There are many inspiring, informative and shareable resources to explore for professionals working in museums and galleries who are focussed on community engagement and use participatory methods. Choosing was to highlight was no easy task. However, here are a few particularly effective ones.

To brush up on the tools of your trade see these three methodologies:

Rigorous methodology

• Be specific and use a framework
• A community has assets as well as needs
• Initiate relationships by volunteering with them
• Know your theory of change and ultimate goal

Tags

Needs and assets, Change process, Structures, Partnerships.

Levels of participation

• Many types of partners and participation in action
• Why you need to offer different ways to engage
• Examples of a range of relationships

Tags

Decision-making, Community skills, Needs and assets, Partnerships.

Getting started

• Community partners share tips on how to start partnerships

Tags

Be local, Community buy in, Trust, Partnerships.

To remind yourself of the attitude you and your colleagues need in order to work in genuine partnership:

What is your theory of change?

• Passive beneficiaries or active partners?
• Dangerous attitude of ‘improving people’
• Consider the language we use
• Question public funding of museum

Tags

Trust, Needs and assets, Reflective practice, Change process, Partnerships.

When you need an injection of inspiration:

Collaborative recruitment

• A great example of shared decision-making in action
• HR processes: transparency and change
• Intensive collaboration at the start can set up a good partnership

Tags

Everyone’s job, Decision-making, Transparency, Policies, Partnerships.

Engagement to co-curation

• Practical example of participatory engagement growing
• Evidence of good practice and methodology
• Mutually beneficial arrangement

Tags

Decision-making, Community skills, Partner confidence, Needs and assets.

How to take time to reflect on and develop your practice:

Reflective practice

• Definition of reflective practice
• Example of effective reflection with community partners
• Policy imperatives to reflect with partners

Tags

Staff skills, Learning and evaluation, Reflective practice.

To scale up your work:

Co-producing with participants

• The difference between consultation and co-production
• Mechanisms for scaling up co-production
• Consensus decision-making with multiple stakeholders

Tags

Decision-making, Community buy in, Structures, Partnerships.

To embed your practice more widely, and avoid working in an ‘outreach’ bubble:

Embedding participation

• Six techniques for embedding participation, and examples
• In a large, multi-site museum
• Next challenges they face

Tags

Everyone’s job, Structures.