Description

Bring a new generation into the future of your museum.

Youth Advisory Councils for Small Museums: From First Steps to Lasting Success is a comprehensive resource designed to help museums and historic sites establish, grow, and sustain their own Youth Advisory Council.

A successful Youth Advisory Council is much more than a teen volunteer program. It gives young people a meaningful role within the museum while bringing new ideas, perspectives, energy, and skills into the organization. Youth members can help develop programs, create exhibits, plan events, support community outreach, assist with collections and research, promote the museum, and become some of its most dedicated volunteers and advocates.

Designed especially with small museums in mind, this resource walks you through the process from the earliest planning stages through building an established program that can become a lasting part of your organization.

Built from Firsthand Experience

This guide is based on firsthand experience building a museum Youth Advisory Council from the ground up. What began with one young person attending the very first meeting grew to more than 500 youth participants over the program’s first seven years, all within a small museum with no full-time staff and limited resources. That growth was achieved without paid advertising, relying instead on word of mouth, community relationships, youth-to-youth recruitment, and a holistic approach to outreach and engagement. The strategies in this resource come from years of learning what actually works, what keeps young people involved, and how a small museum can build a thriving youth program even without a large staff, budget, or marketing department.

Start Your Youth Advisory Council

Not sure where to begin? The guide takes you through the first steps of creating a YAC, including:

• Determining whether your museum is ready
• Building support among staff, board members, and volunteers
• Identifying an adult coordinator
• Establishing the purpose and structure of your council
• Planning meeting schedules and expectations
• Creating a realistic starting budget
• Recruiting your first members
• Connecting with schools and community organizations
• Holding your first meetings
• Developing your first projects and events

The original YAC framework emphasizes preparing internally, recruiting members, holding the first meetings, and giving young people responsibility for an early community event. This expanded resource builds on that process to help museums develop a sustainable program.

Give Young People Meaningful Roles

A Youth Advisory Council works best when its members have opportunities to make real contributions.

Discover ways to involve youth in museum programs, exhibits, events, research, collections, interpretation, outreach, marketing, community projects, and other aspects of museum work. Learn how to balance guidance from adult coordinators with opportunities for youth members to develop their own ideas and take responsibility for projects.

Build Leadership, Community & Connection

Youth Advisory Councils create opportunities for young people to develop leadership skills, gain experience, complete meaningful volunteer service, explore careers, and build stronger connections with their communities.

At the same time, museums benefit from the ideas and perspectives of younger generations. The original program model was developed around the belief that meaningful youth participation can help museums address long-term questions of relevance and sustainability.

Develop Programs & Events with Your YAC

Move beyond meetings and give your council something to accomplish.

The guide explores ways youth members can help brainstorm, plan, market, and carry out museum programs and community events. Giving members meaningful responsibility helps create a stronger program while allowing teens to see the results of their work.

Recruit, Grow & Keep Members Engaged

Starting a YAC is only the beginning. This resource also addresses the ongoing work of building a successful council, including recruitment, community awareness, member engagement, communication, leadership opportunities, recognition, and creating a program young people want to remain part of.

Practical Resources & Templates

The toolkit includes practical materials museums can adapt for their own programs, such as planning worksheets, checklists, forms, recruitment resources, meeting materials, project and event planning tools, volunteer resources, and other templates designed to reduce the amount of time required to build a YAC from scratch.

Designed for Small Museums

You don’t need a large education department or a full-time youth coordinator to create a meaningful youth program.

This resource is designed with the realities of small museums in mind. A Youth Advisory Council can begin with a small group of interested young people and grow over time as your museum develops relationships with schools, families, community organizations, and new members.

From First Steps to Lasting Success

Your first few YAC members can become the foundation for something much larger.

Start with a plan. Recruit your first members. Give them meaningful work. Develop programs together. Build community awareness. Create leadership opportunities. Then continue growing the program into an established part of your museum.

The goal isn’t simply to bring young people into the museum. It’s to give them a reason to become part of its future.

Perfect For

• Small museums
• Historic houses and historic sites
• Historical societies
• Museum educators
• Local history organizations
• Cultural organizations
• Museums developing teen programs
• Museums looking to strengthen existing youth programs
• Organizations seeking new approaches to youth and community engagement

Product Details

Title: Youth Advisory Councils for Small Museums: From First Steps to Lasting Success
Publisher: Help for Small Museums (HFSM)
Format: Digital Download
License: Single Organization Use
Regular Price: $150