Come and Play – American Alliance of Museums

Museums lie at a point of balance between past and future. They often apply their knowledge and curiosity to explore things that have already happened, but museums can flip that lens to look forward in time to explore possibilities as well. In today's post, Katherine Prince, Vice President, Strategic Foresight for KnowledgeWorks, invites readers to join her in a webinar on how to create works of art for the future, filling the “cone of plausibility” with concrete examples of the world as it might come to fruition. He is. When I've conducted similar training with museum staff in the past, it has been enthusiastically received – and I encourage you to join Katherine for this online event.

-Elizabeth Merritt, Vice President for Strategic Foresight and Founding Director of the Center for the Future of Museums

great painting. The first draft of the famous song's lyrics. A pot that was used to prepare food a long time ago. Museum professionals are accustomed to displaying artifacts from the past to help give visitors insight into time periods and cultures they may not otherwise understand.

Museums, like other organizations, also need to look forward to plan how best to carry out their missions and impact their communities in a rapidly changing environment. TrendsWatch: Museums as community infrastructure He highlighted education as one of the five pillars of community infrastructure through which museums support individuals and communities. This report emphasizes that museums contribute vitally to communities' learning ecosystems through their long-term support of “self-directed, experiential, social and distributed learning.” But today's offers may not fit tomorrow's needs. Museums can benefit from envisioning their future contributions to education, other aspects of their communities' infrastructure, and their missions.

KnowledgeWorks, a national nonprofit organization that helps partners reimagine education, offers museum professionals an opportunity to engage in imaginative play and explore potential future contributions to their communities. A virtual workshop will guide participants to prototypes of artwork from the future to help illustrate future possibilities and spark conversations about how to bring those possibilities to life.

An artifact from the future could be an everyday object, such as a photo, an item of clothing, or a traffic light. It can be a celebration, holiday or everyday activity. Artifacts from the future can help people see and feel how the changes we see today can translate into new ways of doing things tomorrow.

Join us for a free virtual workshop Which will take place from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM ET on Thursday, February 8. This session will give you the opportunity to play with probabilities through a process facilitated by myself and Maria Crabtree of KnowledgeWorks. It will be recorded to help others see how to apply this forward-thinking technique in their environments.

In a recent publication, Connections to the future: Illustrating the implications of liberation education, KnowledgeWorks showcased the things and experiences that might exist if education systems and other educational organizations prioritized learners' self-determination, human potential, and the right to participate in shaping the world. Here are some of these artifacts from the future that illustrate how museums can contribute to communities' educational ecosystems.

• Learning to waooza: People in the Youngsville community come together every four months to celebrate and openly share examples of learning from across the community. These free celebrations invite learners of all ages to celebrate learning wherever it happens. Learners recently approached the Tyler History Museum about hosting one of these educational palazzos, bringing exhibits and hands-on educational talks—along with live music and food—to the museum's Community Room and introducing the museum to new visitors.
• Bishr: An AI-powered wearable device helps young people ages 15-19 who share interests and learning needs connect in real life. This device, Humani, allows users to broadcast their self-created profiles when they are ready to search for teaching buddies nearby. Matched learners choose the location and duration of the meeting to work through a challenging task, explore a concept, or engage in a longer project. Because of concerns about safety, some museums have joined other community organizations in hosting humanitarian salons. They also loan humanitarian devices to young people who cannot afford their own. Hosting these meetings and helping to increase access to self-directed, life-wide learning has exposed museum assets and programs to more young people.

What future things or experiences might help you and your museum reach people, impact your community, and fulfill your mission? What things might get in the way? What future artefacts may benefit some people but harm others?

Come explore concrete ideas about the future with two professional futurists at KnowledgeWorks. Register now to start making tangible the intangible space that is the future. Showcase your creative thinking about things that could exist in ten or more years.

Katherine Prince guides KnowledgeWorks' exploration of the future of learning. As Vice President of Strategic Foresight, she leads a team of professional futurists who explore the future possibilities of education and help people navigate change and think about what they want for the future. You can follow her work at @katprince @knowledgeworks https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherineprince/