Thursday, May 4, 2017

21st Century Public Squares: Community-Centered Museum and Libraries

21st Century Public Squares: Community-Centered Museum and Libraries

This session had three presenters and they presented on the growing trend in museums becoming public squares

Place making and gathering – history of town squares – centers of communities

Overall, the highlight of this session was nice to hear what Santa Ana Public Library did to win the 2016 IMLS medal and the great work they are doing for teens over there.

The Town Square – Community Centers, Lee Skolnick FAIA

History of town squares

About a place where people coming together

Town Squares
  • ·        Civic -government
  • ·        Social – Discuss issues, meeting of people
  • ·        Cultural – performance, art, theater
  • ·        Educational

Malls – new town squares, didn’t succeed, more of retail magnets

Todays town squares
  • ·        Children’s museum
  • ·        Science centers
  • ·        Libraries
  • ·        Schools

Town Squares require:
  • ·        Democratization of the process with the public
  • ·        Participation and engagement with the public

o   Conceptualization
o   Planning and Design

Today’s squares:
  • ·        Inclusive
  • ·        Multigenerational
  • ·        Multifunctional

Approach
  • ·        Planning with audience in mind
  • ·        No preconceived notions

Jane Werner – Pittsberg children’s Museum

The benefits of partnerships

  • ·        New Hazlett Theater (new theater facility)

                              Partnered with another museum

  • ·        Buhl Community Park

                              Took over park from city and built it up

  • ·        Museum Lab

                              Center of learning with partners
                              Makerspace – MakeSHOP+
                              Gaming, digital humanities
                              To translate informal learning to the formal classroom

Work with other organizations to build community

Community-Driven Libraries - Cheryl Eberly, Principal Librarian, Santa Ana Public Library

Community driven library

Apply for a lot of innovative grants that meet the needs of the community
·        Seeds to trees - $625,000 recruiting local teens to become bilingual librarians
                              80 kids got their jobs from this grant
                              6 were put through library school
·        Youth Work Force Development
                              Seeds to trees – to teach digital technology/media for teens, running                                                       channel 3
o   Teens run the channel 3, teen interested in documentary making and is now graduating from UCSB.

Teenspace – Teen programming
·        Invited congresswoman to do teen workshop
·        Circle of mentoring – teen mentoring program – resulted in library employees
·        Peer to peer teaching
·        Culinary Skills
·        STEP: Skills for teens and young parents
·        Field trips – take them outside the neighborhood to connect them to the larger world
·        Adulteen 101 – teen workshop on how to be an adult run by staff, things you think everybody should know but they don’t
·        Sleepovers
·        Haunted House – Teen built haunted house and costumes
·        Yoga
·        Youth health ambassadors
·        Teen Community Historians – connect youth with elders in the community – Memories of Migration, teens create model of migration
·        Volunteer for community events
·        Probation and Community Service program
·        Media Arts Training
·        Youth Services Provider – training them to be resilient

Winner of 2016 IMLS medal

2014 Youth Services Award

Has many partnerships

Kitty Literacy project – partnership with animal center to practice reading with cats

How to be a community driven library
·        Being the stable place for those who are in transitional situations
·        It’s about the relationships built in the community
·        Bring technology to community
·        Take kids beyond their neighborhood
·        Help teens find their strength by mentoring others
·        Help people rediscover their history and gain skills

·        Connect community members to resources

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