Welsh Museums Festival dates confirmed

The Welsh Museums Festival will return in 2022 with a two-week celebration across the country.

The three themes for the festival, which runs from Saturday 22 October to Sunday 6 November, are the ancient tradition of riddles, treasure and Halloween. The dates coincide with Halloween on 31 October, as well as the English and Welsh half-term weeks.

Museums taking part are able to decide what events to organise during the festival period and when to hold them, although they will be encouraged to coincide with the Welsh half-term on the second week.

The Federation of Welsh Museums, the strategic body for museum and art gallery professionals in Wales, will promote the festival and events across the whole two weeks, provide social media training and free activity packs.

These include a free dragon-inspired trail for young children, puzzles and riddles for older children and a new photography competition for teenagers.

Accredited museums that want to take part can also apply for grants of £500 (up to £1,000 per museum). Details of how to apply will be announced soon.

Last year 100 museums took part in the celebrations, with strong links to Black History Month and the climate crisis.