Chelmsford Creatives is a collaborative group for 15-24-year olds based at Chelmsford Museum. We meet once a month, on Saturday mornings, to develop, design and deliver events that help the museum attract young people as visitors. In Nov 2018, Chelmsford Creatives visited the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington for some inspiration and to attend an Art and Design Careers event.

Here’s what some of them thought of the field trip:
There are many different sections to visit in the museum, from Renaissance Europe to Japan, a section that I enjoyed in particular. The artefacts on display were a strange mix of modern and old, but the system by which the room was laid out really worked. There were gorgeous kimonos displayed along with Japanese weapons, such as katanas, which were the long swords, and tanta, which were daggers. This section in particular was a favourite, with gorgeous garments, shining swords and awesome armours. That is not to say that the rest of the museum was boring. Other sections held artefacts that were thought-provoking, beautiful and in some cases, just plain bizarre, such as ‘399 Days’ by Rachel Kneebone, whose collection of leg-shapes in her sculpture made me distinctly uncomfortable.
By Rae Stewart

When we visited the V&A , me and the group I was with went to the ‘Architecture and Interior Design’ talk and the ‘Curating in Museums’ talk. Both were really interesting especially the curating one as the lady doing the talk went to visit the Parthenon which is a part of my A-Level course that I’m taking. She also gave me a bigger insight into the little jobs curators have to do which was very helpful to me personally as I’ve been considering becoming a Curator since taking part in Chelmsford Creatives. Would’ve liked for her to talk more about how to get into curating in more depth and the alternatives into doing it, like Sophie Beagles who did the architecture talk. With the Architecture and Design course I enjoyed learning about the different projects she’s been part of and the journey it’s taken her to become an Architect. She was also very useful with showing different alternatives to get into the two industries which I would’ve liked to know before choosing my A-level options. The museum in its self is massive so I didn’t get to visit everything but have already planned a day with my Dad to go there again. Overall, an amazing day spending it with the people who I was with and thank you for organising it Sammy!
By Neve-Taylor Van-Win

The opportunity to visit the Victoria and Albert museum gave me a vital insight into the careers of those in creative industries. With talks ranging from museum curators, architects, and computer engineers, I was able to consider if a creative career would be suitable for me. Throughout the day we visited many important and fascinating displays such as an exhibition on fashion through the ages. By witnessing history up close I feel that my interested in the past has been sustained as well as developed and a day in a buzzing London museum was thoroughly enjoyable. The highlight of my trip would have to be our recreation of ancient Greek statues. Although faced with some strange looks from the public, our explorations in photography enabled us to engage with history from classical civilizations.
By Maddie Collier

I really enjoyed my visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum. I found the video games exhibition particularly interesting. I liked how it used art, design and creativity for video games, also to show it is possible for young people to have a career as a video game developer.
By Robert de Lima

To find out more about Chelmsford Creatives, follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @chelmscreatives