Interpretive Planning as a Tool for Change | National Council on Public History

KATE AITCHISON, HALEY SHARPE DESIGN

Proposal Type

Roundtable

Seeking

Seeking Additional Presenters
Seeking General Feedback and Interest

Abstract

A round table discussion focused on the opportunities and limitations of interpretation and interpretive planning as tools to facilitate community engagement and prompt institutional and community change. Using a case study of an interpretive masterplanning project completed at a small local history museum to help launch the discussion, we hope to spark conversation among participants from diverse roles and with diverse perspectives about the effectiveness of the interpretive tools at our disposal now and into the future.

Description

One of the primary sub-themes for this year’s NCPH Annual Meeting focuses on the idea of an anniversary as a moment to reflect on the health of the field, our practices and methodologies. With this in mind, we would like to draw on our experience as interpretive planners to propose a roundtable discussion to engage diverse participants with varying experiences about the interpretive tools and methods we (facilitators and participants) are using to prompt stronger engagement and facilitate institutional and community change. In doing so, we hope to spark conversation that would consider the opportunities and limitations of these tools and perhaps even envision a roadmap for the future.

To help contextualize and launch the roundtable discussion, we would like to use a case study of an interpretive masterplanning exercise that we facilitated at a small museum (in terms of staff size and budget) with a strong focus on local community history in southern Ontario, Canada. An extremely positive and fruitful exercise for both the museum and our team, the interpretive planning process that we facilitated at this museum would offer great potential for discussion about interpretation and interpretive planning as tools to facilitate institutional and community change amongst meeting participants. The initial goals of this institution (i.e. to revitalize their narratives, strengthen their connection to the community, and to be more adaptive to modern visitors) and those constraints they had to work within to achieve these goals (i.e. limited annual budget and small staff, and a building that is not fit for its purpose) are not uncommon in the field and thus, likely to be familiar to many of the meeting’s participants.

Through our position as consultants working with a multitude of different cultural institutions, we feel that we bring overarching insight into the different directions these institutions are heading, what is working and, what is not. We would also like to share the platform with others who may present their own examples and methodologies, however. In addition to receiving general feedback on the topic of our proposal therefore, we hope to see whether there are any others interested in joining us to lead this presentation so that we may present a broader range of perspectives to foster a vibrant and exciting discussion among facilitators and participants that will inform all our practices.

If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly: Kate Aitchison, [email protected]

All feedback and offers of assistance should be submitted by July 1, 2019. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.

Discussion

2 comments

Brian D Joyner says:

June 11, 2019 at 10:25 pm

Are you looking for institutions that deliberately sought change through interpretative planning or how change came to some? How are you defining change?

Reply
1. Hannah Hadfield says:
  
  June 14, 2019 at 12:03 pm
  
  Hi Brian,
  
  Thanks so much for your question! I’m Hannah Hadfield, Kate’s colleague and the second presenter.
  
  I suppose we’d say, ‘how change comes to some’. Of course, seeking change on some level is a given when choosing to dive into a planning initiative, but in our work, we’ve often found that throughout the process, realizations and transformations sometimes come in areas or ways that were unexpected and thus, particularly meaningful. I think these are the experiences we are really interested in discussing and unpacking, hopefully to consider what made that experience possible? With that in mind, I think we imagine the definition of ‘change’ being quite broad.
  
  Reply