By Catherine Cole, Principal Consultant, Catherine C. Cole & Associates.
As promised in the
November / December 2014 issue of the Commonwealth Association of Museums
(CAM) Bulletin, the report on Participatory Governance and Museums
conducted by CAM in collaboration with the Galt Museum and Archives in
Lethbridge, Alberta and the Musée Héritage Museum in St. Albert, Alberta is available on the CAM website at: maltwood.uvic.ca/cam/publications/new_releases.html.
Stephen Weil noted that, “Museums
have changed from organizations based on what they
have to organizations defined by what they do [1].”
And what they do is increasingly to address contemporary issues.
The concept of
participatory governance may not be familiar to many museologists, as it
resides primarily in development literature. Participatory governance is the
democratic process in which citizens are active in determining the formation
and implementation of policies and programmes affecting their daily lives, a
form of engagement which is a viable option for museums in both the developed
and the developing world. The question is: How can museums use
their resources – their collections, exhibitions, programs, and expertise – to motivate citizens to action on contemporary
issues?
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As the model above
illustrates, participatory governance may be defined as the convergence of
community engagement and social responsibility. The content axis (top)
includes: object centred, issue-based, relevance, social responsibility,
and public debate while the process axis
(bottom) includes: audience development, participatory museums, community
consultation, working together, and shared authority. The two axes meet at
participatory governance. We chose the image of Canada Geese flying in
V-formation to illustrate the model. Like Canada Geese, museums may sometimes
take the lead in participatory governance, and at other times drop back and
develop an object-centred exhibition or a project focussed on audience
development.
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