Reading List for School-Museum Partnerships

Hi all -

To end our posts on school-museum partnerships, we wanted to leave you with a list of readings and resources to provide you with more information for future partnerships you may be a part of or even create! All listed below can be found on Amazon.com.

1. An Alliance of Spirit: Museum and School Partnerships by Kim Fortney and Beverly Sheppard

This recent publication, already a classic, “brings together the latest thinking and instructive case studies on how museums and schools can better understand each other s goals as they work together to provide school children the most inspiring educational experience possible inside the museum.” In addition, it also includes Putting It into Practice sections that provide advice for teachers and museum educators as they create these partnerships. 

2. Building Museum and School Partnerships by Beverly Sheppard

This book tells the story of museum educators and teachers who met for three workshops that focused on how to develop closer working relationships between the two. “Each partner's expectations of the other, learning theories in museums, field trips, outreach projects, community as classroom, and cultural diversity constitute the core contents of the book.” There is also an appendix of effective program materials used by museums in Pennsylvania.

3. Museums and Education: Purpose, Pedagogy, Performance (Museum Meanings) and

4. Museums and the Shaping of Knowledge by Eilean Hooper-Greenhill

As we all know, museums are currently tasked with the challenge of becoming “third spaces” and institutions for successful informal learning. The first book uses data from three national evaluation studies done between 2003 and 2006 that focused on the conceptual framework of Generic Learning Outcomes. The second provides case studies that show the various roles museums can play in the “production and shaping of knowledge.” Both seem like good sources to refer to when needing to justify the need for museum and school partnerships.

5. The Evolution of Library and Museum Partnerships: Historical Antecedents, Contemporary Manifestations, and Future Directions by Juris Dilevk

6. Museums in the Life of a City: Strategies for Community Partnerships by Portia Hamilton-Sperr and Ellen Cockran Hirzy

Although not focused on school partnerships, there is a lot we can learn by successfully partnering with other institutions, such as libraries and art centers in our communities. It is important to always promote the idea that museums are engaging and informative places of learning and can be resources for many different organizations. As we have discussed in class, the internet is drastically changing the face of museums, an issue libraries are also contending with. The Evolution of Library and Museum Partnerships  looks into the possibility of library-museum hybrids, which can use artifacts along with library collections to “create authentic, interactive experiences for community members.” Museums in the Life of a City chronicled the pilot program that sought to “enhance the appreciation of cultural diversity by building partnerships between museums and communities.”

7. Out of Our Minds by Ken Robinson

This book is the least closely related to school-museum partnerships, but we thought was worth including in our list. Sir Ken Robinson is an expert on education and creativity who is often featured in TED talks. This updated and revised version of one of his classic books poses three questions to the reader -- 1. Why is it essential to promote creativity? 2. What’s the problem? and 3. What can be done about it? He discusses how creativity is a necessity for business and careers, but few people learn about their creative abilities during the formal education years. 

Community Engagement and Home School Groups

The National Park Service published Stronger Together: A Manual on the Principles and Practices of Civic Engagement. This manual is a great resource for community engagement because it explores the topic in depth. The NPS manual lists four principles of community engagement:

1. Build genuine relationships.
2. Create effective engagement processes.
3. Deliver relevant interpretive and educational programs and materials.
4. Sustain civic engagement over time.

I thought it would be interesting to compare these principles to the principles established by Graham Black, author of Embedding Civil Engagement in Museums. The UK scholar proposes five principles of civil engagement for urban history museums:


(1) Urban history museums as memory institutions can collect, conserve, document and represent the cultures and life experiences of all those who live within their localities, helping to create an inclusive civil environment.
(2) Urban history museums as learning institutions can help to develop informed individuals and communities who can contribute positively to decision making about their future lives.
(3) Urban history museums as social institutions can reach out to welcome, support and represent the many voices within the communities they serve in partnerships of equals.
(4) Urban history museums as democratic institutions can actively promote civil dialogue and reflective participation in civil society.
(5) Urban history museums as responsive institutions can work to change their organisation and culture to meet the needs of contemporary society.

While each publication has its distinctive qualities, there are some key similarities between the two. They both believe that the voices within each community should be valued and respected. Both agree that museums are a unique space in which community engagement can function. And both hope to inspire people to invest in a common purpose.

While researching for my post, I found a particularly good example of a metro area that reached out to a specific audience--Atlanta institutions extended opportunities to home school groups. An article printed in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, New Culture of Learning; Metro Museums, Zoo Atlanta and other institutions draws droves to events tailored to home schoolers (01/31/2010), seemed to a be a case study in how to effectively engage one particular audience. As the number of students who are home schoolers rose, the area museums began to hear more voices calling for programs specific to home schoolers' needs. Lani Schoelder, a Zoo Atlanta professional, is quoted, "There were a lot of home schoolers and not a lot of programs for them, especially science-related ones." Many home school teachers/parents asked the museums in the area, "Is there anything you can do for us?" The group advocating for home school programs made their voices and needs apparent; and because of this, it seems like museums developed programs to meet those needs. This article concludes with a list of 8 institutions that now have programs specific to home-school groups. The article also discusses some of the challenges that still remain-- like how to deal with differing, personalized curricula and students' history of learning through one-on-one interaction with the instructor. Although there are still challenges, this story seems to be one of promise--a group that previously felt dismissed by cultural institutions is now seeming to be embraced by them.

To me, the Atlanta home-school story is inspiring because we can identify the application of community engagement principles; specifically, the first and third principles mentioned in the NPS manual as well as the third and fifth principles mentioned by Graham Black. In the comments section of the blog, I welcome you to discuss more examples of effective community engagement. Can you think of other museums that apply these principles successfully?

How to make the most of promoting your Senior Day

In addition to offering seniors access to collections through traveling programs and online materials, museums have made use of the “Senior Day” as a means to bring the audience of age 65 and up to the actual institution. “Senior Day” can be very effective in providing seniors with an opportunity to remain social and active while pursuing an educational experience. Museums have to market these events to the seniors to increase attendance just like any other event, and in this age of technology most websites are museums' corner stone of spreading the word on their programming. As such, a review of a sample of museums offering information for “Senior Days” online reveals what information should be provided to best meet the goal of bringing seniors to the museum.

The four museum sites this blog will examine are: The High Desert Museum in Oregon, The Morris Museum in New Jersey, The Galt Museum and Archives in Alberta, Canada, and the Rubin Museum of Art in New York. All of these museums offer “Senior Days” with the High Desert and the Rubin programs being completely free while the Galt and the Morris programs being free with admission to the museums. Here is a summary of the information provided on each museum's page:

• High Desert: A picture of two seniors studying an artifact heads the page with the logistic information of the date, time, and brief description of the event directly below it. The page also includes the sponsor for the event (Pacific Source Medicare) and a schedule of events- for example, “12:30 Cat Talk by the Lynx enclosure.”¹
• Morris: Large print text indicates that “Senior Days” occurs every third Friday of the month followed by the start time and brief description of the event. The page also provides an overview of the exhibits a particular day will focus on.²
• Galt: Text indicates that “Wednesdays at the Galt” occurs every first and third Wednesday of the month and that the program is for ages 55 and up. Below is a series of calendars with a description of what will occur on each day and/or who the guest speaker will be- for example, “Photographic Archaeology Tour Jim McMurchy will take you on a photographic tour of archaeological sites in southwestern Alberta, ranging from excavations, pictograph and petroglyphs, to medicine wheels, buffalo jumps and more.”³
• Rubin: A picture of three seniors studying an artifact is placed next to the information explains that “Senior Day” occurs every first Monday and that there will be guided tours, tickets for the museum's film that day, and a discount in the store. Below this information is a schedule of events- for example, “11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Mahasiddhas in Himalayan Art - A one-hour program, a combined theater and gallery experience, that provides visitors with an in-depth look at the lives of yogis as expressed in Himalayan art.” The page also includes information on alternative programming for seniors, namely the Lunch Matters program, and accessibility features the museum offers.⁴

All four of these museums have pages that are uncluttered and fairly easy to follow in that a senior looking for information would not have to jump from page to page to learn about each “Senior Day.” The Galt's page has a more complicated design and might be more difficult for seniors to navigate if they are not used to viewing web pages

Another feature that should be present is the schedule of events for the day. These schedules allow the seniors to get a sense of what is available to them so that they can tailor their visits to fit their needs. The Morris page only highlights the exhibitions to be discussed and does not provide any schedule or event description. Any senior who has never visited the Morris has very little information to figure out if they would find a visit worthwhile. On the other hand, the other three institutions have more information on the types of activities the event will include thus allowing the senior to see what parts of the day will spark his/her interest the most and plan accordingly.

Museums should also take note of the feature that only the Rubin includes- information on accessibility. Seniors as an audience to a museum have a high likelihood of needing some form of assistance Providing information on what types of assistance the museum can offer and telling the senior where to look for the means to acquire the assistance at the museum will enhance the senior's visit.

Overall, the keys to promoting a “Senior Day” are a clear presentation of the who/what/where/when/why of the event, a schedule describing the activities of the day, and an explanation of available accessibility. All of these features will allow the seniors to choose how they spend their day and help ensure they are comfortable at the museum.

1“Senior Day.” High Desert Museum web page- http://www.highdesertmuseum.org/Whats_Happening/Senior_Day/

2“Senior Days.” Morris Museum web page- http://morrismuseum.org/senior-days/

3“Wednesdays at the Galt.” Galt Museum and Archives web page- http://www.galtmuseum.com/programs-seniors-wedsatthegalt.htm

4“Senior Visits.” Rubin Museum of Art web page- http://www.rma2.org/pages/load/75

Art as a bridge to the world

Art as a bridge to the world

In accessibility programs for people with dementia, there is another targeted audience that we should consider. The Rubin Museum of Art in New York describes their accessibility program Mindful Connections for people with dementia and their 'caregivers'. In their registration form for the program, the museum asks not only name of person with dementia but also name of caregiver. There are some obvious reasons like people who have mental disease always need carers' help since they are hard to live by themselves. However, we could also think about caregivers' benefits from the accessibility program.

In the article new role for art galleries: Art-viewing as a community intervention for family carers of people with mental problems, the writer said there are three benefits from the art viewing for carers: Educational dimension, aesthetic dimension, and psychological dimension. By looking at the art works, they can find some beauties in art works, so they can get some aesthetic experience. As educational dimension, they were encouraged to 'seek out further learning' through viewing art works. With viewing art works, the family carers 'connect themselves to other sources of beauty' emotionally. Sometimes they connected their emotions with art works.

Even though caregivers are not main target of most accessible programs, museums could think about caregivers' benefits from the accessibility programs since it is possible that 'caregiving role could influence their own mental health'. Art could be a bridge, which connects socially isolated situation since their caregiver's role to a normal human being, for the carers. Furthermore, by sharing their opinions and thoughts, art could be another connection between people with mental health problems and their caregivers as same participant position. You can find other museums programs for people with dementia and their caregivers:

• Metropolitan Museum: http://www.metmuseum.org/events/programs/programs-for-visitors-with-disabilities/visitors-with-dementia-and-their-care-partners
• National Center for Creative Aging: http://www.creativeaging.org/creative-aging-program/7578
• The American Folk Art Museum: http://www.folkartmuseum.org/disabilities
•  Brooklyn Museum: http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/calendar/event/5815

1) Rubin museum dementia program "Mindful connection"

2) New York time article: http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/reconnecting-through-art/#more-11843

3) Article: Samantha Roberts, Paul M. Camic & Neil Springham (2011): New roles for art galleries: Art-viewing as a community intervention for family carers of people with mental health problems, Arts & Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice, 3:2, 146-159

Making the Most of Museum Field Trips

Every teacher sees a field trip in a different way. Some see it as a stressful day of coordinating busses and monitoring student behavior and chaperones. Others see a field trip as time to relax and take a break from lesson plans for the day. Still others view the day as they should, as a learning opportunity that gets students out of the classroom and face to face with the content they are learning.

Planning a field trip is a tall order, especially in a time when content standards and high stakes testing dictate almost every word of a teacher’s lesson plans. Many teachers feel the pressure to keep their students in the classroom, rather than “missing” a day of teaching by taking students to the museum. However, by following a few simple guidelines for a successful trip, teachers can rest assured that their students are adding to the vast body of knowledge and skills they are expected to gain each year.

As a former teacher turned museum educator, I have been on both sides of the fence, but in both roles I can say with 100% certainty that the most integral part of a successful museum trip is the implementation of pre and post lessons which prepare students for and allow students to reflect on their experience outside of school. The Australian Museum in Sydney, Australia encourages teachers to fully prepare their students for the museum experience. Below is a list of their guidelines for a good trip with commentary by someone who has been in both sets of shoes. At the bottom of the post, you will find five examples of museums across the country with exceptional pre and post visit lessons and resources for teachers.

   1. Establish baseline knowledge

·         Though this seems like common sense, many teachers do absolutely nothing to prepare their students for the content of the museum. Whether your class is participating in a facilitated experience or a more self-guided tour, students need to have a basic understanding of what they are going to see. Many museums offer ready-made pre-lessons that directly connect to the content of their programs and exhibitions. Even museums that don’t have lesson plans offer a host of resources and information on the web and on site.

         2. Create and discuss objectives for the trip

·         This is a great opportunity to work collaboratively with students and prepare for the experience. Once the baseline knowledge has been attained, students have an idea of the things they will experience in the museum. Teacher goals are great, but students will also have opinions about the things that they want to see and do. Ask them what they are interested in and balance that with goals and objectives that school and state standards dictate. 

          3. Organize yourselves

·         All the knowledge and objectives in the world will not help a class who has no plan. Organization goes far beyond assigning chaperones and packing bag lunches (though any teacher who has ever been on a trip knows the first thing on everyone’s mind is LUNCH). First, familiarize yourself with the museum. Ideally, do a visit alone or with family and friends. Grab a map, take a tour and see what the museum has to offer. Prepare your class in any way you can. Small children may need a discussion of museum rules and behaviors while older students would benefit from advanced copies of the map and exhibition information. Teacher Tip: The best way to keep students focused is to allow some “free time” in the museum before you have a facilitated experience. Letting them see what they want to see, explore, find the bathrooms and take a look around before jumping in cuts down on distractions.

         4.  ENJOY YOURSELF

·         Stop counting heads every five minutes and worrying that Johnny is picking his nose or texting instead of listening to every word you or the museum educator says. Most of your students will have a great experience and learn and grow by leaps and bounds. Take the time to watch them and see what excites them.

          5. Compare new and old knowledge

·         The trip doesn’t end when the bus pulls back into school. Connecting the pre visit, museum trip and beyond gives the trip meaning instead of becoming a day free of planning or a “fun day” for the students. Like pre-visit materials, many museums offer lessons and resources to extend their content into your classroom after the trip.

           6. Reflect on and use the new knowledge

·         Realize what worked and what didn’t. From the logistics of the trip to the concepts learned, take time as a teacher to reflect alone, with colleagues and with your class. Apply the knowledge you learned on the visit to the themes you are teaching in your classroom. Link the visit with other experiences and content areas to make the most of your trip.

Most museums try their hardest to tailor their programs and resources to you and your class, but just because it isn’t listed on their site doesn’t mean they can’t work with you to meet the needs of your class. Standards alignment is one of the first thing teachers ask for in museum programs, but there are a host of other things that teachers need to make the most of a trip. Don’t be afraid to ask!

Museums with a Host of Teacher Resources

·         The National Building Museum, Washington, DC: NBM’s in house programming for school groups is stellar on its own, but the resources and activities that it provides to teachers makes it one of the best for pre and post visit lessons. Their incredibly accessible site, linked below, allows teachers to download entire lesson packets or individual activities that can be used for weeks before and after the trip.

·         The National World War II Museum, New Orleans, LA: Not only does the museum provide lesson materials, but it also goes a step further in helping teachers prepare for the experience. Their materials packet includes a list of museum rules and reminders about the sometimes overwhelming experiences that naturally accompany the content of the museum.

·         Rockwell Museum of Western Art, Corning, NY: Like the National Building Museum, the Rockwell provides a host of lessons and activities that are tied closely to both state and national content standards. Their materials are listed by grade level and subject to allow for easy access by educators.

·         Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland, OH: In addition to some of the best lessons and experiences I have personally ever seen students experience, the Rock Hall expands their relationship with teachers by allowing them to review and give feedback on their experience via their website. They are constantly reflecting on and making small changes to their lessons based on the information that they receive from teachers.

·         Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles, CA: Another museum with moving and sometimes emotional content, the Museum of Tolerance works to inform teachers as best they can of all of the things that students will experience on their visit. An entire book of resources and lessons is available for download from their website and can be accessed by anyone.

The Australian Museum’s Tips for a Great Excursion

The National Building Museum Resources

The National World War II Museum Resources

The Rockwell Museum of Western Art Resources

The Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Resources

The Museum of Tolerance Resources

Teacher Workshops

            The primary focus of this blog has been on partnerships between museums and schools and meeting the wants and needs of school age children. In that vein, we have decided the best course of action would be to offer an article on how museums support teachers in their roles as educators.

            One of the most universal and successful ways museums support teachers is by offering teacher workshops. These workshops can fit seamlessly into teachers’ schedules by utilizing the break automatically built into the school year. Many museums offer weeklong workshops in the summer and some, like the Philadelphia Museum of Art, have shorter workshops available during shorter recesses like the winter break school schedule. Many workshops are held over the weekend and rang anywhere from half-day to two day workshops. The National Gallery of Art has a program called “After-School Weekday Sessions,” which works within the teachers’ work-week schedule.

Beyond workshops, some museums offer in-service days during which the museum staff travels to schools to provide costume workshops. Often, these in-service sessions are only offered to schools located within a specific distance from the museum. This means that in-service sessions are not available to all schools and teachers; in fact, the services are actually quite limited. This is unfortunate because the in-service sessions are often the most customizable and, for that reason, may prove to be the most useful to teachers. Logistically it makes sense, but museum staff should strive to reach the teachers beyond the limit of the in-service sessions in unique ways in order to overcome this obstacle.

Other ways that museums try to reach out to teachers is by offering professional and/or graduate school credit for attending their workshops. To offer credit, the museums most be approved as credit providers by the state. For museums in areas that are easily accessible to people from multiple states, it is beneficial to be approved as a credit provider in multiple states. For example, the Philadelphia Museum of Art provides professional credit in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  It is also important to note that the number of credits provided per workshop is easily located on the museum’s website and on the handouts related to the teacher workshops.

Museums appeal to teachers by highlighting what makes the individual museum unique and by offering ways to harness this uniqueness in the classroom. Many museums offer workshops on a wide variety of topics and disciplines.  The Philadelphia Museum of Art offers workshops beyond those structured for art teachers. For example, they have workshops on “Art and Autism: Social Stories,” “Looking to Write: Narrative Writing” and “The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglas,” a workshop that is meant to assist teachers who celebrate Black History Month.  In addition, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame conducted a workshop on using popular music in special education classes and workshops on using the spoken word and slam poetry in the classroom.

Marketing the workshops to teachers is an important step in making the workshops successful. Museums have the privilege of providing workshops on a wide variety of interesting topics that are meant to appeal to the classroom teachers. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum offers the following workshops: “Political Cartoons in the Classroom” and “This Damned Old House: Abraham Lincoln and the White House.” The National Gallery of Art has a workshop called, “Can We Talk?! – Facilitating Conservations with Works of Art.” Each of these workshops is easily marketable and is meant to spark the interest of educators.

Aligning the needs of classroom teachers with the offerings of the museums is the most critical step of making a successful workshop. Luckily, there are a vast number of museums who offer highly unique workshops to teachers.  Teachers have many opportunities to find something that might work in their classroom. Museums have mastered the teacher workshop; they offer workshops that work with teacher’s schedules, provide professional credit, highlight the uniqueness of the museum and are appealing and interesting to the teacher.

But they also offer an example that goes beyond the workshop, a model in which the museum educators are the experts. This might be a way to better welcome the classroom teachers in museums. The future goals of museums should be to make a true partnership between the classroom teacher and the museum educator. Hopefully, this relationship can be extended into both the museum and the classroom. I found two examples of museums striving to breakout of the teacher workshop model by offering “Research Colloquiums” and “Roundtables.”

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museums has a workshop titled “Research Colloquiums” that consist of teachers working with the museum education department to learn how best to use primary sources and object-based teaching in the classroom. The museum educators show the teachers the tools used in the museum field, such as how to navigate the digital collections and the Presidential Library. The teachers get to experience first hand what it is like to work in a museum and the resources that are available. On the second day of the session, the teachers and the museums educator work to make a personalized lesson plan for the teacher.  By the end of the session the teachers have a fully workable lesson plan that they made using the resources of the museum.

The regular and award-winning “Education & the Arts Roundtables” offer a truly unique spin on teacher workshops. These roundtables allow for a partnership between several museums, such as the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits, and the William S. Hart Park and Museum, as well as selected schools in Los Angeles County, art organizations and artists. The “Education & the Arts Roundtables” strive to “foster deep, interdisciplinary classroom learning, and give artists and educators joint responsibility and authority over their Museum interactions.” The mission of the “Education & the Arts Roundtables” is one that all museums should strive towards when forming museum and school partnerships. It is truly a partnership between museums, teachers, students, and the community where no single member is the expert.

Links:

Education & the Arts Roundtables

http://www.nhm.org/site/for-teachers/teacher-resources/education-arts-roundtable

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museums

http://www.alplm.org/education/teacher_workshops.html

National Gallery of Art

            http://www.nga.gov/education/teacher.shtm

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

            http://rockhall.com/education/inside-the-classroom/teachers-rock/

The Philadelphia Museum of Art

            http://www.philamuseum.org/education/teacher_workshops.html

The Benefits of Intergenerational Programming (They're Not Just for Seniors!)

According to Erik Erikson, the primary developmental/psychological event for adults in their senior years is a reflection upon their lives and the imprint that their life has made upon the world. If they look back upon their life and accomplishments as feel a sense of productivity and fulfillment, they will achieve “ego integrity” and attain a sense of wisdom. If they look back upon their life and do not find that sense of fulfillment or purpose, they may fall into despair and be plagued by feelings of regret, sadness, or fear of death.[1]

Intergenerational programs that encourage an interaction between senior adults and schoolchildren can help to foster an increased sense of ego integrity for the senior participants, as sharing their experiences and abilities with the younger generation can reinforce their feelings of accomplishment in their lives. Having these conversations and building these relationships can increase the seniors’ perception of self-worth and can provide a constructive, novel outlet for them.  It can help them challenge and redefine their pre-conceptions about the younger generation and their relationship to them. But perhaps most interesting, it can help them create new relationships that provide a real sense of value and purpose in their later years.[2]

An older woman participating in New York’s Community Agency for Senior Citizens (CASC) Senior Pen Pal program received a letter from a little girl who expressed sadness about her recently separated parents and having to alternate between them each weekend. The woman felt a special connection to this girl and felt that she could be a unique support to her, as her own granddaughter did not have a relationship with her father after her parents’ divorce. The woman used her letters to the little girl to build up the girl’s feelings of self-worth by writing “you are very lucky that your father and mother both want to be with you.”[3] Programs such as this one that encourage intergenerational conversations and relationships offer strong outlets for ego integrity development, as the seniors are creating new relationships that have impacts on both themselves and their partners. The CASC Senior Pen Pal program is now operated by the New York Department for the Aging as Platinum Pen Pals, a partnership between high school students and seniors.

What might not be as immediately apparent is that the benefits for the younger participants are just as far-reaching as those for the elder participants. As modern lifestyles and families change, family members are more likely to live at long distances from each other and children are less likely to be regularly exposed to the older generations of their families or other seniors. When children participate in intergenerational programming that encourages conversations and partnerships with senior citizens, the children create relationships that, at minimum, help them break down stereotypes they may have about elderly people, and at best, provide them with unique, role models that have rich life experience different from their own.[4]

Since 1997, the NewCourtland Elder Services network in Philadelphia has been taking intergenerational programming a step further with “Comfort and Joy: Celebrating Intergenerational Artistic Achievement.” This multi-generational program pairs senior citizens from six area nursing homes, school children, and professional artists to explore and create a variety of different art forms. In 2004, the products of this program, which included handmade dolls, mosaic murals, quilts, documentary films, and even a small scale village that captured the seniors memories of the past.[5] 

To facilitate a positive experience and enhance the opportunities for relationship building, all participants (Seniors, children, and artists alike) attend sensitivity training before beginning the program. These training sessions are designed to help the participants learn positive ways to engage with others and learn from their perspectives and experiences. And indeed, the relationships that result have been strong and have provided great benefit to all participants. According to Pam Mammarella, creator of the Comfort and Joy program at New Courtland, “[b]lending elders with students gives both groups unprecedented opportunities to learn, teach, interact, and react not only to each other, but also with the professionals guiding the various projects.”[6]

The various projects are designed to promote this cross-generational learning, but using students as interviewers who tap into the seniors’ memories and experiences, which are then used to develop the art. In this sense, the students gain unique insight into not only the histories of the seniors, but their personal perspectives as productive, insightful individuals. At the same time, the seniors are learning new artistic and narrative talents through the program. “For many, their lives are now richer and more diverse,” says Mammarella.[7]

Locally, the Kreeger Museum hosts a monthly intergenerational version of its Conversations program for seniors with dementia and their caretakers.   Modeled on the successful “Meet Me at the MoMA” program, Conversations pairs observation and discussion of the museums’ art with poetry and music. The Kreeger hosts four Conversations sessions per month, one of which is an intergenerational collaboration with Sweet Readers, a New York based non-profit that pairs middle school student readers with seniors with dementia. Sweet Readers provides the training for the student facilitators in how to speak about the pieces and relate to the senior audience.[8]

During the 90-minute program itself, each student is paired with a senior couple and the students take an active role in engaging their partners in the discussion. During the session I attended, the senior participants were split into three different rooms, according to their artist preference (Monet, Pissaro, Sisley). Each room was assigned a pair of students. During the program, I observed one pair of students actually leading their groups’ observation and discussion of the paintings, and two other pairs facilitating the seniors’ participation by asking leading questions and providing their own answers to help spark connections for the seniors. 

Derya Samadi, the director of Conversations, encourages the students to take an active role, for example, asking the intergenerational groups to compose a poem collaboratively. During the session I observed, one group composed a haiku in response to depictions of trees in their painting. The students then read the haiku to the full group when they all gathered back together at the end of the program to discuss their observations. Samadi suggests that the Sweet Readers’ 6^th-8^th grade age bracket makes them particularly effective facilitators for the seniors, as they have an appropriate level of maturity and empathy, but are not yet distracted by the concerns that come with high school.[9]

Currently, the intergenerational component of the Conversations program is limited to seniors with early stage dementia, though Samadi notes that she is eager to extend the intergenerational participation to the versions of the program for seniors with late stage dementia as well. The intergenerational version of Conversations has been extremely successful thus far, as can be seen by the high proportion of senior “regulars,” and the low proportion of student regulars. The program is such a popular volunteer option at local schools Holton Arms and Langdon that there is a line to participate all year long.[10]

The Conversations program is held at the Kreeger Museum on the 2^nd and 3^rd Mondays of each month (except for August) at 10:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.  The program is free, but reservations are required. Call 202-337-3050, ext. 10. For more information on the Conversations program, click here.

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[1] Erikson, Erik. (1963). Childhood and Society, 2^nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 247-274.

[2] Hopkins, George. “How Important are Intergenerational Programs in Today’s Schools?” Phi Delta Kappan 82. 4 (Dec. 2000): 317-319.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Hoban, Sandra. “An Intergenerational Debut at the Art Gallery.” Nursing Homes. 53, 12. (Dec 2004): 34-36.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Samadi, D. (Nov. 5 2012). Personal interview.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.