Abstract

How do museums encourage a more inclusive and profound involvement? How do museums and their education programs acquire new criteria for such development? The Story Project, a three year grass-roots engendered program undertaken by the Florida State University (FSU) Museum of Fine Arts with the Leon County School System in Tallahassee, provides a praxis model based primarily on the theoretical premises of constructivism and comprehensive art education. This paper will show methods and processes for organically achieving inclusivity as well as show the interconnectedness of inclusivity that was achieved by this project. Diverse teachers, culturally and academically, became curators and catalogue authors. K-12 students joined professional artists as exhibitors. University students became curatorial assistants, educators, and registrars. Professional artists became K-12 educators, interacting electronically or visiting public schools. Regional, national, international, and multi-cultural artists were tapped for the exhibition of their works. Diverse artistic approaches, media, and style were united. Connections were drawn between forms like traditional quilts, documentary photography, surrealistic painting, and non-representational sculpture, between the layers of meanings of the works and the life of those in the community. Individual education methods were employed by teachers involved with the project, those that emphasized a formalist or constructivist approach, those that utilized visual culture or the importance of enduring ideas and multiple strands (art history and criticism, aesthetics, and production) within comprehensive art education. The FSU Museum employs six people, yet this project included as venture partners: 20 curatorial team members, 25 schools, over 700 K-12 exhibitors, other community organizations, 24 artists, and approximately 30 university students.