Schedule

The Hellenic Museum and MedusaRPG present “Mysterion: Descent into Hades,” a responsive theatre experience that blends history, mythology, interactive storytelling, and game design. This session will explore how the museum was transformed into the Greek Underworld, where players encountered figures from ancient history, embarked on quests, and solved puzzles. The presentation will share how the museum engaged new audiences through play and whether the players managed to reunite Hades and Persephone, trick Hermes, and discover the secret of immortality.

The National Portrait Gallery presents “Mission to Mars,” a program designed to make workplace strategic planning days and school excursions memorable. The session will explore how the gallery engages visitors with an interactive experience that brings the excitement of space exploration into the museum setting.

Discover how Louvre Abu Dhabi placed play at the heart of Space Camp and used role-play strategies to create interactive experiences to engage young people with STEAM. During the summer, over 80 Young Astronauts, aged 8-12, took part in the ultimate Space Camp connected to the Children Museum’s latest adventure, Picturing the Cosmos! Space Camp challenged the Young Astronauts to develop teamwork, leadership, and decision-making skills through informal engagement with art, science, and technology. Life skills are essential to sustain living in space for long periods of time, and during Space Camp, the Young Astronauts developed communication strategies, focus, and discipline through play, collaboration, problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity.

Inspired by exhibitions on Masonic history, “The Amazing Race,” and the 2004 film National Treasure, the program “Mystery, Masons, and Mayhem: A French Quarter Adventure” involved 20 teams of racers traversing the French Quarter. Participants completed challenges, deciphered codes, interacted with historic figures, and explored historic buildings to “steal” the Louisiana Purchase. The goal of the program was to collaborate with several museums in the French Quarter to create an event that was off the wall but still rooted in history. The event successfully brought 100 local adults into five museums, two art galleries, and one Masonic lodge.

Bozar Arcade invites participants to explore the emergence of art and video games, showcasing how games transcend entertainment to become powerful tools for storytelling and emotional engagement. The session will feature curated games on themes like decolonization and love in video games. Attendees will discover how digital media and contemporary art converge to leverage creativity and community at Bozar Arcade.

This presentation will discuss how the Ashmolean Museum promotes early play and positive family interactions through gallery-themed play opportunities for parents and toddlers. Attendees will learn how the museum has built interaction and language into a range of play activities, such as becoming a Pharaoh or discovering ancient coins with a metal detector. The session will highlight which activities worked best and share key learning points.

The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) imagiNATIONS Activity Centers are unique interactive exhibitions that provide in-depth, hands-on learning about Indigenous cultures of the Western Hemisphere. NMAI staff will share how they design their engaging programs, offering a virtual walk-through of the centers. The presentation will highlight activities such as the “Surf to Street” Skateboard game, practicing balancing techniques needed to master a traditional Yup’ik Kayak from the Arctic, or learning to do math like the early Maya people of Mexico.

This past year, Ateneum Art Museum partnered with artist Harold Hejazi to engage their audience with the central questions surrounding their new permanent exhibition. The resulting museum game console, “Ateneum Game,” is not exactly a PlayStation or an N64, but it aspires to capture players’ imaginations just the same. Participants are invited to select from a catalogue of games and play with other museum visitors using their mobile devices. The games explore the exhibition’s themes through activities such as humorous art history trivia, ruthless art criticism, and competitive creative writing. This presentation will discuss the visitor experience, the strengths and weaknesses of this new initiative, and how Ateneum Game encourages visitors to connect with art and each other.

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) will share how they have been using Minecraft, integrating Indigenous knowledge, and employing coding platforms to create interactive, dynamic learning programs. The session will explore how ROM Minecraft allows students across Ontario to engage with museum topics and collections in an immersive 3D world, and how “Hack the ROM” inspires students to program their own games or digital projects by coding with Scratch and Twine.