Museums in the twenty-first century have increasingly encountered the demand for reinventing outdated ethnocentric and exclusive museum practices and instead developing into democratic and inclusive cultural institutions. Dedicated to social progress and community building, museums are expected to welcome everybody and include a diverse and multicultural society. Hence, museums as socially inclusive cultural spaces are striven towards, which moreover implies recognition of the diversity of its visitors.  

The objectives of the present research study are thus to shed light on the cultural phenomenon of how museums acknowledge and approach children and adolescents in museum spaces. Hence, museum practices of approaching children and adolescents are investigated, including educational and pedagogical programs, activities and exhibitions, as well as museums’ ambitions and intentions behind producing and creating these practices. For the research study, three museums have been selected as examples: Helsingborg Museum, Malmö Museums and Scania’s Regional Museum. Grounded in a critical museological theoretical movement, the research study is inclined to understand museum practices of approaching children and adolescents from a critical cultural perspective. A qualitative empirical analysis has been conducted to accomplish the research study’s objectives. The present research study indicates that children and adolescents are recognised as active consumers of culture and cultural activity and are approached according to their ability and competence. However, difficulties in implementing self-representation and active participation in museum spaces occur. Nevertheless, the research outcome displays significant ambition and intentions of the selected museums to further include children and adolescents in everyday museum practices.