Artists and museum teams have collaborated with young people across the UK to create Green Spaces, Shared Places: Past, Present and Future, which will travel to four venues in England.
The new nature-focused exhibition opened on Saturday 11th July at National Memorial Arboretum where it will be on display until 27th September before moving to venues in Yorkshire, Sunderland and Devon.
School groups will be able to see Green Spaces, Shared Places: Past, Present and Future as part of a visit to any of the four host venues. The free exhibition invites visitors to reflect on what landscapes can tell us about the past, what they reveal about the present and how we can help shape their future.
The venues have developed the exhibition together, with young people from each location working alongside artists and museum staff to shape the collections and stories featured.
Participating venues & dates
- National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire, 11th July - 27th September
- Dales Countryside Museum, Yorkshire, 3rd October - 3rd January 2027
- Creative Smart City Hub Houghton and Rainton Meadows Nature Reserve, Sunderland, 6th March - 26th June 2027
- Arlington Court and National Trust Carriage Museum, Devon, 24th July - 7th November 2027
What’s on display?
Featuring historic collections, site-specific interventions and new art commissions, the exhibition will be displayed across indoor and outdoor spaces, offering visitors a fresh perspective on what it means to be a ‘green place’.
Items from the collections of all four venues are on display together for the first time. The indoor exhibition includes a Bronze Age pot discovered by the Arboretum, a Womble toy promoting environmental responsibility from Sunderland Museum, wooden printing blocks from the Dales Countryside Museum and an early 20th century staff records book from Arlington Court.
These objects are paired with creative responses from the young people involved, exploring how people have connected with the natural world over centuries.
A collaborative effort
Jenny Waldman, director of Art Fund, said: “Green Spaces, Shared Places is a wonderful example of museums working together and with young people to explore and interpret collections in new ways.”
Aaron Rossi, exhibitions and heritage manager at the National Memorial Arboretum, added: “This exhibition has been a truly collaborative journey, bringing together young people, artists, museums and communities to explore the stories held within our landscapes.
“Working with our partners through the Art Fund’s Going Places programme has given us the opportunity to look at the Arboretum and our shared green spaces through a fresh perspective, shaped by the ideas and creativity of the next generation.”
Green Spaces, Shared Places: Past, Present and Future is part of Art Fund’s £5.36 million Going Places programme, a series of exhibitions touring the UK. The largest project of its kind, Going Places brings together 20 museums from all four nations to share and celebrate the UK’s remarkable collections in collaboration with local communities.
The aim of Going Places is to enable collections to travel across the country to reach more people and provide a sustainable and collaborative way of exhibiting.
School visits can be booked directly with the host venues. Find out more about the Art Fund’s Going Places programme here.
