Vox pop

“I would like to see the 2020 vision radically shape museums as 21st-century institutions, so museums are aware of their historical roots, but are not constrained by them.

I would like to see museums which actively model and construct a fairer and more equitable society. Institutions that are engaged with moral dilemmas of the age, for example climate change, looking at its social implications and not just focused on environmental issues.

We need a vision that embeds ethics not as a code to be adhered to, but that drives change towards self-reflective, transparent and accountable practice in support of social engagement and sustainability.”


“I want museums to be the amazing by-product of a movement to help people shape their own reality – the repository of inspiration; the treasury of achievement.

I want us to be the stimulus for thinking and making – shaping the modern knowledge economy; re-invigorating the human instinct for making useful and beautiful things.

I want us to be a global Wikipedia-style network of real objects to immerse yourself within – igniting the inspiration to achieve.

And I want museums to take their chance – be leaders within the wider cultural sector, don’t let ourselves be shoe-horned into the box marked ‘heritage’.”


“In the Museums Association’s 2020 vision of the future of museums I would like to see a rethinking of what the museum profession is. For too long we have looked inwardly, guarding the boundaries of our ‘profession’, rather than looking outwards as part of culture, arts, education, leisure, citizenship, well-being and tourism.

We need to work on a much wider canvas, confident of our uniqueness, but seeing it as natural to work in partnership with others to achieve greater ends.
A consequence is that we must also rethink the way we develop people working in museums, to enable people easily to move between different sectors.”


“I would like to see flexibility, creativity and focus. We need to be flexible about where and how we work, and about how we and others can use our collections to provide engaging and authentic experiences.

We need to be creative in how we interpret our collections, making connections and thinking across subject and organisational boundaries.

But we also need to be focused and confident about our interpretation – about what we are saying, why we are saying it and what we are leaving out. And to do any of that, we need to understand our visitors, their needs and how they engage with us and each other.”