Wolverhampton Art Gallery is shortlisted for the Kids in Museums Family Friendly Museum Award, the only museum award to be judged by the families who visit.
Kids in Museums is a charity which has held these prestigious annual awards since 2004 to recognise the most family friendly heritage sites across the UK. It is the only museum award to be judged by families. From February to late April, families across the UK voted for their favourite heritage attraction on the Kids in Museums website. A panel of museum experts, children and young people then whittled down hundreds of nominations to a shortlist of 20 heritage attractions.
Wolverhampton Art Gallery in the Best Small Museum category alongside four other museums. Councillor Stephen Simkins, Leader of City of Wolverhampton Council, said: “Wolverhampton Art Gallery is a place that welcomes families from all over the city, region and country and I am delighted that the Arts and Culture team’s hard work has been recognised in this way and been shortlisted for the Best Small museum category.
“With one of the country’s best collections of British and American Pop Art, a dedicated Making Space open for families to get creative every day, and a packed schedule of fun, family friendly summer events to enjoy, Wolverhampton Art Gallery is a fantastic place for all ages to visit.” Over the summer holidays, Wolverhampton Art Galler will be visited by undercover family judges who will assess the shortlisted museums against the Kids in Museums manifesto, a set of guidelines on what makes a great museum visit for all ages. They will then decide on a winner for each award category and an overall winner of the Family Friendly Museum Award 2026.
The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October. The Family Friendly Museum Award has been made possible by funding from Arts Council England.
The list of museums shortlisted for the Best Small Museum category in this year’s Family Friendly Museum Award is:
Best Small Museum
· Ballymoney Museum, County Antrim
· Dales Countryside Museum, Yorkshire
· Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea
· Wolverhampton Art Gallery
· York Army Museum
Wolverhampton Art Gallery is a vibrant urban hub for creativity and culture. Founded in 1884, Wolverhampton Art Gallery has stood at the centre of the region’s cultural life for more than a century. Today, it is recognised as a leader in contemporary arts and accessibility, offering a vibrant, welcoming place that connects world class art and creativity with our community at the heart of the city.
Open seven days a week, you can explore the exhibitions, visit Glaze café, browse the shop full of sustainable products and get creative by making your mark on our giant chalkboard wall! Kids in Museums is an award-winning charity dedicated to making museums open and welcoming to all children, young people and families. The charity supports and champions family friendly organisations through wide-ranging initiatives including the Family Friendly Museum Award and Takeover Day.
Heritage organisations are invited to sign up to the charity’s manifesto which sets out simple guidelines for making museums easy to reach for all ages. Kids in Museums began the Family Friendly Museum Award in 2004 to recognise heritage sites that are the most welcoming, fun and accessible for families. Previous winners of the Family Friendly Museum Award include Experience Barnsley Museum & Discovery Centre (2025), Young V&A (2024), Craven Museum (2023), the National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield (2022) and Bailiffgate Museum & Gallery in Alnwick (2021).
Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. Its strategic vision set out in Let’s Create is that, by 2030, England is a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish, where everyone has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. From 2024 to 2026, Arts Council England plans to invest over £440 million of public money from UK Government and an estimated £93 million from The National Lottery each year to help support the sector and to deliver this vision.
