Visitor and Community Engagement Courses

Community Engagement and Social Change

Museums and other cultural heritage organizations have the capacity to serve as dynamic social spaces for community engagement and action. This course explores the profound social changes that are reshaping the nature and purposes of museums in a pluralistic society and considers the implications for all aspects of their specialized functions. Participants utilize a group of core resources to assist their learning about how the museum and cultural field has evolved, why social and community engagement is a critical foundation for all other professional practices, and how other organizations have begun their journeys towards engagement. The course introduces participants to a series of skills and practices to initiate, facilitate, and support community engagement and embed them in organizational life. Participants complete either a community engagement assessment of a museum or cultural heritage organization utilizing a number of assessment tools or a community engagement plan, with components on strategy, participants, proposed engagement process / steps, and follow up activities to embed community engagement into ongoing practice.

Public Programming

Examine the central role of public programming and interpretation in museums and heritage organizations. Consider the development of impactful museum experiences that respond to community interests and audience learning priorities. Explore planning, delivery, management and evaluation strategies for a range of programming approaches.

Visitor Experiences

This course explores the evolving concept and implications of an holistic approach to visitor engagement in museums and other cultural heritage institutions. Topics include:

• museums’ relationships with their publics
• museums’ capacity to serve as social spaces
• strategies for audience research
• the characteristics of visitors
• communications
• exhibitions
• formal and informal learning activities
• evaluation strategies

Caring for Museum Collections

This course provides an introduction to preventive conservation. During the 14 weeks of this course, we focus on identifying and quantifying the environmental factors or agents of deterioration that affect collections, and on developing strategies that mitigate those factors. We build our understanding of the materials that make up a museum collection, both in how they degrade and in how they react to their environment and the objects around them. As well, we explore strategies for evaluating conservation requirements for the safe exhibition and storage of museum collections. Finally, we explore the role of an integrated planning and a risk management approach to collections care.

Collections Management

Central to the museum’s existence—from nature preserve to anthropology museum, contemporary art gallery to historical site—is the collection and use of objects and specimens: the material evidence of humans and their environment.

Examine the development and contemporary roles of museum collections, with an emphasis on the principles and practices involved in their management, including policy development, legal and ethical considerations, documentation and information management, acquisitions, accessioning and deaccessioning, loans, risk management and care and handling. Issues of ownership, access and collections planning are also addressed.

Together, we will understand the impact that our changing society and profession is having on managing collections for the future.

Communicating Through Exhibitions

This course is about creating exhibitions that communicate clearly, that tell stories well, connect with the visitors as people and get them thinking. 

As a foundation, we shall analyze what makes exhibitions successful and how to look at all exhibitions with a critical eye. Making good decisions throughout the exhibition development process is essential to effective communication.

We will explore the entire planning process, however the primary focus will be on the story and how it is told. Mastering the art of interpretation is essential to creating exhibitions that work for visitors. We will look at the principles of powerful interpretation, the construction of the story and the particular art of writing for exhibitions. And, we will explore the tools a designer uses (including display cases, signage, lighting, digital presentations and more) to construct an exhibition that has a point to make, that moves the visitor emotionally and goes beyond simply conveying information. 

The course relies heavily on real life examples and practical exercises. You will also gain experience in developing interpretive content for an exhibition through collaboration as a member of a team.

Contemporary Perspectives in Curatorship

Contemporary Perspectives in Curatorship reflects our growing understanding of the important relationships that exist between museums and their constituents. Museums and other public exhibition sites of all disciplines, sizes and settings are not only mirrors of society but also play influential roles. As societies change, these sites become zones of contestation in which notions of popular and high culture, old and new technologies, science and art, race and gender, individuals and communities interact. They can develop into arenas for important public debates about the definition and creation of a good society.

Museums are no longer expected simply to be civilizing sites of knowledge where the information flows in one direction; they are now places of dialogue where the visiting public and community partners are invited to bring their own perspectives and expertise into the learning and sharing process. Within the museum arena, these perspectives, beliefs and ways of doing things can either collide or fracture apart or they can become new hybrids: fresh sources of greater understanding and collaborative ventures.

Today, the curator must know how to function in this highly politicized setting and facilitate the debates and discussions that arise. For those who operate within these contested areas, there is an urgent need to develop attitudes and skills that will enable them to flourish in possibly the most challenging of museum professions. These are exciting times.

Curatorial Planning and Practice

In early 19th century English museums, a curator was the person charged with "keeping" a collection: that is, cataloging, organizing, caring for and displaying the myriad and oft-times chaotic array of objects. In the 20th century, as museums evolved from dusty buildings with monotonous displays into dynamic community- and market-oriented institutions, the curator’s role changed dramatically. Curators were typically scholars responsible for researching and acquiring objects and then working with a designer to develop scholarly and educational displays. Today, in the 21st century, the roles and responsibilities of curators far exceed the traditional "keeper" and "scholar" roles. Whether employed by an organization or working independently, today’s curators act as "cultural producers"—curators research, acquire and care for both tangible and intangible objects, and they also work with diverse communities to create meaningful exhibitions and interpret meaning to the public.

This course is designed to familiarize students with both the theory and practice of curating in art, history, anthropology, science and interdisciplinary museums. The first five weeks of the course will focus on theory, history and ethics. Through reading, analysis and online discussion, students will explore and debate the evolving definitions of what is involved in curating. The remainder of the course will focus on practice. In addition to continued reading and online discussion, students will select one public site in their community and engage in a series of exercises that encourage them to explore best practices in curating. Each student will critique two exhibitions at their case study site, propose the accessioning of an object into that site’s permanent collection, communicate intellectual content for that object to the public through a blog post or tweet, and create a concept and plan for a new exhibition that incorporates that objects for their chosen case study site.

Digital Planning for the Cultural Sector

The question is no longer whether digital technologies have a place in museums and cultural organizations, rather the question now is how to best implement them. From providing engaging learner experiences, digitizing collections, improving wayfinding for visitors, curating the visitor journey, connecting with new audiences and streamlining operations, technology has diverse and growing applications in the cultural sector.

Develop a comprehensive understanding of the opportunities for cultural organizations in a digital economy, alongside tools and strategies to successfully plan and implement digital initiatives.

Exhibit Fabrication

Topics covered will include:

• the basics of case design, layout and installation, including a summary of conservation-approved methods and materials
• basic lighting of collections
• simple mount making and support of objects on display
• how to produce affordable yet professional labels, signage and other graphic elements
• how to lay out and hang framed artwork
• ideas for special effects such as scents, sound and light effects, projections, etc.
• basic faux finishing, sculpting, and molding and casting for creating props, replicas and other creative/decorative elements

Join us to find simple and achievable solutions to your exhibition challenges.

View information on accommodations in Victoria.

Exhibition Planning and Design

Exhibitions are the public face of your museum or gallery. They should inspire powerful visitor experiences. This immersive course examines the entire exhibition development sequence. It explores the principles that lie behind creating successful exhibitions that engage visitors' minds and emotions. It will address the following topics:

• the foundation of planning
• the planning process
• storytelling and interpretive planning
• exhibition design
• design of graphics and signage
• interactive exhibit design
• fabrication and installation

Fieldwork, teamwork and presentation of an exhibition design concept provide you with opportunities to build exhibition planning and design skills. The course is designed for anyone who is, or might be, involved in planning an exhibition in a museum, gallery, science centre, and heritage site or tourist destination. 

View information on accommodations in Victoria.

Indigenous Cultural Stewardship

Develop an understanding of the historical relationship between the museum/heritage sector and Indigenous communities, and develop foundational knowledge and skills to support the preservation and stewardship of Indigenous tangible and intangible culture and heritage.

Managing Archival Collections

Many museums hold archival materials—including documents, maps, photographs and other documentary evidence—that require specialized organization, management and care.  Topics include: the value and nature of archival materials; theories, principles, and practices governing archival management; legal, administrative, and professional frameworks; appraisal, acquisition, and accessioning; arrangement and description; physical processing and storage; preventive conservation; reference services and access; and sharing archives and using them to enhance exhibits, education and outreach.

Managing Cultural Organizations

This course provides participants with an opportunity for intensive study of the application of management theory and practice in cultural organizations, with particular emphasis on: characteristics of non-profit cultural organizations; governance and leadership; establishing mission goals and objectives; roles of executive and artistic directors; policy development and implementation; personnel management and team building; financial management; strategic and operational planning; information management; public relations; marketing; volunteer development; and ethical and legal issues.

The course will explore of the role of cultural organizations in society and the complex legal, ethical, and social values that shape our organizations and the people that lead them. Various issues, including leaders and leadership, social relevance and impact, and management systems and tools will also be examined. You will be challenged to critically analyze the trends and tools at your disposal and the role of your management style and values in guiding planning, goal setting, decision-making and evaluation.

Museums as Learning Environments

Education is never neutral but rather, highly political. Museums and art galleries are first and foremost education institutions and therefore, they are not neutral sites of teaching and learning. Through this six-day intensive course we will explore together the complexity of how museums and art galleries understand, are framed, take up and/or resist acting as learning environments. The course will include academic literature, large and small group discussions, site visits, and guest speakers - both educators and curators - who will share with us how they understand and enact education and position exhibitions as sites of learning.

Through these varied means, we will discuss and debate theories of education and learning in general and as applicable to art and cultural institutions, learn about diverse nonformal education activities and philosophies and informal learning strategies, and explore the historical and contemporary pedagogical challenges these institutions face as learning environments in a troubled world. Students will have the opportunity to engage in two education activities - curatorial-pedagogical dreaming and a Museum Hack - and design their own pedagogical programme or activity (complete with education philosophy) for adults, children or an inter-generational audience. There will be an emphasis in this course on education as a means by which museums and art galleries contribute to the pressing social, gender, political and cultural issues we currently face.