Young people are taking the lead in shaping a new exhibition, Green Spaces, Shared Places: Past, Present & Future as part of the national Going Places project.
About Going Places
Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens is one of 20 museums that will co-create and tour exhibitions across the UK as part of Going Places – an Art Fund project supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and The Julia Rausing Trust. The project will result in 12 major touring exhibitions made with and for local communities, taking the UK’s collections on an epic journey across the country.
The Museum is part of the Green Spaces, Shared Places network working in partnership with Arlington Court and the National Trust Carriage Museum; Dales Countryside Museum, and The National Memorial Arboretum. Exploring the positive impact the great outdoors can have on our health and the ways in which these interactions can be enriched by our social, industrial and agricultural heritage, they will work with local communities to develop and present two touring exhibitions.
About Green Spaces, Shared Places: Past, Present & Future
Green Spaces, Shared Places: Past, Present & Future is the first exhibition co-created by young people and the Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens team.
Over the past 10 months, young people from our Celebrate Different Collective and Durham Wildlife Trust’s Conservation Rangers group have been working with artists, curators and environmental experts create this exhibition. With a whole programme of training, collection exploration and more, the young people have been shaping an exhibition by their own voices, reflecting their connections, ideas and concerns.
The final exhibition will launch at National Memorial Arboretum in July 2026 before travelling across the UK to different venues. It will travel to Sunderland in March 2027 where it will be based at Rainton Meadows and Houghton Library.
Read on to find out what’s be going on behind the scenes in the lead-up the exhibition’s launch this summer.
Key moments
Celebrate Different Collective visits Rainton Meadows
August 2025
The project kicked off with Celebrate Different Collective’s first visit to Rainton Meadows.
Led by Durham Wildlife Trust’s John Hayton, the group learned about the diverse habitats across the site, alongside the impacts of climate change and human pressures on plant and animal species. They took part in pond dipping, visited bird hides and met expert bird watchers.
As well as learning about wildlife, the group explored the history and future of Durham Wildlife Trust, sparking inspiration for themes within the project.
The young people said: “I feel inspired by wanting to explore and discuss how much change we as humans have to do to reserve climate change.”
Eco-lens Training
October 2025
Throughout October, Amateur Ancestor founder Justine Boussard worked with the group to introduce the eco-lens framework.
The group explored the earth’s future and how museums can help create change, using eco-lens principles to examine museum objects through themes such as journeys, common origins and connections.
Oral History Training
November 2025
Tracy Craggs led Oral History Training for the group, learning interview techniques, recording skills and how to store stories. Councillor Juliana Heron and Bob Heron acted as test interviewees, sharing knowledge of former mining areas.
The group said: “I learned how to interview people correctly and how to use a sound recorder device.”
Store Tours and Object Selections
Various dates
The group visited Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens stores and began selecting objects, including a womble toy, Charles Muir’s botanical drawings and ‘Gun Street’.
They were particularly interested in Charles Muir’s drawings and notebooks, noting: “He recycled everything… we have a record of his life through ephemera alone.”
Young People’s Network Steering Group Meetings
December 2025
During the first Young People’s Network Steering Group online session, each network of young people had to choose objects to discuss through eco-lens methodology and create themes for the exhibition narrative.
During the second session, participants selected objects they felt connected in meaningful ways.
Conservation Rangers Sessions
January to February 2026
The Conservation Rangers are a group of young people aged 14 – 18 years who meet monthly at Rainton Meadows Nature Reserve to work with staff on practical conservation projects around the site.
In January and February 2026, the Conservation Rangers took part in sessions at Rainton Meadows to develop ideas for the Going Places mural artist commission. Young people explored the site, gathered natural materials and developed seasonal mural concepts.
Narrative and Object Research for Co-Curation (Stages 1–4)
December 2025 to March 2026
From December through March, the Celebrate Different Collective explored collections, developed narratives and refined their ideas.
They finalised a shortlist of seven objects spanning time, materials and perspectives. The final objects included in the exhibition are:
- A Womble soft toy, Orinoco, dating from the 1970s–80s
- Charles Muir’s botanical drawings of the common poppy (1938), accompanied by a written reflection on nature during wartime from the 1940s
- A plant fossil of a fern dating from approximately 300 million years ago
- A painting of a Midlands industrial landscape by Prunella Clough (c. 1950s–60s)
- Wheatfields (1962) by Anthony Gross
- A flint blade (or selection of blades) from the Neolithic period
- A Tamagotchi (1999)
Creative sessions explored storytelling, spirituality and symbolic interpretation, including collaborative “exhibition narrative mandalas.” Illustrator Hannah Graham joined to map the group’s journey visually.
By April, the group began developing the first section of the exhibition.
Sunderland Museum & Winter Garden’s contribution to Going Places is lead by Sunderland Culture.
Going Places is an Art Fund programme made possible with major support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Julia Rausing Trust, with additional support from a generous group of trusts, foundations and individuals.
