Museums and sustainable social and societal development – Overview in French-speaking Belgium, ICOM

Open Museum was recently featured in La Vie des Musées,[1] the ICOM journal published by the Association francophone des musées de Belgique. The article gives an overview of Open Museum, its approach, main principles and challenges, and the impact of museums on today’s society. It also includes several examples of good practices by museums in Brussels in terms of accessibility and inclusion.

Disclaimer: This article was originally published in La Vie des Musées and was translated to English to make it accessible on the Open Museum website. The original article, with accompanying images and the correct layout, is available here :La Vie des Musées- Article Musée et inclusion Open Museum

Museums and Inclusion: Open Museum, an initiative by Brussels Museums

In a world facing economic, social and ecological crises, museums play an essential role in social cohesion and intercultural dialogue. Their mission goes beyond the mere conservation of collections: they are also agents of inclusion and social transformation. The definition adopted by ICOM in 2022 illustrates this evolution:

“A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability.”[2]

However, the health crisis has highlighted political statements asserting the so-called ‘non-essential nature of culture’. In response to these challenges, the Open Museum initiative, carried by the Brussels Museums federation, offers a concrete and innovative approach to strengthening inclusion and accessibility within museum institutions. This article explores this approach, its challenges and its impact on the place of museums in today’s society.

Open Museum: an initiative for inclusion

Brussels Museums is an independent federation that groups more than 125 museums in Brussels. Its role is to promote these institutions, encourage their accessibility to a wide range of audiences – particularly young people – and support professionals in the sector through training and collaborative initiatives.

With this in mind, Brussels Museums launched Open Museum, a project aimed at encouraging a more inclusive culture within the capital’s museums. This initiative is based on a desire for openness, accessibility and active participation by audiences that are still too often marginalised in cultural institutions.

The main objectives of Open Museum are to raise awareness among professionals about social and societal issues, to support museums in implementing inclusive policies, and to create a network between cultural and social actors to encourage sustainable collaborations.

These actions aim to redefine museums as major players in building a more equitable and inclusive society.

Inclusion and accessibility: concepts and challenges

Although the concepts of inclusion and accessibility are often used together, they refer to distinct realities.

Accessibility aims to remove physical, sensory or financial barriers that prevent certain people from accessing a museum.

Inclusion encompasses a broader approach, aiming to actively integrate minorities into the museum experience.

Belgian museums face several challenges:

• A lack of human and financial resources to develop inclusive projects. A recent study highlights the diversity of situations within museums in Brussels: while some institutions have qualified staff, others have to cope with a lack of working hours and rely heavily on volunteers to make up for the lack of resources.[3]
• Limited representation of cultural diversity in collections and programming, where, despite a proliferation of narratives, History with a capital H — conceived as universal — remains predominant and struggles to make room for alternative perspectives.
• Insufficient training of staff on issues related to inclusion.

Despite these challenges, strategies are emerging, notably involving local communities in the co-creation of exhibitions and the implementation of participatory workshops.

‘5P’-methodology: sensibilisation of professionals and concrete examples of inclusive practices

To address these challenges, Open Museum adopts a comprehensive approach that takes into account all aspects of the museum. Its methodology is based on five strategic areas, known as the 5Ps, which enable action to be taken at several levels to promote sustainable and systemic inclusion. These areas have been defined to incorporate the principles of universal design, taking into account the diverse needs of visitors (families with buggies, wheelchair users, visitors with temporary mobility issues, etc.), but also the wider benefits that these adaptations and awareness-raising initiatives bring. Each inclusive measure designed for a specific audience has a ripple effect that benefits all visitors and contributes to a more welcoming museum experience.

1. People (staff): train and raise awareness among museum teams;
2. Publics: better understand the needs of audiences from diverse cultural, social and economic backgrounds;
3. Programming: incorporate themes that are inclusive and representative of audiences from diverse backgrounds;
4. Partnerships: establish collaborations with social and educational actors;
5. Place: improve the physical accessibility of museum spaces.

This systematic approach enables museums to move towards an inclusive model, while ensuring a lasting impact on their audiences.

One of Open Museum’s key drivers is training and raising awareness among museum professionals about inclusive practices. To this end, training courses adapted to different levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and tailor-made sessions are offered to various museum departments. To date, these training courses have been set up for exhibition curators, reception and security teams, as well as for guides and cultural mediators. Ultimately, Open Museum wishes to extend this approach to other key sectors, such as communication, human resources, management, patronage and logistics, in order to fully integrate inclusion at all levels of the institution.

Here are some concrete examples of training courses organised by Open Museum:

• Co-creation and connection with society: fully integrating audiences into programming and mediation.
• Cognitive biases and combating microaggressions: understanding and deconstructing prejudices to improve reception, supervision and teamwork.
• Audiences in literacy programmes and FLE/NT2: adapting visits and educational tools to the needs of audiences learning French or Dutch.
• Care in exhibition design: considering the relationships between artists, teams and audiences from a perspective of mutual care.

By offering these practical tools, Open Museum strengthens professionals’ ability to adapt museum infrastructure, visitor experiences and activities to the realities and needs of their audiences.

With this in mind, several French-speaking museums in Belgium have already taken remarkable steps in collaboration with local associations. These initiatives highlight innovative solutions and inspiring practices:

• BELvue Museum:[4] by offering educational activities tailored to newcomers and asylum seekers, such as the 2 (t)huizen, 1 museum project, the museum builds bridges between cultural heritage and social integration. By giving a voice to people from diverse backgrounds, these initiatives promote a lively and pluralistic mediation of Belgian history, while strengthening the inclusion of participants.
• Train World: the museum offers sensory tours specially designed for visitors with specific needs, such as the Multisenso rail tour,[5] which allows visitors to discover steam trains with the help of a small locomotive and a guide/storyteller. These immersive experiences are redefining the way museums interact with diverse audiences.

These examples illustrate the positive impact of an inclusive approach, both for visitors and for museum teams themselves. For more than twenty years, Brussels museums have been actively committed to this approach, convinced of their role in building a more open and inclusive society. Many of them are developing initiatives in collaboration with specialist associations and investing in continuing professional development to better meet the expectations of their audiences.

Museums and inclusion: support, training and innovating together

Open Museum works with museums to rethink their role in contemporary society. By promoting strategic partnerships, the initiative helps museums become places of social transformation. These collaborations enable museums to adapt to the needs of their audiences. These actions reinforce the relevance of museums as dynamic spaces for cultural sharing and collective reflection. Among the Brussels museums involved in this dynamic, here are a few notable examples:

• The Maison Autrique: has developed a partnership with local schools to raise awareness among young people about architectural heritage. This type of project not only promotes heritage culture, but also strengthens the links between the museum and the local community. The involvement of younger generations helps to raise awareness of the importance of their city’s architectural history.[6]
• The Museum of Musical Instruments (MIM): offers interactive tours specially adapted for blind and visually impaired people, providing an enriching sensory experience. These tours use tactile aids, audio recordings and practical demonstrations to make musical instruments accessible to all. This type of initiative promotes an inclusive museum experience and makes musical culture a common good to be shared.[7]
• The Museum of the City of Brussels – Maison du Roi: has implemented several specific measures to make its collections accessible to a diverse audience. It offers tours adapted for deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors in French-speaking Belgian Sign Language (LSFB). It is also developing other initiatives, such as the game trail “Menez l’enquête avec saint Michel” (“Investigate with Saint Michael”), designed for visitors with intellectual disabilities. These initiatives aim to reach audiences that have historically been distant from cultural institutions and to offer everyone a unique experience of discovering Brussels’ heritage.

These museum initiatives, aligned with Open Museum’s objectives, demonstrate how openness and social innovation have become priorities for cultural institutions, which are reinventing their role to better interact with their communities.

Inclusion in programming: from art to social action

Museum programming is far from neutral; it is a key driver of social change. By presenting works and themes that explore contemporary issues – migration, diversity, feminism, inequality – museums can reflect and challenge current societal challenges.

That is why Brussels Museums wants to set an example through its two flagship events: Nocturnes and Museum Night Fever. In-depth reflection has been carried out over several years to make accessibility a central element of these events, rather than a simple last-minute adaptation. This approach is based on a comprehensive strategy structured around the ‘5 Ps’. As part of Nocturnes 2025, initiatives such as feminist tours and tours in LSFB (French-Belgian Sign Language) illustrate this desire for openness. At the same time, a training programme on physical accessibility and the dissemination of information essential to the autonomy of visitors with disabilities accompanies these actions, involving all participating museums.

Inclusion in the programme therefore contributes to the transformation of museums, which are no longer simply buildings. They become living spaces where visitors can meet, exchange ideas and socialise. These initiatives promote a participatory and diverse approach to culture. They enable museums to play a central role in creating lasting social bonds. They also demonstrate the importance of inclusion strategies and policies which, by supporting such initiatives, help to make these spaces more open and accessible to all.

Conclusions: museums as models for society

Museums are no longer simply places of conservation: they are spaces for dialogue and social transformation. Building on initiatives such as Open Museum, they are strengthening their commitment to a more inclusive and participatory society. However, these advances require sustained political and financial support, as well as ongoing training for professionals in the sector to ensure their effective implementation.

By placing inclusion and accessibility at the heart of the museum’s mission, ICOM marks a significant evolution. Brussels Museums embodies this dynamic by developing appropriate tools and increasing collaboration with social actors. For these efforts to be fully effective, it is essential to integrate accessibility from the design stage of spaces and services in order to meet the needs of a wide audience.

This call to action invites every museum to actively engage in this transformation by making inclusion and sustainability fundamental priorities. By rethinking their practices, museums can become true drivers of change and models for a more inclusive and equitable society.

Interview with Julie Desbois-Jones, coordinator of the Open Museum initiative, and Eléonore Duchêne, head of digital development and tourism for the Museums of the City of Brussels.

© Photo : Melissa Fauve

[1] Desbois-Jones, Julie & Duchêne, Eléonore. (2025). Musées et Inclusion : Open Museum, une initiative de Brussels Museums. La Vie des Musées. Musées et développement social et sociétal durable – Panorama en Belgique francophone, 31, 54-59.

[2] ICOM. Museum Definition. 2022. https://icom.museum/en/resources/standards-guidelines/museum-definition/.

[3] Wynants J.-M., « Près de 9.000 emplois dépendent des musées bruxellois », Le Soir, 11 décembre 2024, www.lesoir.be/641686/article/2024-12-11/pres-de-9000-emplois-dependent-des-musees-bruxellois.

[4] For more information on the project 2 (t)huizen, 1 museum, see BELvue Museum – A Museum for Everyone. www.belvue.be.

[5] For more information on the Multisenso Rail parcours, see: Train World – An Inclusive Museum. https://trainworld.be/en/plan-your-visit/inclusive-museum/multisenso-rail/multisenso-rail-a-multisensory-offering-at-train-world.

[6] Maison Autrique. Partenariats scolaires pour la sensibilisation au patrimoine architectural, www.maisonautrique.be.

[7] Museum of Musical Instruments. Visites interactives pour personnes aveugles et malvoyantes, www.mim.be.

[8] Museum of the City of Brussels. Accessibilité et actions inclusives. www.brusselscitymuseum.brussels.