Family Tickets for All (and a chance to be a spy)

I've recently started volunteering for the Kids in Museums Campaign. I had fun a couple of weeks ago at the launch of their 2010 Manifesto, which took place early one morning at the British Museum. There I was, hobnobbing with the great and the good - Ed Balls, Mariella Frostrup, Neil MacGregor, Michael Rosen (in ripped combat trousers). Ok, so I was actually just taking their coats, but anyway it was fun, and the pastries were inspirational!

As well as the Manifesto, they were also launching the Flexible Family Ticket Campaign, a consultation into museum family tickets, and whether they fit the needs of modern families. In their own words:

"What's the shape of today's British family?

▪ Mum plus her four kids.

▪ Dad plus his only child, and the young cousin who lives with them.

▪ Grandparents and their grandchildren for whom they care.

▪ Big sister and very little sister, whom she looks after.

▪ Mum, Dad, Auntie and her daughter.

What's the shape of a typical family ticket to a museum or gallery?

▪ Two plus two.

Museums can charge for entry or be free. But there may be a charge for special exhibitions and events even at free museums. To make families feel welcome, family tickets need to reflect all the different shapes and sizes of today's families."

They are therefore asking people to answer the following questions:

1. What has been your experience of a family ticket?

2. Did it fit your family?

3. What would you like a family ticket to look like?

If any blog readers out there have experience of family tickets, all us folks at Kids in Museums would appreciate you taking the time to go to the Ticket Watch website and answer these questions.

Also, if anyone wants to be a spy, and check out the family ticket for their local museum, that would be very handy. You don't have to dress as James Bond, but you can if you want. Info can be emailed to yourview@familyticketwatch.org.uk.

Thanks all!