Community Representative Program
Fall 2020 // Saturdays, 9:30–12:30pm
PJ Gubatina Policarpio, Manager of Youth Development
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
What is the role of museums and museum professionals in times of transformation?
The Community Representative program provides participants with a foundational understanding of racial equity and social justice frameworks and practices that apply within a museum/institutional context. Informed by these frameworks, interns will review the Community Representative program and collaboratively construct and develop program elements for greater equity, agency, relevance and impact. Additionally, participants will gain knowledge in museum-based educational approaches and strategies for engaging and reaching a wide range of audiences. The Community Representative program will prepare interns to collaborate on digital teaching projects and community outreach initiatives for diverse audiences in the Spring of 2020.
This program will include weekly readings, critical reflections, group discussions, projects, and research, as well as presentations by leading scholars and professionals on the role of museums and museum professionals in advancing social and racial justice today. At the end of the program, participants will be able to engage in discussions on issues facing museums and social justice.
Interns will:
● Read and respond to key texts (articles, documentaries, podcasts, etc.) on equity and social justice, culturally responsive pedagogy, and museum learning practices
● Participate in and lead conversations on museums’ roles in advancing social justice
● Understand and develop critically reflective teaching and learning practice
● Write a Personal Values Narrative that represents your core values, beliefs, and goals in relation to museum work
This internship will allow participants to:
● Gain understanding of racial and social justice frameworks within a museum context
● Gain knowledge of museum pedagogy; develop strategies and techniques for engaging audiences
● Expand exposure to museum operations, including school, youth, family, access, and public programs
● Meet leading museum professionals, educators, scholars, academics, and activists
● Join a cohort of emerging museum and art professionals from diverse backgrounds
● Strengthen public speaking and critical thinking skills in a museum environment After Week 2, interns will sign up to facilitate group discussions on a single reading or text.
Interns will also sign up to lead Community Circle exercises (30 minutes).
● Introductions and Intentions
● Community Circle
● Group Discussion
● Reflection
Read
● Brookfield, S. (1998). “Critically Reflective Practice.” The Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions, 18, 197–205.
● Multicultural Critical Reflective Practice in the Art Museum by Melissa Crum and Keonna Hendrick
● Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. (pp.71–86), New York: Continuum
Assignment
● Please share a memorable personal photo of you or one you have taken. Consider what information and/or questions you might introduce to viewers. Be prepared to talk about your picture for 3–5 minutes.
● Complete one of the activities outlined in Multicultural Critical Reflective Practice in the Art Museum by Crum and Hendrick. Be prepared to share your activity.
● Prepare at least 3 questions on the week’s readings/text for discussion.
Week 2: November 7 — The Role of Museums
● Community Circle
● Group Discussion
● Reflection
Read
● Thomas, Nicholas. 2019. “What Are Museums Really For?” Apollo Magazine, September 2019.
● Weil, S. (2002). “The Museum and the public.” In Making Museums Matter, (pp. 195–214). New York: Smithsonian Books.
● Clifford, James. (1988). “On Collecting Art and Culture,” in The Predicament of Culture. (215–36). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
● America’s Big Museums on the Hot Seat — Holland Cotter, NY Times
● De Young at 125 — History and Collection and Timeline
Assignment
● Write your own definition of what a museum is and what it is for? What is a museum’s role and responsibility to society? Be prepared to share your definitions and discuss how we each understand the role and work of museums.
● Prepare at least 3 questions on the week’s readings/text for discussion.
● Complete the Critical Incident Questionnaire
Week 3: November 14 — Decolonizing the Museum
● Community Circle
● Group Discussion
● Reflection
Read
● Decolonizing Museums: Representing Native America in National and Tribal Museums, Amy Lonetree
● What does it mean to decolonize a museum? (web only)
● Kassim, Sumaya. 2017. “The Museum Will Not Be Decolonised.” Media Diversified. 2017.
● The Fight to Decolonize the Museum — The Atlantic
Optional Reading
● Tuck, Eve and K. Wayne Yang. “Decolonization is not a Metaphor.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1, no. 1 (2012), 1–40
● What is Decolonization? Abbe Museum
● Decolonizing the Art Museum: The Next Wave — Olga Viso
● The Racist Statue of Theodore Roosevelt Will No Longer Loom Over the American Museum of Natural History
● Decolonize This Place: https://decolonizethisplace.org/ Assignment
● Prepare at least 3 questions on the week’s readings/text for discussion.
● Complete the Critical Incident Questionnaire
Week 4: November 21 — Reflection, Questions, Co-Construction
Assignment
● Write a personal narrative reflecting on your relationship and experiences with art, art education, and museums. What are your earliest memories of these intersections? What are your most significant memories? Where were you? Who was with you?
● Schedule a 30-minute individual reflection conversation.
November 28 — Thanksgiving Weekend — No session
Week 5: December 5 — Museums and the Movement for Black Lives
● Community Circle
● Group Discussion
● Reflection
Read
● Exhibiting Blackness, Introduction — Bridget R Cooks
● Cahan, Susan E. (2016). “Epilogue.” Mounting Frustration: The Art Museum in the Age of Black Power. (pp. 253–267). Durham: Duke University Press.
● The 1619 Project, Introduction — Nikole Hannah-Jones
● Museums & #BlackLivesMatter — Adrianne Russel and Aleia Brown
Optional Reading
● Museums Are Finally Taking a Stand. But Can They Find Their Footing? — Holland Cotter
● Jones de Almeida, A. “The Art of Social Justice: Behold the Beautiful Struggle!” Retrieved from: #MuseumsRespondtoFerguson: An Interview with Aleia Brown and Adrianne Russell by Kami Fletcher
Assignment
● Prepare at least 3 questions on the week’s readings/text for discussion.
● Complete the Critical Incident Questionnaire
Resources
● Black Lives Matter Movement
● #MuseumsRespondtoFerguson
● Museums Are Not Neutral
● Museums and Race
Week 6: December 12 — Abolition and Reparations
● Community Circle
● Group Discussion
● Reflection
Read:
● The Case for Reparations — Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic
● Rodriguez, Dylan. “The Disorientation of the Teaching Act: Abolition as Pedagogical Position.” The Radical Teacher
● Documentary: 13th — https://www.netflix.com/title/80091741
● Podcast: Throughline — American Police
Assignment
● Prepare at least 3 questions on the week’s readings/text for discussion.
● Complete the Critical Incident Questionnaire
Week 7: December 19 — Reflection, Question, Co-Construction
Assignment
● Please write a short statement reflecting upon your own core beliefs and values as it relates to museums and museum work.
Holiday Break: December 26 and January 2 — No Sessions
Week 8: January 9 — White Supremacy Culture and the Museum
● Community Circle
● Group Discussion
● Reflection
Read
● Uncovering White Supremacy Culture in Museum Work — Hannah Heller, nikhil trivedi and
Joanne Jones-Rizzi
● To Bear Witness: Real Talk about White Supremacy in Art Museums Today — Kelli Morgan
● On the Limits of Care and Knowledge: 15 Points Museums Must Understand to Dismantle Structural Injustice
Assignment
● Prepare at least 3 questions on the week’s readings/text for discussion.
● Complete the Critical Incident Questionnaire
Week 9: January 16 — Access and Disability Justice
● Community Circle
● Group Discussion
● Reflection
Read
● This Is Disability Justice — Nomy Lamm
● Watch: Ableism is The Bane of My Motherfuckin’ Existence — Barnard Center for Research
on Women — https://youtu.be/IelmZUxBIq0
● What Does It Mean to Be an Accessible Museum? — Francesca Rosenberg, MOMA
● The A.D.A. at 30: Beyond the Law’s Promise — The New York Times
● How to make museums more accessible for disabled people? Ask them — The Art Newspaper
Assignment
● Prepare at least 3 questions on the week’s readings/text for discussion.
● Complete the Critical Incident Questionnaire
Resources
● Disability and Inclusion Resources for Museum Studies Programs — Art Beyond Sight
Week 10: January 23 — Wage, Labor + Museum Workers Speak
● Community Circle
● Group Discussion
● Reflection
Read
● The Year According to Art Museum Transparency — Walker Art CenterLabor of Love:
Revaluing Museum Work — American Alliance of Museums
● The Museum Does Not Exist — Dana Kopel
● Museum Workers Across the Country Are Unionizing. Here’s What’s Driving a Movement
That’s Been Years in the Making — Catherine Wagley
● The Art of Organizing — Beige Luciano Adams
Assignment
● Prepare at least 3 questions on the week’s readings/text for discussion.
● Complete the Critical Incident Questionnaire: https://forms.gle/D1ZQM8r9uZDGK3d87
Resources
● Art + Museum Transparency — https://www.artandmuseumtransparency.org/
● Change the Museum Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/changethemuseum/
● Museum Workers Speak — https://museumworkersspeak.weebly.com/
● Death to Museums — https://deathtomuseums.com/
● POW Arts Salary Survey — https://www.powarts.org/salarysurvey
Week 11: January 30 — Mapping — Reflection, Question, Co-Construction
● Cartography: A Black Woman’s Response to Museums in the Time of Racial Uprising -
Porchia Moore, The Incluseum
● Reflexive Cartography: Or, A Ritual for the Dying Museum Landscape — The Socio-Political
Impact of Change in Museums — Porchia Moore, The Incluseum
Assignment
● Prepare at least 3 questions on the week’s readings/text for discussion.
● Complete the Critical Incident Questionnaire
Week 12: February 6 — Reflection, Question, Co-Construction
Assignment:
● Schedule a 30-minute final individual reflection conversation
