Family visit to the V&A
This half term our sister company Tea Dance for Little People was at the Victoria and Albert Museum taking families on an exciting interactive adventure to explore the Willow Pattern. The Willow Pattern is a famous blue and white design that was invented in England in the 18th Century, inspired by Chinese designs and used on ceramics like plates, cups, jugs and vases.
The performance tells the story of the pattern through music, song, dragon dancing and treasure hunting where families got the chance to solve clues to help the Mandarin find his lost daughter.
We couldn’t miss this brilliant opportunity to invite some of our Creative Homes families to see a TDLP show and visit the V&A. So one rainy Thursday we made the trip with a group of four families (10 children) from our West Norwood Hub.
It was the first time any of our families had visited the V&A and for many of the children it was their first experience of a theatrical performance. They had a great time!
“It was a wonderful experience. It was the first time I’d taken the children to the theatre. They saw so many new things, they couldn’t stop talking about it afterwards.”
– Abella, mother of three
“The kids enjoyed every moment at the V&A museum, the theatrical show was amazing.”
– Aamira, mother of three
Familiar faces: Grace came to the show with her mum and sister. They were one of the first families we helped with toothbrushing
“We love welcoming new family audiences to the V&A. We want everyone to feel that they can come, take part, explore and enjoy our collections and spaces”.
– Jenny Wedgbury, Acting Programme Manager for Families at the V&A.
An important part of what we do at Creative Homes is help link families to further support from other Home, Health or Play services. This can mean support with things like housing, employment or health care, but equally access to local play and cultural services.
Here at Creative Homes and TDLP we are really excited about the impact that working directly in family homes is having on their confidence to access museums, theatres and other cultural venues. We believe that an important part of this is the relationship between Creative Homes artists and families. Our artists build trust with families over time, supporting them in their homes and then helping them gain that confidence to connect to new services for the first time.
You can read more about how we link families to cultural venues: Pathways to play.
