Posts
Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion
The Pains and Pleasures of Being a First-Generation Museum Person
Every few months or so, there’s a family gathering. From a birthday celebration to a family cookout, my family never seems to have a shortage of reasons to gather. At the time of this …
Creating Restorative Moments at Woodland Park Zoo
Woodland Park Zoo’s Hope & Healing offers uplifting community experiences for people facing life-altering challenges. This article originally appeared in Museum magazine’s May/June 2024 …
Toward Equity in Metadata: How Sandy Spring Museum Is Going beyond Reparative Cataloging
Equity: freedom from bias or favoritism Metadata: data that describes and provides context for digital items, which in turn helps users find and discover these resources. Though Black and …
Faces of Baltimore Museums: Rachel Leeds
Have you heard about AAM 2024 in Baltimore this month? (We hope so—we’re doing our best!) If so, you might have seen one of our ads for this year’s edition, featuring a lovely …
Extending the Invitation: Strategies for Welcoming Visitors and Reducing Barriers to Access
In the aftermath of the pandemic and amidst ongoing calls for museums to become more inclusive and attuned to community needs, many institutions are still seeking ways to recover from …
Speaking the Audience’s Language: A Q&A with James Heaton
At some point in the pandemic, I was working on a project, and I needed a museum-based definition of a term relating to audience development and museum work. I started by flipping through a …
A Growing Backlash to DEI
Do you remember seeing this picture attempting to illustrate the difference between equality and equity? Now it also illustrates the latest battleground in the new culture wars. While a …
Identity, Choice, and Emotion: New Approaches to Touring
As Learning staff at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), we regularly assess our tour offerings to understand what’s working well or where we may need to find new approaches. Over the …
Neurodivergent Needs: A Q&A with ADDitude Magazine
If museums want to be welcoming and accessible, one of the areas they must consider is neurodiversity. How do the ways we process information and stimuli differ from person to person, and …
Want to Teach Diversity and Inclusion? Go Outside!
“The fresh air, sounds, and sunshine [are] peaceful.” “I can sit differently, and that helps me focus.” “We can see what we are learning about.” “[It’s] easier to reset with nature sounds.” …
Seizing the Moment: How Museum Outreach and Programming Can Champion Overlooked Communities
Sometimes, instead of waiting for an invitation, overlooked communities will come knocking at your door. If so, is your museum ready to be fearless, seize the moment, collaborate, share …
Out of Sight: How Museums Can Harness the Blind Perspective to Enrich Visitor Experiences
Do blind people enjoy visiting museums? Yes and no. Cheryl Fogle-Hatch and Don Winiecki captured this complicated reality in 2020, when they conducted a survey of blind adults discussing …