To mark International Museum Day 2026, the first session of a new series will launch on 18 May at 17:00 CET, exploring the pivotal role of strategic communications in shaping museum culture, both outward and inward-facing: promoting inclusive narratives and fostering a safe environment.
Museums today face a double challenge: to create change, they must navigate contested narratives, colonial legacies, and rising demands for inclusive representation. But transformation begins at home. Internally, museums also confront a troubling reality – workplace toxicity, burnout, and systemic inequities that undermine their stated values. In both arenas, communication is a fundamental tool for preventing and addressing harassment, racism, and discrimination.
“Museum as Safe Spaces” brings together leading voices in the museum field to examine how strategic communication – both outward and inward-facing – can protect the museum’s public mission and its people.
In cooperation with the “Tourism & Heritage” Innovation Hub and Ulysseus WP6 “EDI & CE”, ICOM ICTOP, ICOM INTERCOM “Museum Communication” Working Group of ICOM Italy and NEMO, this initiative is presented by ICOM COMMS, the International Committee for Communications, Marketing and Audience Engagement of ICOM – the International Council of Museums, the leading international non-governmental organisation of museums and museum professionals, partner of UNESCO.
It is curated and conducted by Cristina Chiaiso, Research Fellow at the University of Genoa, Board Member of ICOM COMMS, and Coordinator of the national Museum Communication Working Group of ICOM Italy.
The project is aligned with the International Museum Day 2026 theme “Museums Uniting a Divided World”, highlighting the potential of museums to act as bridges across cultural, social, and geopolitical divides, fostering dialogue, understanding, inclusion and peace within and between communities worldwide. Organised by ICOM each year since 1977 to raise awareness about the fact that “Museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among peoples”, the IMD represents a unique moment for the international museum community.
>> Join us in these two open conversations to support an inclusive environment within museums and cultural spaces. It’s a proactive framework for institutional integrity: understanding what is happening and what we can do about it.
>> What you will take away: A conceptual framework connecting external narrative strategy to internal organizational culture, grounded in cutting-edge research and real-world data.
MUSEUMS AS SAFE SPACES – SESSION 1: SPEAKING OUT
STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION TO PROMOTE INCLUSIVE NARRATIVES IN MUSEUMS
How can museums use their unique public platform to challenge discrimination – without alienating audiences or oversimplifying complex histories? This session explores the museum as an ethical communicator: an institution that takes positions, mediates conflict, and builds trust with diverse communities through the stories it tells.
PROGRAMME
Cristina Chiaiso, PhD, Research Fellow at the University of Genoa and its Dissemination Officer for the Ulysseus European alliance, is Project Manager of the “Tourism & Heritage” Innovation Hub.
With specialised expertise in designing and coordinating cultural enhancement projects, her research focuses on communication and innovation strategies for the cultural sector, particularly within museum and academic fields. She leads the Ulysseus joint R&I group “Innovation Strategies for Cultural Heritage”.
She is a curator of cultural initiatives and presenter, lecturer and tutor at international conferences, seminars, workshops and other training activities.
A committed advocate for best practices in the field, she is affiliated with FERPI, the Italian Public Relations Association. She coordinates the ICOM Italy “Museum Communication” Working Group and is an elected Board Member of the ICOM COMMS International Committee for Communications, Marketing and Audience Engagement.
Richard Sandell is Professor of Museum Studies and Co-Director of the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG) at the University of Leicester.
With colleagues in the Centre, he works collaboratively with cultural institutions on projects that generate new insights and advance thinking and practice around their social roles, responsibilities and agency. His publications include Museums, Moralities and Human Rights (Routledge, 2017) which explores how museums, galleries and heritage sites of all kinds – through the narratives they construct and publicly present – contribute to shaping the moral and political climate within which human rights are experienced, continually sought and fought for, realised and refused.
In 2019, he published a major new international edited collection – Museum Activism, with Robert Janes, that explores the ‘activist turn’ in museum thinking and practice and makes the case for the socially purposeful museum. Richard is a co-author of Trans-Inclusive Culture: guidance on advancing trans inclusion for museums, galleries, archives and heritage organisations and is currently working with cultural organisations across the UK to build capacity and confidence around this work.
Sandro Debono Ph.D (Lond.) is a museum thinker, academic, and advisor based in the Mediterranean island of Malta. His practice bridges theory and over twenty-five years of hands-on experience in museums.
He is an Executive Board Member of NEMO (Network of European Museum Organisations) and sits on the international advisory board of the Anchorage Museum (Alaska), the editorial boards of Collections (Sage) and Capitale Culturale – Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage.
A sought-after keynote speaker and curator of major international exhibitions, he is a well-published author with a focus on museology and its Mediterranean dimension.
Rebecca Thonander is the Communications Officer at NEMO since 2018. After completing her bachelor’s degrees in business/marketing and film studies at Stockholm University, Rebecca worked with project management and communication at the Stockholm International Film Festival and later at the Berlin Film Society. She is passionate about matters concerning inclusion, diversity and intersectionality.
In “LGBTQIA+ inclusion in European museums. An incomplete guideline” the Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO) addresses the critical issue of ensuring that all communities feel welcome in the museum by implementing LGBTQIA+ inclusive policies. Drawing on insights gathered from museum professionals across Europe, this initiative aims to support institutions in becoming more inclusive spaces for everyone.
Darko Babić, PhD, is Associate Professor and Chair of Museology at the University of Zagreb (Croatia). Darko is Chair of the ICOM-ICTOP (ICOM’s International Committee for the Training of Personnel), in mandate 2025-2028, where in the past he was Chair of ICOM Croatia.
He is editor of the book “International Perspectives on Museum Management” (Routledge & ICOM, 2024). In 2010 Darko was among founding fathers of the Interpret Europe (European Association for Heritage Interpretation), and after served in three terms in its Supervisory Committee. In addition, he has experience in running the European Union funded projects, recently finishing his fourth.
MUSEUMS AS SAFE SPACES – SESSION 2: LOOKING INWARD
Strategic Communication to address inconvenient truths
23 JUNE 2026, h. 5-6 pm CEST (+Q&A)
Museums publicly champion equity, diversity, and inclusion. But what does the data say about how they treat their own workers? This session turns the lens inward to examine how internal communication systems – reporting channels, equity data, accountability mechanisms – can transform organisational culture and protect the people who make museum work possible.
