Navigating the Museum Landscape: A Case for Social and Civic Engagement
I know this topic seems out of left field compared to the other blogs I’ve written in the past, so let me give you some background. I’m currently pursuing my Masters in Museum Studies online via Johns Hopkins University. Surprise!
The question above was the topic of my first essay, and I thought it would be interesting to share it here. For our prompt, we were given four purposes of a museum and told to choose one as the primary function. There is no right or wrong answer to this question, so at the end of this blog, I will share with you how many people in my class argued for each of the following as the primary function of museums:
Cultural stewards (including collection building, preservation, and scholarship)
Sites for exhibition and interpretation
Educational institutions
Centers of social and civic engagement
Before you read this, I’d like you to consider which of these you think is the primary function of a museum and note whether or not your opinion changes towards the end.
What is the primary function of a museum? At its inception the museum was, by default, an institution focused on cultural stewardship and exhibitions. But as we moved into the 21st century, the field shifted its priorities from collections and interpretation to the local community. The International Council of Museums (ICOM) echoed this shift with its 1995 definition of a museum as a “non-profit making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development” (Alexander, 2017, p 2). Focussing on community places significant importance on education and the museum was aware of this even back in 1942 when Low argued that education should be a museum’s primary mission (Beatty, 2002, p 18). Although I do believe that education is essential, I argue that the primary function of museums is to be centers for social and civic engagement and that cultural stewardship, exhibition planning, and education are all supporting roles in this mission.
Being a center for social and civic engagement requires a museum to continually learn about local cultural groups and nurture the very people who will support its future. Robert Beatty supports the importance of this, stating that “[museums] must justify their existence as community resources” and “become community forums as a way of winning financial support” (Beatty, 2002, p 8-9). This requires a shift from merely displaying objects for potential patrons to actually becoming involved with the local communities and learning what they want from the museum. Institutions that do this will then be able to take this insight and use it to improve their education, exhibition, and collection building departments to better serve their community. These functions serve as supporting roles that work together and are only made stronger with feedback. “A museum that makes a commitment to excellence in the public sphere also makes decisions about collections, exhibitions, and programs” (Beatty, 2002, p 23). Thus, how a museum interacts with and engages its community may determine how collections are acquired or deaccessioned, which exhibitions are installed, how they’re presented, or what educational programs are funded.
Inclusion initiatives are also a major factor contributing to the museum’s primary function as community engagement centers. As we move toward a nation that will be “minority white” in 2045, the museum must also shift its focus towards engaging this diverse community (Frey, 2018). Many institutions started their inclusion initiatives with detailed visitor analytics and noticed a discrepancy between their local community and who was actually paying to come into the museum. For many, white visitors were the majority of its patronage although they were the minority race in the area. Take Guggenheim for example, whose “inclusion plan cited a 2018 study that found that 73% of its visitors were white, while just 43% of New York City’s residents were” (Kenney, 2021). Inclusion focuses on targeting these communities who may not feel represented in the museum and gives them space to feel valued. To some, this may take form in events like free family-friendly concerts on weekend nights, while for others it may mean holding regular community forums in regards to future programs or resource acquisitions. By any means, Weil affirms that museums are “to be a place for personal self-affirmation, to contribute importantly to the health of human communities, [and] to be a place where the melting pot melts” (Weil, 2002, p208). That melting pot is our diverse community, and it’s up to the museum to figure out who makes up that pot and how to best serve each group.
In conclusion, museums have shifted their focus from places that house objects to ones that continually strive to meet the needs of their community. While some might say that the best way to meet these needs is through education, I argue that only through social engagement will a museum know how to most efficiently provide this education. An institution may have excellent educational programs, but is the subject matter relevant to its community? This change in focus can be hard for professionals to grasp as institutions “everywhere have, in essence, shifted from a “selling” mode to a marketing one.” (Weil, 2002, p 31). Some may start to notice, if they haven’t already, that their educational programs do not bring lasting impact. Might it be because they’re out of touch with the very community they’re trying to educate? Weil sums up my argument perfectly, “what the museum might be envisioned as offering to the public has grown from mere refreshment to education, to nothing short of communal empowerment (the museum as an instrument for social change” (Weil, 2002, p 24). So, if museums want to be forces of lasting impact in the community, they must focus on being centers for social and civic engagement.
References
Alexander, E., Alexander, M. and Deker, J., (2017). Museums in Motion: An Introduction to the History and Function of Museums. 3rd ed. Roman & Littlefield.
Beatty, R., (2002) ”A Search for Relevancy: The American Museum Movement," in "Legacy to the People: Community and the Orange County Regional History Center (Master’s Thesis, University of Central Florida)
Frey, W. H., (2018). The US will become 'minority White' in 2045, Census Projects. Brookings. Retrieved September 19, 2022, from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2018/03/14/the-us-will-become-minority-white-in-2045-census-projects/
Kenney, N., (2021). Exclusive survey: what progress have US museums made on diversity, after a year of racial reckoning? The Art Newspaper. Retrieved September 19, 2022, from https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/05/25/exclusive-survey-what-progress-have-us-museums-made-on-diversity-after-a-year-of-racial-reckoning
Weil, S. (2002). Making Museums Matter, From Being About Something to Being For Somebody. Smithsonian Institution Press.
As promised, here is how my classmates “voted” on these topics:
Civic and social engagement: 2
Cultural stewardship: 4
Interpretation and exhibition: 4
Education: 5
Honestly, I was shocked to see only one other student chose civic and social engagement! Of course, this essay is an example of a “false argument” and there is no right or wrong answer. All of these functions work together and are only made stronger with coordination and communication!