CORE 6 - CURATING IDENTITY AND DIVERSITY

Citizen Curators - Core Six

Curating Identity and Diversity

Back to Helston's Museum of Cornish Life for the final session of our Citizen Curator's course. 

The main message I took out of today's session was to be aware of my own identity and to allow this to inform my curation whilst remaining alert to my own biases, predispositions, likes and dislikes. I suppose it's a bit like when we used to have to play devil's advocate in Debating Society at school and turn an issue on his head, considering and even arguing for it from a different standpoint. 

We were also reminded of the Experience | Plan | Reflect | Make sense model

When we were asked to consider who is represented at our base Museum, the Museum of Cornish Life, we quickly realised that one limitation of most of the collections dating up to the 1950s means the representation of women in the museum is quite old fashioned. We also observed some ways the Museum tries to create space and resources for people with different needs and identities with a range of events and interpretation tools.

Audio equipment and interpretation is one way in which the Museum of Cornish Life caters for different needs

We were also introduced to the concept of 'The Dignity of Visibility', considering the need for the Cornish to be represented and chronicled as a living national minority that is still a very active part of the identity of many people. The Cornish National Collection will feed into helping to maintain and enhance this visibility. 

 

You can find some additional musings on identity and diversity in Museums in this post.