We are the Cottier Creatives, year 5 students from Ballacottier Primary School. On Friday 22 November we took over the Manx Museum, turning an empty gallery into a brand new exhibition for the public to celebrate national ‘Kids Museum Takeover Day’. We have called it B-Historic, and it’s a mish-mash of things old and new. It will be on display for a whole week.
We were inspired by our favourite objects and we were able to pick some artefacts from the collections at the museum and put them in our very own exhibition. We used our imagination to re-invent the displays. One exhibit is a collage of all our faces mixed up with people and images from the past.
All our classmates enjoyed their jobs at Takeover Day with the help of Manx National Heritage and our teachers. The design team designed a logo which is bold and colourful. The installation team were busy bees creating the backdrop with different wallpapers and arranging furniture. The curators were creating panels, gluing and sticking and writing labels for the objects.
We had only four hours to research, design, prepare and install our exhibition. Lily was part of the installation team, she said;
“My job was really fun but very busy”
Takeover Day has inspired our classmates and Craig at St. Thomas’ who returned to the museum after taking part in last year’s takeover day;
“I’m working on the reception today. Taking part has made me want to work at the museum when I’m older”
At 2pm invited guests, teachers, parents and museum staff came to our exhibition launch. Millie-Jo and Dillon told guests how the exhibition had come together. Mille-Jo said;
“It all began about a month ago, when Katie came to visit us at school, and she explained to us that we were going to create our own exhibition at the Manx Museum. We were all really excited at this idea, so we started our preparations.”
“We visited the Manx Museum and had a good look around, to find our favourite things, and to get ideas for our own exhibition. We also got to see our exhibition room for the very first time, and it didn’t look like this! We talked in detail about our exhibition, and what it would look like, and what our jobs would be.”
Dillon continued;
“Today we were back again to start our exhibition. Did you know that at 9 o’clock this morning this room was completely bare! We have all worked really hard to put our ‘B Historic’ exhibition together.”
The gallery was officially opened by Chairman of Manx National Heritage, Mr Tony Pass. He told us;
“I’m enormously impressed with what you have done. I can’t believe what I have seen through those doors. A tremendous achievement.”
We then had the chance to show guests and our parents around B-Historic. We even had actors in the gallery to make our exhibition more engaging. B-Historic is open until this Saturday 30th November at the Manx Museum, daily 10am – 5pm, come and see our hard work!
Editor’s Notes
This press release was co-written with the input of Ballacottier year 5 students Meisie, Macy, Savannah, Kitty, Lucy and Clarice who were the ‘Marketing and Communications team’ on Takeover Day.
‘Takeover Museum Day’ is an annual event at which museums across Britain are taken over by children and teenagers. The national initiative is organised by independent charity Kids in Museums who aim to help place children and teenagers at the heart of the museums.
