New nationwide project in Denmark: Museum Thy and SMK invite citizens to take part in an assembly on the museums of the future, SMK, 6 June 2026
In the middle of June 2026, 15,000 citizens from across Denmark receive an invitation in their digital postbox, offering them a chance to take part in the Nordic region’s first citizens’ assembly in the museum sector. The initiative is launched by Museum Thy and SMK, who are asking for proposals on how museums can ensure their continued relevance in the future.
‘We need your help to imagine a future in which museums are a significant, meaningful and permanent part of everyday life for more people.’
This is the task that a representative cross-section of the Danish population will now help Museum Thy and SMK – the National Gallery of Denmark – to explore.
Together, the two museums are launching a new nationwide public-engagement project involving both frequent museumgoers and people who rarely or never visit museums. The aim is to establish a citizens’ assembly which, over the course of the autumn, will develop a series of recommendations on how museums can create greater value for more people in the future.
‘As a national gallery, we want to be a museum for more people – and for a broader, more diverse public. But how do we achieve that? How do we strengthen people’s sense of attachment and belonging, and how do we grow and develop in step with citizens’ wishes, interests and needs? These are not questions we can answer alone. That is why we are now giving the floor to the people at the heart of it all – the citizens. We look forward to listening and learning, and we are delighted to be doing so together with Museum Thy,’ says Astrid la Cour, Director of SMK.
‘Our ambition is to have what we learn from this citizens’ assembly inspire the rest of the museum sector and the wider world of culture. Museum Thy and SMK are two very different museums – a local museum of cultural history and a state art museum – and it is our hope that, through this broad collaboration, the project will benefit the entire sector,’ says Jytte Nielsen, Director of Museum Thy.
This is the first time that a citizens’ assembly has been held in the museum sector in the Nordic region. The project is supported by the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces and builds partly on lessons learnt from similar projects undertaken by Birmingham Museums Trust and the National Gallery, London, in the United Kingdom.