Community Collaborations: The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History Programming Department’s Use of Collaborations to Meet the Institutional Mission and the Needs of the Communities
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Date
2013-06
Authors
Maruska, Brittney Z.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Museums
have
been
called
on
to
evolve
and
adapt
to
represent
the
communities
they
serve
and
to
be
a
place
for
community
stakeholders.
There
is
a
need
for
museums
to
be
more
aware
and
more
responsive
to
their
communities.
This
research
project
investigates
the
process
of
using
community
collaborators
in
one
department,
the
programming
department,
at
one
institution,
the
Santa
Cruz
Museum
of
Art
and
History
(MAH).
While
other
museums
vary
in
missions
and
the
communities
they
serve
the
MAH’s
successful
use
of
community
collaborations
as
displayed
in
this
project,
may
act
as
a
model.
This
project
was
conducted
with
the
following
main
research
question:
How
do
community
collaborations
allow
the
programming
department
at
the
MAH
to
meet
their
institutional
mission
and
the
identified
needs
of
their
communities?
The
following
sub
questions
were
also
used
in
this
research:
How
are
community
needs
identified?
What
types
of
collaborations
are
facilitated?
How
does
the
department
evaluate
their
programming
and
what
information
does
this
provide?
The
research
project
was
contextualized
in
a
literature
review
that
had
the
following
four
sections:
the
Transitioning
Museum,
Museums
and
Community,
Museums
Meeting
Community
Needs
and
Museum’s
Programming
Collaboration.
Then
data
was
collected
at
and
from
the
MAH
through
participant
observation
during
the
summer
of
2012
as
the
researcher
was
an
intern
in
the
programming
department,
through
document
analysis
of
public
and
non
public
documents
provided
by
the
MAH’s
programming
department,
and
three
interviews
with
museum
staff
that
facilitates
programming.
Data
was
then
organized
in
the
following
categories:
The
MAH,
the
Santa
Cruz
Community
and
the
museum’s
Creative
Community
Committee
(C3),
the
Programming
Department,
and
the
Programming
Departments
evaluations.
The
MAH
is
a
program
driven
institution
and
the
Programming
Department
has
five
overreaching
goals
their
programming
must
meet,
they
are:
Meet
Community
Needs,
Invite
Active
Participation,
Build
Social
Capital,
Connect
People
to
Art
and
Connect
People
to
History.
The
programming
department
also
only
creates
programs
that
are
co-‐created;
all
of
their
events
are
done
with
community
collaborators.
The
research
found
that
the
mission
is
met
through
the
structure
the
MAH
has
created;
the
mission
of
the
MAH
is
supported
by
the
programming
goals
and
therefore
programming
that
meets
the
aforementioned
goals
therefore
meets
the
mission.
The
research
also
found
that
the
museum
identifies
community
needs
through
the
use
of
their
community
board,
C3,
experimentation
and
participation,
outreach
and
programming
evaluation.
Evaluation
plays
a
key
role
in
defining
additional
community
needs,
making
sure
programs
meet
the
programming
goals
and
ensuring
successful
collaborations.
Description
108 p. Examining committee chair:Dr. Ann Galligan
Keywords
Community, Programming, Community Collaborations