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  • 1.  Looking for Community Engagement/Social Justice Curators

    Posted 08-15-2017 07:28 PM
    For a session proposal for the 2018 AAM Annual Meeting we are looking for museum professionals whose job (and titles?) focus on community engagement and/or social justice issues.    

    Janice Klein
    Executive Director, Museum Association of Arizona
    AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, Baltimore, May 16-19, 2024, click to learn more


  • 2.  RE: Looking for Community Engagement/Social Justice Curators

    Posted 08-16-2017 09:48 AM
    Hello Janice,

    My title is Family Learning Navigator and I work within The Children's Museum of Indianapolis' Community Initiatives Department. Through my role, I am deeply engaged in:

    • Our Mid-North Promise cradle-to-career Program, which supports families--youth and adults--from our 6 surrounding neighborhoods with achieving their educational and career goals. We meet with families one-on-one, host monthly whole-group workshops, connect them to resources/partners, and provides scholarships for youth and adults to go to post-secondary education and/or to pay for certifications.  
    • Indianapolis Great Places 2020 Maple Crossing Education Committee which is part of a city-wide effort that has selected key areas in our city that could benefit from development, concentrated civic engagement/organizing efforts, and fiscal support. A major part of our focus is supporting the regeneration of a local school that has been failing for decades but is on the upswing with a new principal and partners like us increasing our attention and support to the school. 
    • Midtown Quality of Life Plan which is a plan that was determined by us and other key stakeholders in our area which speaks to our collaboration efforts and lays out the map of development and growth. 
    Support with the evaluation and development of:

    • Access Pass Membership Program for individuals receiving qualifying government benefits who can come to our museum for $2 per person. We organized and launched this program, and invited 8 other Indiana museums to join this effort; so Access Pass members can now visit these institutions for just $2 per person as well.
    • Foster Family Membership Program for any Foster Families--they can bring their foster children and any other children they have in their household to the museum for free any day all year long. 
    • Neighborhood Club Membership Program for individuals who live within our 6-neighborhoods boundary--they can bring any adults and children they have in their household to the museum for free any day all year long.

    On my own, I have also started a collaboration with one of our strongest community partners, Martin Luther King Community Center, to have their students and families provide the objects and stories for us to create our Stories From Our Community exhibit; supported Eskenazi Healthy Families in hosting their graduation party for new mothers with low-income who have gone through their health and wellness program; and initiated a partnership with Muslim Alliance of Indiana to host Eid Celebrations at the museum.

    I would love to to learn more what you are looking for from this panel and discuss how my work might relate. 

    Thanks!
    Lauren

    ------------------------------
    Lauren Hall MPA/MAAA/MAT
    The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
    Indianapolis IN
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    Original Message
    AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, Baltimore, May 16-19, 2024, click to learn more


  • 3.  RE: Looking for Community Engagement/Social Justice Curators

    Posted 08-16-2017 10:02 AM
    Hi Janice
    My role at Madison Children's Museum is Associate Director of Education and Access, Diversity and Inclusion officer. The majority of my work focuses on community engagement and initiatives that foster great inclusion of our full community. I can write more and I am very interested in being a part of your session proposal.

    ------------------------------
    Sandra Bonnici
    Madison Children's Museum
    Madison WI
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    Original Message
    AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, Baltimore, May 16-19, 2024, click to learn more


  • 4.  RE: Looking for Community Engagement/Social Justice Curators

    Posted 08-17-2017 07:46 PM
    Good afternoon. My name is Sarah Wilson (Education Curator at the Autry Museum of the American West). My colleague Katherine Herman (Education Outreach Manager) and I are focusing much of our energies during the 2017-2018 academic year on civic action and community engagement in both our outreach partnerships and exhibition-related programming. We are working with classroom teachers to help their students create civic action plans to address problems in their communities. Our theme for the year is "Voice of a Community by the Community," and is inspired by our upcoming exhibition LA RAZA, which features the photographic archives of the La Raza newspaper and magazine. The photographs featured in the exhibition, as well as the La Raza articles, essays, and poetry, documented the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. We are celebrating the citizen journalism of the La Raza publication and using that to make connections with current events.
    Thanks!
    Sarah

    ------------------------------
    Sarah Wilson
    Education Curator
    Autry Museum of the American West
    Los Angeles CA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message
    AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, Baltimore, May 16-19, 2024, click to learn more


  • 5.  RE: Looking for Community Engagement/Social Justice Curators

    Posted 08-18-2017 10:57 AM

    Sarah and all,

     

    A few years ago we created an exhibit (with one of our students as the main curator) that looked at the history of queer life on Duke's campus, with the door open by our University President to consider "anything" good or bad : http://exhibits.library.duke.edu/exhibits/show/queer  This became a year full of symposium and high profile events, as well as alumni events in the exhibit space with opportunities to share stories and visit the past together. This was a pretty political thing, coming from the top down, and it is now seen by many to have been successful in starting community dialogue and hopefully a step in moving forward.

     

    Faced with the crisis of today's current events, and LOTS of dark history on our campus, there is some desire of opening up our dark past in an exhibition.  I feel a need to do more research into the "how" of this kind of work, case studies, advice, articles, books, exhibits to visit, etc. I was hoping since so many people seem to be working on this kind of thing that some kind of bibliography/web list might exist at this point of places to start? Was there ever a conference on this topic (community engagement of controversial topics) that might have post prints or lectures available?

     

    We tried to do an exhibit a few years ago, based on one of our collections (the Southern Poverty Law Center) to tell some pretty horrific stories found in these collections, but it got vetoed because some of our staff didn't feel we were ready to handle the delicate nature of this kind of exhibit and what it might bring in terms of dialogue. I moved on, and haven't had time to do research, but think I better start now!

     

    Any advice on sources would be greatly appreciated.

     

    Meg Brown

    919-681-2071

    The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation Exhibits Librarian

    Duke University Libraries

    Durham, NC 27708

    meg.brown@duke.edu

    http://library.duke.edu/exhibits/

     




    Original Message
    AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, Baltimore, May 16-19, 2024, click to learn more


  • 6.  RE: Looking for Community Engagement/Social Justice Curators

    Posted 08-29-2017 06:43 PM
    ​Hi Janice,

    My name is Kiara Brown, I am the Special Assistant for Community and External Relations at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. My position is a fairly new one for the Museum, but the emphasis in my role is on community engagement and governmental relations. We have a unique public-private partnership with the County of Los Angeles, and a responsibility as a cultural institution to serve the needs of our local community. My role has been given the charge to build relationships, identify partnerships and areas of potential collaboration between our institution and other organizations that may be a good fit. In addition, I have also been responsible for managing the Museum's relationships between our external stakeholders and government officials; keeping their constituency and community needs aligned with our mission as well.

    I would love to participate in this discussion if the opportunity is still available. Please let me know if you require any additional information.

    I can be reached at kiarabrown@nhm.org

    Look forward to hearing from you.

    Kiara J. Brown


    ------------------------------
    Kiara J. Brown
    Special Assistant, Community and External Relations
    Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
    Los Angeles CA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message
    AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, Baltimore, May 16-19, 2024, click to learn more


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