Viewfinder is the publication of the National Art Education Association's Museum Education Division. It publishes two or three issues annually. Authors are paired with members of the Editorial Board for a transparent, collaborative writing process.Pablo Helguera, Maya Jeffries, and Tom Finkelpearl participated in a discussion titled "Questions for Future Museum Educators" for Creative Time's Red Stage in New York City in June 2021. During this presentation, Jeffries, Finkelpearl, and Helguera positioned the education department in art museums as the most progressive and diverse area, arguing that the role of museum educators frequently promotes a collective sense of self in the museum, valuing every individual perspective while simultaneously encouraging a critical reflection on art. Nevertheless, the presentation questioned the fate of museum education departments as they exist within the system of institutions that venerate traditions rooted in egocentric romanticism and white supremacy.
For this issue of Viewfinder, we contemplate Pablo Helguera's
Letter to Future Museum Educators calling for a plan of action for future art museum educators. This is a timely reflection as recent discussions have centered on the institution of the museum and its social responsibility to its communities and staff. Let's address the museum's contested history and recurring incidents that continue to highlight traumas, challenges, and concerns surrounding knowledge, power, difference, alienation, and ethics. We, as art museum educators, have been trained to experiment, approach processes democratically, embrace ambiguity, and question, and can play a critical role in undoing the deeply ingrained biases and blind spots that surround constrictive practices in museums. In this approach, art museum education presents itself as a possible sharing space that counters myopic ideas and enables inclusivity.
According to Pablo Helguera one of the most important responsibilities of museum educators is to "create a communal sense of self, recognizing every individual perspective, while simultaneously stimulating a critical reflection on the art of the past." This reconceptualizes the museum and its associated pedagogical activities as possible spaces of learning, sharing, participation, transformation, and–importantly–leadership. These are the topics we hope to investigate in this issue.
Questions to Consider:- How do art educators act as leaders in museums?
- Given that most art museum educators are trained to value freedom of creativity, promote play and experimentation, demonstrate compassion and inclusivity in the learning spaces, and create democratic safe spaces: How have these skills been translated into effective leadership styles in contested museum spaces and how should they be applied?
- How can art museum educators encourage practices that undermine myopic ways of seeing and develop inclusive tactics to thrive within white supremacist institutional structures?
- Have you ever been privy to or participated in the creation of such an experience? What did it look like and how was it structured?
- Responding to Helguera, is there an inherent self-centeredness in the artistic vision of the North American art museum, and can art museum education transcend/critique/dismantle self-centeredness? How might we consider this question from a global perspective?
We are interested in traditional and experimental formats for submissions including:Academic articles
Personal narratives and reflections
Artworks/poetry
Syllabi/lesson plans
Interviews
Exhibition or book reviews
Audio/video submissions
Lesson plans
Letters to emerging educators
You tell us! We want to support you and your vision.
Museum education professionals, researchers, and students are invited to submit a 300 word abstract by
Friday, March 3rd, 2023 via our
submission link.Many thanks,
Viewfinder Editorial Team
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Hannah Heller, Ed.D.
Pronouns: she/her/hers