Building on the success of Gateways Into Heritage 2024, the youth engagement team at English Heritage welcomed almost 100 people to a packed day of fascinating talks, workshops, screenings and performances, in the beautiful Yorkshire Museum within the York Museum gardens.
Gateways Into Heritage 2025
We welcomed a range of fantastic speakers from heritage, youth and creative organisations including Aardman Academy and Photoworks UK, who each spoke of the importance of collaborating with young people to further the creativity of their projects. One talk featured Sally Burton, a young photographer who’s work is currently being featured at Stonehenge as part of the Echoes: Stone Circles, Community and Heritage exhibition.
We were also joined by some excellent young musicians from We Make Culture CIC who each created story-led songs inspired by different English Heritage sites. Everyone was tapping their feet along and entranced by intriguing site stories, making this an enjoyable and educational moment for all in attendance. This was followed by film screenings of ‘Beyond the Plaques’ in collaboration with the National Youth Ballet, and ‘Kill the King’ in collaboration with The Spit Game UK, as well as premieres of the winners and runners up of the Animated Histories Film Festival which you can watch here. The talent of these stop motion animators is truly mind-blowing, so we’d definitely recommend giving these a watch!
We also had the privilege of being joined by many industry experts for two panels, lightning talks from the Council of British Archaeology’s Youth Advisory Board, the Heritage Network Youth Forum, and the National Youth Ballet, and a fantastic keynote speech from artist, Robin Sullivan; Robin really brought it home with a powerful reminder that history and heritage shine brightest when we tell their stories together, through community engagement and co-creation!
Get an inside look at the day through the eyes of Katy, one of our Young Producers –
read her blog here.