WHAT IS MUSEUM INTERPRETATION?

Art Museum Interpretation can vary from organization to organization depending on audience needs and institutional resources. However, there are a common set of values that art museum interpretation should strive for regardless of circumstance. The following set of value statements both define and drive our work within the field.

Art Museum Interpretation:

• Creates multiple pathways for understanding by creating an experience that equally values the visitor, the art object, and the organization’s mission.
• Encourages audiences of varying backgrounds, knowledge levels, and learning styles to make relevant connections between art, ideas, and their lived experience.
• Practices socially, intellectually, and physically accessible and inclusive interpretive strategies onsite, offsite, and online.
• Creates learning opportunities that invite visitors to shift previously held views and expectations through intentional, respectful, and often playful provocation,
• Utilizes collaboration, curiosity-driven experimentation, rigorous evaluation, reflection, and skill building, to create meaningful interpretive experiences.