Maria Vlachou is a cultural management and communications consultant and the Executive Director of Access Culture. Vlachou is also the author of the bilingual blog Musing on Culture, where she writes about culture, the arts, museums, cultural management and communication. In Lisbon, she was Communications Director of São Luiz Municipal Theatre (2006-2012) and Head of Communication of Pavilion of Knowledge – Ciência Viva (2001-2006). From 2005 - 2014 she was board member of ICOM Portugal and editor of its bulletin. She collaborated with the programmes Discover and Next Future of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and was a consultant for the Museum Arpad Szenes – Vieira da Silva, as well as for the Cultural Commission of the Portuguese Navy. She did internships at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology and The Natural History Museum (London). Maria Vlachou is an alumna of the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the Kennedy Center in Washington (2011-2013); she has a M.A. in Museum Studies (University College London, 1993-1994) and a B.A. in History and Archaeology (University of Ioannina, Greece, 1988 – 1992).