English version
The Festival «Children's Days in St Petersburg» (Фестиваль “Детские дни в Петербурге”) is an annual collaborative event that brings together over 40 city museums. It is centered around the idea that an annual city-wide programme targeted at broad family audiences results from a host of activities for museum professionals. During Children Days children, teenagers and their parents can take part in the game "12345 - Seek and Find" (the main festival programme) and in many interactive exhibitions, excursions, master classes and playing activities (the parallel programme). All the events and game routes are announced at museum12345.ru site.
Festival takes place every Autumn, during school vacation and two weekends that follow, so it lasts about 14 days every year.
The game "12345 - Seek and Find" includes 20 route maps for children of different age. Each route offers adventures in one of 20 museums and is addressed to kids of 5-8, 7-10, 9-12 or 11-13. To take part in the game, one has to visit a museum during Children Days, buy a regular ticket and take the route map for free from the festival's volunteers.
The parallel programme includes the variety of children activities of all sorts. Dozens of museums, as well as libraries, and other cultural venues create something new.
The Festival was established to encourage further development of the professional museum community. Every Spring educational and project seminar takes place, and it collects up to 100 museum participants.
In 2018 the festival team launched Museum Experience Social Innovations Center. It is intended to accumulate and share progressive and successful experience of our colleagues in audience development, especially with children, teenagers and families.
Museum Experience team is prepairing the Vth All-Russia Professional Forum for Museum Educators in November, 2021. The forum is focused on museums' educational and socio-cultural activity for children, young people and family visitors is held in the framework of the Festival once in several years. It is a platform for professional dialogue, discussions, exchange and development, focusing, among other things, on such topical issues as current professional standards and major development trends.
During 16 years, since the festival started, the number of museums intending to participate therein, keeps growing constantly.
Children Days Festival is organized by Museums Development Center Nonprofit Partnership. It is sponsored by the Cultural Committee of Saint-Petersburg and is supported by the Educational Committee and the Committee of Social Politics. Festival is in the list of socially significant city events.