Cultural outreach

Inspired by the way artists work, these workshops for children and adults allow them to explore multiple artistic practices by observing how techniques are carried out and then trying them out for themselves, learning to draw by training their ability to look, dancing in front of an artwork and playing around with projection technologies. These are among the many ways to make art in your own way, freely, unselfconsciously and joyfully. Participants learn how to really see art and enrich their own cultural life.

Consult programme and sign up.

Each month we offer interactive visits for children and their adult accompaniment. Our “Family visits” (with children six-years-old and up) and “Visits for little kids” (3-5-year-olds) deploy varied approaches to art to encourage inter-generational exchanges and allow children to express their emotions and opinions.

Consult programme and sign up.

Our guided exhibition visits are conceived as spaces for both education and animated discussion.
Some are guided by docents, others by artists themselves so that visitors can learn about artworks from the people who made them.
So as to provide visitors with more ways to get into and engage with our permanent exhibitions, the MCBA regularly contributes to the continuing education courses offered at the Université populaire de Lausanne by organizing thematic visits, such as “What is art?”, “Art and feminism” and “Art games.”

Consult programming and sign up.

Several of our culture programmes are specifically designed to facilitate cultural participation. Visitors are encouraged to engage in the life of the museum by becoming active volunteers. They bring their own resources and skills to bear, learn on the job and share their experiences with other visitors and the museum staff.
The Passeuses et Passeurs de culture (cultural go-betweens or cultural messengers) and the organizing committee of our evening event called Carte blanche aux publics make valuable contributions to the museum’s cultural mission, its ability to constantly drawn in a wider public, its impact on the city’s life and the development of its own critical thinking.

Launched by the MCBA’s Cultural outreach team in 2014, this initiative has evolved from a pilot project to one of the MCBA’s crown jewels. These volunteer art lovers bring the message of the museum’s exhibitions to family, friends and those around them and render those exhibitions more accessible by accompanying them during informal visits. They make it possible for people not always used to the museum experience to not only enjoy seeing exhibitions but engage with them through friendly discussion.

The MCBA would like to see other museums benefit from the success of this project. Our Web site offers key suggestions for applying this concept (procedures, feasibility conditions, reference documents, first-hand accounts, etc.).

Cultural messengers (FR)

We want our Carte blanche aux publics soirées launched in 2021 to become a highlight in the life of our museum. A committee comprised of young people 16-25 years of age works together with us to hold a visitor-friendly public event, taking part in all aspects, from programming to spreading the word.

• Each child who comes to the MCBA is given, free of charge, an activities book. These games, drawings and other exercises are meant to stimulate their imagination as they view the temporary and permanent exhibitions.
• Two creative do-it-yourself kits designed by the Cultural outreach team allow children to try out artistic techniques for themselves.
• On sale at the MCBA bookshop/giftshop:
  Two books designed by the Cultural outreach team introduce the works in the museum’s permanent collection: Ça bouge au musée! designed for very young children (0-3 years-olds).Regarde, elles parlent ! 15 œuvres du musée te racontent leur histoire (8-year-olds and up). This book helps convey the narratives embodied in artworks.

Digital visitors’ guide to the permanent exhibition (app). Our guiding principle was to respect each visitor’s own viewing experience. We decided to offer this as an audio guide so that they don’t have to take their eyes off the art. Available without charge in French, German and English.

• Commentary on the artworks (in text and audio versions).
• Previously unpublished interviews with artists and experts.
• Additional images to help visitors comprehend selected pieces.
• A guide to 12 artworks in French Sign Language (LSF).

Download the app.

The MCBA Web site offers at-home activities, inspired by the museum’s holdings, that children can do by themselves or with others. Design spectacular headgear or make a portrait, observe your daily surroundings, imagine yourself as Robinson Crusoe in your own home, hold a mini-art show, etc.

Discover all the activities (FR)

Students of all ages and teachers are particularly dear to our hearts. They are offered free-of-charge access and suitable levels of guided visits that are both participatory and diverse.

In 2021, about 9,400 people took advantage of these educational activities.

More about our educational programmes (FR)

We offer continuing education programmes for professionals working in the fields of education and social services. The aim is to encourage them to get to know and make use of our museum as a space to bring their groups, either on their own or with a guide.

The MCBA, the Centre de Vie Enfantine (CVE) in Montelly and PEP- Partenaire Enfance et Pédagogie worked together to conceive an ensemble of visits adapted to the needs of groups of 2-4-year-olds in preschool programmes.

In partnership with the Haute école pédagogique – Vaud teachers’ college since 2010, the MCBA offers educators varied training modules to facilitate their use of the museum as a teaching resource.