Johanna Jones is the Director of Evaluation and Visitor Insights at the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA). Johanna leads the Museum’s audience research, evaluation, and social impact measurement work. Before joining OMCA in 2016, Johanna was an evaluation consultant for 20 years. In 2020, you wrote about the work OMCA has been doing to evaluateContinue reading “How can museums measure social impact? Interview with Johanna Jones”
Category Archives: Museums and Cities
Do museums have a responsibility to name and address issues of contemporary importance?
In the past few months, I’ve visited the museum Eastern State Penitentiary twice. The museum is exemplary for its excellent audio tour (which you can hear parts of here) and the way it incorporates art into a historical site. More strikingly, it is notable for drawing attention to a contemporary issue (largely, but not exclusively,Continue reading “Do museums have a responsibility to name and address issues of contemporary importance? “
How do we change a museum’s relationship with its building? Interview with Steven Snyder
Dr. Steven Snyder is the President & CEO for the Fleet Science Center in San Diego, CA. Since taking on the role in 2013, Steve has redefined the Fleet’s role, taking it from a science center in Balboa Park to a community organization dedicated to helping all San Diegans achieve their place in our sharedContinue reading “How do we change a museum’s relationship with its building? Interview with Steven Snyder”
What do we do now?
This is a week for reaching out; for me, that includes working on a post for Museum Questions, after a very long absence. This is a week when, while spending time isolated, we learn we are not alone. This short episode of “The Daily” shares how the tone of the internet has changed over theContinue reading “What do we do now?”
Journey to the Sea: Exploring the environment in a children’s museum
This post is one I wrote with artist Margaret LeJeune for the Coalition of Museums for Climate Justice, which we are resharing here!
How can museums help us (re)learn the art of conversation?
In What is the political role of art education in rural communities? Kate Baird, museum educator at the Springfield Art Museum, explored experiences with art education in conversation with three of her colleagues. In this week’s post, Kate continues sharing her ideas about how museums can play an essential role in cultivating much-needed conversation in ourContinue reading “How can museums help us (re)learn the art of conversation?”
What is the political role of art education in rural communities?
Kate Baird is a museum educator at the Springfield Art Museum in Springfield, Missouri. She is also a founder of Placeworks, which offers art residencies and field trips at no cost to participating rural schools. Placeworks is a partnership of the Springfield Art Museum and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, which is funded by theContinue reading “What is the political role of art education in rural communities?”
How can we support local networking among museum educators?
This guest post is by Becky Gaugler, an independent Museum Educator in Pittsburgh. In her previous position, Becky managed programs for school and adult groups at Carnegie Museum of Art as an Assistant Curator of Education. A native Pittsburgher, Becky returned to her hometown after coordinating school programs at the Rubin Museum of Art inContinue reading “How can we support local networking among museum educators?”
How do museums help to create a better world?
Because we live in a culture in which we primarily receive information written and shared by those who think just like us, I have spent the last two weeks immersed in a flood of media that deepens my despair at the world this election has cast us in to. Some day, it will be the jobContinue reading “How do museums help to create a better world?”
How can museums contribute to dialogue about social justice when we are exemplars of segregation?
At the PlayHouse last weekend we celebrated Eid-al-Fitr — the Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan — as part of our Celebrate Peoria series. One visitor approached the manager on duty that day, and asked her if we would be celebrating Christmas. When she told him that we do not have plans to do so, heContinue reading “How can museums contribute to dialogue about social justice when we are exemplars of segregation?”
Museum Questions 