Should All Museums Be Disruptive?

Right now, many museums are facing significant challenges: Previously reliable funding sources are unavailable. Many venues continue to experience COVID-diminished attendance. The relevance of our cultural institutions has been called into question. Business-as-usual is no longer an option. If disruption is already happening to museums, why not be active participants in this disruption and use it to our advantage?

In this context, disruption means to challenge or interrupt preconceived notions and the status quo. Disruption implies change, but it often carries negative connotations—abrupt transformation, wholesale replacement of systems, or challenges to existing power structures. Anyone who has ever been a part of a team knows that jarring change can be confusing, unsettling, and even harmful to the team’s chemistry and momentum. 

You may be thinking: I’m all for change, but not for change’s sake. I believe in gentle, gradual change, done with thoughtful consensus-building and frequent temperature-taking.

Yes. And… is there any benefit to embracing an occasional “ice plunge” into disruptive museum action? 

Let’s look at a few examples:

1. Breaking the “don’t touch” paradigm

Until quite recently, museums were collections-based repositories where visitors quietly, passively surveyed objects protected behind glass or velvet ropes. However, in 1899, the Brooklyn Children Museum’s curator Anna Billings Gallup explicitly and shockingly encouraged children to touch, handle, and investigate collections — a radical departure from museums of the era.

Even more disruption: What if museum guests were co-creators of their exhibit environment, not simply touching implements curated by exhibit developers, but making decisions that cumulatively affect, shift, and alter the exhibit itself? This potential could usurp the developers’ original intent and lead to very unexpected, messy, and exciting learner outcomes.

2. Meaningful accessibility

With the passage of laws and regulations that seek to maximize physical access for people of all abilities, most museums have prioritized the inclusion of ramps and elevators into their building and exhibit designs. Some museums have also included Braille signage and video display subtitles. More disruptive moves include closing the museum to the general public for occasional sensory play mornings, where a limited number of guests are invited to play with the louder exhibits turned down or off.  

Even more disruption: What if our attitude around accessibility went way beyond isolated, perfunctory solutions or mere code compliance? What if multi-story climbing structures invited people of all abilities to not only access, but also to feel the thrill of open-height exposure and immersive risk taking? What if designing for neurodivergence was seen less as an accommodation and more as a design opportunity? What if designing to a target age demographic is one of the blocks to achieving meaningful accessibility?

3. Radical sustainability

Shifting from “business-as-usual” requires disruption. Though necessitating a change in operational and financial priorities, many museums have embraced their role in environmental stewardship. Examples include: investing in (often expensive) renewable energy technology; using non-toxic, locally-sourced building materials; deploying passive climate controls; and reducing waste by shifting from printed to digital media. 

Even more disruption: What if museum leadership focused more on creating deeply novel, impactful exhibit experiences rather than prioritizing the construction of resource-intensive, outwardly-focused buildings? What if museums revitalized their communities by occupying existing vacant storefronts, underused light industrial spaces, and abandoned big-box retail spaces? Would this approach inherently hinder your museum’s mission? After all, arguably the most successful cultural institution over the last decade is housed within an old Santa Fe bowling alley. This disruptive reprioritization might find even better mission alignment and could extend your museum’s impact beyond its walls.

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While disruption can feel jarring or even unwelcome, especially in institutions rooted in tradition and preservation, it can also be a powerful catalyst for ensuring relevance, inclusivity, and progressive transformation. Museums that dare to challenge outdated norms position themselves not just as guardians of the past, but as active participants in shaping a more dynamic and responsive future. Disruption, when approached with intentionality and care, can be a vital tool, not for chaos, but for meaningful evolution.

So, should all museums be disruptive? Perhaps not always, and not in the same way. But all museums should at least be brave enough to ask ‘why not.’