Imagine being a teenager without instant access to technology. How would this impact your everyday life? The Ashcroft Arts Centre, a performing arts venue within the Hampshire Cultural Trust, ran a project enabling young people to respond to this theme by leading and curating an exhibition looking at the rise of technology since the 1960s.

Three groups of young people from local colleges researched and developed exhibition content, with the current relevance of social media helping to increase engagement with the topic. Each group, responding to different themes, found creative ways to express their ideas, from conducting interviews with family, friends and the local community to sourcing specific objects for the final exhibition. To inform their exhibition planning and delivery, participants attended oral history, exhibition curation and collection conservation sessions with heritage professionals.

The final temporary exhibition was installed in Westbury Manor Museum. It was highly interactive, featuring a physical Facebook wall with status updates through the decades, a giant iPhone installation, retro games, and short films. This visual, tactile and audio interpretation appealed to audiences of all ages, and drew in an audience of approximately 2,000 visitors in seven weeks.

Heather, project participant, said: "The best part of the project was seeing people looking at what we’d worked on and enjoying the interactive aspects. It was really rewarding to know that our hard work was being appreciated!"