Creative Museum Banishes Poverty into the Past

CREATIVE MUSEUM BANISHES POVERTY INTO PAST
 
Residents of Edinburgh are being invited to imagine a future, where child poverty no longer exists, at an innovative exhibition held at The City Chambers.
 
The Museum of Poverty is a creative take on the situation faced by thousands of children in Scotland, who live in poverty. Organised by charity Save the Children, the museum exhibits a range of items associated with poverty which the organisation hopes will one day be banished to the past as exhibits in Scotland’s history museums.
 
Held in The Old Chamber from 12th-14th October, the exhibition’s aim is to raise awareness of the reality of growing up in poverty in Scotland. Workshops will also encourage discussion between families who have experienced living on the breadline and crucially, decision makers who have the power to end it.
 
The exhibition was developed by young people and parents in Glasgow, who were asked the question ‘If child poverty was eradicated today, what would you put in a museum?’ Items that are being ‘cast to the past’ include costly school meals, pawnbrokers and milk tokens.
 
Local politicians and youth groups are expected to visit the museum throughout the duration of the exhibition and will be taking part in discussions.
 
Claire Telfer, Save the Children’s Policy Officer for Scotland, said:
 
“The museum is our way of drawing attention of the need to make poverty history. It shows how poverty affects young lives and the range of problems that need to be addressed to ensure it is eradicated in the future. The young people we worked with in producing the exhibition were really creative. We are now asking young people from across Scotland what else they would add to the Museum based on experiences in their areas. We hope that their work will provoke decision makers to take forward further action to tackle poverty. One in four children in Scotland lives in poverty today, and we don’t think that’s acceptable.”
 
The Museum of Poverty is running at The Old Chamber in The City Chambers on the High Street from 12th – 14th October. For more information about the Save the Children’s campaign to end child poverty, visit www.savethechildren.org.uk/endchildpoverty
 
 
For more information, please contact:
 
Beverley Kirk, Media Officer (Scotland), Save the Children, 0131 527 8244  [email protected]