Chapter Two- “Social Work Perspectives”

If you are not reading The Social Work of Museums here is some of what you missed:

In chapter two Silverman speaks more about the relationships that museums must build in order to pursue social work. She explains that for effective social work to take place museums must have close working relationships with the people in their communities.  Similar to chapter one she refers back to the history of museums as evidence of such social work.

As chapter two continues she points out eight different categories toward merging social work and museums. While all eight of her points have some merit in their own right, I found her second point “the client-centered empowering relationships” (pg. 31-32) to be the most important. I often see museums, and community groups, clubs, schools (let me not just pick on museums here) that offer programing that at times cause me to question how much thought was given to how it would impact or be relevant for the people that they are serving.  I think these organizations have good intentions, but somewhere along the line someone forget to ask the people participating what they would like/need.  By focusing on the “client”, Silverman brings up an excellent point about making sure that the people involved are asked about what they would like to see or do.  She points out that when people are active in the process (pg. 32) the end result is more likely to be successful.  This echoes the old teaching philosophy that it is harder to break the rules when you are the one who made them- an idea that invites students to own the classroom environment by creating classroom rules and holding themselves accountable to them.  She is wise in pointing out that museums need to find ways to invite opinions and ideas from visitors to make experiences more valuable.

Think About It:

What are some ways you can think of to get communities involved in choosing both content of exhibits and programming associated with it?  How would you get visitors to be more active in their relationship with the museum?