Museum Education for Today’s Audiences

This book will help museum educators meet visitors’ changing expectations, train and prepare responsive educators, and develop models for the future

Today’s museum educators are tackling urgent social issues, addressing historic inequalities of museum collections, innovating for accessibility, leveraging technology for new in-person and virtual learning experiences, and cultivating partnerships with schools, businesses, elders, scientists, and other social services to build relationships and be of service to their communities. Despite the physical distance the pandemic placed between museums and their visitors, museum educators have remained essential -- sustaining connections with the public through virtual or modified programming, content development, and conversations that they are uniquely qualified to execute. Educators require updated resources to guide their efforts in navigating these new challenges and building upon the opportunities presented by current events and changing audiences.

This book and its accompanying on-line resource share lessons from innovators in the field to support ongoing professional development efforts with essays about current issues. Additionally, it provides new models and tools to guide individual or group reflection on how today’s museum educators can adapt and thrive in a dynamic and ever-changing cultural sector. The additional resources include discussion prompts and adaptable templates to allow readers to customize the content based on current events, institutional discipline, size, budget, and staffing scenario of their organization.

The book’s essays are divided into three sections:

• Changing expectations of visitors - inclusion, participation, and technology
• Training and preparation for responsive, resourceful educators
• Models for the future

While a book can share ideas in the hope of inspiring change, the accompanying online resource (EvolveMuseumEd.com) provides a more flexible and responsive forum for sharing ongoing and evolving resources to encourage professional development for museum educators as they respond to the changing needs of today’s audiences.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction by Dina Bailey

Part I: Changing Expectations of Visitors: Inclusion, Participation, Technology

1. Building Community and Structural Competency Through Art: An Art Museum and Psychiatry Partnership by Theresa Sotto, Hallie Scott, Enrico Castillo
2. Changing the Educational Landscape: School & Museum Partnerships for the 21st Century by Veronica Alvarez, Sarah Jenks, Catherine Awsumb Nelson, Elisabeth Gerber
3. The Spectrum Project: Social Stories, Museum Educators, and Young Adults with Autism by Beth Redmond-Jones
4. Digital Pivot: Digital Decisions to Accelerate the Momentum Among Art Institutions to Evolve, Change, and Adapt by Mark Osterman

Part II: Training and Educator Preparation

5. Training for the Rainbow: Preparing Educators to be LGBTQ-Inclusive by Mac Buff
6. Building a Better World: Rethinking a Museum’s Civic Engagement Model by Rachel Stark, Anna Schwarz
7. Facilitating Family Learning in Museums: Re-Thinking our Assumptions and Approaches by Scott Pattison, Smirla Ramos-Montanez
8. Museum Studies Programs: A Conversation about the Future by Jason Porter, Mary Kay Cunningham
9. Creating Empowered Educators by Lorie Milward
10. Cultivating a New Mindset for Professional Development by Beth Maloney

Part III: New Models, Anticipating the Future

11. Building Bridges: The Need for Cultural Competence in the Museum Field by Teresa Williams Valencia
12. The New Children's Museum: Innovating Ways to Support Today's Children by Tomoko Kuta
13. See the System and Be Problem Specific: Human-Centered Design and Improvement Practices for Engagement and Inclusion by Julie Smith
14. The brain science of museum learning by Jayatri Das, co-author Mickey Maley
15. No Longer Business as Usual: Reconstructing Relevancy through Critical Race Theory by Melanie Adams, Kayleigh Bryant-Greenwell
16. The Impact of COVID19 on the Field of Museum Education by Juline Chevalier
17. Educators with Lived Experience: Lessons Learned from the Learned by Lauren Zalut, Sean Kelley

Index

About the Editors and Contributors