Sunday, December 4, 2011

10 Commandments for Museums Engaging 
in Community Engagement

So, by now you’re probably dying to know all about the best practices for community collaboration. The reality is that there is no one set method or structure that you can use to ensure that your collaboration project will result in success. Success in collaboration takes time, trust, respect, dedication, flexibility, and good ol’ fashioned hard work. While there is no singular path to success, Nina Simon advises her readers that “a clear institutional goal, as well as respect and understanding for participants’ needs and abilities” are fundamental to finding what process will work for a given collaborative project (5). Simon specifically advises museums to start with a design challenge, which she defines as “an institutionally-developed question that helps guide decisions about who to engage as participants, how to structure development, and what the collaboration will produce” (5). Examples Simon uses to illustrate her points are:
  • How can we tell the story of children’s immigrant experiences in a way that is authentic, respectful, and compelling to immigrant and non-immigrant audiences?
  •  How can we give people with disabilities the tools to document and share their experiences in a way that supports their creative development, is sensitive to their privacy, and accessible to other audiences?
  • How can we guide amateur to successfully develop interactive exhibits for our music and technology gallery?
Obviously, as Simon advises, “the more specific the design challenge, the easier it is to develop a process that is likely to address it” (5).

While there is no standard way to ensure success in collaborative projects, we’ve decided to distill what we’ve learned through readings down to a sort of “10 Commandments” meant to guide you on your path to meaningful and impactful partnerships. While by no means comprehensive (for example, some of our points are modified from Brian O’Neill’s 21 Partnership Success Factors!) our list is meant to outline what we see as the most vital steps towards fruitful collaboration.

1. Thou shalt endeavor to know and understand thy audience
This commandment applies to ALL museums, period. If we’ve learned anything this semester in our Museum Audiences class, it’s that knowledge of your audience provides a fundamental baseline necessary in order to deeply connect with and provide meaningful services and educational experiences for any given group of people. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs further echoes this sentiment – in order to provide an ideal learning environment so that individuals can become more self-actualized and self-transcendent (i.e., so individuals can step outside the worries of the here and now and begin to understand bigger picture ideas and concepts) – we need to first understand and meet the basic physiological and psychological needs of our audience.

2. Thou shalt create content with thy audience, not for thy audience
I’m sure everyone has heard the expression “there’s no ‘I’ in team!” and community collaboration is no exception – collaborative projects are about working in tandem with a partner, not dictating down to them what should be done. By creating content with audiences and not merely for audiences, museums generate much richer, more vibrant, and ultimately more interesting exhibitions that can be enjoyed by a wide range of audiences. By making exhibitions with community collaborators, institutions have the opportunity to learn more about a segment of their audience. Each new collaborative project brings with it the opportunity to learn new things and reassess older assumptions. In endeavoring to teach others, we must also be open to being taught. As O’Neill sums it up “partnerships are about ‘we’ not ‘I’…they are about creating an equality of importance – an environment where individual personal egos are subservient to the interests of the whole.”
Keep in mind that engaging in collaborative efforts does NOT mean that your institution must give up autonomy or influence, but successful collaboration requires sharing power and control. A good partnership, according to O’Neill, is one that represents a delicate balance between maintaining one’s own identity and adding value to a collective effort.

3. Thou shalt strive to be proactive in seeking community involvement
This commandment is useful to consider when first deciding whether or not your project will benefit from collaboration with a particular group. In some cases, collaboration might not be the best way to accomplish your goals – always be sure to put proper thought and planning into collaborative projects BEFORE you begin them! Once you’ve decided that collaboration is, indeed, the way you want to go, be proactive in finding partners – seek out the partner or partners that can best help you accomplish your goals. This can only be done if you’ve carefully thought through your needs (a design challenge is an excellent way to go about thinking about what you need/want out of collaboration) and have done your research on what sorts of groups might be ideal collaborators. From there it should be easy to explain to groups of interest why you approached them, what you hope to accomplish with their help, and what they can expect to see (benefit-wise) from working with you.

4. Thou shalt have clear goals and specific projects for thy collaborators and thou shalt give them the power and responsibility to provide useful/actionable feedback to thy institution
Once you have made the decision to partner with community collaborators, it is crucial that you communicate to them the goals and projects you would like them to work on, their particular responsibilities in the project, and the means they have of communicating advise, constructive criticism, and other forms of feedback. Successful collaboration means that you must have a definite role or project for your collaborators and that they must have the power and responsibility to effect meaningful changes during the course of the project. If any component of the above is missing from your collaborative project…you’re doing it wrong!

5. Thou shalt communicate continually, clearly, and consistently with thy collaborators
As Brian O’Neill aptly states: “partnerships, like any human relationship, are about communication, communication, and communication.” However, as easy as it sounds, good communication can be tricky on a person-to-person basis – not to mention the fact that the Internet has opened up a new can of worms with the myriad forms of instantaneous electronic communication now available to anyone with a computer. A misunderstanding can lead to a negative Tweet, which, in turn, can lead to a whole flood of angry people who may be less inclined to visit or support your museum based on some misunderstanding. Open, clear, and consistent communication should help to alleviate this problem.
Another aspect of this commandment is the fact that communication with collaborative partners should not cease as soon as the project is over – it is important to continue communication with partners after the fact so that the wealth of support and good-will that they have towards your institution does not dry up once the collaboration has ended. Take the time to stay in touch and update partners with new projects you have in the works!

6. Thou shalt put thy words into actions, honor thy commitments to thy partners, and shall always put thy agreements into words
This commandment functions as a reminder to museums to act on the promises they make to their collaborators and to formally put the agreements they make with collaborators onto paper. Both parties are thus held accountable for their words and actions. As O’Neill puts it: “partnerships need formal written agreements and work plans that define mutual interests and expectations, the roles and responsibilities of each partner, and clear accountability for the work to be performed.” Such an agreement is necessary because it serves as a mutually-binding contract – in other words, it ensures that each partner recognizes and realizes their responsibility to the other. Agreements of this type are likely to change over the course of a collaborative project (again, flexibility and understanding are crucial to success), so be sure to update or amend the agreement as necessary.   

7. Thou shalt know, utilize, and maximize thy resources and the resources and talents of thy collaborators
It should go without saying that each collaborator brings with them unique skills, talents, resources, and capabilities. Knowing the strengths (and weaknesses!) of each partner is crucial in decision making during the collaborative process. Being able to dole out assignments according to ability and resources will maximize your institution’s resources and the overall efficiency with which you accomplish your goals. If you don’t know all of your partner’s skills and assets…ask! Communities engage in collaboration because they see relevancy and value in it, and may be more than willing to marshal their resources to benefit the collaboration. You won’t know, however, unless you take the time to figure out what resources are available (and which partner is the most effective at mustering said resources.)

8. Thou shalt seek out and develop relationships with local schools, teachers, and children and make those partnerships points of pride in thy organization’s culture
The most meaningful and long-lasting collaborative projects require sustained effort, consistency, and continuous communication, and this is especially true in the case of projects involving schools and children. Collaborations with schools often fail because the champion(s) of the project move away, get a new job, or retire…much to the detriment of the next class of children. It is important that collaborative projects of this sort seek recognition in their respective institutions as being something of great relevance and significance that cannot be allowed to lose momentum or cease to exist. By showcasing the triumphs of the program (and taking the time to celebrate success stories), both partners increase the likelihood that the program will be seen as something of enduring value and something that is worth the extra effort to maintain from year to year.


9. Thou shalt trust and appreciate thy collaborators and respect differences of opinion, seeking to make decisions via consensus whenever possible
This commandment is a blend of several of Brian O’Neill’s Partnership Success Factors – namely 7 (Maintain an Environment of Trust), 16 (Always be Courteous and Diplomatic), 17 (Honor Your Commitments), and 19 (Respect the Right to Disagree; Act on a Consensus Basis). Trust is an essential element in any human relationship, and collaborative projects are no exception. As O’Neill puts it “trust must be demonstrated and earned day by day…you build trust through the consistency and integrity of your actions over time.” A single betrayal of the trust between collaborators can be devastating and there is no guarantee that you will be able to rebuild and regain that trust once it has been shattered.
            Another crucial part of the trust equation is showing your partners that the trust goes both ways – you must trust your partners in order to be trusted yourself. Collaborators have to trust museums not to misrepresent or inaccurately portray/display their contributions, and museums have to trust the community not to give them inaccurate information and provide quality material worth the time, money, and effort poured into the collaboration.
            Also important to note in this commandment is the call to respect differences and embrace solutions that are satisfactory to both parties. In any endeavor, differences of opinion are likely to arise, and it is vital that both sides respect the other’s right to disagree. O’Neill states: “in successful partnerships, ground rules are established to give each partner a veto power over proposed actions.” Simply put…working on a collaborative project means that much time is spent reaching consensus among collaborators. Be prepared for this reality, but also realize that time spent reaching agreement is time well spent – at the end of the project both sides should be able to walk away happy with the end product and feeling that they have made a valuable, meaningful contribution.

10. Thou shalt be open, flexible, creative, playful, and responsive
The more open and accepting of change your institution is, the greater potential there is for meaningful collaboration. As Daniel Spock wisely muses, “if you invite people to really participate in the making of a museum, the process must change the museum” (6). By being open, flexible, and responsive to our audiences, museums are better able to adapt their content and create experiences that are profound and meaningful as well as educational. The old view of museums as “authoritative cultural arbiters of truth, validity, or esthetic worth” (Spock 7) where knowledge is conveyed in a unilateral, authoritative sense is giving way to a new view of museums as centers of civic engagement, where “content creation is shared with the public in a dialogical process” (Spock 8). This transition from authority figure to mediator is scary for some, but is not something that is going away – look at the abundance of social media, the prominence of Wikipedia and YouTube, and the phenomenon of open-sourced programs on the ‘net – audiences are clearly interested in participating in the generation and dissemination of content. Instead of running from the public, museums need to embrace the eagerness of this new generation of tech-savvy users and open up to innovative, playful, collaborative projects that enable us to tap into the wealth of creativity, knowledge, and enthusiasm that is evident on the Internet. In turn, we will be able to reach out to, educate, and become relevant to a wide variety of new audiences the world over.



Works Cited

Brian O’Neill’s 21 Partnership Success Factors. National Park Service. 1 November 2011 < http://www.nps.gov/partnerships/oneill.htm>. *

Simon, Nina. The Participatory Museum. Santa Cruz: Museum 2.0, 2010. **

Spock, Daniel. “Museum Authority Up for Grabs: The Latest Thing, or Following a Long Trend Line?” Exhibitionist Fall (2009): 6-10.


Please Note:
* References to Brian O’Neill’s 21 Partnership Success Factors are unaccompanied by page numbers since this is an online document

** References to Nina Simon’s The Participatory Museum contain page numbers meant as estimates. The chapter of the book used for this blog was Chapter 7: Collaborating with Visitors, and since I accessed the book online, I have no way of knowing what real pages correspond with the pages I printed out. Thus, a notation of (1) corresponds with Chapter 7, page one.  The page numbers correspond with pages printed from the online version in single-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font. 

~ Posted by CP


2 comments:

  1. I love the ten commandments! They are fun and important things to keep in mind. Also, I am a fan of the whole tone of the blog—light but substantive. Back to the commandments, I think that number 2 is extremely crucial in reminding readers that collaboration does not mean sacrificing autonomy or quality. If people keep an open mind, they’d realize that shared power was good, not scary. Therein lies the challenge.

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  2. I think #8 is extremely important. Schools, especially those with little or no resources, rely on porgrams with museums to supplement their teaching. For example, rural public schools receive less funding than urban and so they rely on teacher trainging and outreach that brings the museum to the students. It is also extremely important to train a protoge so that the collaborations don't die out.

    --Jen

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