Museum communication spaces in art education enable a setting for education work that activates and involves the visitors. With appreciation, respect, and awareness, safe spaces for open communication are created. The text negotiates the framework of what we talk about, who determines and defines the negotiated topics. It is important to be aware…

We argue that the art museum can and should be a place of philosophical exploration. It can be such a place because philosophy and art have important similarities. They both ask us to adopt a non-instrumental, contemplative attitude toward the world that allows us to widen our personal viewpoint and explore the complex nature of things. To…

Art-based education has been gaining the attention of healthcare educators as a means of promoting empathy, observation, and mindfulness in healthcare practitioners. This paper discusses using art-based education to encourage transformative learning and social justice in healthcare education. Specifically, we explore how this approach can…

For the past seven years, we -- a museum educator and an academic radiologist -- have co-taught Seeing in Art and Medical Imaging, a first-of-its-kind medical humanities curriculum for residents in nuclear medicine and radiology based at the Harvard Art Museums. The program aims to foster residents' close looking and clinical skills,…

The authors, a museum educator and a psychiatrist, present a case study of their collaborative work to develop museum experiences for trauma survivors participating in an outpatient treatment program that uses Cognitive Processing Therapy. The thesis behind the program, now in its eighth year, was that an art museum experience could be designed to…

This article seeks to illustrate the outcome of entering partnerships with open and flexible goals and lines of communication. Two unique, long-term partnerships at a medium-sized, regional museum of art and science are described, with details of the impact of these partnerships and different audiences served. Using current research on best…

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global, collective, traumatic experience. Trauma-aware museum educators can play a therapeutic role in helping visitors reengage with life as the world reopens. This article explores the dynamics of what a trauma-aware approach to engaging with art may be, specifically detailing methods that can create new cognitive,…

I am because we are; and since we are, therefore I am. This statement from Kenyan John Mbiti, one of the first post-colonial scholars of African philosophy and religion, provides deep insight into African modes of thought. It is also valid in a universal sense. Indeed, it reflects the theme of this 50th anniversary edition of the journal: our…

Being Present with Art, or BPWA, is a method of integrating mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), with art. Developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the BPWA method features tools and exercises for participants to first become present to their bodies to then focus their attention on artwork and connect with others. A research study examining…

This article examines forms of activism in which artistic expression features as a means of raising awareness and catalyzing progressive change on matters of equality, diversity, inclusion and social justice. Focusing in particular on anti-racist and decolonial activism within the context of art museums, experimental project spaces and collections…

This paper explores the development of Civic Wellness programs at the Art Institute of Chicago, with an emphasis on how Civic Wellness teaching, partnerships, and strategy are informed by social justice-oriented values. These include equity practice, antiracism, strength in community, and democratic justice-oriented andragogy. The paper lays out…

In 2020, the Brooklyn Museum Education Department, like many departments in museums across the globe, engaged in a reevaluation of its programs and priorities in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we reassessed what responsive programming could and should look like for our audiences, the Adult Learning Division within Education decided to…

Docent programs are in flux. Many institutions have rethought their programs to encourage more diverse voices: some have eliminated the docent role, while others have changed their structure and offered additional training. When The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens decided to invest in its docent program as part of an…

In the grand tradition of Isabella Stewart Gardner and Henry Clay Frick, Alice L. Walton has used her immense wealth to create a world-class museum for the enjoyment of a broad public audience. Unlike Gardner and Frick, however, Walton, who opened a museum in 2011, did not select a location in a bustling metropolis to build what will become her…

Art has the power to activate learning and emotion in unique ways--this is true of humans generally, and museum visitors specifically. Yet art galleries are often overlooked in the museum field as forums for dialogue and sites of learning about climate change. This article investigates the significance of artist-led projects and art museum…