The Digital Museum

Responsible AI for Museums: From Policy to Practice [Terentia webinars]

AI is finding its way into museums, whether or not there's a plan in place. Let's make sure you're equipped to engage with it responsibly. Nik Honeysett will cover what an effective AI policy looks like in practice. Defining a framework can protect your institution's data and IP, while upholding its ethical, legal, and cultural values. Just as important is knowing how to vet your vendors' AI policies. But policy is only half the picture. Neal Bilow will show how to put those principles to work. Taking a human-in-the-loop approach, backed by a trusted AI digital repository, can empower institutions to benefit from AI while keeping full control over their data. Ready to take a more proactive approach to responsible AI? Join us for a clear path forward. You'll come away with fresh insights on how to:

Why AI governance is essential for cultural institutions

How to write an AI policy grounded in your values and mission

Practical ways to protect data as AI enters your workflows

Steps toward adopting a human-in-the-loop approach

Insights on building a self-sustaining culture of responsible AI use

Speakers

Nik Honeysett, Director & CEO, Balboa Park Online Collaborative

What Matters After AI with Mirek Nisenbaum, Base Design

Reflections from The Three Bells: S6#6

Digital Culture Podcast Episode #23 – REMIX reflections: highlights from London 2026

Delivering digital reach project round-up - Sian Toogood, Science Museum Group | Museums + Tech 2025

The Three Bells S6:E3 Teaching them to fish... Alex Costas, Head of Recruitment, Onboarding & Relationship Management, Bloomberg Connects

Beyond Storytelling: The Power of Narrative in the Experience Economy, Theron Skees

About this Talk: ​The Designer’s Creative Studio launched at an unprecedented moment in American history: January 2021. Founded by Theron Skees, a former senior creative executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, the studio was built on a simple but ambitious idea: to bring more than 30 years of expertise in dimensional brand storytelling—honed in the Themed Experience Industry—into every sector of the global economy. ​Skees recognized a growing consumer desire for experiences that feel deeper, more meaningful, and even transformational. His work sits at the intersection of narrative and design, offering organizations a way to move beyond surface-level storytelling and toward experiences that truly resonate. ​In this talk, Skees will introduce Futurespaces attendees to his framework, Narrative Experience Design—a process for translating a brand’s story into cohesive, immersive experiences across every touchpoint, whether digital, physical, or human. ​By transforming customers into engaged audiences, Narrative Experience Design strengthens brand equity, drives business growth, and positions story and experience as core values—not optional add-ons—in shaping an organization’s identity. ​Great experiences aren’t a luxury. They’re a competitive advantage.

How We Feel, Full Stack Experience Architectures with Josh Horowitz, Co-Founder PRESENT

About the Talk ​How We Feel, Full Stack Experience Architectures explores how experiences can be intentionally designed to shape emotion, memory, and meaning. The talk explores that an experience is not a single moment, space, or interaction, but a holistic system that unfolds across time, before, during, and after engagement. By blending neuroaesthetic principles with full stack experience design, the work examines how sensory input, spatial design, narrative, and technology influence both physiological and emotional responses. We'll look at experience design as an act of emotional architecture, where every layer, from anticipation and arrival to interaction and reflection, contributes to how people feel and what they remember. Immersive technologies are treated not as spectacle, but as tools for deepening connection, empathy, and presence. Ultimately, the talk explores experience design as a transformative practice, moving beyond memorability toward lasting impact, design that subtly alters perception, behavior, and the way individuals carry an experience with them long after it ends.

Are We Ready to Trust AI? Navigating AI in the Realm of Cultural Institutions with Amit Asaravala

​As museums and cultural institutions begin to embrace artificial intelligence, how can they maintain the trust and integrity that are the cornerstones of their work? ​Cultural organizations have long been bastions of carefully curated knowledge. Their audiences rely on the expertise of curators and carefully crafted storytelling. Yet the advent of AI is reshaping how research is conducted, how meaning is synthesized, and ultimately how content is created, distributed, and consumed. ​

Inside the Future of the Art World with András Szántó

Join us for an Artworld x Futurespaces session with author and cultural strategist András Szántó, featuring the final volume of his trilogy on the future of art museums, The Future of the Art World: 38 Dialogues. Building on his earlier books, the talk will explore how cultural, technological, and market forces are reshaping museums and the wider art ecosystem. ​In this 30 minute, no slides talk, Szántó will reflect on how museums are redefining their missions and what new futures are emerging for cultural institutions. A widely published author and advisor to museums and foundations worldwide, his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Artforum, Artnet News, and The Art Newspaper. ​

MCN Ignite 2025 | Courtney O'Callaghan

MCN Ignite 2025 | Isabella Bruno

MCN Ignite 2025 | Kimberly Lý

MCN Ignite 2025 | Julia Demarest

Museums in an Age of Infinite Knowledge: Curating Meaning in the Information Flood Josh Goldblum, CEO, Bluecadet

The rules of engagement for museums were written in another era, when display cases and dioramas were cutting-edge technology. Today, audiences move fluidly between TED Talks, Netflix documentaries, and immersive experiences like Meow Wolf or Disney.

Translating the Physical + Digital with Sasha Wallinger, Director of Marketing + Communications, MIT Museum

​How do museums, galleries, and brands evolve when the physical and digital worlds continually reshape one another? Join Sasha Wallinger, inaugural Marketing and Communications Director at the MIT Museum, for an exploration of creative storytelling across physical and virtual spaces—from retail experiences to museum exhibitions.