Who are we?

We are Brussels Museums, an independent organisation that represents and connects around 120 museums and art centres within Brussels. You may know us from our events Museum Night Fever, Nocturnes or more recently, COME♡BACK. For one or more nights, we take our museums out of their comfort zones and welcome a more diverse audience. 

What does Open Museum want to achieve?

To structurally extend the inclusive and participatory approach of our events. The barriers to entering a museum are not only physical and visible. To create more inclusive museums, we need to actively involve the (historically) under-represented voices – in all their differences and similarities – in all processes of decision-making.

With Open Museum, we want to raise awareness in our museums and assist them in this process. We also want to highlight the initiatives that have already been realized by our museums. Together we need to develop a structural policy around:

• the staff employed in the museums
• the audience engagement of the museums
• the programming and collection presentations of the museums

This approach does not shy away from a critical analysis of the foundations on which museums are built. The diversity that makes Brussels the beautiful city it is, must be reflected in its cultural institutions. On all levels.

Why is Open Museum necessary?

Museums preserve our heritage and make it available to current and future generations. This goes without saying. What is less obvious is which stories are told and why certain voices are better heard than others. A recalibration is necessary.

There is a strong desire, both internally and externally, to move towards a cultural democracy in which museums dare to critically analyze their own perspectives and relate them to our contemporary society. An evolution towards museums that are no longer elitist temples of knowledge propagating a single vision, but rather polyphonic spaces where every audience feels welcome, safe and represented.

How are we approaching this?

Reflection, dialogue and action.

• In-depth interviews with participating museums
• Trainings on unconscious bias and inclusion in the participating museums with their entire teams
• Assembling and sharing best (and worst) practices from our own field, city, country and far beyond
• Offering a platform to showcase participatory projects of our museums
• Moments of reflection between museums
• Moments of reflection on specific themes (sexism, racism, gay/transphobia, ableism, etc.) for museums with experts
• Annual study day (9 March 202)
• Setting up pilot projects (from March 2021) between museums and social non-profits combatting structural discrimination
• Setting up an external think tank (from March 2021)

At Brussels Museums, we are also taking a deep look at ourselves and our board of directors. For this, we have enlisted the help of Actiris to assist us in the development of our diversity plan over the next 2 years.

Participating museums

The ever-expanding list of museums/art houses participating in the Open Museum trajectory:

Autrique House, Boghossian Foundation, Bozar, Brussels Design Museum, Chocostory, CIVA, Museum of Ixelles, La Fonderie, Geopolis, Horta Museum, ING Art Centre, Jewish Museum of Belgium, KANAL – Centre Pompidou, KBR, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Museum of Art and History, Museums of the City of Brussels (Brussels City Museum, Fashion and Lace Museum, GardeRobe MannekenPis, Sewer Museum), ISELP