International Audience Engagement Network: What do you think is the most pressing issue facing museums right now?

Eise Shikari: Our museum celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, 2023. We are thinking about what kind of community we can create in the next 20 years.

IAE Network: What keeps you passionate about what do you do?

ES: This is because the audience looks forward to visiting our museum every day.

IAE Network: Share one thing your organization is doing differently to engage audiences?

ES: We consciously create encounters between communities that we do not meet in everyday life.

IAE Network: For people or institutions new to focusing on audiences/audience engagement, what is one thing you would recommend to begin?

ES: It could start by imagining the person next to you.

IAE Network: Do you use the IAE Network guidelines in any way (see link), and if so, can you share how you have you used them?

ES: From time to time I read with particular awareness about ‘GUIDELINE 2’ when I am planning each learning program.

IAE Network: What are you currently reading/watching/listening to that inspires you?

ES: I read books by cultural anthropologists and actively invite them to museum talks related to the exhibition programs. I am also interested in poetry. In Japan, poetry and tanka are popular among the younger generation. And more things we create programs with people with disabilities.