Abstract

This paper presents a case study of “Waging Peace!,” a co-curatorial collaboration art education project that erased traditional roles and hierarchies within a museum in order to closely engage art teachers, artists, and the community. Using social capital as a framework, the authors aim to emphasize the value of the process in collaborative projects like this as a key element that serves as an addition to quantitative and product-oriented assessments. Through interviews with participants throughout the project’s lifespan, the authors describe the project’s development and implementation through the various participant networks. Emerging from the analysis, the authors suggest that the value of this type of project lies in the strength of the collaboration it engenders and in the way in which this project created openings for participation. Additionally, the analysis discusses impacts of this project’s process as a model for others like it by considering how the museum can serve as a source of social capital.