London is full of historic sites, museums, and cultural centres but often the people living closest visit them less than tourists from outside the city. There are many barriers to access that may arise – ticket price, cost and availability of public transport, attitudes and ideas of ‘who it is for, or relevant to’, and limited engagement of museums and heritage sites with their local community.
Which is why we were excited to be trained as Group Leaders with the Tower of London Community Access Scheme last week. The training means the people we serve on our programmes will have free access to the Tower for a year, with as many visits as they wish, and training for us to take groups around the site to engage with the history, stories and collections there.
It makes a great addition to the holistic support we offer to clients on our Covid Private Renters Project in Southwark, where we spend time working to support wellbeing and health by connecting strongly to the local community and services around the area.
And while communities experiencing deprivation are usually the least likely to access heritage site and museums, research shows that cultural engagement brings an even greater mental health and wellbeing benefit for the more deprived communities than the more affluent ones.
A big thanks to Historic Royal Palaces for the partnership – out first group visit to the Tower is around the corner!
“Historic Royal Palaces is delighted to welcome Kineara as partner to our Community Access Scheme. With Kineara’s support, we aim to welcome more people from our local community and providing opportunities for them to explore our palaces and their stories in ways that are meaningful to them. We look forward to providing really great days out, helping people connect with each other and the wider world around them.
