Community+Engagement

= Community Engagement = Institutional cultural competency also requires self-evaluation to identify strengths and weaknesses of the museum and its degree of cultural competency. Members of culturally diverse communities can be excellent resources to institutions when evaluating their cultural competency.

Engaging communities create a diverse body of advisors to an institution, with the greater diversity providing the most valuable feedback to ensure that a museum is as universally relevant and culturally accessible as possible. The best way to create such a relationship with a community requires a cooperative spirit from everyone, not just the museum. Together, community groups can help to create a museum environment that best reflects the interests and needs of all parties involved.

Community engagement can come in two forms: ** Maintaining Successful Relationships ** An important element in creating and maintaining relationships with cooperating communities or groups requires many of the same skills required for maintaining any relationship in life. The following skills are especially important when working with groups with the purpose of increasing cultural competency, either formally in partnerships or universally in all aspects of museum function: As summarized by a report by the Wilder Foundation in 2000, collaboration makes access to benefits and services easier, provides strength and effectiveness in numbers, and fosters creativity with multiple sources of input. Multiple benefits, combined with culturally diverse experience, demonstrate that community engagement must be a cornerstone of successful and culturally competent institutions.
 * // Collaboration: // Combining the efforts of two or more organizations, departments, or individuals to create synergies which would not be possible through individual efforts. This can be done for the purpose of planning or operational activities.
 * // Partnerships: // A relationship of joint interest between individuals or groups that is characterized by mutual cooperation and responsibility, as for the achievement of a specified goal. More organized and formal than collaboration.
 * // Communication: // For all parties involved, clear and consistent evaluation allows both institutions and cooperating groups to understand their roles and responsibilities. Enhances trust and encourages a shared vision of outcomes.
 * // Consistency: // Regular communication and evaluation keep everyone on the same page and foster reflection to enhance the relationship.
 * // Evaluation: // To ensure that all needs and interests of all parties, including the cooperating communities, are being met. Best when completed regularly and often.

** Successful Community Partnerships in Museums **
 * Golden Gate National Parks Conservency: Crissy Field Center (San Francisco, CA)
 * Incorporating multicultural perspectives in environmental education
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 * Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens (Washington, DC)
 * Targeting and incorporating GLBT audience in DC
 * Stevens, Greg. “Coming Out and Coming TOgether: Reaching the GLBT Audience at Hillwood.” // Network: Member Newsletter of the Museum Education Roundtable //, 8-12. 2002.
 * Museums & Community Collaborations Abroad (MCCA)
 * A grant program within the American Association of Museums (AAM) that fosters museum-based international exchanges and encourages local and global community connections
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 * National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, DC)
 * American Indian tribes co-curate exhibits with museum staff, “cultural interpreters” from tribes interact with museum guests
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 * Tenement Museum (New York, NY)
 * ESOL workshops with community ESOL classes, programs celebrating multiculturalism and its power to positively change communities.
 * [|http://www.tenement.org]
 * Russell-Ciardi, Maggie. “Immigrant Voices: A New Language for Museums.” // Museum News // . May/June 2006. < []  >.

** Works Cited and Additional Resources **
 * Association of Children’s Museums: Diversity and the Development of Cultural Competence (Crider, Gwendolyn K., 2007)
 * Article from // Hand to Hand // advocating for increased cultural competency and tips on how to improve such competency in an institution.
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 * America’s Best Idea: The Untold Stories Project
 * Short films documenting programs engaging underserved communities and multicultural perspectives.
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 * American Association of Museums, Annual Meeting 2010: Museums Without Borders
 * Examining how to better incorporate diverse perspectives in the museum community.
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 * Amherst H. Wilder Foundation: Collaboration: What Makes it Work
 * Examining elements of successful collaboration, including an online inventory
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