Museums, Community and Social Responsibility: Observations of the Field

Museums (in general) are a model for socially responsible organizations. At their basic level they are about serving their communities (This is why they are granted 501c3 status by the government). Many who find their way into jobs in the Museum field want to be socially responsible. They are already facing the direction of serving their communities and doing what they can to make the world a better place. Museums are often viewed by the public as objective and honest sources of information. Museums provide family-safe places where adults and children together expect educational and enriching exhibit s and programs. Many museums use volunteers, reflecting the demographics of the community and allowing visitors to see themselves in the museum [a public institution]. Led by the core of their missions, most museums preserve and share the memories of society.

 Museums are using their resources to meet community needs.  Museums host events and forums around difficult and current topics and are joining with each other to support this work and foster dialogue. There are developing opportunities for members of communities to convene, converse and connect with stories. There are partnerships with communities to provide opportunities to improve educational resources. Courses are being offered within Museum Studies programs on socially responsible topics to build knowledge, skills and comfort with building community relationships.

 It has not been difficult to find examples of socially responsible institutions, programs, or exhibitions. But there is a desire to do more, and to be more. Many in the field desire to have a bigger impact through their site, collections, and programs. There is a lot of good work we do that we wish could reach people and their lives more deeply. Often, it is as simple as a shift in focus and language to recognize the impact the museum can have through aligning their work with the values of their public. But it can also include recognizing and purposefully responding to crises, vulnerable peoples, and future issues, so that we can address them now.

We (as a field) are beginning to recognize that we don’t have all the answers, but that we can learn from visitors and community.  We want to empower our audiences to become collaborators or co-creators of programming that is relevant to them. We want to become better at asking questions, going to the community in the center of their lives, then shaping our action based on what we learn. Museums can be social agents – the museum of the future should be socially relevant and responsible, bridging the gaps between people; Museums should be the center of their communities.

 There is a desire within the field to become better at sharing with each other experience and language. We as a field are not so good at writing things down. Or reading about ourselves. But we recognize the value of sharing and want to share more.

There are many engaged in efforts to act as positive influences. These efforts need to be brought to the foreground and brought into focus, so that they can be seen and felt by the field – so that the work can be declared as part of who we are. Many who are making efforts to work in a socially responsible manner feel isolated and alone. While they may be a lone reed within their own institution, or in their neighborhood, they are not alone in the field. There are many, using a variety of approaches and techniques, working to strengthen museums’ abilities to be relevant, to act responsibly.

 One thing that has emerged is a desire to create a community of practice – a network of other professionals who will learn from each other and help each other solve problems. This community can help to connect those who feel alone with others who are working toward the same goals.

Other ideas that have emerged include:

• Create a LinkedIn discussion group for continued conversation, with messages that come directly to email. (See LinkedIn Group “Museums, Community and Social Responsibility”)
• Develop a website collection of examples and case studies that can help people solve problems ( See: www.trunity.net/MuseumImpact/). This could serve as a repository, a library with comments, if you will.
• Establish a speakers bureau/circuit to present to staff and/or museum associations.
• Visit each other’s institutions
• Webinar, symposium around helpful topics (what topics might be helpful?)
• Talk to each other. Learn from each other.
• Spend some money on pilots to develop and model socially responsible practices.

How would the world be different if there was a social responsibility community of practice? There seems to be plenty of excuses for why we don’t behave in more socially responsible ways, but the truth is that if we want to make a difference we can find the way.

Are you on board?

 

“Ouch!”

In the book Looking Reality in the Eye: Museums and Social Responsibility, edited by Robert R. Janes and Gerald T. Conaty, there is an essay written by Emlyn H. Koster and Stephen H. Baumann. In it, they write, “It is no longer acceptable for zoos to have a single representative of an animal species in a barred cage or, more recently, for an aquarium to train killer whales to perform circus-like acts in a pool. Less dramatically in the museum context, amassing a collection simply for the sake of amassing a collection is an indicator of institutional self-absorption. A human history museum can use its collection simply to display and identify the material output of a chapter in history, or it can endeavor to interpret that chapter in its prevailing social context. A natural history museum can display the fossil record of ancient life with or without mention of rapid, human-caused rates of declining biodiversity and increasing extinction. A science center may not be presenting to its visitors any of the major science and technology issues that are pertinent to its region. A museum can simply open its doors to its traditional audience, or it can actively try to engage a broader audience with its resources. Museums of all kinds have choices, choices that characterize them as being negative, neutral, or positive influences with respect to the needs of humanity and this planet. “

Every time I read this, I feel the gut reaction, “Ouch!” As a museum professional, it leads me to think a bit deeper about the way I approach the basic work of running a museum. I question the assumptions I have held for so long about what the mission of the museum is, and why the museum is. But at the same time, I find these same words to be deeply motivating. I can do better. We, as a field can do better.

Society has placed a vast amount of value on museums. Consider the money, volunteer time, energy and effort that communities devote to the act of collecting and preserving the relics of the past, celebrating our accomplishments and sharing our stories. Museums have been gifted great trust. It is about time that the institutions, and the real people who work in them and run them, stand up and choose to apply those resources to strengthening our communities, our society and our planet.

 

Program and Exhibits as Partners

I am a fan of design to meet program needs.

Here’s how it works: We decide what we want to do, what our activities will be, and the kinds of interactions we hope to encourage. We have goals for who the users will be and when they are going to be invited into our spaces. We decide what our messages are and the story we want to convey. Then, after we’ve got those plans, that’s when we turn to the architects and designers to start making decisions about the physical spaces and units and panels and benches and “interactives” that we want to use to tell our story. This is when we can start having an intelligent conversation about what the rooms might be like and the stuff they will be filled with to get us to our goals.  

Now the really great thing is that having started with the program, then working through the exhibition, the possibilities are greater for further program development in exciting new ways — There are opportunites for creative uses of the spaces that just would not have been there if the starting point was limited to an “exhibition”.

If you want to see a few case studies, take a look at my presentation:  http://www.slideshare.net/joannafisher/gallery-201

 

Loopiness

Have you ever been called loopy?

Loopiness is the tendency to circle back over and over again in and effort to find a better solution.

An exhibit project might be compared to the creation of a custom couch – someone needs to work their way through an entire series of design questions, such as what kind of foam will hold up best, what size of cushions will meet the needs of the sitter, and what fabric will best repel red punch and potato chips? While this comparison may convey the need to make many different decisions, it misses one really important thing: We already know that we want a couch. Maybe a couch is not the best solution? Do we need a stool? Or perhaps a rocking chair? There’s no point in spending all our time debating wood properties when the solution we need involves using solid steel construction.

With exhibit projects, we need to begin with a willingness to explore possibilities to find the best solution to tell the story. The exhibit development process supports creatively exploring different possibilities while applying structures and systems to keep the work moving forward. When we approach the process as overlapping spaces rather than sequential stages we are better able to allow room to work. This permission to be loopy, throughout the process, allows for messiness, creativity, exploration, solutions.

• It is critical that a project have a well-defined plan. Identify the work to be done, when and by whom so everyone knows what to expect and has their contribution completed in time for the next work to move ahead. Underlying structure and process allows us to make progress and keeps us from duplicating work and spinning wheels.
• Throughout the process, we are creating choices, then making choices so that each subsequent iteration of the plan becomes less broad and more detailed than the previous ones. Small decisions and choices do add up until you may no longer be supporting the intended message. Loopiness is not just moving in circles or wandering aimlessly. Instead, it is giving the team permission to keep checking their work, learn from their progress and ensure that all the pieces still work together to accomplish intended goals.
• Keep asking questions and listen to the answers, or keep digging until you find the answers. Prototype and try things out in different ways as a part of thinking and discussing and drawing and writing. Some really exciting exhibit projects never completely move out of the prototyping stage. Sometimes that is exactly the right thing to do, but that won’t work for every project. If you are looking for an exhibition that is “done”, then loop back and make the hard decisions.

Even a creative process is interested in having the project done right the first time. Loopiness helps us make sure that the couch that we eventually build will look beautiful, encourage visitors to sit and talk with each other and still repel red punch.

 

What Matters Most

I recently was honored to attend a Naturalization Ceremony, where 201 new citizens of the United States took the oath of citizenship.

201 new citizens take the Oath of Citizenship

Many of them had the opportunity to speak about their experience of becoming a citizen and why it was important. Themes of family, freedom, opportunity, religion and a desire to have their voice matter were spoken of with emotion. These were the things that truely mattered the most.

It comes down to people, their health, happiness and well-being. That means looking out for each other, supporting each other, treating people with kindness and decency. We are all in this together. We live in a nation that is uniquely suited to build better people, if we will work together and cooperate.

My dear freind and her family have come to this country to escape the killing and terror that has swept through their villages in East Africa. I am so grateful for the lessons they have given to me about loving my children, savoring the peace and tranquility of my garden, and working hard to make my neighborhood a better place.

Often, it is easy to get buried in the work of the day and lose sight of the things that matter. In all of our efforts to wordsmith a mission statement or identify messages that matter, are we really finding the messages that matter? There are things that are nice and interesting, other things that are important and other things that are essential. All of those things are significant in their own ways.

I guess what I am hoping is that next time I become passionate enough to fight for something, be it a process, content topic or issue, I hope I can avoid steamroller techniqes and be thoughful enough to recognize what really matters.

Please join me in remembering what matters most.

 

Few thoughts about the Exhibit Discussion Group

Some of these thoughts are recycled, but some are new. Either way, I am happy to put them out where someone might read them. . .

http://www.exhibitfiles.org/blog/

 

I love deadlines

I have been thinking about how great it is to have deadlines. They urge us to stop and check ourselves and our progress. We can take a look at what we have done, make necessary corrections, and focus and redirect our future work. Some of these deadlines are imposed by our work and made-up schedules, but some of them come naturally, as a part of the pulse of time.

Some of my favorites include:

Submittals – These are the specific time set aside in a project to summarize progress to date. We pull together all the ideas into the best plan we have so far. The entire team is able to take a look at progress and make sure it’s still going in the right direction. We can celebrate what is good and right, see where we may have missed the mark or not coordinated sufficiently, and where we need to focus our work in the coming weeks and months.

Weekly Team meetings – These are valuable communication tools, but they are also powerful motivators. Having them creates natural deadlines for assignments and follow-up. I love to get work done before the next meeting so I don’t have to hang my head in shame. And I really hate having something I am responsible for showing up on the agenda week after week.

End of Business (EOB) – Each work day will eventually come to an end, luckily. This creates one of my favorite deadlines – a very tangible time frame in which to get work completed. “Just get it to me by end-of-business.” This helps me and those I am working with know when smaller projects or reports can be completed. All too often, I turn this into “I’ll get that to you before I leave the office” or even “before I go to sleep”. This keeps me motivated to just keep working until I get something done.

Morning and Night – The beginning of each day allows us a fresh start. I love to take some time for myself to plan my day and think through some of the challenges I anticipate. This is a great time to prioritize what I need to get done, but also how I want to do it. What do I need to do to be better than I was in the past? Then, at some point, the day will end. I love to take another chunk of time to consider how the day went and prepare for my next day. During the regular work cycle, daily check-ups can quickly become monotonous and repetitious, but this daily check-up is just what a team needs when the work is crazy and deadlines loom. Meeting for even a few minutes daily can keep the entire team focused on the critical work that will lead to a successful completion.

What deadlines do you love? How do you use them to get your work done better?

 

Play as an Exhibit Tool

Play is a powerful tool for engagement in an exhibition for all ages, not just children. To infuse an exhibit with play, we should strive to include each of the three types of play: Building, Exploration and Role Play.

Building – When I look for examples of building and construction, I often start with the “Construction Site”.  This is definitely building, and a relevant part of all of our lives (Many of us are dodging orange cones every day). Construction sites are in many children’s museums. 

Construction Site at Discovery Gateway

Even I built one of which I am very proud. But we must think beyond that. Paul Orselli recently wrote about the value of loose parts. [it’s worth a read here ] Utilizing loose parts allows us to put things together in our own way, not necessarily being constrained by the exhibit developers “way”. We can start to represent ideas in three dimensions. Examples of building may include blocks, scrap materials, sand, cardboard, tape, foam and almost anything else. When we are able to construct, we are thinking with our hands, which opens up new ways of thinking.

Exploration – When a baby throws her cup off the tray of her high chair, she is experimenting. Once it falls, she needs to try it again to see if the same thing will happen again. And again, and again, and again. This repetition is just as important as the opportunity to throw the cup. Quantity is important. When developing an exhibit, it is tempting to limit the possible outcomes to just a few, or to limit the pieces we provide our visitors to just a few. How often do we shoo someone along to the next exhibit before the full number of options has been explored? Exploration shows up when visitors are testing results at an electric circuit table or coming up with rhyming words. The point is trying as many different possibilities as possible. Instead of limiting our visitors’ choices (especially the “right” choices), we need to look for ways to provide options and allow for more open-ended exploration.

Role Play – I remember digging through an old suitcase in my grandmother’s basement to pull out shawls and hats and silky tap pants. With this new wardrobe on, I became someone new, not myself.

Play acting at Discovery Gateway

It is not difficult to find costumes in a children’s museum (once the staff has dealt with their fear of head lice transmission), but role play should not be limited to “dramatic play”. Role play is an opportunity to physically or conceptually see and understand a different point of view. This can happen when we try to navigate a course in a wheelchair or when we walk into the re-creation of the turn-of-the-century dining room. This is why dioramas are so fantastic. Even the most fuddy-duddy of us can easily imagine themselves actually on the African Savannah with the lions or interacting with a “caveman”. Once I included a life-size replica of a UN refugee tent. Parents and children alike were able to enter the tent and gain a new understanding of trying to make a life for themselves and their families in such cramped quarters.

How have you used play to improve your exhibits?

 

A Use for Exhibit Critiques

During a gathering with colleagues, we were discussing a museum we had each visited. Each of us was able to identify ways that the exhibitions could be improved. Some were pretty simple things like removing some of the artifacts to allow room for the artifacts that were on display. Some ideas were getting pretty elaborate, including knocking out walls and redesigning entire galleries to focus the storytelling and interpretation to provide increased context and relevance for multiple styles of visitors. Frankly, I think there were some pretty good ideas batted around that would address missed opportunities and improve the visitors’ experiences, but we had to stop to notice a very important point: The purpose of reviewing an exhibition (formally or informally) is not to completely redesign the exhibit. We were not tearing down the work of those who worked on the exhibition (literally or figuratively). The purpose is to critically observe where the exhibit planners did well and not so well so that we can learn from their experience. These grand schemes of redesign were not for the existing exhibition – to be honest, we all rather enjoyed ourselves and found much to be impressed with. We were using the existing exhibition as a shared reference. The ideas and recommendations were for future exhibitions we would work on. This is how we build on the past and learn from each other.

How do you learn from other exhibitions?

 

The Opportunity of Exhibition

When traced back to our roots, museums began as collections and curiosities, gathered for study or prestige. Usually the cabinet of curiosities was just that – a cabinet or hall or room that held curious things. Museums have evolved in some rather exciting ways since then, even sometimes moving back to their origins with open collections. But there is more to a museum than merely stuff gathered together. Interestingly enough, sometimes through choice or neglect, a museum becomes little more than rows of stuff.

AMNH seized the opportunity to interpret the collections with visitors.

Museums have the opportunity to craft an experience to guide their visitors through a story. They can present their artifacts, or they can seize the opportunity to share their relevance.

Frank Oppenheimer taught that every exhibit tells a story and that you stick with it until visitors understand it. I think he was encouraging his staff to understand the significance of the exhibitions as fundamental to the museum experience. We should talk with our visitors, work through prototypes with them and modify it until we get it right. There is more to being a museum than taking care of artifacts. And there is more to an exhibition than letting people see the artifacts. An exhibition is a chance to tell a story and share interpretation of those things. We have the opportunity to help our visitors make meaning of the artifacts. We can help them understand the context for those artifacts and make connections back to themselves.

The exhibition preserves not just the artifacts, but also their relevance to today.

What opportunities have you seized recently?