Title Museums as Agents of Social Change Description How can we — as museum professionals, civic leaders, visitors, and the broader public — radically expand the work of museums as agents of social change? How can we more fiercely recognize and expand the meaningful work that museums are doing to respond to the issues affecting our communities locally and globally? Museums everywhere have the potential to serve as agents of change—bringing people together, contributing to local communities, and having a positive impact on people’s lives. Given our current moment of political polarization, highly-contested social debates, and widespread global efforts to confront oppression, now is the time to proactively shape a new future. Speaker Mike Murawski, PhD. is Director of Education & Public Programs for the Portland Art Museum, and Founding Editor of ArtMuseumTeaching.com. He is passionate about how we can come to see museums as transformative spaces for social change and how we can take full advantage of the powerful types of learning, dialogue, public participation, and community engagement that museums can offer. He most recently presented as the MuseumNext Conference on the topic “Houselessness – A Museum Responds.” |