I'm working on a survey of civic and community engagement in children's museums in the US. When I first started in CMs, there was lots of talk about "the new town square" and how CMs make kids into better citizens, etc. However, if one looks at the ACM Promising Practice awards for the past few years, you can see that civic engagement has given way to healthy eating and environmentalism.
Not that I have anything against healthy eating or environmentalism.
As is always the case, I ask too many questions. Rather than focus on my survey of what some museums are doing, I want to know why the focus shifted? Was it just too hard to engage communities? Did the funding dry up for these great programs? Or are they still happening under the radar?
Its no secret that funding for "green" initiatives and health related programming is abundant, but other funding is hard to find. Is this why? Its a sad irony that programs that focus on building responsible citizenry fall by the wayside because the current citizenry will only commit dollars to programs that advance their own products, services, or PR.
So, stay tuned for information on what IS happening. Museums that educate about their own communities, that serve small underrepresented groups, that empower the disenfranchised, and more. And please contribute. What does civic engagement in a museum mean to you?
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