Cultural, political, economic and technological changes have forced museums to redefine their mission and to construct new identities for the future. In the post-modern era. museums need to justify their social relevance. Some of the questions museums need to answer are the following: What will the role of the museum as an educational institution be in 2000? How can museums define and strengthen their role in a rapidly changing social reality? The answer to these questions can be partly answered by developing new relationships with audiences- current, potential and virtual ones. In their effort to become more open and to approach new audiences, museums have developed outreach programmes for different communities. The aim of this paper is to present the rationale of and different approaches to outreach programmes as well as to provide examples of good practice.