Colleagues,
16 years ago, as the repurposed Liberty Science Center opened, the American Alliance of Museums requested my view about what relevance entails. I did so in Museum News: 'The Relevant Museum: A Reflection on Sustainability': https://rka-learnwithus.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/aam-museum-2006-emlyn-koster.pdf.
As the world descends into a new existential crisis with geopolitical proportions, I again pose the question that began that article: As news stories unfold and society seeks to understand the nature and significance of events, is the museum field going to adapt to a greater role in exploring the things that profoundly matter in the world? Sections on human history museums and war museums in its 'Relevancy Content Suggestions' table included Rise and fall of superpowers across time and profiles of their leaders and Causes and aims of wars; what constitutes victories and losses.
Randi Korn and I will be sharing related thoughts to 'Museums Today' series of The George Washington University at 6 pm EST on March 23: https://museum.gwu.edu/museums-today-museums-becoming-good-ancestors-disrupted-world.
I hope an exchange of views about relevance will unfold in this Museum Junction Open Forum, Emlyn
Emlyn Koster, PhD
1986-91 | Director, Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology
1991-96 | Director General, Ontario Science Centre
1996-2011 | President and CEO, Liberty Science Center
2011-12 | President, Institute for Learning Innovation
2013-18 | Director, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
2015- | Adjunct Professor, Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University