Here’s a  project which we worked on in 2012 in Dublin (Ireland) taking the form of a creative arts module encouraging young people to explore the growing interplay between visual art curation and new media skills in the creation of a group exhibit marrying creative practice and digital design.

Young Curators, Digital Design & the Living Archive’ arose 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.

Young Curators drew upon on ‘China Through the Lens of John Thomson’, a Wellcome Trust photographic exhibition of 19^th century Chinese men, women & children Participants  aligned the historical practices of street and self-portraiture with the opportunities afforded by new digital platforms to contextualise, transform and display images in a networked culture.

Pivotal Arts Studio (previously FOMACS and now Counterpoints Arts) 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 – shared a committment commitment to bringing new audiences into the museum’s gallery space as both visitors and participants. The project was conceived as a ‘Wellcome‘ opportunity to realise a shared goal, instigating a creative process in which 6 young people take the lead.

You can access the online module here: http://www.pivotalarts.org/youngcurators/index.html