| Museums are primarily visited by and employ white, well-educated, and affluent individuals, but this is a population that does not reflect the diversity of urban centers. Cultural institutions mainly focus on and reflect national dominant culture. Non-dominant culture individuals in museums may experience and understand museums' meanings in different ways from dominant culture people.; To explore this idea, an after-school class was held, in which high school students visited and critiqued museums over a period if six weeks. The group then built an exhibit in response; this process lasted another three weeks. A case study of this project was conducted, examining the students' experiences in the museums and during the class, and their responses to what they saw and created.; A parallel project surveyed museum workers of color and other social minority groups about their experiences as employees in dominant culture and other museums. The survey was posted on a Web site, and responses were received from over 60 employees.; The first project revealed that adolescents make meaning about their lives in ways that exceed common boundaries of identity. These meanings offer museums an example of ways that exhibits could be organized to better reflect complexities, a move which would “disorder” their exhibits in productive, postmodern ways.; The second showed that museum workers of color identify racism as a major factor shaping their museum work experiences, while other social minority workers identified low salaries and other factors as more important issues. Additionally, more museum workers of color planned to discontinue their work in museums, than the other group. |
