Community Re-engagement Guide For The Museum of Northwest Art

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis project is to create a document reporting the current relationship of the Museum of Northwest Art's (MoNA) museum education staff and community partners, and provide recommendations on how to deepen or re-engage these established relationships by drawing inspiration from the field. The document contains six distinct sections including communication strategies, using intentional language, partnership evaluation examples and a compilation of resources from museums or museum associations around the world. There are also recommendations catered to MoNA such as the walk-and-talk evaluation method or working closely with the University of Washington's Museology program to provide internship opportunities. While the deliverable complimented MoNA's strengths like strong relationships with partners and solid programs for after school organizations, it also encouraged the museum to seize opportunities to reach out and connect partners to each other. The project was proposed by MoNA in March of 2024 and completed in June of 2025. The year-long process contained many meetings with committee members to ensure that the document had relevant practices. Evaluation surveys were also conducted to understand community partners and museum staff perspectives so that the content provided in the deliverable was helpful and thorough.