Photo Credit: lemurattackforce.co.nz

This week, we wish to share with you one of two ideas that has been bubbling in our heads for a while. Next week, we’ll delve into the second idea.

Amplification of community-based organizations’ voices

From the beginning, we always hoped the Incluseum would not only act as a resource and site of exchange for museums/cultural institutions, but would also be relevant to community based services and organizations.

We realize that most of our posts to date come from the perspective of museum professionals writing about their socially inclusive aspirations and/or concrete projects. Most of our guest bloggers have spoken of building relationships and partnerships with community-based organizations as key to social inclusion in their institutions. While we wish to continue hosting museum professional’s perspectives on our blog (of course!), we are equally interested in hearing from those that make up the other side of these relationships/partnerships, i.e. the community-based organizations. Our desire is for advocacy organizations, grassroots community organizations, social services, government agencies, and individuals working on social change in their communities to consider the Incluseum as their space as well.

We are incredibly interested in the perspectives and voice of everyone doing this work and feel that an ongoing dialogue with organizations (maybe you!) about community needs and aspirations, along with the opportunities for museums to support these needs and aspirations will be helpful for museums in their inclusive efforts.

Please email us (incluseum@gmail.com) or leave comments below if you are in the aforementioned categories of readers. What can social inclusion in museums do to advance your own social inclusion/justice goals? How could museums be of service to you? How would you want to be involved with museums? How can the Incluseum help?

Use #MuseumInclusion and share your ideas with us and the twitterverse. We will retweet you and try to get some museum feedback and conversation going about your ideas.

Stay tunned for idea #2 next week!