2026 Connecting Across Cultures
Why Cultural Competence Matters
At Powerhouse, we welcome visitors from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, languages, and life experiences. As a volunteer, your ability to connect with people—whether you’re giving a talk, sharing an object story, or answering questions—plays a key role in shaping how inclusive and welcoming our museum feels.
What You’ll Learn
At Powerhouse, we welcome visitors from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, languages, and life experiences. As a volunteer, your ability to connect with people—whether you’re giving a talk, sharing an object story, or answering questions—plays a key role in shaping how inclusive and welcoming our museum feels.
This reflection tool will help you:
- Think about your own values and beliefs
- Explore how culture influences communication
- Recognise the impact of unconscious bias
- Build confidence in engaging across cultures
This is a personal reflection activity. It takes around 10–15 minutes to complete and includes short prompts to guide your thinking. You’ll reflect on:
- Your own cultural perspective
- How you feel when engaging across cultures
- Any assumptions or areas of uncertainty
There are no right or wrong answers, and your responses are private.
Cultural competence is the ability to engage respectfully and effectively with people from diverse backgrounds. In a museum setting, this means:
- Making all visitors feel respected and included
- Responding appropriately to different cultural norms
- Sharing stories in ways that are culturally sensitive
- Avoiding bias, assumptions, or unintentional exclusion
Here are just a few ways cultural competence can make a difference during your shift:
- Using simple, inclusive language for visitors unfamiliar with museum terms
- Pausing to explain a reference that may not be culturally universal
- Being open and respectful when visitors express different perspectives
- Creating space for reflection around objects with spiritual or political significance
Even small moments of thoughtfulness can make visitors feel truly welcome.
If you’d like to explore cultural awareness in more depth, these resources are a great starting point: