Making a Survey That Doesnât Suck (and Embracing Vulnerability in the Process)
I am trying to live my values of TRANSPARENCY, VULNERABILITY, and COLLECTIVITY, and in that spirit, I sent out a survey this past summer to professional contacts, asking them how they perceive me and my work.
Reflections on Tumult & A Yearâs Worth of Weekly Affirmations
Iâm giving myself a sabbatical of sorts from a professional field that is both still dear to me and seems hopelessly mired in harmful behaviors.
Sustaining and Maintenance: Reflections on MCN2019 (aka: MCN should always be in San Diego)
The doors to the field seemed to be open in both directions this year, not just offering a one-way path out ⌠MCN2019 felt like self-care for the maintainers of cultural sector transformation.
MCN2018: In Praise of Presence
In a moment where the world feels consumed by divisive rhetoric and relentless, reactionary anger, this yearâs MCN conference took a different path.
Performing Possibility: 24 Hours with Taylor Mac
[Taylor Macâs] collective engagement transforms the experience, creating a magical place of possibility where harsh truths and awkwardness mingle with triumph.
Thereâs No Right Way to Visit a Museum: Creating a New Summer Experience at the Guggenheim
Anyone who knows me knows that Iâm always trying to offer visitors an unexpected experience during their time in the museum. I like delight and surprise (who doesnât?), and I heartily believe that an art museum is ripe to provide both of those things.
Itâs Time to Listen: This Guggenheim Project Showed the Importance of Lending an Ear
An interdepartmental team of curators and educators came together to brainstorm ideas for how to take action in response, and after some discussion, we decided to focus in on this section: âAlways be just as ready to listen as you are emboldened to speak out for or against others.â
MCN2017: Are You OK, Friend?
It was a conference where I was alternately drained by, gaining from, and giving back to a community I love. And thatâs what things we love do for us. We love them when theyâre messy and maddening, and theyâre always there when we need them.
#MCN2016: A Love Letter
The MCN community is a tribe of rabble-rousers. We rouse museum rabbles. We donât accept that because somethingâs already out there, itâs necessarily out there at its best. We question and poke and push, because we know there are better things ahead, and we want to reach them. We want to create them. We want to share them with all the people who visit museums, physically or virtually.
Museum as Platform: Authority, access, and third-parties
One of the more exciting, progressive ideas to enter the museum space in the past decade has been the idea of âmuseum as platformâ â the concept that rather than having to be the sole and final arbiter of all that goes on within its walls, museums could become platforms upon which others create their own cultural and educational experiences.