Museum 15/24: Hermitage launches online art education platform for young people aged 15-24

The new online art education platform is one of the results of Museum 15/24, a joint project of the Hermitage Amsterdam, the Hermitage XXI Century Foundation and the Museum of the Mind, supported by the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. Museum 15/24 focuses on a young audience, aged 15 to 24 (hence the name). One of the reasons to establish this platform is to involve youth in the thinking process about art education: not to think for young people, but to think with them. Within this framework, Hermitage Amsterdam and the State Hermitage Museum have developed two new bodies: a youth advisory board and an expert group tasked with developing an online platform. The youth advisory board consists of eleven Dutch and ten Russian youngsters who come up with ideas on how to create the best museum experiences for people in the target age group. The expert group created the online platform, which is now accessible to all museums, educational institutions and those interested in art education, worldwide.

The initiators share their expertise in art education and make available existing educational materials about the Hermitage's enormous encyclopaedic collection. There are three types of educational material: Art Cases, Methodology and Long Reads. Art Cases are educational programmes on (art) historical subjects. History of costumes and textile, Impressionism or the Spanish masters are just a few of the topics in this section. The Methodology category offers concepts for educational programmes about artists or artistic movements, and are especially relevant for educators. Finally, Long Reads are in-depth articles on a specific art historic topic or a programme in the field of art education. You can find articles on topics like the ‘gastronomic’ aspects of the museum’s collection, or on Bauhaus Ballet, or you can examine the impact of COVID-19 on the educational programmes and the creative solutions that were found.  

Visitors can search the database for specific objects in the Hermitage collection and click through to the corresponding educational programme. “The State Hermitage is such an encyclopaedic museum that anybody who wants to know more about a certain topic in art history should be able to consult the database to learn more about it,” says Niko Bos of Hermitage Amsterdam’s education department. The platform not only provides information, but is also interactive: other museums can use concepts from programmes and in the future will also be able to share their own concepts online.

A special feature on the site is grandartgame.com, an online game especially designed for young visitors aged 15-24. It is based on the educational programmes of the Hermitage Amsterdam and the collection of the State Hermitage Museum. Players pick a czar or czarina as their avatar and by answering questions about art and culture, they can acquire new artworks and compile their own art collection. Grand Art Game not only tests the players' knowledge, but through the questions and descriptions it teaches them to thoroughly scrutinise the pictures, thereby developing their visual skills and expanding their knowledge. Both Museum 1524 and the Grand Art Game were designed by Total Design.

As the result of a long and intensive collaboration between Russian and Dutch professionals, the (former) coordinator of education at Hermitage Amsterdam, Wieke van Veggel, finds it interesting to see how the Russian and Dutch museums deal with the same challenges. “For example, how to make the best programmes for young audiences. We might approach this challenge in different ways because of the local context, but despite the cultural differences we are trying to solve the same issues.” The director of the State Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovsky, emphasises that "art is the central topic, and this common interest bridges any differences."

Museum 15/24 was part of Creative Twinning – an international programme of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). The project was also made possible by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The aim of the Creative Twinning subsidy scheme was to support cultural activities in countries bordering the EU. These activities strengthen mutual links, increase trust and improve communication between the Netherlands and the countries involved. In 2018, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency selected five projects to receive a grant. Museum 15/24 is one of these projects.

See the complete overview of Dutch cultural activities in Russia in our Database.

If you are a cultural professional who wants to go to Russia, feel free to contact our Russia advisor Tijana Stepanovic.

For funding possibilities, check out our Cultural Mobility Funding Guide or the websites of our partners EYE International, Film Fund, Performing Arts Fund NL / Dutch Performing Arts, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Dutch Foundation for Literature, Mondriaan Fund, Creative Industries Fund NL, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Moscow or the Consulate-General of the Netherlands in St.Petersburg.