finding balance in my world and the museum world

It's challenging for me to read and accept museum theory, case studies, and organizational models indicated or intended for for application. There is an incredible amount of diversity and complexity in every aspect of a museum's organization and culture. From departmental goals to sociopolitical/economic location, there are tons of factors associated with the 'hows' and 'whys' of a museum's approach to doing.

Therefore, I believe a museum organizational models can be similar and generalized, but for the most part, differ greatly dependent on the varying factors! Thus I am constantly trying to find a strong connection and balance between understanding the knowledge acquired academically and the real source of it's practical application.

In the same way, Charlie Walter describes similar challenges in balancing sustainability and accessibility at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History in Fort Worth, Texas. A museum program's "viability depends on its ability to generate revenue" yet at the same time museum programs "must serve the entire community" (Lord, 2007, p. 162). So there you have it - sustainability and accessibility - now let those words soak in as you apply the measure and means of balance...survival and everyone, revenue and relationships, long-term and hopeful.

Before I regurgitate what I read, please place it in the context mentioned in the very beginning of this entry! I am hesitant to outline these strategies because I feel their application and implementation greatly depends on the dynamic of the museum and it's relationship to the community it's serving. So.. let's begin!

Walter describes key strategies in addressing this 'tug-a-war-balance' challenge by, "finding the right combination of revenue streams (program fees, private support, public support) that will keep programs sustainable and accessible to broad audiences..." (p. 162). Furthermore, departmental and programmatic planning and goals must be systematic and holistic in thinking. Meaning, program development must "range from the foundations of education theory that influence the program's design to the financial implications, marketing opportunities and development potential of the project" - and most importantly, in defining 'holistic', all elements of this process "are connected and aligned, moving int he same direction" (p. 162). This is great because all departments are fully engaged and more fully understand the challenges that face the museum, suggesting "an interrelated chain of areas of competence, rather than a heirarchy of reporting relationships" (p. 163). How awesome is that!!??

Here's some 'practical' ;) tips for planning and evaluating:

• Throughput (the amount of participants passing through the programs)
  is important
• Have a portfolio of offerings at a variety of prices
• Try something new each year
• Talk to your customers
  
• Fast, Cheap, High Quality - Pick and Two
  

museum schools.

Are very cool.
Michael L. Bentley in Lord's Manual of Museum Learning says there are 40 something museum schools in the United States. Sad, because the American Association of Museums (AAM) says there are currently around 17,500 museums in the states. Many, if not all these museums pride themselves as a space for learning. Wouldn't strong partnerships with schools be intrinsic and reflective in their initiatives?

Museum schools are either located at the museum or visit on a regular basis. One awesome school: The Community High School in Virgina has partnerships with 12 local institutions including a zoo, park, theater and ballet center! Educators from these cultural institutions participate in The Community Schools' dedication to "encourage students to engage in a broader cultural conversation, to understand Art as a means of inquiry."

It is easy to say - BRILLIANT and FanTasmic!! Museums, zoos, cultural institutions and libraries world wide should have schools! But 14 out of 17,500 introduces a more complicated discussion. To begin with, museums are defined as spaces for informal learning and transferring this kind of learning to a formal setting, all while maintaining informal learning's spontaneity and experimental learning is challenging. Not to mention, schools in the museum culture and context are often reduced to one-off experiences such as fieldtrip visits and maybe an afterschool program. Museums are higher institutions and schools house dirty little kids. Also, the spirit of collaboration and community is instilled in museum school concepts and that may be a bit too much for museums. Lord says it best,

"In this search for the best balance between formal and informal learning, the museum school is perhaps the most fascination - and most radical - partnerships between museums and traditional schools. In the museum school, a different mindset emerges in the classroom, with children utilizing museum processes of knowledge generation - the y become active rather than passive learners. Although museum schools are too new and the research too embryonic to draw definitive conclusions, these children are more likely to emerge as critical thinkers and problem solvers who will pursue life long learning, which is the ideal in a creative knowledge-based economy" (p. 96).

learning to look, learning to think

Today I asked my students to use the ‘principles of art’ to describe a tangerine. Talking about the tangerine, inside and out, they were great. From the peel’s smooth texture to the thin veins in each slice, every student had plenty to say. Then I put up a slide of an image from David Taylor’s, “Walking the line” exhibit. It was a simple landscape photograph, absent of anything too complex. I was gearing them up to see his show at the Joseph Gross Gallery on campus.

“Okay, what do you see here you guys?” The room was silent.

Abigail Housen explores how people experience art in, “Art Viewing and Aesthetic Development: Designing for the Viewer.” She addresses their reactions and skills towards art-viewing as aesthetic development – a term I first disdained, reminding me of when art education in the 1950s was meant to prepare students to be consumers of beautiful things.

However, Housen’s intention is based on the reasoning that creative and critical thinking is linked to aesthetic thought and development, that in the “processes of looking at and talking about art, the viewer is developing skills not ordinarily associated with art” (p. 172). She also mentions the viewers’ ability to interpret images evolves and progresses over time (given the viewer is exposed to a sequenced series of artwork).

Housen introduces 5 stages of aesthetic development based on patterns shown and processed through viewer understanding:

Stage 1: Accountive, viewers are listmakers and storyteller. They make simple, concrete observations: Lines, ovals, squares

Stage 2: Constructive, viewers set about building a framework for looking at art, using the most accessible tools at hand: their perceptions, their knowledge of the natural world, and the values of their social and moral world. Observations have a concrete known reference point.

Stage 3: Classifying, viewers adopt the analytical stance of the art historian. Studying the conventions and canons of art history, wanting to know all that can be known about the artists’s life and work, from when and where an artist lived to how the work is viewed in the panoply of artists. The chain of information becomes increasingly complex and multilayered.

Stage 4: Interpretive, viewers seek an interactive and spontaneous encounter with the work of art. They explore the artwork, letting the meaning of the work slowly unfold, appreciating formal subtleties. Viewers discover new themes in a familiar composition, and distinguishes comparisons and contradictions.

Stage 5: Re-Creative, viewers have established a long history of viewing and reflecting about art, and are now willing to suspend belief – seeing the object as semblant, real, and animated with a life of its own. The viewers begin an imaginative contemplation of the work, transcending prior knowledge and experience, giving permission to encounter the artwork with childlike openness. “A trained eye, critical stance, and responsive attitude are his lenses as the multifaceted experience of the artwork guides his viewing. A familiar painting is like an old friend, known intimately yet full of surprise…”

Housen’s stages are a wonderful backbone for developing effective programs, allowing us to select artworks based on our visitors’ needs and understanding, in hopes of fostering and facilitating aesthetic growth!