Engaging Your Community: A Toolkit for Museums​

About Resource

Developed by the Ontario Museum Association, Engaging Your Community: A Toolkit for Museums offers a structured approach for museums to collaborate with their communities in assessing their institutional relevance and fostering deeper connections. Distinctly not a strategic planning process, this toolkit is instead a community engagement and self-assessment process which can inform the creation or implementation of a strategic plan. By emphasizing active participation and dialogue, the toolkit aims to enhance the sustainability and cultural significance of museums within their communities.  

This comprehensive Toolkit recommends a 6-step process taking between 4-9 months to complete: 

  1. Assemble a Working Group 
  1. Find a Facilitator or Choose a Team Leader 
  1. Working Group Orientation 
  1. Group Self-Assessment 
  1. Community Consultation 
  1. Plan for the Future 

Each step is embedded with self-assessment tools, guided engagement activities, planning templates, and linked workbooks.  

How to Use

This resource’s strength can be fully realized when a comprehensive planning effort is made to support its implementation: 

  • Begin by assessing if your institution is ready to embark on this process by referencing the Toolkit’s Possible Triggers list to explore your institution’s “why.” Launching this effort within your programmatic team? Be sure to cultivate leadership buy-in and participation as a prerequisite. 
  • Financial and operational commitment to community building must be present across the organization and realistic expectations should be set around this process’ time horizon. 
  • Working Group members should share in their commitment to this effort. Selecting the right facilitator/team leader to orient your working group will help align the group’s goals and purpose. 

With the proper preparation to undertake this effort complete, follow the Toolkit’s structured meeting agendas to streamline your working group activities: group orientation, self-assessment, community consultation, and future action planning.  

View Resource
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Author(s)/Organization: The Ontario Museum Association
Publication Year: 2019

Tags

Attributes:Aims for Action, Centers Community Priorities, Respects Community Strengths
Outcomes:Strong Community Partnerships
Approaches:Dialogue & Deliberation
Type:Guidebooks & Manuals