The participatory museum
Commitment to Co-Creative Exhibition Development
The Wing Luke Asian Museum in Seattle, WA has a longstanding commitment to co-creative exhibition development, where community members are engaged in every step of the process. This approach is rooted in the museum's belief that the stories and experiences of the local Asian Pacific American community are more important than the objects on display.
Unique Exhibition Model and Community Engagement
Under the leadership of former Director Ron Chew, the museum adopted a unique exhibition model that focuses on oral history and local issues rather than curatorial or authoritative content. Chew saw the museum as a "portal for reflection" and "a place of dialogue" rather than a "fortress of knowledge." This has made the Wing Luke a true "people's museum" where the community feels a strong sense of ownership and pride.
The co-creative process at the Wing Luke begins with an open exhibition proposal model - anyone can pitch an idea, which is then reviewed and selected by staff and community advisors. The selected projects then go through a 2-3 year development process involving three key groups:
1. A Core Advisory Committee (CAC) of 12-15 community members with direct connections to the topic. The CAC leads the project development and serves as the primary decision-making body.
2. Museum staff, who facilitate the process as administrators, technical advisors, and community managers.
3. Broader community members who participate as contributors and collaborators.
The CAC-led process is highly flexible and responsive to the needs and dynamics of the particular community involved. The content, timeline, and decision-making are all steered by the CAC, not predetermined by the museum. Once the concept is defined, the CAC recruits additional community members to contribute artifacts, stories, research, and outreach programming.
Staff Facilitation and Flexibility
Meanwhile, the museum staff handle the more technical aspects like exhibition design, fabrication, and program logistics. But the staff see their role as facilitators, not directors. As the museum's handbook states, "the work requires flexibility" and "we willingly relinquish control."
This co-creative approach has led to powerful and impactful exhibitions that deeply resonate with the local Asian Pacific American community. For example, the 2002 exhibition "If Tired Hands Could Talk: Stories of Asian Pacific American Garment Workers" featured first-person narratives collected and designed by a team of 15 garment workers. It was named the best exhibition of the year by the Western Museums Association.
Community Pride and Ownership
Community members like State Representative Velma Veloria have expressed immense pride and ownership in the museum, feeling that it has elevated the history and contributions of their people in meaningful ways. The Wing Luke is seen as an essential community institution, not just a place that the community visits.
The co-creative model at the Wing Luke is not without its challenges. The process is highly labor-intensive and requires constant flexibility and willingness to relinquish control from the staff. The diverse perspectives of the CAC can also lead to contentious deliberation as they work to translate community stories into visitor experiences.
The Wing Luke Museum as a Co-Creative Model
However, the Wing Luke's unwavering commitment to this approach has made it a model for how cultural institutions can authentically partner with local communities. By centering community needs, stories, and decision-making, the museum has become a true "people's museum" - a place of reflection, dialogue, and shared ownership rather than a top-down purveyor of knowledge. This serves as an inspiring example of what co-creation can achieve when an institution is willing to put community at the heart of its work.
Engaging with Community Members and Visitors
Here is a 1000 word summary of the key points about how museums and cultural organizations can engage with community members and visitors to become more dynamic and relevant:
Integrating Co-Creative Approach
Museums and cultural organizations can engage visitors and community members in a variety of ways to become more dynamic and relevant. One approach is through co-creative processes, where the institution partners closely with community members throughout the exhibition development process. At the Wing Luke Asian Museum, the co-creative model is deeply integrated into the museum's overall mission and strategy. Community Advisory Council (CAC) members are involved from the start, providing input on exhibition goals, artifacts, stories, and design. CAC members also participate in installation and evaluation, and they often lead educational programs alongside staff.
Measuring Success of Co-Creative Projects
This co-creative approach ensures that the exhibitions remain meaningful and relevant to diverse communities. The museum measures success through metrics like community participation, repeat visitation, learning and emotional impact, and the degree to which people see themselves represented. The museum also reflects this participatory ethos in its internal hiring and training practices, prioritizing staff with strong relationship-building skills.
Challenges and Success Factors of Co-Creation
Co-creative projects can be challenging, as institutions and participants may have differing goals. Successful co-creation requires that staff and participants respect each other's interests and be willing to let the project evolve based on participant needs. Projects that scaffold participation, providing participants with skills and tools to accomplish shared goals, tend to be most effective.
Museums and Hosting Models
In addition to co-creation, museums can also employ hosting models, where they provide physical or digital spaces for community groups to share their own content and experiences. Hosting can be a strategic way to demonstrate an institution's commitment to particular topics or audiences. For example, the Museu Picasso in Barcelona hosted an exhibition where illustration students observed and reflected on the inner workings of the museum itself.
Hosting models require institutions to be clear about their goals, as hosting can introduce creative activities that may conflict with traditional visitor expectations. Institutions must balance empowering visitor creativity with maintaining a coherent visitor experience. Careful curation and scaffolding of hosted experiences can help mitigate these challenges.
Resource Shifting for Participatory Models
Regardless of the participatory model used, institutions must be prepared to manage these ongoing, evolving projects. This requires shifting resources towards facilitation, maintenance, and responsiveness, rather than traditional up-front capital investment. Institutions may also need to develop new staff roles, like community managers, to coordinate participatory efforts across the organization.
Ultimately, sustaining participation requires buy-in and support from staff at all levels. Institutions can start by having front-line staff spend time engaging directly with visitors, to build empathy and understanding. Managers can also take strategic approaches to gradually integrate participatory practices, beginning with low-risk experiments and then scaling up as staff gain comfort and confidence.
Oakland Museum of California Case Study
The Oakland Museum of California provides a case study of how participatory practices can drive broader institutional transformation. The museum's long-running Days of the Dead exhibition embodies many of the goals the museum has for community engagement. Informed by this success, the museum is now integrating more participatory, dialogic, and collaborative elements across its other galleries and programs.
In conclusion, museums and cultural organizations can engage visitors and community members in ways that make them more dynamic, relevant, and responsive to local needs and interests. By employing co-creative, hosting, and other participatory models, institutions can build deeper relationships, better represent diverse perspectives, and evolve to meet the changing needs of their communities.
