In contemporary cultural organizations, educational and communication functions constitute interconnected dimensions of strategic communication. Actually, strategic communication acts as an umbrella framework that encompasses both Education and Communication Strategies (Pathak-Shelat et al., 2026). Despite the growing recognition of both these functions, limited empirical research, at least to our knowledge, has examined how the alignment of educational and communication strategies shapes visitors’ experiences within cultural organizations. The aim of this research is to investigate how cultural organizations shape and apply their educational and communication strategies, and the degree of convergence between them with the purpose to understand their effect in visitors experience. Drawing upon the framework of strategic communication, the research examines three major cultural organizations in Larissa, Greece: the Diachronic Museum of Larissa, the Municipal Gallery of Larissa – G.I. Katsigras Museum, and the Public Central Library
“Konstantinos Koumas.” The study seeks to identify how these institutions design and implement educational and communication initiatives, assess the degree of strategic integration between them, and evaluate their contribution to audience engagement and cultural participation. Data were collected with the use of structured questionnaires administered to visitors of the participating organizations. The analysis focuses on perceptions of educational value, communication effectiveness, audience interaction, and overall visitor satisfaction. The findings reveal that cultural organisations give great importance on their educational mission while using communication strategies to improve their audience engagement. A statistically significant relationship between educational and communication policies is identified, indicating that their strategic alignment positively influences visitors’ cultural experiences. This study contributes to the literature on strategic communication in cultural management by proposing an integrated framework linking education, communication, and visitor experience. It also provides practical recommendations for museum professionals, cultural managers, and policymakers seeking to strengthen audience centered cultural engagement in an increasingly competitive environment.

JEL Classification: Z11, L20, M12