PARTNERS AND NETWORKS
Community Partnerships Matter
Museums, libraries, and other cultural institutions have served as bedrocks of community education, places that welcome the curious of all ages to explore and to learn. Partnering and networks help us to realize our goals. Regionally and nationally (and internationally), cultural institutions have been working on building humanities and health-humanities programming to draw in students and the public. They have, however, worked often in isolation. They have a voice and story to share, but individually can only reach so far. I work to support programs, foster engagement, and connect hubs of activity.
In the end, networks are still the best means of reaching new audiences, whether those be local partnerships among institutions, or by use of social media and tech platforms for furthering our reach. Museums everywhere have been engaged in a process of re-invention–and I’m pleased to engage with that important mission.
Challenges
We’ve become a global society in many ways. But that means, globally, we face grave humanitarian challenges, from displaced populations to problems of access and social justice in our own communities. We need cultural institutions more than ever, and they are ever under threat. The challenge is making the value of museums, libraries, and cultural institutions apparent and relevant to the surrounding community. How can we bring the public in to collections, and how do we build relationships between our institutions and the public?
Solutions
Community Partnerships offer a means of linking program to exhibit, and program to program. Getting out into the community means breaking down the separating walls and inviting relationship. This matters even more critically as we seek to promote social justice and positive change in under-served communities. Museums must face outward. Meanwhile, digital and social channels can bring our collections to wide populations, increasing access. The purpose for digital collections is two-fold: 1) they should give us the desire to see more out there in the world or 2) they should tide us over if the “out there” is yet beyond our reach.