our new book,
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Why a framework for flourishing?
Museums matter. As the 21st century has ushered in an era of great change, upheaval, and social reckoning, our field is poised to situate museums as places of abundance, growth, love, and hope. With intention and purpose, museums can deeply explore, model, and achieve what it means to genuinely thrive and enable flourishing in humanity and in the world that surrounds us. The challenges we face have given us the opportunity to radically reconsider the museum and to create a culture and practice deeply grounded in care, kindness, courage, patience, and resilience. Museums, broadly defined, have the capacity and responsibility to flourish. They can draw upon their essential work to foster and promote curiosity, exploration, and imagination – while learning from a greater diversity of disciplines – the significance of a flourishing lens. In this context, we have crafted a framework that can point us in this direction. |
How the Framework Works
In the Flourishing Museums Framework (FMF), we consider three interwoven vantage points of the museum system, which we refer to as perspectives: self (persons), relation (interactions between), and system (complex and contextual landscapes). Where these three perspectives meet, we consider six areas of positive reflection and practice, which we call intentions: courage, transformation, care, optimism, gratitude, and delight. These intentions are arrived at through a set of dynamic actions, or practices: balancing, orienting, and inquiring.
Each practice is meant to be applied in any intention—in organizational daily life and when planning for others’ experiences. Whether a professional working at the museum, or a user visiting an exhibition, people who flourish are developing as individuals, live their lives to their fullest potential, and act in the best interests of society. The FMF is above all, a guide for good practice, positive growth and flourishing as individuals, as groups, and as an organization.
Each practice is meant to be applied in any intention—in organizational daily life and when planning for others’ experiences. Whether a professional working at the museum, or a user visiting an exhibition, people who flourish are developing as individuals, live their lives to their fullest potential, and act in the best interests of society. The FMF is above all, a guide for good practice, positive growth and flourishing as individuals, as groups, and as an organization.
More info coming soon!
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