University Museums as Instruments of Engagement
It's easy to forget some of the most effective instruments of public engagement we have on our university campuses: our museums. Whether they're art, natural history, anthropology, or another kind of museum, they serve many of the functions we most desire in our public engagement activities.
- Museums bring the public to our campuses.
- Natural history museums, in particular, help to educate and enthuse young people.
- University museums often collaborate extensively with external museums in organizing shows and lending pieces.
- University museum curators are experts, but so are those in community museums. Expertise is not unidirectional.
- Our museums are paying increasing attention to the cultural context of their holdings, and collaborating with community members to develop culturally appropriate exhibitions.
- Community members are producers (artists, craftspeople) and interpreters (community elders and scholars) of university museum holdings.
- Esthetic, intellectual, and cultural appreciation of art and artifacts are among the most important ways by which we maintain a sense of shared civilization.