Level Up

Pop-Up Exhibitions

Enlisting ‘Community Champions’, this group of dedicated volunteers aided the NVM in achieving the initial goals of the Level Up project by co-curating pop-up exhibitions that took the NVM on the road in May and June of 2023. The pop-up exhibitions aimed to provide engaging and accessible experiences to audiences that haven’t or aren’t able to visit the Museum.

The exhibitions featured objects from the Museum’s collection which offered a variety of talking points for the hundreds of local residents in attendance. Features included where videogames are made, representation of women and girls in games and the artistry behind the screens of game making. Participants also took part in high score competitions on a mini arcade unit and discovered the inner workings of a Game Boy in a dissection activity.

After a hugely successful six week tour, the feedback and input gathered would be used to shape the museum’s long term visitor experience strategy.

A Summer Revamp

The summer holidays of 2024 saw major revamp of four of the NVM’s most popular exhibits. Funding from the project allowed feedback from the community to inform community pop-up feedback in order to inform new displays and interpretation.

A tired five cabinet exhibit featuring objects throughout videogame history was the first to be transformed into a brand new Timeline display. Featuring newly acquired objects donated by the public, including a Fairchild Channel F and BBC Micro Computer, the display emphasises the people behind the technologies, and the communities brought together by videogames.

The Museum’s summer programme also features a refreshed look for the Arcade and The Lab Zone while the popular Made In Sheffield exhibit also saw an upgrade. With new imagery and interpretation, the Arcade takes visitors through a chronological narrative exploring how arcades became vibrant social spaces in the 1980’s and 1990s. The Made In Sheffield exhibit provides a fresh exploration of Sheffield’s rich gaming heritage and includes an exclusive beta version of Steel City Interactive’s upcoming boxing title, Undisputed.

To coincide with the new look Lab area, the Museum’s award winning learning team developed new hands-on activities designed to accompany the new look exhibits. During the summer holidays visitors will be able to design mini arcade cabinets using paper based art and craft materials, create a videogame jingle using a BBC:Microbit, and explore analogue versions of popular videogames through classic board games.

The Next Steps

The final stages of the Level Up project will see the NVM conduct further audience consultation, inviting visitors to provide feedback in relation to their overall experience during their recent visits and their thoughts on the revamped areas of the Museum, and what else they would like to see. 

The Museum, while in the process of working towards Museum Accreditation, will also be inviting their Community Champions to engage with the cataloguing process of the Museum’s collection of objects. Working with the NVM’s Collection Officer, (a role also supported by Heritage Fund), Community volunteers will help develop the first version of a new Collections Catalogue. 

The volunteers’ hard work continues as they will also be involved in an upcoming workshop coinciding with the 2024 Heritage Open Day. 

For more information on the Level Up project and the timeline of events leading up to where we are now, check out our blogs highlighting the various processes undertaken throughout the process.