Welcoming Spaces
What Does Home Mean to You?: Community-led Collecting and Curation in the Real Rooms Project
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Louis Platman
The Museum of the Home in London, UK, examines the meanings of home and domestic histories over the past 400 years. The main display spaces consist of period rooms, recreating homes from 1630 to today. Prior to the Real Rooms project, the period rooms for the most part only portrayed white, middle-class homes, and therefore were severely lacking in representation of London’s diverse history. The Real Rooms galleries, opened in July 2024, were a conscious attempt to redress this balance, not only by changing what stories the rooms tell, but also in inviting communities in to help tell their stories themselves. A Community Authors programme was established to act as the commissioning body for the project, guiding its direction and helping develop the displays. Community groups were created or brought in to co-curate each of the individual spaces, telling us what objects and traditions are crucial to their idea of home. Participants were paid for their time and their object donations, recognising the vital importance of community contributions to the Museum. This paper explores the Real Rooms from its inception to post-launch programming, delving into the challenges and amazing opportunities that open up to museums when they open themselves up to greater community involvement.
Featured Are Museums Inclusive Places for Generally Excluded Social Groups?: Homeless, Victims, and Migrants in Bogotá, Colombia
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nancy Rocio Rueda Esteban
In the beginning, museums used to be places for elite and academic visitors, nonetheless, these institutions have evolved towards accessibility, inclusivity, and openness, to allow entrance to different groups of the community, and allow different voices in their exhibitions. But, to what point do museums still exclude people, who are at the same time socially excluded groups? What is the role of museums in the inclusion and awareness of these people in society? Homeless, victims, and migrants are generally groups of people excluded from the social life of cities. The objective of this research is to analyze whether museums consider socially excluded groups and how they try to construct the social fabric of cities with inclusive strategies in the capital city of Colombia, Bogotá, a place known as a receiving city for displaced people from the conflict and migrants, with difficult social issues. A qualitative methodology is used, first to identify the museums that apply inclusive strategies to these groups of people. Then in-depth interviews are made to understand activities and their impact on society.
Museums for All : Opening Museums to Neurodivergent Children
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Yassamin Kouraichi
The Museums for All initiative aims to foster inclusive cultural spaces by integrating neurodiversity into space design education. Developed in collaboration with the École de Condé, Villa Arson, and partners such as POP 06 and O-KIDIA, this project engages students in a multidisciplinary approach to accessibility in museums. The initiative unfolds in three phases: (1) Awareness Workshop at école de Condé to educate design students on neurodiversity through expert presentations and immersive VR simulations; (2) Inclusive Space Design Sprint, where students develop projects under the mentorship of orthopedagogues, culminating in a selection of five prototypes; (3) Public Event at Villa Arson, featuring a scientific conference, an interactive exhibition, and VR experiences, with participation from museum professionals and policymakers. Beyond its direct educational impact, Museums for All has inspired its partners to initiate working groups dedicated to fostering inclusivity for neurodivergent individuals in cultural spaces. These discussions aim to promote long-term institutional changes in accessibility and visitor experience. By combining pedagogy, technological innovation, and real-world applications, Museums for All encourages future designers to rethink museum spaces for all. This research explores the methodology, challenges, and outcomes of this initiative, highlighting its potential to transform museum accessibility at an institutional level.
