Janes: Museums and Social Responsibility

(Couldn’t make it to the field trip, so here’s my blog post instead!)

In Robert Janes’ piece, “Museums, Social Responsibility, and the Future We Desire”, he discusses his belief about the function of museums to “go beyond education and entertainment”, but also have a role in promoting social responsibility.  He argues that museums are valuable, irreplaceable social institutions that have the potential to shape one’s perception of life”.  This power and influence to affect how people view the world should be used to educate, but also to enact change for a better community.  He states that “socially responsible work is an unprecedented opportunity for museums to renew themselves, and define a more sustainable role in their communities”. Artifacts, fossils, paintings, etc are all parts of the past that we learn from, and Janes wants museums and people to take what they learn and experience, and turn it into action, into something they can contribute to.  To Janes, this idea of social responsibility is a choice for museums, and many are embracing it already.  Museums have the “choice of what, and how, to add value to a community … and this inquiry can begin by simply asking if there are any deficiencies in the community that the museum could help to address”, so that the “intention is just as much about learning as it is about achieving”.
I agree with Jane’s argument. Although I understand that some might want to keep museums as educational institutions, separated from political or social agendas, I think museums have a unique intellectual character that gives them a particular influence, and I would love to see that influence used for positive change.  A museum being socially responsible takes it from a place of passive learning and entertainment, to one of active change, community, and action.  They can use the learning and experiences viewers receive, and turn that into doing something to make their voices heard, to make change if they are unhappy with the current state. I would love to see art museums have workshops where members of the community could come to create, and use art to tell their own stories, and then share it with others.  Or to see science museums hold events to volunteer to do beach cleanups, or e-waste collection, or a hands-on recycling workshop of sorts (potentially doing a workshop like this to combine education, creative art, and action…. https://www.facebook.com/minuteinnovation/videos/vb.243148072774471/258286441260634/?type=2&theater)  If museums could create space for people to learn, and then apply their knowledge, and take action in their everyday lives, that would be a very cool social function in our current moment.

https://www.facebook.com/minuteinnovation/videos/vb.243148072774471/258286441260634/?type=2&theater