Posts
Community Engagement & Impact
Rebuilding Pathways: How DEAI and Creative Aging Intersect at the Speed Art Museum
As museums work to become more diverse, equitable, accessible, and inclusive, one community is often left out of the discourse: people over the age of fifty-five. This may be because they …
The State of the Museum Field in 2020, as Viewed by Students
On a day in April 2020, Richard E. Jones—a recent St. John’s University graduate who grew up with a view of New York City’s famous “Museum Mile” from his Harlem neighborhood—looked down the …
Why I Abandoned the Traditional Museum Education Model
Personal stories are how we, at Nemours Estate, connect our visitors with the duPont family who once lived in this grand place. So I’d like to share my personal story of building a museum …
onePULSE, Many Perspectives: Collaborating with Diverse Stakeholders to Develop the National Pulse Memorial & Museum
In the aftermath of a tragedy, there is no one way for communities to grieve and heal. This is especially true when the event impacts people on a national or even international scale. The …
With Rapid Response Collecting, Who Are We Responding To?
After the start of protests over the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent looting of businesses, hundreds of plywood boards went up in Greensboro, North Carolina’s downtown. But these …
Running with Scissors: Creating a Sustainable History Experience (2017-2020)
You may know that Old Salem Museums & Gardens (OSMG) and The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, have been making considerable changes …
My Primary School is in a Museum—US Pandemic Edition
Can you imagine being a school-age kid during this pandemic? Whether they are glued to a screen trying to learn via Zoom, attending class masked and distanced, or being home-schooled, this …
Essential Evaluators: Separation of Powers
Essential Evaluators seeks to gather evaluators in a common space to dialogue, reflect, and support each other in a world upended by COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter protest movement. …
“Decolonizing is Literally Unsettling”: Repatriation of Nonprofit Land and Assets
On July 16, 2020, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) and the Yale Union (YU) announced that YU would transfer its land and building in Portland, Oregon, to NACF. The historic …
Building True, Lasting Collaborations with Source Communities
It’s well-documented by this point: museums are changing. No longer solely repositories of information and keepers of culturally important artifacts, museums today are taking on new roles …
“Access for All” Begins with Community Listening at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
Cassandra Clement was always on the lookout. A self-described “stalker” of quiet places to sit at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden (CZBG), she always took note of benches tucked …