Power to the Children? Understanding Children’s Participation in the Year of the Children via the National Museum in Copenhagen

Abstract

This article discusses how children’s activities in the National Museum of Denmark have developed since its establishment, and how and when the National Museum enabled children’s participation during the year-long initiative Year of the Children. The article’s analytical framework builds on a combination of Mouritsen’s distinction of for, with, and by children for cultural activities (1997), as well as Roger Hart’s “ladder of participation” (1992). The analysis is in two parts. In the first, we outline the historical development of children’s activities in the National Museum of Denmark since its establishment. The second part analyzes empirical material consisting of internal and public documents from the Year of the Children using an approach inspired by qualitative content analysis (Mayring 2000). The article concludes that the National Museum throughout history has experimented with small and large for children initiatives in its programming of events and in the curation and dissemination of materials in exhibitions. This is also the case with the Year of the Children initiative where the majority of activities were adult-initiated and adult-led.

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