Why visit an art gallery or museum?

Art galleries can provide students with a community.

I remember the first time that I walked into an art gallery, I was 16 years old and I didn’t know that they even existed. I was brought up in a home and community that denied the opportunity to be creative at home. My parents and the rural community that I grew up in didn’t see any worth in letting children explore this side of themselves when jobs in creative fields are often disregarded as less financially rewarding. In our province, many of our communities do not place value on or in arts education, therefore creating a void for many students in their communities.

Given that we have some of the most spectacular and modern gallery communities located in the heart of our city, this is an opportunity for all of you to learn and share the experience of investing time and energy into taking your classrooms to these spaces. This will provide your students with opportunities to engage with people in the arts communities and let them see the value of creative work. You can encourage them to get involved and explore their own personal creativity which is something that many don’t get the chance to do.

Galleries have resources and excellent art education staff that are there to engage with educational groups.

Museum Educators as Facilitators of Engagement

What skills, then, must a museum professional have in order to support visitor engagement? What must the former-educator-who-is-now-an-engagement-officer bring to interpretive planning in order to supplement and not supplant the curator, exhibition designer, or project manager?

She or he must be knowledgeable about research in social sciences and education, comfortable with these disciplines and able to keep up with the literature.

She or he must be curious about how people learn from and respond to objects, as well as about the museum’s content and collection.

She or he must be interested in experimenting with interpretive strategies, and able to evaluate whether or not new strategies are effective.

And she or he must be familiar and comfortable with outcomes-based thinking — able to help the exhibition team articulate goals for visitors and identify or invent strategies for achieving these goals.

Here are a few of Hannon’s ideas:

- In the school context, research demonstrates that engagement is an excellent predictor of success – in fact,engagement predicts success better than achievement does.

- “Engagement” is traditionally understood as engagement in school, and is defined by five characteristics:
  1. attendance
  2. attentiveness (eyes open and focused);
  3. conformity (joining school community);
  4. achieving some academic results;
  5. behaviour/students are not misbehaving.
- Engagement in school is not the same thing as engagement in learning. Engagement in learning is better understood by looking at:
  - whether students are energetic and enthusiastic
  - passion
  - learning all the time, everywhere
  - students taking responsibility for own learning
  - achieving a wider set of learning outcomes – not just in school subjects, but more broadly

Material Source: https://museumquestions.com/2014/08/20/what-is-engagement-and-when-is-it-meaningful/

Early on in my career, I had the opportunity to work at different galleries as an educational liaison and artist in residence throughout many elementary/secondary schools throughout the world. This provided insight and opportunity to share with others the experience of working in an institution that many people were simply afraid to enter the doors of.

Witnessing this fear(and feeling it myself many times) inspires me still. I clearly remember feeling that same cautiousness entering the gallery space for my first time. I make it part of my practice to dispel the myths surrounding the unknowns of viewing artwork and have made it my life goal to inspire educators from all disciplines to experience and value arts education in their daily lives.

Galleries have incredible resources and excellent art education staff that are there to engage with educational groups.

The heart of the gallery lies in their education programming, the educators in these institutions share the same passion each of you does, they want to help people find their voice in artworks, encourage active participation and questioning about what is being seen, heard, felt, experienced. They are experts and have extensive training coupled with intense passion. They have the passion to work alongside the public in exploring the innate value arts education brings to the lives of people that want to engage. They are a way in for all of you that are unsure of how to bring your students, family, friends into the art gallery space.

For example check out: Joseph Alfred Remai Family Foundation School Tours

Early on in my career, I had the opportunity to work at a few different galleries as an educational liaison as well as an artist in residence throughout many elementary/secondary schools. This provided me with an opportunity to share the experience of working in an institution that many people were simply afraid to enter the doors of. Seeing this fear inspired me because I remembered feeling that same cautiousness entering the gallery space for my first time.

Working alongside educators from all disciplines, I made it part of my practice to dispel the myths surrounding the unknowns of viewing artwork and have made it my life goal to share with others the importance of solid art education. The heart of the gallery lies in their education programming, the educators in these institutions share the same passion as you do, they want to help people find their own space within the artworks, encourage active participation and questioning about what is being seen. They are experts and have extensive training coupled with intense passion as they work with the public in exploring the innate value arts education brings to the lives of people that want to engage.

Galleries provide an opportunity for students to experience art outside of their screens.

Learning about art in the flesh within the walls of a gallery or museum provides a completely different perspective to viewing. Students are able to experience the subtle textures, intricate lines and incredible layering of paint in real-time. Experiencing art on social media is a great introduction and preparation tool for bringing them to lived experience.

Students will make connections inspired by the curated experience.

Creativity is valued without the outside distractions of the world in these spaces. Each exhibition is carefully planned and curated to provide the viewer with an experience that does not happen outside the gallery doors. Whether it’s bringing together artists based on a theme or in reaction to the contemporary events of the day, curators make connections that will lead to further connections for our students. Each student will bring their own set of values and inspirations to the experience. With thoughtful dialogue, the setting may provide insights into the students’ personal lives that become part of the shared experience.

Art changes how we see to world

There are many complaints about children not being taught life skills in schools. Art boosts the emotional intelligence of people who experience it, giving them experiences of empathy and exposing them to new worldviews and ideas. These are some of the key skills people use to function in society. Even if your child doesn’t aspire to be an artist or work in the art world, visiting art galleries can be hugely beneficial for their personal development.

Not only will it help them develop personally, but it will also give them a greater sense of the historical identity they hold, as well as the identities of others. Seeing art made by your own culture, and the cultures of others can really help contextualize your place in the world, what ideologies were held in the past, and how the human experience has changed.

Even if a piece of art isn’t interesting or relatable to you, it can give you insights into other times and yourself. Why isn’t the work relatable to you? What experiences did the artist have that you don’t resonate with? What does that say about the world they live in versus the world you live in? All of these things help build a strong sense of historical and personal identity.

(Source material: https://tutorsfield.com.au/articles/2017/08/04/5-benefits-visiting-art-galleries-learning/)