Community-Based Curation: A Toolkit for Expanding Narratives and Changing Practices:
- Is broken into multiple collaboratively written sections that are punctuated with questions, opportunities for reflection, and takeaways. In each section are “viewpoints” from collaborators, which speak to the author’s role and expertise in the context of community-based curation.
- Asserts that the intersection of the museum’s collection and community is ripe with potential. In this in-between space, the relevance of artworks to their audiences becomes visible.
- Provides perspectives for framing your museum’s approach to expanding curatorial practice.
This toolkit is intended for midsized art museums but has implications for organizations of all sizes.
Questions to Consider:
- How can a museum with mission-driven priorities, a rotating exhibition schedule, and public programming allocate capital, both financial and human, toward community-based practices?
- How might project funding support a change in practice to broaden exhibition development and collections care by integrating community engagement?
- How can a museum begin to consider strategies to prioritize community-engaged practices and create a sustainable approach?
For questions or more information, contact our Engagement Department at engagement@tucsonmuseumofart.org.
Download the toolkit
This toolkit is the result of the multi-year Expanding Narratives initiative, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (MG-50-19-0044-19). The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this toolkit does not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
BACKGROUND
Over several years TMA has worked to systematically identify strengths and opportunities within its collection through critical reflection and community engagement—highlighting a commitment to gaining insights to inform its practices, expand the collection, and act as a springboard for the future.
In 2019, the Tucson Museum of Art (TMA) received transformational funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (MG-50-19-0044-19) to expand strategies for community engagement practices through an initiative entitled Expanding Narratives. With this funding TMA sought to systematize, test, and scale various approaches to community engagement.
Community-Based Curation: A Toolkit for Expanding Narratives and Changing Practices is the final piece of a multi-year initiative (2019 – 2023), and is a collaboratively authored toolkit, broken into seven sections. It defines community-based curation; outlines strategies for effectively engaging communities; and provides insights and reflections on TMA’s own experiences.
Included throughout the document are holistic, comprehensive, and practical guidelines and recommendations for engaging community members in curatorial practice, as well as creating institutional infrastructure to support building capacity as a responsive institution. Each section presents detailed accounts—and resulting strategies—of the implementation and practice of community-based curation at TMA as well as lessons learned along the way. This document serves as a roadmap for museums interested in integrating community curation into their practice.
Between 2019 and 2023 funding for community-based curation has been supported by grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Arizona Humanities. As of November 2023, several galleries and collection spaces have been impacted by community curation, representing 367 lft and 3,320 sq ft of exhibition space—equivalent to 13% of the museum’s galleries.
While this phase of the project is technically completed, our work is ongoing. TMA is excited to continue research and development on its community-based curatorial approaches and frameworks with funding from the Henry Luce Foundation! This 18-month project, entitled Of Legacy and Divergence: Art of the American West in the 21st Century, will provide crucial funding to scale and apply collaborative strategies to a feature exhibition, new permanent collection display, and publication.