Audience development for the Museo del Contemporaneo at the Università degli Studi di Verona

The Museo del Contemporaneo – Centro museale per l’Arte e i Linguaggi della Contemporaneità at the Università degli Studi di Verona was established following the donation, in 2024, of 110 works from Giorgio and Anna Fasol’s AGIVERONA collection. The museum was created to promote research, education and experimentation in the languages of contemporary art.

The collection has since expanded and now comprises predominantly post-2000 works, including paintings, photographs, installations and video art. It is displayed across several university sites, with the majority of the works housed at the Ca’ Vignal campus in Borgo Roma and at Santa Marta in the Veronetta district. While the museum’s scattered nature enriches its relationship with the surrounding area, it also presents challenges for its promotion, particularly in relation to the project’s strategic objectives of audience development and strengthening ties with the local community.

The establishment of the museum offers an opportunity to strengthen the university’s role as a cultural institution rooted in its local area and communities. In this context, it is essential to develop a strategy based on a thorough understanding of the museum’s current and potential audiences, identifying their needs and barriers to access. This will help shape new ways of engaging visitors, foster lasting relationships with the public, and broaden and diversify participation through inclusive and accessible practices.
The audience engagement strategy will focus primarily on the university’s students and academic staff, followed by the local community – particularly residents of the Veronetta district – and the organisations associated with the Museo del Contemporaneo.

BAM! has developed a two-stage programme. The first stage focuses on audience analysis and mapping through an in-person workshop designed to explore the context and identify the Museo del Contemporaneo’s key target audiences and stakeholders. This is followed by a co-design workshop with university students, organised as a hackathon to generate and prototype new initiatives for the museum.
The findings from these two initiatives will inform a Positioning and Audience Development Plan, setting out clear objectives, practical tools and concrete actions to support the growth and diversification of the museum’s audiences.

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