reading group

An Amsterdam-based informal reading group focussed around the topic of museums and participation, offering a friendly forum to exchange ideas, raise questions and develop thinking around participatory practices. We read and take as inspiration journal papers, book chapter, project reports and blogs relating to community engagement, understanding audiences, realising the social value of museums and collections, and making museums and the stories they share more representative. Everyone is welcome! Get in touch if you want to come along.

Here are some of the things we have read, loosely grouped into themes. Most of these are open access.

Community participation practice - what is it all about?

Arnstein, Sherry (1969) 'A Ladder Of Citizen Participation', Journal of the American Planning Association, 35: 4, 216-224
Simon, Nina (2010) 'The Participatory Museum'
Bunning et al (2015) 'Embedding plurality: exploring participatory practice in the development of a new permanent gallery' in Science Museum Group Journal
Elffers, Anna & Sitzia, Emilie (2016) 'Defining Participation: Practices in the Dutch art world' in Museum Participation: New Directions for Audience Collaboration edited by Kayte McSweeney and Jen Kavanagh (Museums Etc)
Wajid, Sara & Minott, Rachael (2019) 'Detoxing and decolonising museums', in Museum Activism edited by Robert Janes and Richard Sandell (Routledge)
The C Word - The Conservator's Podcast S05 E04: Working with Communities
Hélia Pereira Marçal (2017) 'Conservation in an era of participation' in Journal of the Institute of Conservation, 40:2, 97-104
Chirikure, Shadreck & Pwiti, Gilbert (2008) 'Community Involvement in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Management An Assessment from Case Studies in Southern Africa and Elsewhere' Current Anthropology 49(3)
Viviane Panelli Sarraf and Maria Cristina Oliveira Bruno (2017) Accessible curatorship: exhibition development based on relationships with different audiences, The Museum Review 2(1)
Wilson Yeung Chun Wai (2019) Curator as Collaborator: A Study of Collective Curatorial Practices in Contemporary Art (Australia) Journal of Urban Culture Research vol. 18
Singer, Isabel, November 2021 'Museums as predators' blog post on American Perceptionalism

Museums made up of people and practices - positionality

Wendy Ng, Syrus Marcus Ware &Alyssa Greenberg (2017) 'Activating Diversity and Inclusion: A Blueprint for Museum Educators as Allies and Change Makers', Journal of Museum Education 42:2
Morse, Nuala. (2018) 'Patterns of accountability: an organizational approach to community engagement in museums.' Museum and Society 16:2 171-186
'Should museums have a personality? In a medium where tone and voice are key, what does it mean to funnel a museum’s online presence through a unique filter: ourselves? - Russel Dornan (2017)
Yuha Jung (2016) Micro examination of museum workplace culture: how institutional changes influence the culture of a real-world art museum, Museum Management and Curatorship, 31:2, 159-177

Museums & activism

'The Dangers of Superficial Activism' writte n by Kayleigh Bryant-Greenwell, published on 11 September 2018
'Should museums be activists? written by Jim Richardson, Museum Next, in April 2017
Brekke, Åshild Andrea, 2019, 'Quiet is the New Loud?', in On Activism, Museums and Changing the World' in Museum Activism, edited by Robert R Janes and Richard Sandell (Routledge)
Adriel Luis (2022) Keeping Ourselves Collected: Culture Labs Confront the Smithsonian’s Imperial Legacy, Journal of Museum Education, 47:1, 71-92, DOI: 10.1080/10598650.2021.2001626

Disability & Inclusion

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, 2018, 'Cripping the Apocalypse - Some of My Wild Disability Justice Dreams', in Care Work, Dreaming Disability Justice

Understanding audiences and our work

Projects & Ways of working

Stella Toonen, February 2022, 'Tate's Backward Step' on Arts Professional
Krasteva, Lora. ‘The civic role of cultural spaces in culture and immigration: Reflections from the Becoming […] projects’. Culture Caleidoscoop 1 (2022). DOI 10.57031/culcal.v1i1.12138
Luis, A. 2022. Keeping ourselves collected: Culture labs confront the Smithsonian's imperial legacy, Journal Museum Education 47:1
Five Faiths Project - Williams, Ray (2019) 'Welcoming (and Learning from) the Stranger: The Museum as a Forum for Interfaith Dialogue', Journal of Museum Education, 44:1, 34-40
Our Museum - Lynch, Bernadette (2015) 'A five year perspective from a critical friend' and Bienkowski, Piotr (2016) 'No longer us and them'
Jasmijn Rana, M. Willemsen & H. C. Dibbits (2017) 'Moved by the tears of others: emotion networking in the heritage sphere', International Journal of Heritage Studies, 23:10
Ellis, S., 2021, 'Embodiment at the edge of the archive: private audience and public experience', Museum Innovation: Building More Equitable, Relevant and Impactful Museums, edited By Haitham Eid, Melissa Forstrom

The role of the museum today - new ICOM museum definition

ICOM UK's chair Tonya Nelson's conference report
Are Art Institutions Becoming Too ‘Ideological’? A Debate Breaks Out at the International Council of Museums Over Politics in the Galleries on ArtNet
Museum Verbs and Defining Who are We and Who are We, Museums? on Museum 2.0
Why a Plan to Redefine the Meaning of 'Museum' Is Stirring Up Controversy in Time
Why is a Museum Definition so Important? on Leadership Matters

Participation practice during COVID-19

CROOKE, Elizabeth (2020) Communities, Change and the COVID-19 Crisis. Museum and Society, 18:3 p. 305-310

If you're looking for more reading ideas relating to museums and social justice, this is an amazing open collaborative resources: Social Justice and Museums resource list

For Dutch speakers, I also recommend looking at the Erfgoedparticipatie leeslijst, another open collaborative resource.