Over the years, there has been a rising interest in the concept of the learning community in education departments in contemporary art museums and galleries. This development can be attributed to changes on a political as well as institutional level in Europe as well as the US. The change of art policy has meant more funding for community-centred art education projects, while institutional developments have increased the interest in and opportunities for democratically-oriented, critical education in the museum and art world. Essentially, the word ‘community’ in the term ‘learning community’ cannot be understood uncritically, as there will always be a certain tension between a community and the museum as a result of that institution’s power and position. This study therefore analyses the different underlying frameworks of learning communities in museums and galleries for contemporary art and the implications that are related to them. The differences and similarities between a learning community inside and outside the museum are illustrated by two case studies: the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam’s Blikopeners and the South London Gallery’s Looking for Sierra Leone. Blikopeners is strongly connected with the museum, which determines every learning goal in the programme. The main focus of this learning community is instigating institutional change. Contrastingly, Looking for Sierra Leone focuses on democratizing the institution’s resources in order to build a relationship with its neighbours, in which the institute is not separate from its surroundings but a part of them, as a stakeholder amongst many other stakeholders. Besides the theoretical research, the education project Mapping Osdorp was organised by me to intertwine theory and practice. In this project, a group of Stedelijk’s Blikopeners stepped outside the confines of the museum and explored the neighbourhood of Amsterdam Osdorp through artistic practices inspired by mapping and psychogeography. The participants compared the traits of their learning community inside the Stedelijk Museum with an alternative education project taking place in a local neighbourhood outside the museum. In this way, the frameworks of both forms of learning communities have been analysed in the form of practice-based research. A conclusion is that museums and galleries frequently engage in educational activities for specific reasons and want certain outcomes from specific communities or individuals – while these communities are often not aware of an institution’s underlying aims. Museums and galleries should therefore be aware and critical of their own position and power, to prevent the creation and consolidation of learning communities completely for their own benefit. External critic: Frances Williams (freelance writer and curator specialized in community arts engagement, PhD researcher, Manchester Metropolitan University)