Every kid deserves science

Dear friends,

As we turn the calendar to a new year, hoping that 2022 will bring more predictability in our plans, we would like to thank you for supporting us throughout these turbulent times.

To Muzeiko, 2021 was another year of uncertainties, challenging us to seek resourceful and fun ways to remain in touch with our audiences.

During this year, Muzeiko Foundation identified as a main goal to bring into the museum more kids from socially disadvantaged families, children with intellectual and physical disabilities, children without parents and isolated groups or those in difficulty (refugees, single mothers, etc.). To achieve this goal, we worked in several directions:

-          Raising the awareness of the designated target groups about the opportunities for free visits to Muzeiko, provided by partners and donors of the Muzeiko Foundation. We worked to establish contacts with NGOs that support and provide social services to target groups. We disseminated information to nearly 30 organizations in Sofia and the country; we established contacts with the Directorate of Social Services for Children and Adults at Sofia Municipality. The information was further distributed to 17 centres for school-age children, which the Directorate of Social Services manages and connected us with the coordinator for 50 foster parents for the city of Sofia, who received information about the opportunities in Muzeiko.

-          Development of program activities and formats suitable for children and families with different language skills (e.g. those who do not speak Bulgarian), different physical and intellectual skills (e.g. children with different degrees of autism and different physical disabilities). We have developed a format for a tour of the exhibitions and art activities that are suitable for children with different skills and are satisfying for them.

-          Improving the skills of the team in Muzeiko for working with children and families from the above target groups and increasing tolerance and understanding of different children. We worked with trainers from TSA (Trust for Social Achievement), who organized and conducted a training "Together in a colorful world", aimed at to knowing and overcoming personal stereotypes and prejudices.

As a result, partner organizations realized visits of 44 children from the target groups, for whom we conducted art activities and experiments, as well as research missions on the floors of Muzeiko, in accordance with their interests and attitudes.

In addition to this main goal, we continued to work on the development of online formats for different target groups. In the context of precautionary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, conducting scientific experiments and workshops remotely was for a long time the only opportunity to diversify children's daily lives and maintain the Muzeiko Foundation's mission to support students and teachers with providing modern teaching methods.

With your support, in the continuing situation of global pandemic, you helped us deliver joy, science, technology and art to kids and students nationwide. We have achieved so much together!

Thank you for being part of this incredible journey!

On the eve of Christmas and the New Year, we are wishing you a healthy and fulfilling 2022. We are looking forward for more opportunities to meet with kids from the whole country and help them discover the world of science.

With gratitude and warmth,

Muzeiko’s team