Taking It to the Streets: Engaging Our Neighborhood
enhancing and expanding these initiatives as well as including more partners. These efforts are both rewarding and challenging, especially because this work requires new approaches and models for Mia. To authentically partner and cocreate with other organizations, we must adapt our thinking and internal and external structures accordingly. An example of this institutional shift occurred early on and is illustrated by some missteps in our fundraising for a comprehensive, threeyear project with Hope Community. Although we collaborated in these efforts, Mia ended up taking the lead in writing the funding proposal and, with the best of intentions, we mistakenly framed the project in terms of a deficit-based model rather than an asset-based model. This was the way the museum had worded grant applications for many years, and we made assumptions about what kind of language the funders wanted. This approach was not well received by our partners and the miscommunication bred mistrust. Through numerous conversations, coupled with our willingness to withdraw the grant application, we reestablished trust and developed specific terms for our partnership. As partners, we are equals and should always both be at the table; neither partner should move forward with decision-making unless we have established mutual understanding and agreement. If one of our goals is for Mia to be seen as a valued, trusted community partner and resource, we must model the behavior and values that will earn us this reputation. In hindsight, our honest discussions and willingness to realize our mistake strengthened our relationship with Hope and helped Mia staff become more mindful of the new paradigm in which we are operating. Prerana Reddy, director of public events at Queens Museum, describes this type of learning process: Community change is a long-term process. It is not always linear. Sometimes there are two steps back for each step forward. If other museums want to do this intentionally,
they have to understand that it will happen outside usual programming cycles, exhibition cycles, and grant cycles. It must become part of the institutional DNA, and you need specific people with specific skills that often museums don’t have. And those people have certain language skills, cultural competencies, social networks, or experiential backgrounds that may be different than what might be expected of a traditional museum professional. . . . The decision to engage in comprehensive efforts is often tied to changes in institutional mission, which are sometimes evolutionary, not an instantaneous pivot. It inevitably requires organizational change and commitment.13 Mia is in the nascent stages of this work, and as a learning organization, we acknowledge that we will continue to learn and grow from our mistakes. There are many things we will need to change within our institution if we want to be true community partners and collaboratively initiate change in our neighborhood. 1 Claudine K. Brown, “The Museum’s Role in a Multicultural Society,” in Reinventing the Museum: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Paradigm Shift, ed. Gail Anderson (Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2004), 147–48. 2 Chris Walker, Carlos A. Manjarrez, Lesley Lundgren, and Sarah Fuller, Museums, Libraries, and Comprehensive Initiatives: A First Look at Emerging Experience (Washington, DC: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2015), 1. 3 Ibid. 4 “How Art Works: The National Endowment for the Arts’ Five-Year Research Agenda, with a System Map and Measurement Model,” Library of Congress (2012): 9. 5 Ibid. 6 K. LeRoux and A. Bernadska, Impact of the Arts on Individual Contributions to U.S. Civil Society (Chicago: University of Illinois, 2012), 13–16. 7 Walker et al., Museums, Libraries, and Comprehensive Initiatives, 2. 8 Ibid., 2–3. 9 Neighborhood profiles of Whittier and Midtown Phillips, mncompass.org, http://www.mncompass.org/profiles/neighborhoods /minneapolis/whittier; http://www.mncompass.org/profiles /neighborhoods/minneapolis/midtown-phillips. 10 History of Whittier, whittieralliance.org, http://www.whittieralliance.org/history-of-whittier.html. 11 Maura E. Greaney, The Power of the Urban Canvas: Paint, Politics, and Mural Arts Policy (Boston: John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs, University of Massachusetts Boston, 2003), 1. 12 Deidre Williams, How the Arts Measure Up: Australian Research into Social Impact (Stroud, UK: Comedia, 1997), 29–30. 13 Prerana Reddy, quoted in Walker et al., Museums, Libraries, and Comprehensive Initiatives, 57.
49
