Abstract
This chapter explores the tremendous shift in the purposes, practices, and philosophies of art museums by exploring historical and ongoing intersections of art education, programmatic engagement, and museum audiences. It acknowledges myriad influences on more than a century of museum programming that changed and evolved in response to cultural perceptions about art, the role of creativity, visitor interests and expectations, and academic scholarship. It utilizes three paradigmatic frameworks—the modernist museum, the postmuseum/reinvented museum, and the distributed museum—to situate the work of museums as they engage with their communities and evolve into more human-centered, socially responsive institutions. Finally, it suggests that the necessity for museums to address structural inequalities is a given: A visitor-centered perspective must emanate from all members of the staff, who work toward social justice and human rights through an intentional and radical centering of all members of the community as part of the ongoing display of exhibitions and permanent collections. Examples of this work by the Columbus Museum of Art and the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, OH, are offered as examples of museums with programmatic efforts that address structural inequalities through a turn to socially responsive practice.
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Kletchka, D.C. (2023). Programs and Art Education: Becoming Socially Responsive. In: Redaelli, E. (eds) Visiting the Art Museum. Sociology of the Arts . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12089-3_7
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