Links
Library:
Museums
and Community
Museums
and Community Initiative
Details on the American Association of Museums' national initiative
to explore the potential for dynamic engagement between American
communities and their museums. Highlights of community dialogues
held across the country are included.
Bowling
Alone: America's Declining Social Capital
In his 1995 Journal of Democracy article and subsequent book,
Bowling
Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Harvard
professor Robert D. Putnam argues that in the past 30 years America
has lost much of the social and civic glue that holds itself
together. We've become a people, he says, who share ties "to
common symbols, common leaders, and perhaps common ideals, but
not to one another." While some of Putnam's conclusions
have stirred controversy, they've also triggered a groundswell
of discussion on ways that cultural institutions can help America
rebuild its dwindling stock of "social capital"- the
trust, reciprocity, cooperation and communication that result
from social connectedness.
Better
Together
Robert Putnam's Harvard-sponsored Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement
in America brought 33 people together over a period of three
years to discuss ways that cultural, educational and religious
institutions can help rebuild Americans' social and civic connectedness.
Their resulting recommendations are detailed in this free 83-page
report, available to read online or to download in PDF format.
The
Arts and Social Engagement
A summary of the issues and ideas discussed in the arts and culture
segment of the Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America,
which pinpointed the arts as one of the most promising vehicles
for rebuilding community connection.
The
Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey
The Saguaro Seminar and three dozen community foundations sponsored
this survey of Americans' social connectedness -- the largest-ever
survey on civic engagement in America.
Animating
Democracy: The Artistic Imagination as a Force in Civic Dialogue
The results of a study commissioned by The Ford Foundation and
conducted by Americans for the Arts is available for free download
online. The report profiles the pivotal and innovative roles
that arts and cultural organizations can play in renewing civic
dialogue. Case studies of several museum programs are included.
Opening
the Door to the Entire Community: How Museums Are Using Permanent
Collections to Engage Audiences And:
How Museums Can Become More Visitor-Centered
These two free downloadable reports from Wallace-Reader's Digest
Funds examine the ways in which several museums are taking steps
to attract and engage a more diverse mix of visitors.
Program for
Art Museums and Communities
Eleven art museums, supported by grants from The Pew Charitable
Trusts, are strengthening alliances with their communities and
exploring dynamic approaches to high-quality programming.
Museum As Community
Mary Case of qm2.org offers an excellent example of how a museum
helped a community to heal.
Learning
About Art Side by Side
At the Tacoma Art Museum, at-risk kids connect with art and with
each other.
Abrazando
La Diversidad/Embracing Diversity: Museum of Contemporary Art,
San Diego
Since the late 1980s San Diego's Museum of Contemporary Art has
been engaged in a series of artistic and institutional initiatives
to expand Latino audiences and embrace the bicultural, bilingual
community served by the Museum.
Museum
Opens Up Dialogue on Race
How the Cleveland Museum of Art and its African-American Task
Force used an upcoming exhibition to open up community dialogue
through a day-long Visions of Race conference.
Program
Boosts Students' Interest in Engineering
The National Building Museum's CityVisions program helps junior
high and middle school kids connect with their community through
architecture and design.
From
a Gem of a Museum to a Community Treasure Trove
The Strong Museum in Rochester, New York has made the community
as central to its mission as the museum's collections.
Front-end
Studies: Where the Museum and the Community Meet
An Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) Newsletter
article by Lynn D. Dierking and Wendy Pollock.
Museums Respond to September
11 Tragedies
A roundup of the ways in which a number of museums reached out
to their communities in the wake of the September 11 terrorist
attacks.
Diversity
Database
University of Maryland's searchable diversity database, diversity
dictionary and online reference resources.
