Susana Gomes da Silva, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Head of education at the Modern Art Centre of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and head of education of the Gulbenkian Museum. Responsible for the vison, strategy and methodology of the Education Department of the museum and its programmes, managing a wide team of museum educators.

Alessandra Gariboldi, Fitzcarraldo Foundation

Senior researcher and consultant in the fields of visitor studies and cultural project evaluation, with a primary focus on audience development and participatory approaches. She’s Head of Trasnational Projects of Fondazione Fitzcarraldo and collaborates with the Cultural Observatory of Piedmont, Italy.

Inês mara, Mapa das Ideias

Founder, CEO and Creative and Special Projects Manager at Mapa das Ideias. Responsible for the development and implementation of conferences, vocational training programmes and the establishment of international partnerships. Communication Studies major and PhD candidate in Communication Sciences on “Museum and Visitors”.

The methodology is called Audience Centred Experience Design (ACED) is based on Design Thinking and strives to reach the real people behind the hard data, replacing abstract data points with a tangible connection to real human beings:

• Focus on achievable goals
• Encourages risk taking – “Fail fast, fail cheap”
• Encourages non-linear thinking
• It’s a relational process
• Challenges assumptions
• Doesn’t replace but integrates other competences