Building a Community Museum with Chelsea Ridley and Jonathan Kelley

12/02/20 • 68 min

In community organizing work, there are no shortcuts or gimmicks, only relationships built on trust and continued investment. The Lawndale Pop-Up Spot is a community-led museum located in a shipping container at the Spaulding Memorial Garden, a community garden in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. Chelsea Ridley and Jonathan Kelley, the museum’s founders, trace the evolution of this project from an idea seeded in the classroom to a living space rooted in a collective vision. Along the way, they highlight moments of uncertainty, talk about forging authentic partnerships, and offer thoughts on museums of the future.

Learn more at lawndalepopupspot.org or reach out to them at [email protected]. Follow Lawndale Pop-Up Spot on Twitter @lawndalepopup, Instagram @lawndalepopupspot, and on Facebook.

Follow Chelsea on Twitter @ckridley and Jonathan @jk_museums

Show Notes

The Museum As Soup Kitchen: a paper about Museums, Responsiveness to Community Need and Social Service by Elaine Heumann Gurian http://www.egurian.com/omnium-gatherum/museum-issues/community/the-museum-as-soup-kitchen-a-paper-about-museums-responsiven

Museu de Favela https://www.museudefavela.org/

Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project https://p-nap.org/

Gardeneers https://gardeneers.org/

Men Making a Difference https://www.austinweeklynews.com/News/Articles/2-6-2018/N.-Lawndale-group-reclaims-lots-and-lives-/

National Alliance for the Empowerment of the Formerly Incarcerated https://naefimentor.wixsite.com/naefi

Learn more at lawndalepopupspot.org or reach out to them at [email protected]. Follow Lawndale Pop-Up Spot on Twitter @lawndalepopup, Instagram @lawndalepopupspot, and on Facebook.

Follow Chelsea on Twitter @ckridley and Jonathan @jk_museums

Show Notes

Museu de Favela https://www.museudefavela.org/

Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project https://p-nap.org/

Gardeneers https://gardeneers.org/

Men Making a Difference https://www.austinweeklynews.com/News/Articles/2-6-2018/N.-Lawndale-group-reclaims-lots-and-lives-/

National Alliance for the Empowerment of the Formerly Incarcerated https://naefimentor.wixsite.com/naefi

Previous Episode

Bonus Episode: Welcoming Collaboration

In this mini-episode, Paula talks with Gwendolyn Fernandez, a recovering museum educator and fellow Museum Workers Speak organizer, about embracing collaboration and breaking up with your career. Gwen will be joining the Cultura Conscious team to produce a series of new episodes featuring inspiring museum and culture workers. Look for fresh conversations on the first Wednesday of every month.

Gwen has a long fascination with what goes on behind the scenes to transform ideas into experiences that enrich our lives. As a museum educator, she focuses on developing programs, designing interpretive strategies, and fostering diverse teams to serve audiences of all ages and abilities. In 2020, she began organizing with Museum Workers Speak and collaborating with Paula. Gwen holds a B.A. in Art History and French from Hollins University and an M.A. in Museum Studies from The George Washington University. She has held positions at the Supreme Court of the United States, the National Gallery of Art, and Phoenix Art Museum. Gwen fuels her podcast obsession with distance running, gardening, and walks with her three dogs around Phoenix, Arizona.

Next Episode

Responding to the Capitol Insurrection with Kayleigh Bryant-Greenwell

What is the responsibility of museums in the wake of the Capitol Insurrection? Kayleigh Bryant-Greenwell, a DC-based cultural equity strategist, joins us to talk about how critical museums are in the struggle to dismantle white supremacy. We originally spoke with Kayleigh about her practice in late 2020 and planned to release that conversation on January 6, 2021. Instead, she graciously joined us for a new recording to process the violent images of that day, the care museum workers deserve from their institutions, and reflect on the power of collective action in this moment.

Kayleigh Bryant-Greenwell is a cultural equity and audience engagement strategist with over 10 years of museum and nonprofit experience at the intersections of social justice and racial equity. As Head of Public Programs with the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery she is responsible for leading new outreach and inclusion initiatives towards developing new audiences and cultivating public engagement. In the wake of Covid-19 she leads an internal task force towards reopening planning and strategies. She received her Bachelor of Art in Art History from the University of Maryland, College Park and Master of Art in Museum Studies from George Washington University. She is an alum of the Claremont University Museum Leadership Institute, formerly the Getty.

Follow Kayleigh on Twitter and Instagram @KayleighBinDC. Learn more about Kayleigh’s work at curatorally.com.

Show Notes

Museum Workers Speak https://www.instagram.com/museumworkersspeak/?hl=en

Museums and Race https://museumsandrace.org/2021/01/08/questions-in-the-face-of-sedition/

Museums as Sites for Social Action (MASS Action) https://www.museumaction.org/