London Unlocked
Open House Festival gives all Londoners the opportunity to explore, discover and learn about their city, through opening up spaces that are not accessible the rest of the year. The festival is a celebration of London’s built environment and the people that live in and use it. It is also an opportunity to think critically about the past, present and future of our city. As such, it is vital that Londoners of all ages join the conversation and take part in the festival.
In 2022, only 1.3% of visitors to Open House Festival events were aged between 15 and 24. The festival has been free to attend since it was established over 30 years, but this has not so far made it accessible to young Londoners in significant numbers.
London Unlocked is a way to address this imbalance and involve young Londoners in the festival; to overcome some of the barriers that block young people from participating in conversations about the built environment by inviting them into some of the most exciting spaces in the festival programme.
Do you work with young Londoners?
We are partnering up with organisations that work with young people, to arrange special visits during this year’s Open House Festival in September. If you work with young Londoners and would like to be hosted by one of our contributors, sign up to become a London Unlocked partner organisation.
Will you open your doors to young Londoners?
To help us involve young people in the festival, we are asking festival contributors to open their doors especially for groups of Londoners aged 25 and under. This might mean organising a special guided tour or workshop, or it might simply mean opening for an extra hour so that the young people get the space to themselves.
If you are a contributor and would like to host a group of young people as part of London Unlocked, make sure you submit your event by the 1 June early bird deadline. After that point, we will start to match contributors with groups. When submitting, please make a note in the Visitor Experience section of the form indicating that you would like to take part in London Unlocked.