Museum Innovation

Haitham Eid is Associate Professor and Director of the Master of Arts in Museum Studies Program, Southern University at New Orleans, USA.Melissa Forstrom is an assistant professor at Purchase College, State University of New York, where she teaches museum studies, arts management and visual culture.

"One can feel the pulse of museums across the globe in this timely collection of diverse disciplinary, professional, geographical and thematic accounts of innovative museum practice. The volume does justice to the spectacular problem-solving and creative abilities of museums, actualized and sharpened in the face of global issues such as a pandemic, racial discrimination and environmental crises. The publication contributes to furthering museums' social roles and responsibilities by setting higher standards, goals and ambitions. Readers will also find much-needed inspiration and tools - such as social innovation in museums - to begin to decrypt the extraordinary transformations of our societies and, not least, to imagine and create a future in which museums will be even more prominent actors of social change. This is highly recommended reading for anyone interested in museums and the part they can play in shaping our world."~Marzia Varutti, University of Oslo, Norway"This is a timely, accessible, profound and valuable contribution to urgent conversations. It stands as a legacy of the rapid and ongoing changes in global museum studies, including regional, cultural, and community-centered assessments of the diverse roles played by contemporary museums. I will urge my students to reflect upon these voices across their study of global art histories, as well as the legacies and impact of cultural institutions."~Dr Sam Bowker, Charles Sturt University, Australia"The contemporary world, with its fast globalization processes can confront individuals with a range of global concerns. The need for trusted public institutions, which can take on vital roles in addressing issues of social inclusion and diversity, local community survival, environmental changes, and the effects of natural and human-caused disasters is obvious. The authors of the Museum Innovation volume argue that such an institution exists, the museum. Thus, the innovations which make museums increasingly more involved in dealing with global social problems are of special interest. The fundamental background of the project and the range and authority of its contributors make it possible to discuss innovations in all traditional and new kinds of museum work. Furthermore, the interdisciplinarity of the volume is organically mirrored in every chapter collected in it. Thus, the academic complexity of scholarly approach together with finest cases of up-to-date museum practices allow not only a solution for some current museum issues, but also elucidate work with social issues previously not taken into the account. Finally, taken together the Museum Innovation volume importantly maps out a strategy of developing the museum of the future, which is strikingly important in the epoch of global challenges."~Fedor Veselov, St Petersburg State University, Russia

• Introduction Haitham Eid Section 1: Innovation in Museum Collections, Narratives and Exhibitions 1. No Môr Plastic: Youth-led Museum Interventions as Platforms for Change Sarah Younan and Jade Jenkins 2. The Future of Making Museum Exhibitions Kathleen McLean 3. Institutions of Displacement: Reflections on Art Collection in the English-Speaking Caribbean Daniela Fifi and Nimah Muwakil-Zakuri 4. Rewriting History: Recommended or Reviled? Liza Rogers, Fiona Cole-Hamilton and Jody Neal 5. Innovative Interpretations: NYC Museums Respond to the Muslim Travel Ban Melissa Forstrom 6. Interpretation of Gender in Egyptian Museum Displays Monica Hanna 7. The Development of the Exhibition of African Art in American Art Museums: Strategy for Engaging the Recent Repatriation Debate of Africa’s Cultural Property Ndubuisi Ezeluomba 8. Embodiment at the Edge of the Archive: Private Audience and Public Experience Seth Ellis 9. The Role of Art in Justice J. Wren Supak Section 2: Innovation in Digital 10. Being Digitally Purposeful Ross Parry 11. Deep Dives in Shallow Times: How Museums are Using Podcasts to Help Audiences Make Sense of the World Hannah Hethmon 12. The Lubbock Lake Landmark App: A Multiprong Approach to Digital Content and Accessibility Megan Reel, Jessica Stepp and Eileen Johnson 13. Innovation, Data and Social Responsibility Oonagh Murphy and Elena Villaespesa 14. No Hard Feelings! Sentiment Analysis as a Tool for Museum Professionals? Georgios Papaioannou Section 3: Innovation in Diversity and Inclusion Practices 15. Museums and Galleries Attendance Apathy in Nigeria: Advocacy for Inclusive Public Relations Intervention Anthony Okonofua 16. Creating Space, Cultivating Community, and Iterative Processes as Best Practice: The Native American Fellowship Program at the Peabody Essex Museum Jennifer Himmelreich and Karen Kramer 17. Reflections of Diversity, Oppression and Social Functioning of Special Populations through the Lens of Social Work Practice: How do American Museums Reflect the Intersectionality of Social Justice and Art? Samuel Odom 18. Trans Identity Narratives in Mainstream Museums: Contemporary Curatorial Innovations and their Discontent Serena Iervolino 19. Essential Elements of Successful Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Inclusion Initiatives Makeba Clay and Gia Harewood 20. Performance Art in Museum Spaces: Exploring the Complexities of the Human Condition Ilyanette Bernabel Section 4: Institution-Wide Innovation 21. Museums and Indigenous Voices: A Plea for Global Mindfulness Robert R. Janes 22. How Museums Can Benefit from the Skills and Expertise of Social Workers to Improve their Communities and Bring About Social Changes Glinda Powell 23. The Ontogeny of Museums: What’s Your Institution’s Future Path? Kathryn Matthew 24. Museums as Social Innovators: Creating Measurable and Sustainable Social Value in the Community Haitham Eid