Call for Practice Contribution

Museums in Practice: Experiences, Experiments and Dilemmas

Museums for Europe Summit | Bratislava, 10–11 March 2027

Organised by Bratislava City Museum in partnership with the Museum of Kraków

About the Summit

Key question: How can city museums strengthen democratic culture and resilience in European cities?

Europe’s future is closely connected to the future of democracy. The European values that underpin our shared European project, including pluralism, participation, equality, respect for diversity and the ability to live together across differences, depend on democratic societies in which these values can be lived, practised and continuously renewed.

Democratic resilience depends not only on political institutions, legislation and elections, but also on the social and cultural infrastructure in which democratic life takes place. Cities are particularly important: they are places where diverse communities meet and questions of belonging, identity, memory and the future are negotiated. City museums are part of this infrastructure, preserving different and sometimes conflicting memories and acting as spaces for participation, dialogue, learning and community engagement.

The Museums for Europe Summit will explore what this means in practice, what we need to change or develop within our institutions, and what we can learn from one another. It will combine broader perspectives with examples from museum practice and discussion of the network’s shared values, ambitions and future cooperation.

About the Call

We invite museum professionals and others working at the intersection of museums, heritage, communities and urban life to contribute to the Summit through practice based presentations that encourage professional exchange and collective learning.

We are interested in current experiences, experiments, institutional changes, difficult questions and lessons learned. We welcome contributions about initiatives that have made a difference, approaches still being tested, experiences that did not work as expected, and challenges for which there are no straightforward answers.

We see these contributions as an opportunity to learn from one another, reflect on different institutional and local contexts, and explore how city museums can contribute to democratic culture and resilient communities.

Themes

We welcome proposals addressing one or more of the following themes:

1. Museums as civic and democratic infrastructure

How can city museums contribute to trust, social cohesion, participation and democratic life in their cities?

2. Museums as spaces for dialogue, participation and democratic practice

How can museums create meaningful spaces for open dialogue, participation and co creation?

3. Museums in practice: Experiences, experiments and dilemmas

What have museums tried? What worked, what failed, and what remains unresolved?

What can be learned from experiments, challenges and unexpected outcomes?

4. Rethinking the museum: Exhibitions, institutions and new ways of working

What changes do museums need to make in exhibition practice, skills, leadership, governance and organisational culture to fulfil their democratic role?

5. Research, collecting and co-creation: Sharing knowledge and authority

How are research, collecting and interpretation changing when museums work together with communities?

What kind of contributions are we looking for?

Contributions may focus on:

• a project or initiative;

• a new method or approach;

• an institutional change;

• an experiment or work in progress;

• an experience that did not work as expected;

• a dilemma or challenge;

• a question for which there is not yet a clear answer.

We are particularly interested in contributions that share concrete experiences and reflections, including the challenges encountered, lessons learned and questions that remain open.

Format of Contributions

We welcome contributions in a variety of formats. Presenters are invited to choose the format that best suits the experience, initiative or question they wish to share. The emphasis is on clear, engaging and practice-based exchange.

Each selected contribution will have 7 minutes for presentation, followed by Q&A.

Who Should Apply?

We welcome submissions from:

• museum professionals of all specialisms and at all stages of their careers;

• scholars and academics whose work intersects with museum practice;

• heritage and cultural policy-makers;

• community engagement practitioners working across cultural and urban contexts.

We welcome contributions from Museums for Europe partners as well as colleagues and organisations who are not yet part of the network but are interested in these questions.

Submitting process

Step 1: Expression of interest by 31 October 2026

If you are considering contributing, please let us know by email to nina.degelder@mmb.sk by 31 October 2026.

This informal expression of interest will help us plan the session and anticipate the range of contributions. It is not a commitment to submit a proposal or a formal submission.

Step 2: Formal proposal by 30 November 2026

Proposals should be submitted through the online form (link to be announced).

A submission should include:

• Title of the contribution

• Abstract (250–300 words): Outline the experience, initiative or question you wish to present, its relevance to the Summit themes, and the main insights or questions you would like to share.

• Presenter information: Name, organisation and contact email for each presenter.

• Short biography: Up to 100 words for each presenter.

Deadline for formal submissions: 30 November 2026.

Selection Process

Proposals will be reviewed by Bratislava City Museum (MMB), in collaboration with colleagues from partner museums contributing to the preparation of the Summit.

The selection will consider the proposal’s relevance to the Summit’s central question and themes, its grounding in practical experience, and its potential to contribute to professional exchange and collective learning.

Applicants will be informed of the outcome by mid-December 2026. The names of the colleagues involved in the selection process will be announced before the end of November 2026.

Practical Information

Selected presenters will have their registration fee and accommodation covered by the organizers. Please note that there is no speaker's honorarium. Contributors are asked to make their own travel arrangements for attending the Summit in Bratislava.

Deadline for submissions: 30 November 2026

The full Summit programme and registration details will be announced in January 2027.