Instructor: Jennifer Saracino
Tue | 11:00 AM - 12:40 PM | In Person
How do museums engage with the communities that they serve? What are their aims, and whose interests are represented? In this course, students will visit a different museum or community institution each week, analyze how the museum's stated mission connects to their exhibition strategies and public programs, and reflect on how museums serve and strengthen ties to the local community. In addition, each week, students will hear from various professionals who serve the museum. Students will engage with professionals in Education and Public Programming departments, Curators, Directors, Registrars, and others. Students will learn about each guest speaker’s professional duties including the issues they contend with daily and discuss their perspectives on engaging with their visitorship. For a final project, students will work in groups on an assigned institution. Students will analyze the museum’s mission and evaluate how well the museum serves its intended mission. To conclude the presentations, students will propose recommendations for how museums might improve upon their current exhibition and programming strategies with invited museum professionals from their assigned institution in attendance.