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Featuring deep conversations with thought leaders, innovators, rule-breakers, and the causal geniuses we discover inside Swell.

@DBPardes
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 3:11

Museums as Agents of CHANGE : in Conversation with activist/educator/author MIKE MURAWSKI

article image placeholderMike Murawski
I want to start with a conversation with Mike that really kind of goes into when this became an issue at a societal level, because I never really understood before. I never thought about it as much as I'm doing now, based on looking at his website, that museums can be agents of change. They can affect our social structure, but we have to make that happen. We have to institutionalize the sense of equity in these institutions so that people can know, hey, that's for me

Let’s talk about access / #equity / art / and our love of trees🌱❤️🙏. https://mikemurawski.org/ #swellinterview #activism #unsungheros

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@murawski27
Mike Murawski
@murawski27 · 3:59

Making change happen in museums

So we can really make sure museums are relevant as we go forward and that they are the institutions that we're really want them to be in our communities. So I really look forward to continuing this conversation, bringing more voices and more questions and responses, and look forward to some of your thoughts, too. Thank you so much. You're
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@DBPardes
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 0:41

Barriers to entry ?

And by the way, I would love for you to read some passages from your book here on Swell. So that would be one. I so first that question, please. And then we'll hear Taylor's answer, and then some reading will be awesome. So welcome to Swell. Look forward to hearing more from you
@Swell
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15

Welcome to Swell!

@murawski27
Mike Murawski
@murawski27 · 3:39

be more of & by our communities

And I find that there are museums out there that are doing such great work where they're really letting community in, letting local organizations, nonprofits, community groups, neighborhoods Residents really inform and change what's happening within the institution and the types of programming, exhibitions and things that the Museum is investing in and sort of getting out there and what stories are they telling? And some really powerful, powerful things can happen when you start to shift that
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@DBPardes
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 2:06

Process / protocol 🌱 @murawski27

And also what's inside. I remember going with my mother and a bunch of actually elderly people and absolutely noticing the monochromatic group of people inside in terms of not representing people of color. When someone notices this and let's say they want to get in touch with museums that aren't neutral. And we want to get in touch with you as an activist organizer, what are the steps you would take to diplomatically and effectively begin a process of sort of auditing a Museum like Baltimore Museum of Art
@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 2:03

Question from a former middle school teacher!

So with that in mind, I do have a question for you, Mike, seeing as though you're incredibly connected with the Museum circuit here in the United States as an educator, there were a couple of things that I always found that I was sort of fighting back against when it came to field trips to museums
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@murawski27
Mike Murawski
@murawski27 · 4:37

small steps to hold museums accountable

And I think it's good to be a critical Museum visitor. It doesn't mean we're necessarily being negative as we visit museums, but it's good to really pay attention and have a much more increased awareness for sort of how these institutions operate and the types of decisions that inform what we see and experience when we visit museums. So just a few things that I think people can do. Mike, right away
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@murawski27
Mike Murawski
@murawski27 · 4:51

"Why Museums Suck" & empowering students to question everything

Hey, Taylor, I'm so glad you joined this conversation. Thank you so much for sharing some of your experiences in museums and asking such great questions about how we can get at students. And we're teaching middle school, how we can get students that are at the middle school, high school age to really engage more with their visits to museums
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@DBPardes
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 3:07

Innovation / technology in museums— dark side? @murawski27

One, I think having conversations about museums are not neutral is critical, and I'd like to have more of them on Swell, and I want to talk with you about how to bring in some more voices, not necessarily in this interview, but perhaps on your swellcast channel. So I'm just putting out there publicly
@murawski27
Mike Murawski
@murawski27 · 3:33

Technology for the sake of technology, or used in a meaningful way

We brought all these people in who had never really been in museums very much. But we're really into the technology, and it was an amazing experience and really was that connection point that a lot of people needed to sort of have that fun, have that engaging experience within a Museum. So I'm always willing to hear about the amazing technology projects that are really thoughtful that are well planned out
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