Level 1 · In the room
Young people become co-authors.
They research, imagine, build and present — and discover that heritage isn’t just something you inherit. It’s something you can shape.
HUP — Heritage Understanding & Participation
Help young people connect with heritage, and give them a reason to come back.
HUP Heritage Hackathons bring young people and museum teams together to explore, make and test new ways into heritage.
Young people · 10–16MuseumsCo-creation
Pilot stories, webinars and free resources, as they arrive.
Why this matters
A visit can be the start of a longer relationship.
Museums have stories to share. Young people have perspectives worth hearing.
Bringing young people through the door matters. Giving them room to question, create and help shape the museum can give them a reason to return.
Make room for their ideas.
Listen
Start with what young people notice, question and care about.
Make together
Give their ideas space to become something others can try.
Follow through
Share what the museum learned and what it will do next.
Imagine instead
A way to discover what truly connects with young people.
Young people bring their own questions, memories and perspectives. Museums can build on that curiosity and learn from what creates distance, too.
Today
With HUP
Visitors
Co-authors
Watching
Co-creating meaning
“Please don’t touch”
“What would you make of this?”
One school trip
An ongoing relationship
The museum’s story
A story told together
The method
What happens in a Heritage Hackathon?
Young people explore heritage, then design invitations for others to discover it in their own way. Seven steps, one journey:
1
EXPLORE
Follow your curiosity. Choose what catches your attention.2
DISCOVER
Share perspectives. Add the story. Make your own meaning.3
IDEATE
Imagine invitations for other young people.4
SKETCH
Show how your invitation could work.5
MAKE
Build enough for someone else to try.6
SHOW + TEST
Let others try it. Notice what happens.7
REFLECT
Share what you learned and what should happen next.Real heritage. Open questions. Working prototypes.
Explore the full methodAfter the pilot hackathons, teams have four months and a small budget to develop their ideas.
One hackathon.
Three levels of change.
Young people explore and create. Staff reconsider what they know. The museum puts that learning into practice.
Level 2 · On both sides of the table
Museum professionals become co-creators.
Working with young people rather than for them, they see their collection through new eyes: what surprises, what confuses, which stories get reached for — and which never would be.
Level 3 · Long after the day
The museum itself learns.
Staff revisit youth encounters, question their assumptions and agree changes to try. They check back with young people and bring what they learn into museum practice.
What young people share today can shape the museum they return to.
Each turn carries the learning forward.
How museum teams reflect →The proof
What comes out of it?
Working prototypes — not reports.
Tours with feelings
Guided experiences built around emotion, not just dates.
Games & quests
The collection becomes a playground.
Installations
Spaces to touch, hear, step into.
Digital & AI experiences
AR trails, audio stories, objects that talk back.
Youth-to-youth campaigns
Young people inviting other young people in.
New welcomes
Fresh rituals for a museum’s next generation.
The first HUP prototypes will be built in 2027, in five pilot museums across five countries. We'll share every one here — including what flopped.
Who's behind this
Built together, from the start.
No single organisation can change how heritage is experienced. Every HUP Hackathon puts six kinds of people around the same table.
Project partners
Designathon Works Amsterdam · project leadNon-profit behind the worldwide designathon method: child-led design with 120,000+ children. Leads HUP and writes the method & manual.Visit website ↗
Change Of Course Brussels & LisbonStudio for educational hackathons and AI-driven learning. Leads the pilot hackathons, trains the museum teams — and built this website.Visit website ↗
Eduquest Naoussa, GreeceLearning-design non-profit blending education innovation with cultural work. Leads the research, co-creation and evaluation.Visit website ↗
Razvojna agencija Kozjansko Šentjur, SloveniaRegional development agency running the Ipavec House & Rifnik museums and a youth centre. Hosts the Slovenian pilot and leads the transfer across Europe.Visit website ↗Museum partners
Het Nieuwe Instituut RotterdamThe Dutch institute for architecture, design and digital culture. Pilot museum for the Netherlands.Visit website ↗
MAAT LisbonMuseum of Art, Architecture and Technology on Lisbon’s riverfront. Large-scale pilot museum for Portugal.Visit website ↗
ABBY KortrijkKortrijk’s brand-new city museum. Pilot museum for Belgium.Visit website ↗Pilot hackathons also run at Ipavec House & Rifnik (Šentjur) and a heritage site in Naoussa (Greece).
Where we are
Built in the open.
HUP runs from 2026 to 2028. This is the road — updated as we travel it.
Now · 2026
Research & co-creation You are here
Mapping how heritage interpretation and child-led design fit together — and writing the first HUP method. The first tools are already being tested with young people in Slovenia.
Late 2026
Training
Sixteen museum professionals from five countries train together in the Netherlands.
2027
Five pilot hackathons
Five museums, five countries, one method — stress-tested by the most honest audience there is.
2027
Prototyping
Each pilot idea gets four months and a small budget to become real.
Late 2027
Showcases
Prototypes meet their communities. We take notes.
2028
Everything goes open
Manual, toolkit, videos — free for any museum, anywhere.
Field notes
Read all field notesNotes from the journey
No press releases. Just honest notes from the road: what we're trying, what's working, what we're changing.
Six teenagers, one canvas, fifteen minutes
Testing our first tool with young people in Šentjur.
Coming soonFeelings first, facts later
Why HUP starts from emotion.
Coming soonFive museums, five countries, one question
Meet the pilots.
Coming soonThe goods
Everything we make will be free.
Open licence, no paywall. We'd just rather test things with real museums and real young people before handing them over.
HUP Hackathon Manual
How to run one, step by step.
In testing · late 2026Facilitation Toolkit
Canvases, cards, templates.
Coming 2028Training videos
See the method in action.
Coming 2027Field research & insights
What we’re learning as we go.
Rolling out nowWant each one the day it's released? Join the community
Help shape the future of heritage.
Whether you run a museum, teach, research participation — or simply believe young people deserve a real seat at the table — this journey is open.
- ✓Field notes from the pilots, as they happen
- ✓Invitations to webinars and showcases
- ✓Early access to test resources
- ✓The full toolkit, free, the day it’s released
A handful of emails a year. Your email is stored in Brevo for HUP updates.
Want to bring HUP to your museum after the pilots? Get in touch — we're keeping a list.