Online sessions required a radically different approach to ensure we continued to meet the needs of our participants in a remote delivery model. We updated policies, risk assessments and referral systems, and provided training for the Artists who would be hosting the meetings and in September 2020 we welcomed teenagers to our first online cohorts, working with Bishops Stortford and Stevenage museums.

These sessions were able to include young people from across the whole county, but there were challenges to this model of delivery. The ability of our artists to be flexible during the sessions was key to the success of the online workshops, as they adapted content and addressed issues like unexpected absences, participants who would only communicate via the chat box, or were reluctant to turn on their cameras, not to mention technical issues. Many of the participants were attending the sessions following a full day of ‘online school’ and we learnt quickly that the use of warm up games and the whiteboard facility were good ways to get participants engaged. The museum staff supporting the sessions thought carefully about which objects from the collection would resonate with teenagers living through the pandemic, and shared experience became the focus of many of these workshops.

We were able to resume onsite delivery of the project in September 2021. Returning to the museum environment meant that young people were able to work more closely with museum learning officers, and as a result the work that has been produced is more centred around the museum collections.