Research Centre for Museums and Galleries developing guidance on trans-inclusive practice

Guidance on trans-inclusive practice in museums, galleries and heritage organisations is being developed by the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG) at the University of Leicester.

RCMG is developing the guidance to help cultural organisations take forward this work as part of their wider commitments to advance equity and inclusion. 

The work emerges in the context of growing uncertainty and anxiety surrounding trans-inclusive practice across heritage, arts and cultural organisations, according to the RCMG.

Richard Sandell, co-director of the RCMG, said: “Although more and more museums, galleries and heritage organisations are keen to develop their trans-inclusive practice – to work with communities to improve representation, to welcome trans visitors and support trans colleagues – recent months have seen increasing uncertainty and sometimes anxiety about how to take this forward. The guidance we are developing will support organisations to be ambitious and confident in their work to advance trans-inclusion and equality.”

The guidance, developed with legal scholars from the University of Edinburgh, will be issued this summer and will be free to download. 

It will include an ethical framework to guide work that seeks to advance equality for trans staff and visitors and fosters approaches that harness the capacity for cultural organisations to build public understanding and support for trans inclusion.

To ensure that the advice is as useful as possible, RCMG wants to find out what issues cultural organisations would like to see in the guidance. 

Organisations can take part in the process by completing a survey that can be found here. Contributions will be confidential and the deadline is 19 June.

Suzanne MacLeod, co-director at the RCMG, said: “We are asking people working in cultural organisations of all kinds to feed into this important initiative by sharing the challenges they are experiencing and the areas they would like the guidance to cover. We are excited to bring together a team with the mix of expertise needed to work at pace to respond to the needs of the sector with clear advice and support to foster trans inclusive working.” 

Organisations wanting to be notified by email as soon as the guidance is available can sign up to the RCMG newsletter.