The Belgian Royal Museums of Fine Art presented the Petit Musée Portatif N° 1 (Small Portable Museum Number 1) on Wednesday: the first of a series of art kits to make culture, art and art history more accessible and enjoyable for children and educators.
"It is better to fall in love with art when young," French-speaking Education Minister Caroline Désir confirmed.
The Petit Musée Portatif was created within the framework of the Cultural and Artistic Education Pathway (PECA), a campaign within the Pact for Teaching Excellence's set of educational reforms implemented by the French Community Government in 2017.
Credit: Belgian Royal Museums of Fine Art
Bring the museum to the children
The idea for a portable museum was born out of the Covid-19 pandemic, when the museum staff realised that if they could not bring children to the museum, then they should bring the museum to children. The kit was then envisioned to be a child's first contact with the art world as well as a playful and insightful accompaniment to their early education.
The Petit Musée Portatif comprises two surprisingly nondescript grey wooden boxes with wooden details and bright red handles. The kits include a series of objects meant to tap into children's creativity and curiosity about art through games and discussions. They include 100 reproductions of artworks from the Belgian Royal Museums of Fine Art, 101 cards with questions to trigger debates, and five creative notebooks.
Credit: The Brussels Times / Margherita Bassi
The French text is intentionally simple and direct; the activities were created to be used quickly and efficiently at home, school and even in museums, as well as by teachers who do not have a background in art history. The physical design was created in collaboration with Spanish artist Lluís Sabadell Artiga, who incorporated recycled cardboard and chose a minimalist aesthetic to appeal to a young audience.
This first kit is intended for children between the ages of 5-8, but future editions will be created for older children up to the age of 18.
Equitable access to cultural institutions
The first museum kit was enthusiastically presented by the museum's cultural mediation team in the presence of Education Minister Caroline Désir, who described the two boxes on display as "a portal for artistic encounters".
"This tool was designed to meet teachers' expectations and has the same ambition as the new cultural and artistic education course of the famous PECA," added Director General of the Royal Museums of Fine Art, Sara Lammens.
Credit: The Brussels Times / Margherita Bassi
PECA's goal is to provide equitable access to cultural institutions and artistic endeavours to all students in Wallonia and French-speaking Brussels. In practice, the goal is to "give children the opportunity to attend at least two cultural events a year," Désir explained.
100 portable museums
"Bringing art into the classroom is undoubtedly the best way to reach all children, without socio-economic distinction, to help them shape their appreciation, to inspire in them the desire to create and to share with them a common heritage," said State Secretary for Economic Recovery and Strategic Investments, Thomas Dermine.
In 2024, the 100 Petits Musées Portatifs will be distributed to schools within the Wallonia-Brussels regions, as well as a school in Kinshasa (Congo). The kits will be rotated among schools in a further attempt to broaden access. A Flemish edition of the kit is also in the works.
