Hannah Varden

Hannah Varden is an artist and educator currently working at the Peabody Essex Museum as the Manager of Community Engagement. Hannah holds a Masters of Arts in Teaching from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and BAs in Studio Art and Political Science from the University of Virginia.

She has worked in arts education since 2016 and facilitated programming at the Providence Children’s Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, North Shore Alliance for GLBTIA+ Youth (NAGLY), and in various schools across the greater-Boston area.

Hannah Varden will be speaking at the Museums & Public Programs Summit 2025 :

Queering the Museum: Trust-based Approaches to Programming

Museums have a responsibility as cultural institutions to create inclusive, affirming spaces where queer and trans communities feel seen, valued, and celebrated. By extending trust to community members as sources of knowledge and leadership, museums can cultivate meaningful engagement, expand community buy-in, and bolster their public perception as accessible, relevant institutions.

Join us to explore several case studies illustrating how PEM’s collaborative, trust-based approaches in public programming and community engagement—co-created with and for queer and trans community members— cultivate meaningful connection, foster lifelong learning, expand community buy-in, and bolster our public perception as an accessible institution for the LGBTQIA2S+ community.