From curating large scale queer cultural events like Tate’s annual Queer & Now festival, to producing expansive regional oral-history collecting projects like West Yorkshire Queer Stories, to researching performative heritage arts engagement like DUCKIE’s Lady Malcolm’s Servant’s Balls, E-J’s work embraces the belief that co-curation can drive positive social change by offering communities an enhanced sense of belonging. E-J was awarded the UK’s Activist Museum Award 2020/21 and was the co-recipient of the Museums + Heritage Judges Special Recognition Award for their co-authoring of the Trans-Inclusive Culture: Guidance on advancing trans inclusion for museums, galleries, archives and heritage organisations (RCMG, University of Leicester).
At NEMO’s European Museum Conference 2024, E-J Scott will join the session “Can we talk?” on Monday 11 November.
Presentation abstract:
Not Could, Should: Community collaboration as a tool for advancing societal cohesion
This presentation will consider how collaborating with communities targeted in ‘culture wars’ can contribute to dissipating the populist rhetoric and violence levied against them. To do so, E-J Scott will rely upon the Trans-Inclusive Culture: Guidance on advancing trans inclusion for museums, galleries, archives and heritage organisations (Research Centre for Museums and Galleries, University of Leicester). The case studies within the guidance offer practical evidence for ways in which museums can– and ought to– use their cultural might to foster social inclusion in an age of polarisation and disinformation.
