Two-way Conversations in the Art Museum: Introduction to Cultural Mediation
Cultural Mediation training with UQ Art Museum, 2026. Photo: Tammy Law.
About the Workshop
This Cultural Mediation workshop with The University of Queensland Art Museum is designed especially for museum and gallery professionals who engage directly with visitors and audiences, including front of house staff and volunteers, and education, engagement and public programs teams. The workshop will equip you with practical skills to facilitate meaningful conversations about art, shifting the focus from traditional one-way knowledge delivery to collaborative dialogue. Through active listening, questioning, and shared interpretation, participants learn how to engage visitors in ways that encourage curiosity, reflection, and deeper connections with artworks and ideas.
Beyond improving visitor engagement, the program offers valuable professional development for museum, gallery, education, and community engagement practitioners. Participants gain transferable communication and engagement skills that strengthen their ability to facilitate discussions, foster critical thinking, and support learning through art.
When: Thursday 15 October – Friday 16 October 2026
Networking Event: Thursday 15 October 2026 (free for attendees – details to follow)
Where: Rockhampton Museum of Art, 220 Quay Street, Rockhampton City QLD
Cost: $120 for the two-day workshop
Bookings made through Rockhampton Museum of Art
Bursaries to Attend
Five bursaries of up to $1000 are available to public museum and gallery workers in regional Queensland to attend the two-day Cultural Mediation Workshop at Rockhampton Museum of Art from 15 to 16 October 2026.
Bursary applications close 5pm, Wednesday 26 August 2025.
About Cultural Mediation
Cultural Mediation is a visitor engagement practice where art museum and gallery staff journey alongside the visitor in an act of mutual exchange. At the centre of the practice is the concept of a two-way art-centric conversation that enables visitors to experience a richer engagement with art and supports gallery staff to work with audiences to unpack and interrogate visual art forms and ideas.
Cultural Mediation challenges centuries-old hierarchies of knowledge that exist within museums and galleries, and instead emphasises agency, knowledge sharing, individual and collective reflection, as well as deep and active listening.
About UQ Art Museum
UQ Art Museum is widely recognised as Australia’s leading institution in Cultural Mediation, having refined the practice through years of in-depth research, implementation, training, and sector partnerships. Since 2019, the team have worked with museums and galleries around Australia to train staff in Cultural Mediation, including through a partnership with Museums and Galleries NSW and with Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art for the exhibition of Archie Moore’s kith and kin. In 2024 and 2026, they partnered with Creative Australia to support visitor experience at the Australia Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia.
Acknowledgements
The two-day Introduction to Cultural Mediation Workshop is an initiative of The University of Queensland Art Museum delivered in partnership with Museums & Galleries Queensland and Rockhampton Museum of Art.
Travel bursaries are made possible through the Kinnane Bequest, generously made by Paula and Tony Kinnane to The University of Queensland in 2016 to support training and education in the arts.
Enquiries
Training & Professional Development
Museums & Galleries Queensland
