Insights on Inclusion
Whose Regional Heritage of Polish Spisz? : Fight for Inclusiveness View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Janusz Barański
Polish Spisz is a multicultural border region characterized primarily by Polishness, but with Slovak, Hungarian, German, Ruthenian, Romani and Jewish elements. Since the beginning of the political changes of the end of the 20th century, the region has been experiencing a cultural revival, inspired by local social elites (teachers, officials, activists, the business world), but also by external experts (ethnographers, historians, musicologists, choreographers). In this cultural borderland, it also leads to disputes about heritage, its resources or ways of using them for the benefit of the region. The aforementioned experts play an important role, in particular ethnographers, ethnologists, and folklorists, who act as arbitrators deciding on the value and usefulness of specific cultural content, products and practices. Their influence often means imposing choices from the resources of the regional cultural heritage. In the light of postcolonial studies, it is possible to indicate the colonial nature of their activity in the field of cultural policy, simply showing the ways of practicing the regional culture. Moreover, some local elites (activists, animators) are involved in this process. This type of symbolic violence meets with resistance “from below” of some region’s activists and inhabitants who do not accept the values, forms and cultural content arranged by professionals into the form of classical kastom. They reject treating their own heritage in the form of an unchanging, staged fossil and promote an attitude of creativity, independence, agency of local cultural practices and forms of creativity not constrained by an oppressive kastom scenario.
Featured Inclusive to Some: Examining Immigrant Interactions with Museum Practice View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Alia Reza
Historically, museum curation and programming efforts in the United States have excluded marginalized populations, including immigrants. While many museums are trying to be more inclusive, the vast majority of museum visitors in the U.S. are still White, middle- and upper-class Americans. Immigrant populations in particular are overlooked by cultural heritage institutions, in part because research on how these groups relate to museums, and what they need from them, is lacking. To increase our understanding of how U.S. museums do and do not serve immigrants, I offer a literature review focused on three research areas: immigrant information access, museology, and immigrants in museums. The review examines immigrant interactions with museums, which influence how museums create programming for immigrant communities. It reveals a gap in literature regarding first-hand immigrant interactions, increasing awareness of relevant research and outlining new avenues for future research regarding immigrant populations in modern museums.
Becoming an Agent of Change for Social Justice: McCord Stewart Museum’s 2022-2027 Strategic Plan View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Pascale Grignon, Martine Couillard
Audiences’ needs have changed. They want museums to better reflect their current social concerns and to present their stories in an inclusive and critical manner through collections and programs. Visitors expect museums that are participatory, audience-centred and environmentally sustainable. Based on these observations, the McCord Stewart Museum’s 2022-2027 strategic plan was developed with the conviction that it will meet the aspirations of a diverse audience and contribute to a greater engagement towards social justice. This paper explains how inclusion was at the very heart of the planning process, what are the main components of the five-year strategic plan and the Museum’s Change Theory. It also outlines how the plan is now deployed.
The Art of Disability Culture: An Exhibition Case Study View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Fran Osborne
The Art of Disability Culture exhibition was hosted by the Palo Alto Art Center, (PAAC), California in 2021 and featured the artwork of 35 artists with disabilities. The project included staff training sessions, community meetings with disabled artists and audio descriptions of artworks by each of the 35 artists whose work was shown. The exhibition aimed to establish best practices for working with disabled artists at the PAAC and to create a welcoming and responsive environment for all visitors with disabilities. Other access features included accessible in-person and online programming with live captioning and ASL. The PAAC continues to fold audio description by artists into its exhibitions and the exhibition has traveled to smaller venues where the impact of audio description continues to make an important contribution to a more accessible art world for artists and visitors alike. Academic scholarship in the fields of Museum and Disability Studies does not easily make its way to the exhibition floor without collaboration and innovation.
Art Museum Professionals’ Experiences and Practices in Educational Programs for Children with and without Disabilities in Greece View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Charikleia Kanari, Angeliki Graonidou
The role of arts in the education of all children is underpinned by several studies and researches. In this framework art museums have a significant role with regards to all children’s relationship with arts and with many learning and social outcomes. In light of the dominant policy and social demands for equity and inclusion, accessible and inclusive museums, the present study investigates the experience, the practices and the suggestions of art museums professionals in Greece regarding educational programs for children with disabilities both from mainstream and Special Education Schools. Based on qualitative data (semi-structured interviews), the results reveal on the one hand a range of museum educational activities and on the other hand the need for a more supportive institutional framework, the role of teachers and issues of collaboration between museums and schools, especially in the case of mainstream schools with students with disabilities.
