I just got an email from the
wonderful Executive Director of MAH, Nina Simon and she kindly reminded me that
the criteria for analyzing a participatory project is not just the number of
people participating, but there are other factors that should be considered as
well, which is so true.
Although at the beginning of
each brainstorm session, we review our program goals, but some how in the
process, I always get kind of stuck in the craft aspect of the project and
forget about the more important part of the project, which is the potential for
participatory outcomes.
From now on there is a major
change of plan. In every step of designing an activity, I will go through the
goals statement of the museum (MAH Event Philosophy page) and think a bout how we
can contribute to these goals.
1. Meet Community Needs: meet the needs of our communities as defined by
diverse constituencies within Santa Cruz County.
2. Build Social Capital: build social capital by strengthening community
connections with our collaborators and visitors. This is a continual process of
bonding within preexisting social groups and bridging between groups and
individuals who might not usually interact.
3. Invite Active
Participation: offer opportunities for
visitors to have meaningful, hands-on, cultural experiences in which they act
as contributors and co-creators, not just consumers.
4. Connect People to
Creativity and Art: ignite active
exploration of creativity and new artistic processes.
5. Connect People to
Local History and Culture: deepen
connections between visitors and the local history and culture of Santa Cruz
County.
We have our weekly intern
meeting tomorrow and I am going to share the idea with the other community
program interns at MAH and think about creative ways to evaluate the outcomes
of the projects based on our program goals.
I am already so excited to
share this idea with other interns and hopefully we can come up with a creative way to evaluate our projects both in the process and after the event.
