Open Forum

Let's Play Together! Should we play more in our museums?

There is nothing more serious, urgent, and important than play. When we play we become the best version of ourselves. We are fully connected to who we are and to the present, we relate authentically to others, we are more creative and empathetic, we learn better by overcoming our fears and prejudices, and we get a lot out of just being. Unfortunately, as museum professionals, we tend to see play as a "children's activity" that we organize to attract families. But play is much more than that. What would happen if we started to play more with our work colleagues? How would this affect our well-being, motivation, and involvement? How could we do this by learning from those who best at it--children? Today more than ever, play is a necessity for everyone and museums must elevate it as an internal strategic priority.

In this session, we will look at these issues from the experience of Jose Antonio Gordillo Martorell, PhD, Founder and CEO of Cultural Inquiry. A passionate advocate of a child-centered approach in museums, over the past 13 years he has founded Children's Boards in  museums all over the world. Jose is a community weaver and catalyzer of disruptive social and cultural projects, an author, futurist, and playful expert. He is passionate about building new child and nature-centered narratives as strategic tools for organizations. His main work areas are children's participation in democratizing organizations, GE-AI design thinking, participation of indigenous people, the elderly, and children (capacity building), new community-based fundraising formulas, and "soft" organization skills acquisition and training. Some of his provocations can be followed in his Medium site Weaving Museums.