Future Exhibition Makers

Future Exhibition Makers is our series for young people with an interest in bringing the stories of the past to life, helping them learn new skills in archiving, curation and exhibition-making.

Using our extensive archive, which includes articles, programmes, photographs and objects, we work with young people aged 13 – 18 to explore and uncover the stories of more than 70 years of arts and social history here at the Southbank Centre. Each edition of Future Exhibition Makers is designed to give participants an insight into the cultural sector and experience of skills including art handling, oral history collection, cataloguing, interpretation and communication. 

Over several sessions the Future Exhibition Makers work together to curate physical and digital exhibitions on a theme. They are guided through this process of interpreting our archive objects for a new audience by a team of skilled archivists and exhibition-makers. 

Themes explored to date include the Greater London Council’s groundbreaking Open Foyers policy, and a look back at the 1951 Festival of Britain for which our Royal Festival Hall was constructed.

Future Exhibition Makers has been formally recognised by The National Archives as an outstanding case study of Innovation and Risk in ‘A Year in Archives 2023’.