Greetings readers! Here is the national jobs roundup for the week of November 12th: Northeast Public Programs Assistant Manager [Museum on Blue Mountain Lake- Blue Mountain Lake, NY] Curator of Education [Seal Cove Auto Museum- Mount Desert Island, ME] Associate Educator for Interpretation [Portland Museum …
This past week many museum professionals and emerging professionals attended the New England Museum Association’s annual conference Museums on the Move. This year was a big year for NEMA celebrating its 100th annual conference. The theme of the conference was meant to investigate how museums …
In honor of Election Day, tomorrow, Tuesday, November 6th, we’d like to share a roundup of articles about American museums striving to communicate the importance of voting!
Did you know that the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, the Mummers Museum in Philadelphia, the Hammer Museum, and the Roswell Museum and Art Center in New Mexico all serve as polling sites? Since 2015, the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site Museum in Indianapolis has also served as a proud polling place for its community. Its director, Charles Hyde, is encouraging other museums to adopt the same practice.
“In an era where turnout is far from peak levels, and debate simmers over mechanisms like early voting and mail-in balloting, could museums be doing more to help the general public as they’re seeking to meet their civic obligations? I encourage other museums engaging in this act of civic responsibility to use the social media hashtag #proudpollingsite and prove that together, we can provide our communities with the enhanced experiences that cultivate a more engaged citizenry. It’s about time we all raised our hands.”
Unfortunately, millennials continue to demonstrate low voter turnout. In an attempt to change this, the virtual pop-up Museum of Voting is encouraging voters to ‘gram their polling experience…mostly by posting selfies with voting stickers.
“According to Pew Research Center, only 51% of millennials voted in the 2016 presidential election, compared to Gen X (63%), baby boomers (69%), and the silent generation (70%). In an effort to spark some excitement around this year’s midterm elections, creative studio Gold Front has created The Museum of Voting, “a one-day-only, insanely Instagrammable pop-up experience,” i.e., just your local polling station.”
The National Voting Rights Museum and Institute in Selma, Alabama, however, is an actual museum with a mission of exhibiting “materials and artifacts from the voting rights struggle in America, especially those that highlight the experiences, which fueled “Bloody Sunday”, the Selma to Montgomery March, and the Civil Rights Movement throughout the South. The NVRMI provides research forums, community action, and makes presentations that impact or support voting rights issues in America.”
Powerfully, the first quote to greet visitors on the Museum’s website homepage is “Hands that picked cotton can pick our presidents.” With nine galleries that exhibit artifacts from the Selma March and beyond, while detailing the civil rights events of the 1960s, the museum serves as a visual reminder of the importance of casting your vote.
Finally, check out this great article that summarizes how “Artists and Museums are Shining a Light on Democracy, Freedom, and the Importance of Voting.”
“Artists and museums have been engaged in the discourse throughout the political season, mounting exhibitions and public art projects, hosting public discussions and voter registration drives.
The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) provides its institutional members with Nonprofit Voter Resources, guidelines about how they can participate in advocacy and nonpartisan election activities.
The Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Okla., has been a venue for nonpartisan voter education, handing out sample ballots and information about issues and candidates. On Nov. 4, Philbrook is hosting a town hall. New York Live Arts is facilitating a conversation on gun ownership on November 5th. On Election Night, 100 Days Action is throwing a “Blue Wave/Red Tide” election night party and exhibition viewing in San Francisco.”
Will you be voting tomorrow?
Greetings readers! Don’t forget to vote on Tuesday, November 6th! Here is the national jobs roundup for the week of November 4th: Northeast Preservation Planner [Town of Brookline/Brookline, MA] Director of Interpretation [Historic Deerfield/Deerfield, MA] Department Assistant, Finance [Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Boston, MA] Data Integration …
Next week, the Tisch Family Gallery will host a panel discussion among curators and art historians about the role of art education. Panel Discussion: Does Education Define an Artist? The predominantly self-taught artists in the current Tufts’ exhibition Expressions Unbound prompt us to consider how artists have been …
Museums have, for many decades now, been sites of learning and exploration for people of all ages, economic classes, and educational levels. The idea of informal learning spaces assisting with civic education of newly arrived Americans has its roots in a Progressive Era ethos of immigrant assimilation, with the accompanying racist and xenophobic undertones one might expect. However, some of the programs provided by settlement houses and other progressive aid organizations had a significant impact on the lives of immigrants eager to learn about their new country and to advance within it.
Regardless of the flawed origins of these programs, the value of civic education that unites all Americans and enables advocacy and enfranchisement is not to be denied. This understanding of the role museums can play in the pursuit of civic engagement is fully realized in programs like New-York Historical Society’s Citizenship Project. This class uses art from New-York Historical’s collection to teach prospective citizens about American History and Civics through art in the collection. The course does not shy away from informing the students about the darker aspects of American History, including Native American removal, the Chinese Exclusion Act, and the Civil War. The Society also hosts naturalization ceremonies for students after they complete the program and pass their citizenship exam.
Of course, for those of us already enfranchised, we don’t have to wait long to exercise our right to vote. There is a midterm election fast approaching on November 6. Aside from the noble causes museums can assist with, like citizenship courses or enhancing student learning by providing material culture to augment in class learning, we know that museums are affected by political decisions every day. From federal funding of the arts and history projects to local budgets supporting field trips, elections matter when it comes to keeping museums open, encouraging new work to be done, and extending access to museums for students and other prospective learners.
This blog encourages you, museum professionals and students alike, to make sure that you make a plan to vote on November 6. The state of Massachusetts, where Tufts is located, has a sample ballot available here to help you prepare for voting and a way to find your polling location here. Other states have also posted their ballots and polling place locators online. Making decisions about who and what will best represent your life and your institutions is an important responsibility that comes with civic education. As John Dewey once noted, “Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife.”