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Hello,
I'm looking for some help and opinions on the topic of Living History, or first
person interpretations. Here's some background....
Several years ago, we received a sizeable donation to create a Living History
program for our museum. The main push of this Living History program was the
idea that kids learn better through first person interpretations and/or are more
engaged with dramatizations. We have found that this is successful--in part.
One of the results was that a performance piece was created about the
Underground Railroad. Actors go out to schools and perform a play about the
UGRR and then take questions from the audience. This piece was most
successful the first few years of the project. But here we are, several years
later, and not as many schools are interested. It is a bit pricey ($600) but not
if you consider that 300 kids can see it at once, assembly style. We don't
think that it is a grade overlap problem (for example, this year's fifth graders
saw the play as third graders).
Several of our regular classes that we offer at the museum, including one on
the birth of the auto industry in Michigan and one on WWII in Michigan, had
been utilizing Living History actors to portray real people to children.
Essentially, their field trip would involve "meeting" a person from the past,
hearing about their life, and participating in a hands-on activity. So we have
used Living History both in the museum, and as an outreach tool.
And here are the problems..... Living History is expensive. We have established
the habit of paying our performers a sizable fee per event, making it all but
impossible for us the clear any profit on the activities (yes we are nonprofit,
but as you know, we still have to bring in the money). It is also a matter of
staffing. Our education team is not comfortable in first person, but happy in
third (and teachers don't seem to mind). Scheduling is difficult when our
acting pool is small, and often jumps at any chance to make more money,
sometimes leaving us in the lurch.
So this is what I'm asking (in a very round about way, my apologies). Does
your institution utilize Living History, or first person interpretations? How
successful, or unsuccessful, are your programs? What works best? What are
the challenges that you run into? Why, or why not, do you use Living History?
Again, apologies that this is such a long request... please help!
Thanks,
Heidi Wing
Assistant Curator of Programs
Sloan Museum and Longway Planetarium
Flint, MI
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