What are museums for?

What are museums for? Whose stories do they tell? How do they decide which aspects of the past to preserve and represent? Join Fitzwilliam Museum Director Luke Syson and Athena Art Foundation Director Nicola Jennings, as they invite a range of cultural figures – from curators and researchers to activists and writers – to share their thoughts on the role of the museum in the 21st century.

Across six lively and candid conversations, Luke, Nicola and their guests look at the modern museum through a variety of lenses, exploring some of the key questions museums around the world are currently asking themselves. How can museums represent the diverse communities they serve? To whom do cultural artefacts and their narratives belong? What role can digital technologies play? How can museums work sustainably to preserve our futures, as well as our pasts?

Series guests include: Alayo Akinkugbe, Sussan Babaie (Courtauld), Rebecca Birrell (Fitzwilliam Museum), Gus Casely-Hayford (V&A East), Aindrea Emelife, Gabriele Finaldi (National Gallery, London), Jennifer Higgie, Rebecca Kilner (University of Cambridge), John Orna-Ornstein (National Trust), Daniel Pett (Fitzwilliam Museum), Nicholas Thomas (University of Cambridge), Dan Vo, Esme Ward (Manchester Museum) and Donna Yates (Maastricht University).

This podcast series is a Fitzwilliam Museum, Colnaghi Foundation and Athena Art Foundation co-production.