In this crazy year, many institutions have struggled to grapple with the realities intersecting pandemics – COVID-19 and systemic racism. More than just figure out how to transition to working from home or launching Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion departments, museums and other cultural institutions have been challenged to meaningfully speak on these issues to the general public through the lens of their mission. In other words, this year of crisis and upheaval has called on them to be relevant.
“Relevance” is one of those words that is hard to define without using the word itself. Off the top of my head, I would define something as relevant if it speaks to the times in meaningful ways. It seems like such a simple concept, but it is of the upmost importance to any museum professional. Achieving relevance (or not) can make or break a museum. A relevant museum is a cherished cultural institution that people want to return to again and again. An irrelevant museum is an imposing building filled with old stuff that nobody cares about.
With this in mind, my off the cuff definition of relevance seems to miss the mark. Museum visionary Nina Simon’s book The Art of Relevance reveals the many different sides of relevance, things that do more than just get visitors inside the door. Relevance is what makes visitors feel comfortable even approaching the museum and compels them to come back. Or, as Simon starts off her introduction:
“Relevance is a key that unlocks meaning. It opens doors to experiences that matter to us, surprise us, and bring value into our lives.” (25)
Throughout her book, Simon compares relevance as a key that can open up the door of our institution to visitors. There is no skeleton key, no one-size-fits-all experience that will make people break down our doors. The door we currently have, the way we have always presented information to visitors, they way we’ve always welcomed them, etc., is just not working for everyone in our communities. No amount of jamming their mismatched key into the door will get them to connect. Forcing them inside to slog through ill-suited content won’t do any wonders either.
You can’t force your idea of relevance on someone else. Instead, you have to go to the source.
“Relevance is an exercise in empathy – understanding what matters to your intended audience, not what matters to you.” (51)
To do this, Simon recommends that you make an effort to understand what it is like to be an outsider. Go to spaces where the communities you want to reach already meet with regularity – places they are comfortable in. Simon reminds us that if you feel nervous and uncomfortable there, then that’s how they probably feel at your museum. However, by building relationships and getting to know these communities, you can find out what their keys are. You can learn how to build doors that they will want to come through and access rooms where they can find something meaningful, something relevant to their lives.
To be honest, this idea terrifies the shy part of me. I’ve never liked just walking up to strangers and striking up a conversation. However, I know that all my research, all my writing is meaningless if people don’t want to walk through the door or don’t even know that the door exists. As public historians, we want to serve the whole public. We want to share unknown stories that speak to the experiences of today. We can scream until we’re hoarse about how relevant history is, but willpower alone won’t make it so. We need buy-in from our communities. We need people to know the door is there in the first place. And we can’t do that without reaching out.
Last week’s American Association for State and Local History conference gave me a great mantra to follow – “We have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
Community engagement is not something you can cross off a check list and move on from. It’s a constant process that requires recommitment again and again. So too is relevance.
“Relevance is a moving target.” (126)
You can never, ever rest on your laurels. To paraphrase from Simon’s book, as soon as you finish one project, it starts becoming irrelevant, outdated. Though it’s maddening, the work of making history relevant never ends. Something may be relevant to one person one day and irrelevant to them the next.
Simon also stresses that you can’t be relevant only when it suits you. You can’t stay silent on widespread protests against police brutality rock your community because you’re worried about losing funding. Part of being relevant is speaking out on things that matter to your community. Many believe that staying silent is staying neutral. However, that is not true. Staying silent is taking a stance. Even if you don’t intend it, your community may view your silence as standing against them.
Timeliness is not the heart of relevance, though it does behoove a museum to react to recent events in a timely matter. Relevance is being deeply invested in the needs of the communities you serve and helping to build upon their strengths. It’s about building the right doors to welcome in new segments of your community, finding the right keys, and changing the content if it doesn’t reflect the character of life outside your four walls. It turns your “dusty old stuff” into things people care about, things that bring meaning into people’s lives.
Simon sums it up nicely:
MUSEUM MUSINGS 
appreciate the quote formatting!
LikeLike