Project Thesis by Lianna Hamby
The purpose of this project was to increase the relevance of a local museum to its community through community engagement, participatory design, and inviting visitors to take action. The product of this effort was a community co-curated art exhibition that addressed relevance through community partnership, employing participatory design both in exhibit development procedures as well as visitor experience, and encouraging visitors to take action in regard to an issue of local significance. This project was hosted by the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, Washington. This institution not only maintained a dedicated community space but had demonstrated a capacity to participate in community curated exhibitions and a willingness to feature exhibits highlighting community issues. The major activities of this project included significant preparation for community engagement work, sourcing community partners, conducting research, developing, planning, and producing an exhibit, creating accompanying web content, and evaluating the community partners’ experiences. The resulting exhibit, Finding Balance: Carbon Storylines 1.1, was intended to run from March 28 – June 15, 2020. Though the onset of Covid-19 pandemic greatly altered the final stages of this endeavor recommendations can be made to the institution and the museum field regarding sustained community engagement, participatory design, and inviting visitors to take action.
Citation
Hamby, L. (2020). Engagement and Action Through Community Co-Curation: Developing Finding Balance: Carbon Storylines 1.1 [Unpublished master’s thesis project]]. University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
Keywords
project, community engagement, participatory design, community curation, exhibition