“A Museum is … so a Museum should be … ” Exploring Children’s Museum Perceptions to Improve Professional Practice

What are children's perceptions of what a museum is and what it should be? Is there a discrepancy between the two, and if so, in what sense? To address these questions, a collaboration between Cultural Inquiry, Fondation Lascaux, Brüttisellen, and the Bifang Primary School in Olten, Switzerland has established a series of experimental atelier workshops. Thirty-six primary school children were invited to prototype their ideas about what a museum is today and what it should be in the future. This article presents some of the most relevant results from these workshops and discusses key implications for the daily practices of museum professionals.