NG Citizens: Session One

Last Saturday marked the launch of NG Citizens - our sector-leading, nationwide Citizens’ Assembly focusing on the future of the Gallery, which will be followed by a four-year Citizens’ Panel to help bring that future to life.

The Assembly brings together 55 people from across the UK, most of whom have never visited the Gallery before. Over the next five months, they will explore the central question:

What do you want from the UK’s National Gallery? How can it bring people and paintings together in authentic and meaningful ways, now and for the future?

In the first session, Assembly members spent time getting to know one another and beginning to connect with the Gallery itself. Building on their own everyday experiences of art and culture, they shared paintings that hold personal meaning, heard from staff about the Gallery’s past and present, and took part in tours to experience how our spaces feel today.

The Assembly members then began shaping their vision for the Gallery’s future, using guided visualisation and hands-on modelling, before selecting the topics they wish to explore further in upcoming sessions. They decided to explore the following three questions:

• Can art ever be open to everyone?
• Do galleries need to adapt to new and emerging technologies - if so, how?
• What is the social value of art?

These will form the focus of the second Assembly session on 6 December 2025.