Communicating Climate Change: Insights from Crab Museum & Climate Museum UK

How do museums communicate climate change - and actually influence how people think, feel and act?

This event brings together voices from Crab Museum and Climate Museum UK, two organisations taking bold, unconventional approaches to engaging visitors with complex global issues.

At Crab Museum, communication starts with humour, play and radical honesty, using unexpected storytelling to challenge assumptions and provoke new ways of thinking about the natural world.

Climate Museum UK, by contrast, focuses on creating participatory, reflective spaces where people can process the climate crisis, imagine alternatives, and consider their own role in change.

Together, these perspectives explore:

• How museums can move beyond information to influence attitudes and behaviour
• The role of emotion, creativity and participation in climate communication
• What it means to engage audiences honestly in a time of crisis
• How different approaches, from humour to facilitation, can shape visitor experience

The session will include short talks from each speaker followed by an audience Q&A.

Speakers

Ned Suesat, Co-Director, Crab Museum (Margate)

Ned Suesat is one of three directors of Crab Museum, an independent science museum that uses crabs to explore the interconnectedness of life on Earth. With a background spanning archaeology, teaching, filmmaking and performance, his work brings humour, creativity and critical thinking into museum practice.

Bridget McKenzie, Climate Museum UK / Flow Associates

Bridget McKenzie is a researcher, artist and cultural leader working at the intersection of culture and the environment. Formerly Head of Learning at the British Library and Education Manager at Tate, she now develops participatory approaches to engaging people with the climate crisis, including through Climate Museum UK and Culture Declares Emergency.