The 'Queering the Museum' event is held under the patronage of ICOM Italia and is the result of collaboration between BAM! Strategie Culturali, NEMO - the Network of European Museum Organisations, the ICOM Italia Working Group on Gender and LGBTQ+ Rights, and the Civic Museums Sector of the Municipality of Bologna.
The goal is to provide tools and methodologies to facilitate dialogue between museum institutions and LGBTQIA+ communities, questioning the traditional mechanisms that underpin this relationship. At the same time, it aims to offer practical ideas for integrating a queer perspective into museum design and heritage promotion, promoting participatory approaches and strategies useful for dealing with complex scenarios.
The event, which will take place in the Sala Farnese of Palazzo d'Accursio and the Medieval Civic Museum, is part of the Gender Bender Festival programme, produced by the Cassero LGBTQIA+ Centre, which will be held in Bologna from 30 October to 8 November 2025.
- Register now to join the free event
An educational and exchange opportunity for the cultural sector
The event will host national and international professionals who are experts on gender and LGBTQIA+ inclusion and rights, who will share practical tools, guidelines and methods to help those working in museums and the cultural sector strive towards increased participation and representation of LGBTQIA+ communities and other identity groups that are still under-represented in cultural venues.
The programme is aimed at professionals in the museum and cultural sector, students and scholars in the fields of heritage and gender studies, local LGBTQIA+ associations, but also queer people who want to approach the world of heritage from a new perspective.
Plenary sessions, round tables and workshops
The morning will begin with a plenary session in the Sala Farnese, during which important European resources will be presented, including the guidelines ‘LGBTQIA+ Inclusion in European Museums’ produced by NEMO and the guidelines ‘Museums and Gender’ by the Working Group ‘Gender and LGBTQ+ Rights’ of ICOM Italy, the Italian translation of the University of Leicester's ‘Trans Inclusive Culture Guidance’.
The second part of the morning will be dedicated to the involvement and co-design of identity and queer communities in cultural heritage sites and processes. The session will be based on contributions collected through an open call, open until 20 October, inviting museums and professionals to share experiences and projects – already completed or still in progress – related to the theme. It will be a moment of collective feedback and open discussion, in which guests and participants will talk together about the challenges, opportunities and questions that remain.
In the afternoon, the programme will continue with three thematic workshops at the Medieval Civic Museum, designed to offer a practical space for exploring different methodological approaches related to queer and identity participation and inclusion in cultural institutions.
The day will conclude with a wrap-up session to share reflections and chart future directions.
The programme
- Where: Bologna, Palazzo d'Accursio and Medieval Civic Museum
- When: Friday, 7 November 2025, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
- Languages: Italian and English (with simultaneous translation)
Free in-person participation upon registration: https://forms.gle/7vT2vfUWqdiPWmNw9
Information: qtm@bamstrategieculturali.com
Morning programme
In-person participation, subject to availability.
Location: Sala Cappella Farnese, Palazzo D'Accursio (Piazza Maggiore 6 - 40124 Bologna)
9:00–9:30 | Registration
9:30–10:00 | Institutional greetings
10:00–11:15 | Panel: guidelines and resources to guide cultural institutions
- NEMO’s ‘LGBTQIA+ Inclusion in European Museums - An incomplete guideline’
Rebecca Thonander - NEMO - Network of European Museum Organisations
Arent Boon - Writer and researcher, LGBTQIA+ inclusion in European museums: An incomplete guideline
- ICOM Italia Guidelines ‘Museums and Gender’
Nicole Moolhuijsen - ICOM Italia, Working Group ‘Gender and LGBTQ+ Rights’
Dani Martiri - ICOM Italia, Working Group on ‘Gender and LGBTQ+ Rights’
- Q&A
11:15-11:30 | Break
11:30-13:00 | Participatory session: strategies and methods for engaging and co-designing with communities
- Q&A
Afternoon programme
Limited in-person participation (max. 20 participants each), with the possibility of registering for only one workshop.
Location: Medieval Civic Museum, Palazzo Ghisilardi (Via Manzoni, 4, 40121 Bologna BO)
14:30-16:30 | Workshops
- What would you do? Working through LGBTQIA+ inclusion dilemmas in museums
with NEMO - Network of European Museum Organisations
Recently, NEMO published LGBTQIA+ inclusion in European museums: An incomplete guideline. The guideline presents scenarios and practical tips for making museums more respectful and welcoming places for LGBTQIA+ people, cultures, and history.
NEMO invites you to a hands-on workshop, where you will reflect on dilemmas from this guideline that you might face in your work. By working with short scenario prompts, such as defending a queer exhibition in a hostile political climate or introducing all-gender bathrooms, you will consider stakeholders, possible outcomes, actions to take, and potential risks.
The aim is that you leave the workshop empowered to advance queer inclusion in all aspects of your work. By practising a decision-making process you can use as a blueprint, we also hope that you will feel more confident when difficult situations arise. Join the workshop for discussion and collaboration that turn values into practice!
Target: While the guideline focuses on museums, the workshop is beneficial for anyone seeking to strengthen LGBTQIA+ inclusion in their professional context.
Language: English
- QueeringBO. Things never seen before in Bologna's Civic Museums - reinterpreting the collections through a queer lens
with the Civic Museums Department of the Municipality of Bologna, Attitudes_spazio alle arti aps, Bologna LGBTQIA+ Collaboration Agreement of the Municipality of Bologna
Participants will be able to explore the queer methodology and approach used in the Queering Museum project and in the creation of the QueeringBO podcast. Things never seen before in Bologna's civic museums and experience the process of queer reinterpretation of the collections of the Medieval Civic Museum.
Who it is aimed at: museum and cultural heritage operators, particularly in Italy; representatives of local LGBTQIA+ associations and communities.
Language: Italian
- Co-design with communities
with BAM! Strategie Culturali
Participants will have the opportunity to: test tools and methodologies that enable the identification of potential communities (not only LGBTQIA+) to engage with or initiate dialogue with; prototype community engagement and participation actions.
Who it is for: museum and cultural heritage operators, particularly in Italy; representatives of local LGBTQIA+ associations and communities.
Language: Italian
17:00-17:30 | Wrap-up
