interests of the group. There is no minimum group size. For larger groups, we can run multiple workshops back-to-back. Workshops will take place in one of our learning studios. Refreshments are included as part of the workshop.
Object Stories
A hands-on workshop for groups to explore tactile, multi-sensory objects relating to the museum’s permanent collection, the Scottish Design Galleries. The workshop uses the objects as stimulus for social interaction, each one providing opportunities for conversation, debate, discussion and reminiscence.
Lemon Juice
A practical design-process workshop aimed at groups with little or no experience of design. By analysing a familiar object, the workshop highlights creativity and individuality while showcasing the social and collaborative elements of the design process. It culminates in a rapid-prototyping activity to build and test an idea before sharing it with the rest of the group.
Greetings from Dundee: Places and Memories
Inspired by the many hand tinted images from the Valentines archive, the therapeutic workshop offers a series of creative activities stimulate discussion about Dundee’s changing cityscape and explore personal memoires of individuals’ recollections of place. It also includes a short screening of an oral history film by Rob Kennedy that was shown in the exhibition itself.
Who we work with
The Communities programme is aimed largely at adults who might experience barriers to connecting, visiting or engaging with V&A Dundee. These barriers could be cultural, social, physical or geographic.
It can be hard to articulate who the programme is for; instead, we hope that the community programme can support a broad range of audiences.
Further information
You'll find a range of access provisions available here at the museum. See below for further information on things to make your visit as enjoyable as possible.
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