‘Young Curators, Digital Design & the Living Archive’ arises from a conversation with diverse communities of young people spanning several years relating to a perceived difficulty in accessing arts and cultural institutions as audiences and arts practitioners.
Pivotal Arts Studio (previously FOMACS) and the Chester Beatty Library – who house a collection of manuscripts, miniature paintings, prints, drawings, rare books and decorative arts dating back to 2700 BC – are allied in their commitment to bringing new audiences into the museum’s gallery space as both visitors and participants. We see this project as a ‘Wellcome‘ opportunity to realise a shared goal, instigating a creative process in which 6 young people take the lead.
Pivotal Arts Studio and the Chester Beatty Library are allied in their commitment to bringing new audiences into the museum’s gallery space as both visitors and participants
It is worth emphasizing that increased access to cultural institutions, such as museums and galleries, coupled with extended, long-term opportunities for public education in connection with these spaces is a great enhancer of vitality and creativity in community life and civil society.
‘Young Curators’ pioneers a creative arts module encouraging young people to explore the growing interplay between visual arts curation and new media skills in the creation of a group exhibit marrying creative practice and digital design.

Building on ‘China Through the Lens of John Thomson’, a Wellcome Trust photographic exhibition of 19th century Chinese men, women & children, participants are encouraged to align the practices of writing, documentary photography and self-portraiture with the opportunities afforded by new digital platforms to contextualise, transform and display images in a networked culture.