Open House Families
London’s FREE architecture festival for children and their families
Highlights from 2020
About Open House Families
Over 19-20 September 2020 Open City hosted Open House Families for the third year running as London’s free festival of architecture exclusively for children and their families. This year’s festival was necessarily different from previous years due to the restrictions imposed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, with an emphasis on digital events and activities. More so than in previous years, Open House Families was presented as a vital part of the main Open House festival, which was an exciting new development.
What happened in 2020…
The weekend consisted of 20 live and online events and activities designed alongside some of London’s top built environment practises and cultural institutions for families to enjoy.
Approaching this year’s festival with a new mindset in light of the pandemic, we are excited to share with you the successes and highlights of this very unique iteration of Open House Families.
Breakdown
Culture Venues
Museum of London
Brunel Museum
Hackney School of Food
Programme
20 activities were programmed, including 11 activities commissioned for our learning website, 1 ‘live’ Zoom workshop, and a walking tour
Activities
Activities designed by:
BDP
Al-Jawad Pike
Creative Learning Experiences
Sam Jacob Studio
We Are Here Creative Studio
Activate the City
Staff and Volunteers
28 Volunteers
10 facilitators, including artists, museum educators, and playworkers
Audience
A total of 1987 active participating visitors, 1600 of those participants took place online
A total of 1601 visitors attended our partner cultural venues across the weekend, with 339 of those actively participating in the workshops and activities on site
100% of visitors said they would take part in Open House Families again
What People Are Saying
‘I've taken part with my daughter in your activities before [...] I think they're excellent and love introducing her to architecture this way.’
— Parent, 2020
“Designing an online activity for Open House Families[...]was a great opportunity to think about how to reach a wider audience and at the same time inspire a very unique experience for each family. It was a pleasure to be part of such a wonderful festival that aims to promote a greater engagement with the city!"
— Tatiana Machado, Creative Learning Experiences, 2020
Image Credit: Luke O’Donovan, 2020