Family Friendly

The grants enable museums to make their galleries, cafes, facilities, activities, marketing and social media more family friendly and accessible.

This year’s programme will enable museums to use the Kids in Museums Manifesto as a development tool to create a more permanent welcoming offer to children, families and young people by March 2027.

Closing date for applications is 12pm on Mon 18 May 2026. Applications submitted after this deadline will not be accepted.

The grants will support projects that enable museums to:

• make museum gallery spaces (by creating signage, sensory maps or visual stories), cafés and facilities more family friendly and accessible for all
• create backpacks, resources, digital content, trails, family-related interpretation, and/or new family workshops
• create quiet areas, dressing up areas or family corners
• work with children, families and or young people to ensure events, displays, exhibitions, evaluation, marketing and/or social media platforms are more accessible and welcoming
• make museums a great place to visit for children, families and young people

Projects will need to be completed by Sun 7 Mar 2027. More information on eligibility as well as the type of projects the grants programme will support can be found in the guidance for applicants below.

If you’d like to apply, please complete and return an application form, along with any supporting documents to [email protected].

If you're unsure whether your project would be eligible, have questions about the grant criteria or would like to discuss your project in more detail, please do get in touch with Rachael Crofts, Museum Development Officer Audiences. Or join us at one of two online coffee sessions on Tue 21 Apr or Thu 23 Apr.

We'll announce our current grant museums for 2026–2027 in June once the assessment panel has met and the applicants have been notified of the outcome of their application.

The grants funded the following museums:

• Burgh House
• Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art
• Florence Nightingale Museum
• Headstone Manor and Museum
• Keats House
• Kelmscott House
• Kempton Steam Museum
• Museum of Richmond

Projects were completed by March 2026 and detailed case studies will be available from July 2026 onwards.

The grants funded the following museums:

• Bentley Priory Museum
• Havering Museum
• Headstone Manor and Museum
• Household Cavalry Museum
• Kingston Museum
• Markfield Beam Engine
• Museum of Richmond
• Museum of Wimbledon
• World Rugby Museum

The grants funded the following museums:

• Charles Dickens Museum
• Dulwich Picture Gallery
• Freud Museum
• Jozef Pilsudski Institute of London
• Kingston Museum
• Museum of Richmond
• Museum of the Order of St John
• Society of Antiquaries

The grants funded the following museums:

• Association of Anaesthetists (Anaesthetists' Heritage Centre)
• Brent Museum and Archives
• Bruce Castle Museum
• Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art
• John Wesley’s House and the Museum of Methodism
• London Museum of Water and Steam
• The Musical Museum
• Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret
• The William Morris Society (Kelmscott House)