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Subject:
From:
ELAINE HEUMANN GURIAN <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 2 Jan 1996 18:33:56 -0800
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Here is something I am thinking and writing about and wonder what
people's reaction to this is and if anyone knows of programs that
foster this kind of behavior in museums intentionally.

-- If we believe that congruent behvior is part of human need, then one
of the things that all museum locations offer is an opportunity for
people to be with and see other people.  Why not make that a virtue?
Why not introduce program that capitalizes on human interaction?

-- There seems to be a growing if intuitive feeling that in order for
civility to predominate, we, as citizens, must blance individualism
with group adherence and independence with compliance.  We must
celebrate diligence and discipline as we celebrate spontaneity and
individual creativity.  We must not allow repression but neither can we
condone chaos.

-- Museum will have to change a great deal if they are to be truly
welcoming to all.  Yet museums have a core purpose inherently important
to our joint survival.  It is not (as you might automatically think)
that museums have collections, but rather that museums are one of our
acknowledged "institutions of memory" and we all need to be rooted in
our collective past as well as willing to face our collection future.

-- Museums can capitalize on their place in the community.  They can,
if they wish, enhance, foster and celebrate the congregant behavior
that happens within its walls.  Museum in making a safe space for all
will then be adding to the safety of the whole community.

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