Pascale Grignon, Senior Director, Programs and Engagement, McCord Stewart Museum (Montreal, Canada)

Pascale Grignon is Senior Director, Programs & Engagement at the McCord Stewart Museum in Montreal, where she oversees exhibitions, education and community engagement, communications, partnerships, and visitor experience.

A member of the Museum’s executive leadership team, she plays a key role in shaping institutional strategy and advancing audience-centred museum practices.

Since joining the Museum in 2010, Pascale has led communications, marketing, digital engagement, visitor experience, and, from 2021 to 2025, the institution’s equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives. Her work has focused on strengthening the relevance, accessibility and social impact of the Museum and facilitate the transformation of the organization by the adoption of decolonized museum practices.

An active participant in the international research groups, Pascale regularly contributes to discussions on the future of museums, audience engagement and institutional transformation. Prior to her museum career, she held senior leadership roles in strategic communications and marketing at Cossette. She is also a frequent speaker, facilitator and trainer.

Julia Frainier, Head of Communications, McCord Stewart Museum (Montreal, Canada)

Julia Frainier is Head of Communications at the McCord Stewart Museum in Montreal. For more than 15 years, she has worked in communications and marketing in the cultural sector, with a particular focus on museums and their audiences. Before joining the McCord Stewart Museum, she spent over a decade at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where she held a range of communications and marketing roles, most recently leading brand, advertising and social media communications. She is interested in how museums can tell their stories in new ways, build connections and make culture feel relevant and accessible (hi, authenticity! hi, memes!) to the people they hope to reach.

Decolonizing Communication: How the McCord Stewart Museum Builds Dialogue with Its Community

As cultural institutions are increasingly called upon to redefine their social role, communication has become a critical lever for building trust and fostering dialogue.

This presentation offers a case study of how the McCord Stewart Museum in Montreal is rethinking its communications through a decolonizing lens to better reflect the diversity of voices, memories, and narratives it represents. Drawing on flagship projects such as Little Burgundy – Evolving Montreal, the talk examines how institutional communications can move beyond dissemination to become spaces of listening, collaboration, and co-creation with communities in Montreal.

It highlights the strategic decisions, linguistic shifts, and partnerships that have shaped a more inclusive and responsible institutional voice. The presentation also addresses the inherent tensions of this work: how to communicate histories shaped by marginalization without simplifying or appropriating them, and how to balance institutional frameworks with lived realities.

Grounded in practice, this talk invites arts and culture professionals to view communication not merely as a tool, but as a relational and political space that plays a central role in bridging worlds and ensuring museums remain relevant, credible, and inclusive.