The Art Engager

In today's solo episode, host Claire Bown celebrates the one-year anniversary of The Art Engager book with our first-ever Ask Me Anything format. She answers 10 practical questions from listeners about facilitating guided experiences in museums.

From how long to let people look at artworks to building psychological safety with established groups, Claire tackles the real challenges educators and guides face every day. Does everyone have to talk to be actively engaged? How do you pull a group back when disengaged? What's a good way to redirect someone who's going on too long? When should you share the artist's perspective if the group's discussion is quite different?

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• The Art Engager: Reimagining Guided Experiences in Museums (Claire's book)
• Episode 148: How to create active engagement on guided experiences
• Episode 142: Building Trust and Psychological Safety on guided experiences
• The 10 Questioning Practices (QPs) from The Art Engager
• The Thinking Museum® Approach

The Art Engager is written and presented by Claire Bown. Editing is by Matt Jacobs and Claire Bown. Music by Richard Bown.

✨Pick up a copy of my book, The Art Engager, for step-by-step guidance on creating meaningful, interactive guided experiences https://www.theartengager.com/

Buy it here on Amazon.com: https://tinyurl.com/buytheartengager

Curated newsletter: https://thinkingmuseum.com/newsletter/

Adventures in (Slow) Looking on Substack: https://adventuresinslowlooking.substack.com/

Free resources: https://thinkingmuseum.com/the-thinking-museum-approach/resources/

In this episode of The Art Engager Claire Bown talks with Tina Demirdjian, a poet and educator who has spent over 30 years transforming how people connect with poetry and visual art.

Tina is someone who in her own words 'changes people's minds' about poetry, about themselves and about their capacity for creative expression. Working primarily with second language learners and immigrant communities in Los Angeles she has developed unique approaches that use visual art as a gateway into poetry writing.

The conversation explores why museums are 'sacred spaces' that support creativity, practical techniques for facilitating poetry writing in galleries and how to help people overcome their intimidation about writing.

Listen to this episode if you want to:

• Learn practical techniques for poetry programming in museums, including spine poetry and found poetry using curator and wall texts
• Discover why the museum environment uniquely supports creative confidence and expression
• Explore how visual art can serve as a bridge to poetry for diverse audiences
• Understand how to help visitors overcome intimidation about poetry and writing

This episode offers practical insights into poetry programming and how to create the 'ease' that helps everyone discover they have at least one powerful poem in them.

The Art Engager is written and presented by Claire Bown. Editing is by Matt Jacobs and Claire Bown. Music by Richard Bown.

Episode Links:

Art inspires youth poetry at MOCA

ARTful Conversations

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-demirdjian-a102488/

https://www.instagram.com/poetinastudio/

✨Pick up a copy of my book, The Art Engager, for step-by-step guidance on creating meaningful, interactive guided experiences https://www.theartengager.com/

Buy it here on Amazon.com: https://tinyurl.com/buytheartengager

Curated newsletter: https://thinkingmuseum.com/newsletter/

Adventures in (Slow) Looking on Substack: https://adventuresinslowlooking.substack.com/

Free resources: https://thinkingmuseum.com/the-thinking-museum-approach/resources/

https://www.poetryconsults.com/museums-libraries

In this episode of The Art Engager, Claire Bown talks with Ciaron Wilkinson, Head of Partnerships and Engagement at Manchester Museum — one of the UK’s largest university museums and recent winner of European Museum of the Year.

After a values-led redevelopment, Manchester Museum has reimagined how a museum can engage with its community. Its mission is to be the most caring, imaginative, and inclusive museum people will ever visit - a place where everyone belongs.

Ciaron shares how this vision has reshaped the museum’s spaces and ways of working: co-curating the South Asia Gallery with 30 community members over five years, celebrating faith and culture through the Manchester Museum Celebrates series, and opening the Top Floor hub, shared with 25 local organisations dedicated to social justice and climate action.

This conversation offers practical insights into co-curation, community engagement, and the values-led decisions behind creating cultural spaces where everyone feels welcome.

The Art Engager is written and presented by Claire Bown. Editing is by Matt Jacobs and Claire Bown. Music by Richard Bown.

Episode Links:

Manchester Museum website

Manchester Museum Instagram

Article on European Museum of the Year

Article on decolonisation

New York Times article following reopening

✨Pick up a copy of my book, The Art Engager, for step-by-step guidance on creating meaningful, interactive guided experiences https://www.theartengager.com/

Buy it here on Amazon.com: https://tinyurl.com/buytheartengager

Curated newsletter: https://thinkingmuseum.com/newsletter/

Adventures in (Slow) Looking on Substack: https://adventuresinslowlooking.substack.com/

Free resources: https://thinkingmuseum.com/the-thinking-museum-approach/resources/

In today's solo episode, host Claire Bown shares practical strategies for overcoming the most common fears about inquiry-based teaching in museums.

From handling uncertainty and awkward silences to managing participation and time, she guides you through simple, actionable ways to build confidence and make inquiry feel rewarding- for you and your participants.

Inquiry-based teaching works. It creates the kind of museum experiences where participants lean in, ask questions, and make personal connections with art and objects. But despite all these benefits, why do many people feel hesitant about giving it a go?

We’ll explore common concerns - like losing control, time management, participation, or not having all the answers - and I’ll walk you through strategies to move past them.

Here’s what I cover in today’s episode:

• Why understanding your own relationship with inquiry is the first step
• How to develop comfort with uncertainty and not knowing
• Why it helps to start small and build confidence gradually
• The role of flexible structures (like Questioning Practices) in supporting inquiry
• Practical ways to manage time, participation, and group dynamics
• Building your facilitation toolkit step by step
• Why practice and reflection are essential for growing your skills
• How to reframe “failure” as a valuable learning opportunity

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• The Art Engager: Reimagining Guided Experiences in Museums (my book)
• Episode 143: Uncertainty: Finding Wonder in Not Knowing with Maggie Jackson
• Episode 137: How to Use the Universal
• Episode 142: Building Trust and Psychological Safety on Guided Experiences in Museums
• Episodes 95 & 96: The Power of Silence in Guided Experiences
• Episode 66: 7 Ways to Improve Your Active Listening Skills
• Every single episode of The Art Engager podcast webpage: https://thinkingmuseum.com/every-single-episode-of-the-art-engager-podcast/

The Art Engager is written and presented by Claire Bown. Editing is by Matt Jacobs and Claire Bown. Music by Richard Bown.

✨Pick up a copy of my book, The Art Engager, for step-by-step guidance on creating meaningful, interactive guided experiences https://www.theartengager.com/

Buy it here on Amazon.com: https://tinyurl.com/buytheartengager

Curated newsletter: https://thinkingmuseum.com/newsletter/

Adventures in (Slow) Looking on Substack: https://adventuresinslowlooking.substack.com/

Free resources: https://thinkingmuseum.com/the-thinking-museum-approach/resources/

In today's solo episode, host Claire Bown explores what wonder is, why museums are perfect spaces for fostering it, and shares eight practical ways to create wonder-filled moments in your guided experiences.

How can we reawaken that natural sense of wonder that we had as children? What happens when we intentionally create space for amazement and discovery in our museum experiences?

In this episode, we're exploring wonder as a fundamental human capacity. Claire distinguishes wonder from awe and curiosity, introduces different types of wonder we might find in the museum from intellectual and sensory to historical and reflective—and examines why adults often lose their capacity for wonder.

Claire shares eight practical strategies for inviting wonder into guided experiences and reminds us that wonder is about slowing down, opening up, and helping participants surprise themselves as they see things anew.

The Art Engager is written and presented by Claire Bown. Editing is by Matt Jacobs and Claire Bown. Music by Richard Bown. Support the show on Patreon.

✨Pick up a copy of my book, The Art Engager, for step-by-step guidance on creating meaningful, interactive guided experiences https://www.theartengager.com/

Buy it here on Amazon.com: https://tinyurl.com/buytheartengager

Curated newsletter: https://thinkingmuseum.com/newsletter/

Adventures in (Slow) Looking on Substack: https://adventuresinslowlooking.substack.com/

Free resources: https://thinkingmuseum.com/the-thinking-museum-approach/resources/

Every single episode of The Art Engager podcast webpage: https://thinkingmuseum.com/every-single-episode-of-the-art-engager-podcast/

Episode 150 - How to Create Meaningful Museum Engagement: 10 Best Practices from 150 Episodes

Episode 151 - The Complete Guide to Slow Looking

Episode 32 - 6 Ways to Create Awe-Inspiring Experiences with Art and Objects

Episode 38 3 Key Ways to Foster Curiosity in your Programmes

Episode 39 - How to stay curious in your practice

Episodes 95 - How silence is a superpower in museum and gallery programmes

Episode 96 - 7 Ways to Make Time and Space for Silence

Over the past four years, we've explored slow looking in 20 different episodes on The Art Engager, making it our most discussed topic. Today, I'm taking you on a curated journey through all of these episodes, creating a roadmap, if you will, that you can use to understand and implement slow looking in your personal practice and professional work.

The Art Engager is written and presented by Claire Bown. Editing is by Matt Jacobs and Claire Bown. Music by Richard Bown.

✨Pick up a copy of my book, The Art Engager, for step-by-step guidance on creating meaningful, interactive guided experiences https://www.theartengager.com/

Buy it here on Amazon.com: https://tinyurl.com/buytheartengager

Curated newsletter: https://thinkingmuseum.com/newsletter/

Adventures in (Slow) Looking on Substack: https://adventuresinslowlooking.substack.com/

Free resources: https://thinkingmuseum.com/the-thinking-museum-approach/resources/

Every single episode of The Art Engager podcast webpage: https://thinkingmuseum.com/every-single-episode-of-the-art-engager-podcast/

After 150 episodes exploring engagement in museums and cultural organisations – including 101 solo episodes and 49 guest conversations – host Claire Bown shares 10 of the most powerful insights that have emerged over four years of thinking deeply about engagement principles and practices.

For this milestone episode, Claire revisited the entire back catalogue, re-listening to past episodes and looking for patterns. What she found were 10 essential insights about engagement that can shift how we think, plan, and work in museums today.

What comes through again and again is the power of simple, intentional adjustments. These are practical strategies you can try out straight away.

Four years and 150 episodes of exploring what really works in museum engagement – distilled into 10 essential principles for anyone working in museum and heritage education.

The Art Engager is written and presented by Claire Bown. Editing is by Matt Jacobs and Claire Bown. Music by Richard Bown.

All of the mentioned episodes:

149 Art, Play and Joy at Compton Verney with Geraldine Collinge

144 6 ways to create powerful connections in museum experiences

137 How to use The Universal Questioning Practice

136 What are Questioning Practices?

131 Stimulating the senses: using smell to engage visitors with Sofia Collette Ehrich

130 The power of inquiry, curiosity and questioning with Trevor MacKenzie

125 How to build rapport in museum and gallery programmes

99 Striking the right pace in museum programmes: less is more

96 7 Ways to Make Time and Space for Silence

95 How silence is a superpower in museum and gallery programmes

90 How to Create Intellectual Comfort

87 How to ask more open-ended questions

81 7 Ways to Refresh your Practice in 2023

72 Reacting to art with our bodies with Rachel Ropeik

61 How mindfulness and drawing can help us to connect with art with Karly Allen

57 Bitesize: How to End Well – Creating a Strong Conclusion for your Programmes

52 From Good to Great: Personal Growth & Development for Museum Educators

49 Inspiring Creative Writing Through Art with Mary Hall Surface

44 The 4 elements of a great introduction

29 How to develop a reflective practice

12 6 Best Practices for Sharing Information

✨Pick up a copy of my book, The Art Engager, for step-by-step guidance on creating meaningful, interactive guided experiences https://www.theartengager.com/

Buy it here on Amazon.com: https://tinyurl.com/buytheartengager

Curated newsletter: https://thinkingmuseum.com/newsletter/

Adventures in (Slow) Looking on Substack: https://adventuresinslowlooking.substack.com/

Free resources: https://thinkingmuseum.com/the-thinking-museum-approach/resources/

Every single episode of The Art Engager podcast webpage: https://thinkingmuseum.com/every-single-episode-of-the-art-engager-podcast/

In this episode host Claire Bown talks with Geraldine Collinge, Chief Executive at Compton Verney, about their bold approach to creating genuinely engaging cultural spaces through play, accessibility and joy.

Geraldine shares how this unique 'art space in a park' in Warwickshire brings together a historic Robert Adam mansion, 120 acres of Capability Brown landscape, and six distinctive collections ranging from Chinese bronzes to British folk art. She explains how Compton Verney's core values - particularly their inclusion of 'fun' - guide everything from exhibition design to community engagement initiatives.

Listen to discover their multisensory approach to gallery spaces that incorporates touch, smell and sound, doubling visitor numbers to their Naples collection. Learn about their 'play first' philosophy that encourages visitors of all ages to engage meaningfully with art through creative exploration, and hear about their 97% discounted community passes that are breaking down barriers to access.

Geraldine also shares insights into how they're connecting art and nature through immersive experiences like 'Breathing with the Forest,' creating what she describes as a restorative experience that ultimately delivers on their promise: giving visitors 'a day full of joy.'

The Art Engager is written and presented by Claire Bown. Editing is by Matt Jacobs and Claire Bown. Music by Richard Bown.

https://www.comptonverney.org.uk/

Breathing with the Forest (now closed) - https://www.comptonverney.org.uk/whats-on/breathing-with-the-forest/

What we do - https://www.comptonverney.org.uk/our-story/what-we-do/

Geraldine Collinge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geraldinecollinge/

✨Pick up a copy of my book, The Art Engager, for step-by-step guidance on creating meaningful, interactive guided experiences https://www.theartengager.com/

Buy it here on Amazon.com: https://tinyurl.com/buytheartengager

Curated newsletter: https://thinkingmuseum.com/newsletter/

Adventures in (Slow) Looking on Substack: https://adventuresinslowlooking.substack.com/

Free resources: https://thinkingmuseum.com/the-thinking-museum-approach/resources/

Every single episode of The Art Engager podcast webpage: https://thinkingmuseum.com/every-single-episode-of-the-art-engager-podcast/

In this 4th birthday episode of The Art Engager, host Claire Bown explores what active engagement really means and why it matters so much for creating meaningful guided experiences. She addresses what many educators struggle with – we know visitors learn better when actively participating, but how do we consistently make this happen in our daily practice?

How can we move beyond knowing that active participation matters to actually implementing it day after day? What practical techniques make the difference between visitors following along and truly engaging?

In this episode, Claire explores:

• Why traditional approaches often lead to disengagement (despite focusing on collection highlights)
• The spectrum from passive to active
• The fundamental mindset change required to create active experiences
• How to make your introductions more active
• How to transform questioning from testing knowledge to sparking genuine connection, and meaning-making
• Ways to use movement and positioning as powerful tools for engagement rather than defaulting to "follow the leader"
• Simple strategies to move beyond the 'hub and spoke' model and foster direct participant-to-participant interaction
• How to share information in a responsive and adaptable way that offers multiple pathways into the core ideas.
• How to create active closings to help visitors reflect, connect, and carry something forward.

The Art Engager is written and presented by Claire Bown. Editing is by Matt Jacobs and Claire Bown. Music by Richard Bown.

✨Pick up a copy of my book, The Art Engager, for step-by-step guidance on creating meaningful, interactive guided experiences https://www.theartengager.com/

Buy it here on Amazon.com: https://tinyurl.com/buytheartengager

Curated newsletter: https://thinkingmuseum.com/newsletter/

Adventures in (Slow) Looking on Substack: https://adventuresinslowlooking.substack.com/

Free resources: https://thinkingmuseum.com/the-thinking-museum-approach/resources/

Every single episode of The Art Engager podcast webpage: https://thinkingmuseum.com/every-single-episode-of-the-art-engager-podcast/

In this episode of The Art Engager podcast, host Claire Bown talks with Sita Sargeant, founder and self-described 'Chief Troublemaker' at She Shapes History, a trailblazing Australian company on a mission.

What began as weekly walks in Canberra has grown into a thriving social enterprise with nationwide expansion plans for their women-focused history tours.

In today's conversation, Sita shares her people-centred approach to guide hiring and training, and how she builds community around a cause rather than just history. She offers valuable insights on designing experiences for specific audiences, creating consistent brand voice across all touchpoints, and using creative approaches such as post-tour feedback surveys to continuously improve quality and support guides.

Useful for anyone leading museum tours, developing visitor experiences, or passionate about making history more engaging and accessible. Sita's practical wisdom and enthusiasm will change how you think about connecting audiences with stories that matter. Enjoy!

The Art Engager is written and presented by Claire Bown. Editing is by Matt Jacobs and Claire Bown. Music by Richard Bown.

She Shapes History website: https://sheshapeshistory.com.au/

She Shapes History Book: https://sheshapeshistory.com.au/she-shapes-history-guided-walks-and-stories-about-great-australian-women/

Instagram She Shapes History: https://www.instagram.com/sheshapeshistory/

Sita Sargeant LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sita-sargeant/

✨Pick up a copy of my book, The Art Engager, for step-by-step guidance on creating meaningful, interactive guided experiences https://www.theartengager.com/

Buy it here on Amazon.com: https://tinyurl.com/buytheartengager

Curated newsletter: https://thinkingmuseum.com/newsletter/

Adventures in (Slow) Looking on Substack: https://adventuresinslowlooking.substack.com/

Free resources: https://thinkingmuseum.com/the-thinking-museum-approach/resources/

Every single episode of The Art Engager podcast webpage: https://thinkingmuseum.com/every-single-episode-of-the-art-engager-podcast/