Summer is here, and with it, a new guest blogger series! Today we are excited to share a new post by our friend Sadiya Akasha of Sitara Systems. Sadiya is a researcher, product designer, and expert on Gen Z (people born between 1995 and 2010). In this summer series, Sadiyawill make the case for how and why engaging Gen Z is critical and share research-based insights that cultural institutions should noteif they want to survive and thrive.

In early April I returned to work after a three month furlough. While being furloughed was not welcome news in an already challenging year for the field of museum education, this period away from my job as an art museum educator gave me ample time to think deeply and reflectively, something that feels in short supply when carrying out my regular duties and schedule.

Seven months ago, RK&A committed to anti-racist practice. To hold ourselves accountable, we write these updates to publicly document the work we have been doing and work still to do.

Spurred by the art-dominated sections on Museums in The New York Times, Emlyn reflects on this sector’s pressing need for a balanced profile between people/society and non-human life/nature.

Having drafted new labels, we want to ensure our approach is actually meaningful to our audiences at the Nelson-Atkins before putting them on the walls. We’re currently in the process of evaluating our new labels to better understand their impact on visitors.

In our workshops with curatorial colleagues (which we wrote about in the last post), we continually heard certain ideas rise to the surface about shared principles for interpretive text at the Nelson-Atkins.

In my last post, I wrote about harm reduction as a philosophy and how it might be applied to rethinking museum labels. In this post, I’ll explain just how we started these conversations at the Nelson-Atkins and put our ideas in action.

Whether or not public programs are again canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Earth Day each April 22 warrants the engagement of the museum sector. Emlyn Koster explains why.

We're delighted to share the first post in a new four-part series by Rachel Nicholson from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (located in Kansas City, MO). This first post breaks down what is harm reduction and what motivated the Nelson Atkins' team to do this critical work.

In this article, Amanda and Stephanie share the results of two large-scale research studies that examined the impact of art museums’ field trips on K-12 students (pre-pandemic) and discuss how art museums’ teaching supports student empathy and creative thinking.

It has been three months since we pledged our commitment to anti-racist practices: We, individually and collectively, pledge our commitment to being anti-racist—which we recognize as an ongoing pursuit through our everyday actions.

Emlyn Koster urges the museum sector to combine operational recovery efforts with strategic pathways towards a more holistic societal and environmental future.

Emlyn Koster, PhD, delves into why museums should illuminate the environmental and societal impacts of climate change.

While there is some agreement on what a museum does—collect, preserve, educate—there is not consensus on the museum’s purpose. From our theoretical perspective, purpose is the impact a museum has on people.

At RK&A, we have been exploring and trying ways to bring accessibility to the forefront of our evaluation work to help museums become more accessible and inclusive for visitors with disabilities. While this is an ongoing process, this blog covers some of the things we are doing.

Since the reality of coronavirus set in back in March, our team has been having a lot of conversations about study design.

There are other ways art museum educators can play a critical role in promoting social and emotional learning, all the while attending to museum’s audience-focused Diversity Equity Access and Inclusion (DEAI) efforts during this time.

Evaluators know the power of questions. A good question can unlock so much knowledge. And that is what happened for me when I was helping my daughter completing a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) assignment given to her grade by the school counselor.

This case study contains insights and considerations for museums interested in starting and sustaining a diversity-focused fellowship program.

Stephanie Downey and Emily Skidmore’s book chapter in Enhancing STEM Motivation through Citizen Science Programs details the “who,” “what,” “how,” and “why” of evaluating citizen science programs for youth.