Building Blocks for Socially Responsible Museums

Transcription

1 Building Blocks for Socially Responsible Museums Ontario Museums Association October 16, 2014 Alexandra Hatcher, Alberta Culture and Tourism Doran Degenstein, Fort Whoop-Up National Historic Site Leah Best, Touchstones Nelson

2 Museums of the Future The museum of the past must be set aside, reconstructed, transformed, from a cemetery of bric-a-brac into a nursery of living thoughts.

3 Museums Change Lives Museums change people s lives. They enrich the lives of individuals, contribute to strong and resilient communities, and help create a fair and just society. Museums in turn are immensely enriched by the skills and creativity of their public.

4 Museums of the Future The museum of the past must be set aside, reconstructed, transformed, from a cemetery of bric-a-brac into a nursery of living thoughts. The Museums of the Future, Smithsonian Institute G. Brown Goode, 1889

5 Museums Change Lives Museums change people s lives. They enrich the lives of individuals, contribute to strong and resilient communities, and help create a fair and just society. Museums in turn are immensely enriched by the skills and creativity of their public. Museums Association U.K., 2013

6 Facets of Sustainability Social Cultural and Community Health and Wellbeing Financial Environmental Alberta Museums Association 2013

7 Socially Responsible Museums Social Social sustainability: deepening and diversifying relationships, aiming to reflect the diversity of society in all that they do ; engaged in socially responsible work that affects real social and environmental change with the potential to create public benefit on a larger scale. Sustainability Working Group Recommendation Report, Alberta Museums Association 2013

8 Building Blocks for a Socially Responsible Museum A Sense of Urgency

9 Building Blocks for a Socially Responsible Museum Idealism Intimacy Depth Interconnectedness Looking Reality in the Eye: Museums and Social Responsibility, Janes & Conaty, 2005

10 Fort Whoop-Up National Historic Site Lethbridge, Alberta

11 Social Responsibility: A FrameWork for Success & What Works Fort Whoop-Up National Historic Site

12 What is Social Responsibility? Social Responsibility is an ethical theory that an entity, be it an organization or individual, has an obligation to act to benefit society at large. Social responsibility is a duty every individual has to perform so as to maintain a balance between the economy and the ecosystems. A trade-off may exist between economic development, in the material sense, and the welfare of society and the environment. Social responsibility means sustaining the equilibrium between the two. It pertains not only to business organizations but also to everyone whose action impacts the environment. This responsibility can be passive, by avoiding engaging in socially harmful acts, or active, by performing activities that directly advance social goals. - Wikipedia.org; April 23 rd, 2014

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14 The Four Pillars of Social Responsibility 1. Relevance 2. Engagement 3. Sincerity 4. Collaboration

15 1. Relevance Heritage Saturday 2012 Blackfoot Interpretation in Thunderchief Gallery Can the story connect? Does it fit your Mission Statement? Is it part of your Brand? Moral Licensing. Artifacts and the Interpretive Matrix Duplicity Shortly After Opening Following Reconstruction; Lethbridge Herald 1967; A Clear Absence of Engagement and Social Responsibility; We ve come long way 2013 Recipient of Alberta Museums Association Robert R. Janes Award for Social Responsibility.

16 2. Engagement Can you commit the time? What about the money? Inclusion: Business Partners Board Tribal Elders Staff Program Development Giving Back

17 3. Sincerity Blackfoot Way of Knowing Establishing Priorities. Where do Politics come to Play Standard Museums Practices Challenges The Personal Journey Taking Charge of the Medicine Stone Recovery And Rededication, 2012

18 4. Collaboration Still engaging in the trade: Events Feeling Welcome Knowing Your Business Aboriginal Tourism Dominion Day 2006 Merging Canada Day and Aboriginal Day Activities

19 Connecting the Buffalo and the Blackfoot; Warren Crowshoe Gallery, 1997 Leo Day Chief Viewing Fort Whoop-Up, 2008 Near Where His Grandfather Thunderchief counted coupe in the 1870 Belly River Battle Peigan Site Host, 2014

20 Fort Whoop-Up National Historic Site Indian Battle Park, Lethbridge, Alberta

21 Touchstone Nelson Museum of Art and History Nelson, British Columbia

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23 Nelson, BC

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32 What action are you going to take?