Peggy Derder, Head of the Written, Oral, Audio and Digital Content Unit, Centre Pompidou (Paris, France)

Peggy Derder is Head of the Written, Oral, Audio and Digital Content Unit of Centre Pompidou (Paris, France). This unit of the Public Program Department designs and produces written contents and tools, podcasts, digital tools, and oral interpretation programs for the Centre Pompidou’s collection and exhibitions both in France and internationally. In addition, she teaches at the École du Louvre (Paris, France), where she co-coordinates the Master 2 Mediation. In her various roles, she pays particular attention to public participation and to audiences unfamiliar with museum institutions.

The Centre Pompidou Sentimental Podcast: Building Trust Through Visitors' Voices

How can a cultural institution’s history and identity be defined through its audiences? How can visitors be given a full voice? How can we build and share these perspectives on the museum amid the paradoxical context of its closure?

In 2025, as the Centre Pompidou prepares to close for a five-year renovation, the cultural mediation department is developing a participatory podcast project. During several events, a sound-collection workshop is set up in the museum’s rooms, as close as possible to the artworks, or in the Forum, to gather visitors’ testimonials and impressions. Many are loyal visitors of the Centre Pompidou - some since its opening in 1977 - while others are members, occasional visitors, or first-time visitors.

Strengthening the relationship between the soon-to-be-closed museum and its audiences, fostering participation, and encouraging people to speak up are among the goals and challenges of this participatory mediation project. There was certainly no shortage of methodological challenges and questions.

Ultimately, this mediation project gave rise to the podcast Centre Pompidou sentimental. Drawing on hundreds of recorded and analyzed voice messages, this podcast paints a multifaceted yet intimate and sensitive portrait of the Centre Pompidou, as seen through the eyes of its visitors—whether they’ve been there up close, from afar, frequently, or for the very first time. It reveals a lot about the role art plays in our lives.

Confidences, anecdotes, reflections, messages of love, and memories bring to life a Centre Pompidou sentimental that is both unique and multifaceted.