Abstract
Kingsborough is Brooklyn’s only community college; 87% of our students commute from South Brooklyn. However, professors usually do not use the community as their effective pedagogical element. Between March and April 2022, four professors from various disciplines collaborated with a local homeless activist and a social engagement artist. We staged ‘Unhomeless NYC,’ a pedagogical exhibition centered on socially engaging art based on research and workshop. Often, college museums are not duly integrated into teaching. However, since 14 percent of the CUNY students were homeless in 2018 and about 57% had problems with their accommodation the previous year, the topic close to their life communicated well with our students. Since the show was curated by an interdisciplinary group of professors, it was integrated into different classes. Furthermore, since the topic was chosen from the critical issues close to our students’ everyday life, students’ engagement was deeper, with more passing rates. This paper discusses the effective use of college museums in teaching contemporary topics using socially engaging art.
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
2023 Special Focus—Museum Transformations: Pathways to Community Engagement
KEYWORDS
COMMUNITY COLLEGE, COMMUNITY-BASED TEACHING, PEDAGOGICAL EXHIBITION, HOMELESS IN NYC, SOCIALLY
