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Story Shapers
Noughts, Crosses and New Voices
In partnership with the Black Excellence Project & Kuumba Nia Arts
Calling Young Creatives age 11-16! Weekly sessions from 17 September on Wednesdays, 16:30-18:30 at The Story Museum
In February 2026, The Story Museum will open a new Noughts and Crosses immersive storytelling space, celebrating 25 years since Malorie Blackman’s groundbreaking novel. Located in the Enchanted Library, this space will invite visitors to explore the story in playful, sensory, and imaginative ways — sparking curiosity and connection. Best of all, it will be co-designed with young people – that could be you!
Starting in September 2025, The Story Museum will partner the Black Excellence Project and Kuumba Nia Arts to offer a series of fun workshops, led by artists and authors of African, Caribbean and Global Majority Heritage. You will explore the Noughts and Crosses story and create your own responses through exhibition design, writing, performance, film, or podcasting.
You’ll gain creative skills, meet inspiring role models, and share your work at the museum and online. Plus, you’ll discover Black heritage and storytelling while making new friends and boosting your confidence.
Whether you’re a budding designer, performer, writer, or just curious — this is your chance to help shape a bold, brilliant story space and leave your mark!
To find out more and sign up for your free place contact: [email protected], or call 01865 790050. Download our Noughts, Crosses and New Voices flyer here.
About the Black Excellence Project
The Black Excellence Project is an extra curricular programme, open to young people aged 11 – 16. It gives young people the opportunity to build skills, develop their talents, discover new interests and opportunities and meet new friends.
This project will run fun culture and skills based sessions led by role models from industry and the arts. The young people will have the opportunity to develop practical and analytical skills, and gain an understanding of the opportunities that are available to them where people of colour are not often visible.
The programme aims to address the lack of multicultural representation in mainstream education by providing an African, Caribbean and mixed heritage focus.
About Kuumba Nia Arts
Kuumba Nia Arts is a Black led Oxford-based touring theatre company that produces and develops work based on traditional African theatrical forms and aesthetics. In Swahili, Kuumba means ‘creativity’ whilst Nia can be translated as ‘intention’ or ‘purpose’. Our mission and purpose is to fuse contemporary creative performance styles with historical African forms that have been passed to the diaspora to create a theatre that breaks new ground. Creating unique productions of startling authenticity that inform, surprise and entertain. We also run workshops, film screenings and events.
Story Curators 2025-2026
Come and join us on our Story Curators course to learn how exhibitions and installations are created – from first ideas to fully built! Get hands-on with the museum’s professional Exhibitions and Production Teams to develop skills in curation, design and construction, working towards installations which will feature in our Galleries and Events Programme for all our visitors to enjoy.
Perhaps you already have an interest in design or making and want to take those skills to the next level, or perhaps you’re just curious about how exhibitions are created. Perhaps you’re keen to learn carpentry skills, or perhaps you’re fascinated by how we can tell stories visually by building worlds to step into. Or perhaps you are somewhere in between. Either way and every way, this course is for you!
The course runs on a weekly basis from September 2025 to July 2026, with some additional intensive days in May half term and at the start of July. This year, participants will see their design and making work showcased in our next major Treasure Chamber exhibition – opening July 2026!
Priority this year will be given to those participants who have completed Year 1 and 2, followed by those who have attended the Summer Taster Week.
Story Curators is part of the Story Shapers participation programme.
Weekly sessions on Tuesdays, 16:30-18:30 at The Story Museum
To find out more or sign up to your free place, email [email protected] for an application form.
Download our Story Curators flyer here.
