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| Illustration courtesy of Defne Inceoglu. |
Simultaneously, Museum Studies alumni, faculty members and students were celebrating the 50th year as a program with the Unconference. (Read Jordan Fee’s in-depth summary of the day here). It was emphasized to us in the morning that if any attendees wished to leave to join the march at Queen’s Park - just a stone’s throw from campus - were encouraged to do so. So, many of us did- joining the crowds to return to the conference later in the afternoon.
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| The city was a-buzz with thousands upon thousands streaming into the Queen’s Park area. Folks of all ages gathered to voice their concerns about the climbing and alarming climate crisis that is plaguing many people around the planet both geographically and psychologically. Image courtesy of Defne Inceoglu. |
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| Image courtesy of Defne Inceoglu. |
Worts graduated the Museum Studies program in 1982, going on to work at the AGO as an Educator in the Adult Programs department. Worts introduced the practice of integrated audience research into the exhibit development process – with a focus on exploring experimental interpretive strategies. Through his work, he became a founding member of the US-based Visitor Studies Association. In 1997, his focus shifted from individual visitors to how museums could help catalyze meaningful cultural impacts and adaptation in a fast-changing world – specifically related to local/global sustainability.
Worts’ current project is WorldViews Consulting as a culture and sustainability expert. Worts also consults on the ‘Sustainability Task Force’ for the American Association for State and Local History. Read Worts’ full bio here.
I: You attended the climate strike in Toronto. Can you speak a bit about your experience during this strike? What were some positive things you took away from this?
W: The enthusiasm of the youth leaders and their willingness to step up and become voices in this moment, has been inspiring to me. Joining in the march was pretty amazing! I had no idea how many tens of thousands of people were there - but there were lot of people! Part of me was thrilled to hear the chanting and singing and the strength that comes from large groups of people. I kept hearing the refrain “Climate Justice Now!” and I wondered, how many people in the crowd would be able to describe what that phrase meant to them. I knew that it was important that large numbers needed to make a loud noise.
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| A Google Maps screenshot of Queen's Park and College Street. The protestors shut down the roads and created congestion in the city; evidence of a massive turnout. Courtesy of Defne Inceoglu. |
(con't) But the next day, the leaders needed to be able to move forward with:
- An understanding of what Climate Justice actually requires
- The causes and impacts of current climate change trends
- The leverage points across our society where change must happen in order to affect the climate change trends (because these trends are symptoms of much larger, cultural dysfunction).
In my view the drivers of climate change, as well as social and economic inequity, are rooted deep in the values, behaviours and structures upon which our economic, social, political and legal systems are based. These are in fact the core of our cultural reality - and yet not even discussed by this thing we call the ‘cultural sector’. Given the global scale of existing museum networks, our sector has the ability to re-tool itself to become catalysts of cultural change and adaptation. And yet, this really doesn’t even seem to be on the table in museological circles.
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| Toronto Climate Strike. Image courtesy of Defne Inceoglu. |
I: Going off of the theme of the Unconference, “risk-taking”, what do you feel is the most important, yet risky, change we must make in our institutions?
W: As for the idea of "risk" - there is altogether too much focus on 'risk-taking’ as an attribute of ‘excellence’. I certainly have witnessed directors talk about ‘risk’ as a brand characteristic. To me, this kind of thinking is mostly marketing hyperbole and a misunderstanding of the notion of risk. There are risks associated with absolutely everything.
At this point in time, the ‘risky’ behaviour is sticking with the status quo.
We know that human overconsumption, unconscious systems, greed, self-interest, wastefulness are all attributes of the status quo. Perhaps the most serious risk that museums can take is to remain committed to their three historical pillars - buildings, collections and exhibits. It seems so obvious to me that buildings, collections and exhibits are strategies in the service of catalyzing public value. Yet few museums truly plan for, or measure, the catalyzing of public value. I see this absence of planning as being risky behaviour, because the potential for negative consequences is very high.
Museums, for me, embody the potential for generating ‘the place of the muses’, which is not fundamentally a physical place - but a psychological and social space. The muses belong everywhere where our living culture is playing it self out hopefully in adaptive ways. Risk must be consciously calculated in order to maximize the potential for adaptive impacts and minimize non-adaptive impacts. Risk assessment is fundamental and central to what all parts of our society must be doing. Museums could be helping to catalyze these processes across society, but it will require significant internal transformation of the historical and existing assumptions about the core goals, activities, and measures of success of museums.
What are some other things you would like Musings readers to know about you?
I taught Museum Education in the MMSt program from about 1991 to 1996 and have been guest lecturing in the program across my entire career. In 2014, I had the honour of being the first Research Fellow in Museum Studies at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Research Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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The future of the museums' role in participating in, teaching and pursuing climate action is a sentiment that must be pushed further than our current efforts as museum professionals. It will not be easy, it will not be quick and it will not be without growing pains and resistance. However, we can now see the public, our potential and probable audiences, rallying all over the world for action. Is this the sign of change to come? Can we begin to pick up the pieces of what needs to be fixed, or should we rebuild it all together? Keeping these important questions in our minds as we go forward will be paramount to the ability to incite real institutional change. The challenge will be, as Worts mentioned, internal transformations to our mandates, missions and values that will reflect response versus reflection.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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