AI policy & guidance for arts, culture & heritage organisations
Support for cultural organisations developing practical, proportionate approaches to AI policy, guidance and governance that reflect their mission, creative practice, audiences and working culture. Projects can include consultation, policy development, staff engagement, structured experimentation and implementation, helping organisations decide where AI can be useful, where clearer boundaries are needed and where human judgement, creative expertise or existing practice should remain central.
A 2026 UNESCO–ICOM survey of more than 400 museums found that 57% of respondents were already using AI while 55% had no internal AI policy, strategy or guidelines.
Jocelyn Burnham is an independent AI consultant and facilitator working with arts, culture and heritage organisations. Her policy work combines sector knowledge, staff consultation, practical experimentation and facilitated discussion, helping organisations develop guidance that reflects how people actually work and what the organisation exists to support and protect.
Policy that reflects the organisation behind it.
AI policy for a cultural organisation can reach well beyond data protection and approved tools. It may touch artistic integrity, commissioning, collections, interpretation, accessibility, creative labour, environmental responsibility, public trust and the relationship between technology and professional expertise.
The starting point is the organisation itself. This means looking at how staff are already using AI, including informal experiments and unofficial tools, where they feel unsure and which parts of the organisation’s mission or values should shape the response.
Different activities may need very different treatment. Everyday administrative or research uses may need relatively simple guidance, while creative work, public-facing content, sensitive data, collections, recruitment, funding decisions or commissioned work may require clearer boundaries and additional scrutiny.
Staff can also test tools against real cultural use cases before the organisation sets wider rules. This can help people examine quality, authenticity, bias, rights, accessibility and audience expectations through practice rather than assumption.
The finished guidance should help staff make real decisions. It should set clear boundaries where the organisation needs them while leaving room for professional, creative and ethical judgement.
From organisational context to usable guidance.
The exact process depends on the organisation, but projects often move through four connected stages.
Understand how the organisation is already working. Review current policies, staff practice, approved and unofficial tools, existing experiments, concerns and decision routes. The work can also map where staff already use AI and where they need clearer guidance. Consultation can involve leadership, staff, specialist teams, volunteers or other relevant groups and can surface questions about creativity, ethics, confidence and organisational culture.
Agree the organisation’s position and boundaries. Identify the principles that should guide decisions and connect them to the organisation’s mission, artistic purpose and responsibilities to staff, creatives and audiences. This can include deciding which uses are broadly acceptable, where additional care is needed, what staff should refer for review and where the organisation wants clear creative or ethical boundaries. The work can also consider applicants, artists, commissioned creatives, suppliers, audiences, partners or funded organisations as well as internal staff use.
Turn those decisions into guidance people can use. Jocelyn can develop organisational AI policy, staff guidance, approved-tool and data-handling guidance, decision frameworks, creative-use boundaries, escalation routes and recommendations for particular teams or activities. The work can also cover applications, assessments, commissioning processes, procurement, consent processes or workflows where AI changes how staff make decisions.
Help staff use the guidance in practice. Staff sessions and policy-to-practice workshops can help people understand how the policy applies to their work. Leadership briefings can clarify responsibilities, while named contacts and clear routes for questions can make unusual cases easier to handle. Working groups, review points and small experiments can support later updates.
What a project might produce.
The final shape depends on the organisation. Some projects result in concise staff-facing guidance. Others need a wider package combining consultation, policy development, practical decision tools and support for implementation.
- AI policy or staff guidance
- Consultation findings and AI use mapping
- Values and guiding principles
- Creative boundaries and use-case guidance
- Department-specific guidance
- Recommendations for leadership
- Approved-tool and data-handling guidance
- Decision frameworks and escalation routes
- Governance roles and review points
- Commissioning or external-facing guidance
- Policy-to-practice workshops
- Review and update processes
Built around your decisions.
Policy projects can range from a focused review of existing guidance to a wider process involving staff consultation, leadership discussion, practical experimentation and policy development.
The scope depends on what already exists, how staff are using AI, the level of uncertainty within the organisation and the kinds of cultural, creative or operational decisions the policy needs to support.
Where the answers are unclear, staff can begin with listening and small-scale experiments rather than trying to settle every question in advance. A real use case can show how quality, rights, audience expectations and human expertise affect a decision before the organisation sets wider guidance.
A project can also identify questions that the organisation should keep under review as staff practice, available tools and sector expectations change.