Detroit Historical Society’s Post

Celebrating 25 years of putting children’s imaginations on stage… Since Scene & Heard was founded in 1999, we have worked with 429 children who, alongside 664 arts professional volunteers, have created 947 original plays. To celebrate this huge milestone, we commissioned Dr Sarah Harper to write a study analysing our impact to date, and unpacking the ‘what, where, how and why’ of our unique work. (We have also organised two brilliant parties AND created a pop-up museum, because 25 years is truly worth celebrating!) Over the coming weeks, I will be posting snippets of Dr Harper’s great work on LinkedIn, alongside my own reflections from 15 years as CEO of Scene & Heard. In doing so, I hope to share learnings, inspire action, and start conversations amongst my network about the power of live theatre to transform the lives of young people. We know that this work is more important than ever; there has been a relentless devaluing of the arts in schools and educational settings, and consequently in our wider society. Engaging with the arts encourages creativity and independent thought, and it is through thinking creatively that scientific discoveries are made, cures for diseases are found and complex problems are solved. The arts are vital, and our work goes some way to demonstrating exactly why that is. I look forward to sharing more here over the coming weeks! #SceneAndHeard #ArtsCharity #YoungPeople #SomersTown #Creativity #CommunityArts #ArtsInEducation #SceneAndHeard25

Museums have institutional goals and priorities; Data show that younger people don't share those goals and priorities. This poses a challenge for museums: To what degree are museums' metrics for success actually undermining their ability to support and connect with younger audiences? How can cultural organizations close the gap between their goals and what younger audiences need and want? These are a few of the challenging questions that Caroline Klibanoff and her team at Made By Us are addressing with their coalition partners. Please join us on May 23rd for "Closing the Goal Gap for Gen Z". https://lnkd.in/eTWbm3GY

Eight years ago, during my tenure as Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at the Roswell Museum, I started learning about federal community art centers, a remarkable New Deal initiative that remains one of the most expansive art-sharing programs in the history of the United States. Ever since I learned about this program, I've wanted to map its history digitally so that researchers could follow the movement of art exhibitions, observe the opening and closing of art centers, and trace the migrations of art center personnel as they were assigned to different sites. Today, I'm happy to share I've taken a first step toward this long-term goal by creating a StoryMap about federal community art centers. Here, I share all the information I've learned about them since 2016, from the addresses of specific sites to the contents of circulating exhibitions. This StoryMap, in short, represents eight years of ongoing research and analysis. More than a repository for my research though, this project is an invitation to other researchers interested in federal community art centers. I'm asking everyone interested in this initiative to share their data so we can compile all our research in one place. This program is too vast for one person to document, and I know there are others as passionate about it as I am. So let's get together and share our data. Together, we can document this significant but understudied initiative. #newdeal #digitalhumanities #federalcommunityartcenter https://lnkd.in/eenEHd_p

What color should we do next?

Eye-tracking research helps Indianapolis museum steer guests in the right direction "Prominent signage is key when navigating a new space. This is especially true when the majority of a location’s visitors are parents or guardians who are attempting to guide themselves while caring for young children. In partnership with the University of Southern Indiana, the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis used eye-tracking to determine how effective their wayfinding signage truly was for first-time guests." Read more https://lnkd.in/gj_H_nAX #QuirksMR #MRX #insights

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the US, celebrating the activist’s fight for racial equality in the 1960s. The National Park Service is working on rehabilitating historic buildings at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park. Over the last few months, we have published various tenders for the National Park Service’s project to rehabilitate various historic buildings at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, including his birthplace. Yesterday, we highlighted a sources sought notice for the rehabilitation of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park visitor centre and headquarters building. These initiatives are not just about preserving a site but an effort to keep alive the stories of nonviolent activism and the struggle for civil rights. The National Park Service manages many sites of brutal violence and historic significance to the Civil Rights Movement, including the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument and the Freedom Riders National Monument in Alabama, keeping alive these stories of sacrifice and inspiration. In a parallel development, the Fermanagh & Omagh District Council in Northern Ireland is working to create a Peace Park in Omagh, County Tyrone, the site of the deadliest incident during The Troubles. This incident, a car bombing by an IRA splinter group in 1998, resulted in tragic loss of life and numerous injuries. Now, a proposed Peace Park is envisioned as a space of unity and remembrance, a testament to resilience in the face of violence. Both projects underscore the power of museums and heritage sites as spaces for reckoning with our pasts and healing. They serve as poignant reminders of our collective history, offering insights and tools for fostering dialogue around violent and traumatic histories while giving visitors space for their own experiences. We thought these two initiatives were both unique opportunities for museum and heritage sector professionals to engage in work that is not only about conservation but also about educating, reflecting, and healing. Find out more about these projects at MuseumINSIDER. #MuseumProfessionals #HeritageConservation #CivilRights #PeaceBuilding #Omagh #HistoricalSites #MLK #MartinLutherKingJr

When is the best time to start making your museum accessible? Is it: - after you have launched a new event or learning workshop? - after you have opened your new exhibition? - when you have received feedback from a visitor? - when an employee has shared with you that something isn't accessible? - when you are planning a new activity or exhibition? The reality is the best time to be thinking about accessibility is at all of these stages. At beginning to make sure that you are being proactive and thinking about accessibility and during to show you are responding to feedback and working with your audiences. #Autism #Accessibility #Museums #LivedExperience #Inclusion --- I'm Emily and I talk a lot about access in museums and heritage. If you would like to find out how you can make your museum more accessible please email me on emilyautism@outlook.com.

If you are considering getting your art into a community art center, here is how you can do it.

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One of the challenges that museum educators share with me about making their learning offer accessible is not knowing about the needs of the school group in advance. The reality is having worked in schools and museums, I understand the frustrations on both sides. Teachers may not share about any access needs of the class for fear that the museum will not be able to meet those needs or that the booking may be cancelled if they mention access needs.   Museum teams want to know this information so that they can prepare and make any adjustments in advance but often don’t know this information.   So what can be done? The best thing to do is make sure that your museum education offer has accessibility embedded into it with flexibility to adapt where needed.   Still keeping asking for information on access needs and make adaptations accordingly but make sure that access has been considered as standard. If you would like to work with me to find out how you can make your learning offer more accessible then please DM me or email emilyautism@outlook.com. #Autism #Accessibility #Museums #Learning #LivedExperience #Disability