Dr Cara Courage
The Codifying Refugee Participation workshops provided a critical space for reflection on current museum practices, revealing both promising developments and persistent challenges in embedding refugee participation within the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) sector, alongside other kinds of relevant practice-led and academic expertise. Beyond the emergent principles and calls to action, the sessions themselves reflected deeper needs and gaps in the sector’s approach. Below are key areas of critical reflection and potential areas for development.
1. The Sector’s Inherent Need for Knowledge Exchange
Practitioners’ desire to learn from each other must be structurally supported
One of the most striking observations from both workshops was how the format naturally evolved into a space for knowledge exchange. While the sessions were designed to surface best practices and generate shared principles, much of their energy was directed toward peer learning, resource-sharing, and problem-solving in real time. The level of engagement demonstrated an urgent need for ongoing spaces for cross-institutional dialogue, where practitioners can freely discuss challenges, test approaches, and co-develop solutions.
This organic shift in focus suggests that formalising a Community of Practice is not just a recommendation but a sectoral necessity. Without structured spaces for continuous professional dialogue, the lessons learned in participatory projects risk being siloed within institutions or lost when staff move on. A sustained, practitioner-led forum is essential to prevent stagnation and ensure that best practice evolves collectively.
Development Opportunity:
- Create a dedicated platform for knowledge exchange (e.g., regular forums, resource hubs, or collaborative case studies) that enables museum professionals, refugee-led organisations, and community practitioners to share insights and expertise.
- Ensure knowledge-sharing is not solely peer-led but supported at an institutional level, with funding and strategic backing to maintain continuity.
2. The Limitations of Existing Funding Models
Short-term project funding is undermining long-term relationship-building
Discussions repeatedly highlighted the structural limitations imposed by short-term funding cycles, which create an unstable foundation for participatory work. Many institutions have found ways to write participatory engagement into their business plans, but this remains the exception rather than the norm.
Participants noted that project-based funding frequently prioritises outcomes over process, leading to rushed engagements where relationships with refugee communities are built and then abandoned once funding ends. This extractive approach is fundamentally at odds with the ‘speed of trust’—a phrase repeatedly invoked during the sessions to describe the time it takes to build meaningful relationships.
Development Opportunity:
- Museums must advocate for changes in funding structures that allow for embedded, ongoing refugee engagement, rather than viewing participation as an ‘add-on’ to existing programmes.
- Funders must be engaged in this conversation—shifting evaluation metrics away from immediate outputs and towards sustainable, relationship-based outcomes.
3. Institutional Anxiety and the Fear of ‘Getting It Wrong’
How can museums move from caution to action?
A pervasive theme throughout both workshops was institutional anxiety—the fear of making mistakes when engaging with refugee communities. This often results in paralysis, where institutions delay action until they feel they have achieved the ‘perfect’ approach.
This hesitancy, while understandable, ultimately prevents meaningful engagement. Participants noted that institutions must instead embrace institutional humility—acknowledging that mistakes will happen, but that learning and adaptation must be part of the process. The sector must shift from a culture of risk aversion to one of responsive, reflective practice.
Development Opportunity:
- Develop sector-wide guidelines on ethical risk-taking, helping institutions navigate uncertainties without disengaging.
- Promote a shift in museum leadership culture, where adaptability and reflexivity are seen as strengths rather than liabilities.
4. The Underutilisation of Museum Spaces for Refugee Support
Can museums provide more direct, practical support beyond exhibitions?
While many institutions are already working on refugee engagement through exhibitions and storytelling, the workshops surfaced a broader question about the role of museums as social spaces.
Several participants challenged the traditional remit of museums, asking whether they could go beyond curation and interpretation to provide direct support services for refugees, such as:
- Holding ESL (English as a Second Language) classes in museum spaces.
- Providing quiet, neutral spaces where displaced individuals can simply exist without expectation.
- Acting as community hubs, offering practical support such as access to computers, printing, and job application assistance.
The Migration Museum’s presence in a retail space was cited as an example of how location and accessibility influence engagement. If museums rethink themselves as community assets rather than just sites of knowledge production, they can increase their relevance and impact in the lives of displaced communities.
Development Opportunity:
- Expand the concept of museum spaces beyond exhibitions, exploring ways museums can serve as everyday resources for refugee communities.
- Conduct co-design workshops with refugee participants to determine what additional support museums could offer beyond programming.
5. The Power and Limitations of Storytelling
How can museums balance representation and ethical responsibility?
Storytelling emerged as a double-edged sword in the workshops. While it remains one of the most effective tools for fostering empathy and awareness, participants repeatedly flagged the risk of extractive storytelling, where refugee narratives are used to serve institutional agendas rather than community needs.
A critical tension emerged between institutions that saw their role as amplifying refugee voices and those that were more cautious, concerned about the politics of representation and the responsibility of handling these stories ethically. Some museums’ apolitical stance, for example, mean they must navigate a fine line when presenting refugee narratives.
Development Opportunity:
- Develop a sector-wide ethical framework for storytelling, ensuring that refugee narratives are handled with care, co-authorship, and consent.
- Expand representation methods beyond verbal storytelling, incorporating participatory, creative, and object-based approaches to give individuals control over how they are represented.
6. The Role of Leadership in Sustaining Change
Without senior management buy-in, participatory work remains marginalised
One of the most significant barriers to embedding participatory work with refugees is the lack of senior leadership engagement. Many participatory practitioners described working in silos, without institutional backing or leadership understanding of their work.
This highlights a structural issue: while many frontline museum professionals are already deeply engaged in refugee participation, their work often exists at the periphery of institutional priorities. Leadership teams must be actively involved in professional development on refugee engagement, not just as a symbolic gesture but as a fundamental part of institutional strategy.
Development Opportunity:
- Embed CPD training for senior museum leaders, ensuring that refugee participation is championed at the highest levels of governance.
- Include refugee engagement as a core strand in museum strategic planning, preventing participatory work from being sidelined when funding or priorities shift.
Final Thoughts: Moving from Reflection to Action
The Codifying Refugee Participation workshops surfaced critical tensions, challenges, and opportunities in the GLAM sector’s approach to refugee engagement. What became evident was that there is no singular ‘right way’ to do this work, but there is a clear need for sector-wide collaboration, long-term commitment, and structural change.
Moving forward, institutions must not only reflect on these insights but act on them—developing sustainable frameworks that prioritise relationships over short-term outcomes, embrace ethical risk-taking, and centre refugee voices in decision-making. The learning from these workshops should not end with a report; it must be the catalyst for lasting, systemic transformation.