How do you teach young people about topics such as prejudice and diversity without pointing fingers? That is the question two history students asked themselves – and the answer was a teaching course about minorities in the Old Town.

Now the project has secured them an international award. The prize is awarded by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) to young people under the age of 35 who, with new ideas, strengthen young people's self-understanding and democratic formation.

The teaching course is aimed at secondary school classes and takes the students around three historic apartments – the Guest Worker Apartment, The Blind Man's Apartment and The Rainbow Family's Apartment. The students then work with exercises where they explore how prejudices arise and how democratic dialogue can work in practice.

"We wanted to create a course where the students not only learn about history, but also reflect on their own view of other people. Winning an international award shows that the topics we work with are also important globally," says award winner Arthur Alejandro Cardoso Jørgensen, who together with Laura Lyndgaard Hansen has developed the course.

"One of the most important things for us was to avoid an them-and-us perspective. The students should feel that they could speak their mind without feeling wrong. It was crucial to create a democratic conversation," Laura adds.

An award with perspectives
Winning the ICOM Young Member Award is a recognition Arthur and Laura are proud of – and they hope it can benefit them in their future careers.

"Of course, it is a huge experience to win. But we also hope that it will be a door opener when we go out to apply for jobs at museums. ICOM is a name that most people in the museum world know," says Arthur.

The teaching course has now been passed on to The Old Town, which is considering continuing to work with it in an adapted form, among other things in collaboration with external partners.