Buy tickets
Nederlands
Vva collage klein

Featured

Women of Amsterdam - an ode

Impact, art and stories that enrich the city

14 Dec 2024 - 31 Aug 2025
Amsterdam Museum on the Amstel

    ELJA Kindermuseumlab

    For Amsterdam children aged 9-12

    Kind aan het werk tijdens workshop
    Kind met schaar in natuur

    The ELJA Children's Museum

    In the period 2023-2025, Amsterdam children (9-12 years old) will have the chance to help think about the city museum of the future. What will it look like? And what does the ultimate museum for and by children look like? By taking part in the Amsterdam Museum Camp, collaborating on artworks, putting together exhibitions, and installing a children's sounding board group and children's board, Amsterdam children are helping to build their own children's museum.

    They help open the eyes of the public and staff and make the museum the place for children. But above all, making and looking at art provides opportunities for the children to reflect on themselves, their environment and the world.

    Kind in gesprek met begeleider

    The Amsterdam Museum Camp

    Since 2023, Amsterdam Museum Camps have been organised during the school holidays, where children spend a week experiencing what it is like to create their own work of art! In the May holidays of 2024, these took place in the Zuidoost, Zuid, Centrum and Weesp districts; in the autumn holidays of 2024, the Noord, Nieuw-West, West and Oost districts are scheduled.

    The Amsterdam Museum Camp starts on the Monday with a visit to the Amsterdam Museum, where they are challenged by the artist to look at the exhibition in a different way. They will take this with them to the rest of the week, where they will work on their own with a professional artist at a partner location in the boroughs. Equality is key: together, a work of art is created that everyone can be proud of. 

    Je kunt gewoon zijn wie je bent.

    Portret Ameya 1

    Ameya, 9 jaar

    Kinderkunstenaar

    Tentoonstelling kinderen antiracisme protest poppetjes

    Exhibition and acquisition

    The artworks of the ELJA Children's Museum Lab will be displayed in a festive exhibition at the museum. In December 2023, the children's mayor opened the first edition, on the theme of Freedom. In December 2024, the second edition will open, with the theme Identity: celebrating self-expression.

    A number of works chosen by children from the ELJA Children's Museum Lab will be acquired for the Amsterdam Museum's leading collection after the exhibition.

    Kinderbestuur en directeur Amsterdam Museum

    Children's focus group and children's board

    The Amsterdam Museum's first children's sounding board group and children's board were appointed in March 2024. The children's sounding board group meets three times a year to cast their critical eye over the Amsterdam Museum's plans. They decide which artworks from the ELJA Children's Museum Lab will be acquired and what the exhibition should look like.

    The four-member children's board represents the voice of the children in the museum. The board attends exhibition openings, public programmes and other museum activities to make the children's voice heard. In addition, members of the children's board go behind the scenes at the museum, where they give solicited and unsolicited advice on how to make the museum the place to be for children. 

    Kinderen schrijven op klembord

    Methodology

    In sessions with education and museum experts, the children then discuss the children's museum of the future and what conditions it should meet. Each afternoon, the children work on a collaborative artwork. The art assignments follow the methodology of Wicked Arts Assignments by Melissa Bremmer and Emiel Heijnen (Amsterdam School of the Arts) and tie in with visual art, performance, theatre, music, dance and design, but more importantly, they encourage interdisciplinarity. They reflect themes, practices and concepts from contemporary art and provide opportunities for children to reflect on themselves, their environment and the world.

    This video was made during the Amsterdam Museum Camp in the summer holidays of 2023.

    Made possible by

    The ELJA Children's Museum Lab is made possible by the ELJA FOUNDATION.

    The Amsterdam Public Library is programme partner of the ELJA Children's Museum Lab.

    The lectorate Art Education of the Amsterdam School of the Arts supervises and researches the ELJA Children's Museum Lab.

    News

    Webpagina nieuwsitem
    Exhibition

    Exhibition of children’s work

    Read more
    Labsessie ELJA Kindermuseum foto Bobbie Wagenaar

    Amsterdam Museum thinks about the city museum of the future together with children

    Read more
    • See & Do
    • Stories & Collection
    • Tickets & Visit
    • Exhibitions
    • Guided tours
    • Families
    • Education
    • News
    • Newsletter
    • Publications
    • AMJournal
    • Woman of Amsterdam

    Main Partners

    gemeente amsterdam logo
    vriendenloterij logo

    Main Partner Education

    elja foundation logo
    • © Amsterdam Museum 2024