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PODCAST

The Art Engager

The Art Engager Podcast with Claire Bown is your go-to resource for creating engaging experiences in museums and cultural spaces. Explore practices that deepen connections with art, objects, people and ideas. Learn techniques to spark curiosity, foster dialogue, and transform how you engage with your audience. Each episode offers practical insights to enhance your skills and bring your museum experiences to life.

education visual arts

All Episodes

52:51

Slow looking, leadership and the neuroscience of...

The Art Engager ·

2025/10/30

In this episode of The Art Engager, I’m talking with Dr Elizabeth (Zab) Johnson, Executive Director of the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative and a visual neuroscientist whose work explores the intersection of art, perception and leadership.Zab’s research asks one key question: how does what we see guide our decisions, actions and behaviours? Her work combines neuroscience, visual perception and museum-based learning to show how what we see shapes how we think, communicate and lead.At Wharton, Zab

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39:01

Ask Me Anything: Your Questions on Museum Engagement...

The Art Engager ·

2025/10/16

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

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41:36

Exploring Poetry Through Museums and Visual Art with...

The Art Engager ·

2025/10/02

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

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45:08

Belonging, Community and Co-curation at Manchester...

The Art Engager ·

2025/09/18

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

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23:51

Taking the fear out of inquiry-based teaching in the...

The Art Engager ·

2025/09/04

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

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24:03

8 ways to foster more wonder in museum experiences

The Art Engager ·

2025/06/26

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

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24:55

The Complete Guide to Slow Looking

The Art Engager ·

2025/06/12

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. Support the show on

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28:59

How to Create Meaningful Museum Engagement: 10 Best...

The Art Engager ·

2025/05/29

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,

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43:48

Art, Play and Joy at Compton Verney with Geraldine...

The Art Engager ·

2025/05/15

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 -

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31:10

How to create active engagement on guided experiences

The Art Engager ·

2025/05/01

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

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42:46

She Shapes History: Building Community Through...

The Art Engager ·

2025/04/17

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

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33:42

Slow looking in sacred spaces: Antwerp's church-based...

The Art Engager ·

2025/04/03

In this episode, host Claire Bown talks with Tonia Dhaese and Armand Storck about the church-based Slow Art Day movement in Antwerp. We explore why churches provide ideal settings for slow looking and how the architecture, lighting, and atmosphere naturally encourage contemplation.For Slow Art Day 2025 (April 5), listeners will learn about events across four Antwerp churches, including St. Paul's exhibition featuring masterpieces by Rubens and Van Dyck displayed at eye level - a rare opportunity to

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41:27

Engaging museum visitors through escape rooms and...

The Art Engager ·

2025/03/20

In this episode host Claire Bown talks with Francine Boon, a self-described 'sociologist turned mystery maker' and co-director of Sherlocked, an award-winning experience design studio based in Amsterdam, about transforming how visitors engage with museums through immersive storytelling and game design.Francine shares two major museum projects in this episode: her Rijksmuseum escape room that attracted 10,000 participants in nine weeks and received a 9.4/10 rating, and her recent Palace Mysteries

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24:26

6 ways to create powerful connections in museum...

The Art Engager ·

2025/03/06

In today's solo episode, host Claire Bown explores why museums are as much about people as they are about objects, and shares six powerful ways to create meaningful connections in your guided experiences.How can museums provide spaces for genuine human interaction in our increasingly disconnected world? What might happen when we put 'connection before content' in our museum practice? In this episode, we're exploring the unique role museums play in bringing people together. Claire introduces the

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52:18

Uncertainty: Finding wonder in not knowing with...

The Art Engager ·

2025/02/20

In this episode host Claire Bown talks with Maggie Jackson, an award-winning author, former Boston Globe columnist and independent scholar, about the power of uncertainty and how embracing not-knowing might transform our work in museums.Maggie Jackson's latest book "Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure" has been making waves - named on four top books of 2024 lists and recently awarded Nonfiction Book of the Year by the Independent Publishers of New England. Drawing from cutting-edge

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18:49

Building trust and psychological safety on guided...

The Art Engager ·

2025/02/06

In today's solo episode, host Claire Bown discusses the importance of trust and psychological safety in guided museum experiences.In this episode, we're looking at how to create the conditions that allow people to really engage with art and objects. We're going to explore why trust matters in museum facilitation, what psychological safety looks like in practice, and how to create environments where people feel able to share, question, and discover.The Art Engager is written and presented by Claire

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40:48

Art Crawl: Revolutionising infant engagement with art...

The Art Engager ·

2025/01/23

In this episode host Claire Bown talks with Nicole Cromartie, Director of Learning and Engagement, and Paris Baker, Family, Early Childhood and Community Engagement Manager at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver.Inspired by Nicole's experience with her baby niece 13 years ago, the Clyfford Still Museum has pioneered innovative ways to engage infants with art, including their groundbreaking 2022 exhibition 'Clyfford Still Art and the Young Mind' and Art Crawl, a monthly programme for infants and

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32:03

Making museums accessible for children with barriers...

The Art Engager ·

2024/12/12

In this episode host Claire Bown talks with Nicky McIntosh, a museum consultant with over 25 years of experience in the UK museum sector.Inspired by her own family's experiences, Nicky specialises in making museums more accessible for children who struggle to attend school and is currently developing a toolkit to support museums and galleries in their work with home educators.Listen in as Nicky shares insights from her Arts Council funded research exploring how museums can better serve the estimated

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54:37

Coaching in Gallery Spaces with Beth Clare McManus

The Art Engager ·

2024/11/28

In this episode host Claire Bown talks with Beth Clare McManus, a coaching psychologist, artist and researcher based in Manchester, UK. Beth's work as a coach and supervisor aims to support people to be happy and well in their professional practice. Listen in as Beth shares how museum and gallery spaces offer unique potential for coaching - creating softer, more reflective environments where the space itself becomes part of the coaching process. If you're interested in exploring innovative ways of

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36:11

Transforming museum experiences through drawing with...

The Art Engager ·

2024/11/14

In today's episode, host Claire Bown talks with illustrator and educator Jessica Hartshorn.Based in the UK, Jessi specialises in creating engaging artwork for the cultural and heritage sector, blending her background as a museum educator with her artistic skills. Her work includes family trails, maps, and educational resources designed to foster deeper connections with museum collections—even the overlooked pieces!We explore Jessi’s journey from museum educator to illustrator, her process for

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