I teach an upper-level arts administration course in the English and Cultural Studies Department at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island. I sometimes need to explain the course to interested students by explaining what it is not – it is not a marketing course or management course but rather deals with some of the broader ideas surrounding arts administration, such as engaging the arts in communities, cultural advocacy, public policy, and artistic vision. One of the main goals is for students to become good stewards of the arts no matter what career path they choose.

In a campus-wide survey conducted by students in the Arts and Entertainment: Issues in Arts Administration course, many of those who responded saw the importance of the arts within daily life but had difficulty making connections between the arts and their own lives on campus. While the College of Arts and Sciences is growing at Bryant University, historically the school has been known for its offerings in the College of Business. In survey responses, a number of students wrote that the reason for their lack of interest in the arts on campus is that “this is a business school.” Beyond this being a false statement, it demonstrated a perception that business students are not interested in the arts. Students in the arts administration course decided that they wanted to tackle this issue through demonstrating the importance of the arts in daily life and reshape what students think of when they hear “the arts.”  

In order to facilitate stronger connections with the arts on campus, in the Spring of 2019, I piloted a museum project that would provide a means for those at Bryant to see their own connections to the arts. I based the museum project on an amalgamation of small and temporary museum models, with inspiration from tiny museums, German kunsthalle, and pop-up galleries. The aim of the museums was to provide an opportunity for students in the course to curate an exhibition and also allow students, faculty and staff at the university to submit items to these museums in order to make personal connections to the arts. Rather than rationalize their place on campus as devoid of artistic endeavors, the campus community would be able to visit the museums and see the artistic in the everyday.

Students in the course were divided into groups and the five museum themes became photography, fashion, sports and movement, music and visual arts. The objects in these museums were gathered from the campus community. Rather than simply ask for objects we wanted people to think about the aesthetics of the object and their personal connections. We created five prompts (one for each museum) and students in some of my other courses, as well as friends of students, faculty, and staff at the University were asked to respond to any of the prompts that interested them. The five prompts used for the museums were:

Deeper Than Fabric
Describe an item of clothing or fabric/textile that has special meaning to you. What does it look like? How does it feel when you wear it? What memories do you associate with the item?

Sports, Dance and Movement
Describe an important sports or dance item of yours as a work of art. What makes it physically beautiful? Do you have a favorite memory associated with that item? Can you describe what it feels like when you use the item?

Life Through a Lens: Behind the Lens, Into the Lens
Describe your favorite photograph. What are the aesthetics of the photo that make it beautiful to you? What memories do you associate with the photo?

Experience the Music
Describe your favorite music-related item that you own (instrument, concert t-shirt, etc.). You can describe it physically, what it sounds like (if it is a song), or how it makes you feel. What memories do you associate with that item?

Tiny Space? Art Finds A Place!
Do you know any students who regularly produce artwork? Describe their work and why you enjoy it.

Deeper Than Fabric Tiny Museum

Students in the course read through answers to the prompts and contacted students for permission to include their personal response and acquire the object for the museum.

We opened the museums as part of the University’s special Research and Engagement Day (REDay). Regular classes were cancelled and students attended panels, papers, and creative displays organized by students and faculty, as well as guest speakers. Students in the arts administration class setup the tiny museums in glass walled study rooms in one building on campus. Visitors could visit each museum room to interact with the objects. They could read and listen to stories, memories and connections shared by the Bryant community of why these items are important to them and share their own stories and experiences.

The students in the course gauged responses to the museums through verbal anecdotes, written prompts and direct feedback from visitors. Many of the museums had participatory components and places to comment and share the visitor’s own experiences. For example, in the Sports, Dance and Movement Museum, each visitor contributed to an art piece throughout the day by putting a paint-coated golf ball and trying to make a hole-in-one. By the end of the day an abstract piece had been created on the floor with each visitor’s attempt. What was important was that visitors could see themselves in the museum and connect what they do every day to the arts. The museums provided an opportunity for the campus community to experience the arts in spaces otherwise known for studying and reflect and respond to topics and pieces that interested them.

In the Spring of 2020, I started the semester with the same museum idea, thinking about new museum themes such as books, film, maps and postcards, with an overall theme of Creative Placemaking. Of course, as we all know, everything changed with the pandemic. In mid-March, students left campus and classes were virtual. I still wanted the twenty-five students in the class to think about the exhibition theme, objects and purpose and decided to have them look at their own environment for museum ideas and create tiny museums at home.

Life Through a Lens: Behind the Lens, Into the Lens Tiny Museum

It was important for students to think back to the original idea of the arts as part of daily life, which allowed them to look into their personal experiences as valuable for display and discussion. There were many options for home museums, but students could also propose something from their neighborhood, such as exploring the aesthetics of nature, vehicles, or buildings. It was important that the project did not become focused on monetary worth, but rather aesthetic value and personal meaning. Students created museums dedicated to childhood art, shoe design, Olympics memorabilia, jewelry, theater ephemera, Legos, and baseball caps, among others.

Along with images and descriptions for the museum, students created a museum/exhibition title, mission statement, marketing piece, advocacy letter, and multimedia component, among other requirements. The students visited the museums through images and descriptions and provided feedback. In the Spring of 2021, three samples from these museums were accepted to Bryant University’s Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. The three featured museums were vastly different. The Choata Mandir Museum: Artistic Representation of Deities, Gods and Objects in the Hindu Religion focused on religious objects in one student’s home and personal memories of family members regarding those objects. In a second example Sights and Sounds: Connecting Visual Arts and Music, the student created a visitor experience by composing songs on the piano based on four paintings or prints that were in his home. The visitor experienced the paintings while listening to his composed songs. In the third museum, Quarantine Adventures, the student gathered objects from travels abroad and added personal memories to the descriptions.

Students who created the museums during both semesters, as well as those who attended during the first iteration, had an opportunity to reflect. The Deeper Than Fabric Museum showcased various Bryant University clothing through the years and the students from the class who acquired these items from the library archives and students who donated contemporary clothing commented that seeing these style changes made them think about fashion traditions and trends on our campus that they had not considered. Students also commented on the red prom dress in this museum and fashion as a beautiful art form. Students visiting the Sports, Museum and Dance Museum said they were able to easily connect to the stories behind the pieces and creating the art composition with the golf ball was a new way of looking at a familiar item. One student who visited the photograph museum, Life Through a Lens: Behind the Lens, Into the Lens, commented that she enjoyed seeing her own photograph as part of the exhibit and the memories of other contributors. Another student commented that seeing the polaroid camera display in this museum made her proud for owning one, and that she hoped to see more pop-up museums in the future. Finally, a student commented that the descriptions below the photos allowed the viewer to see beyond the image and understand what the person was feeling, which took them into the moment and created more meaning. In each of these examples, the students personally connected to the items on display, which was an important part of the reason for creating the museums.

One of the barriers that we found to participation in the arts at the University is the idea that the “arts are not for me” or are for a certain type of person. While there are many avenues for exploring the arts at Bryant University, the museum projects brought the arts into a familiar space (study and meeting rooms) with objects gathered from students themselves. In Spring of 2019, the museums were created to highlight objects from students of all majors and colleges and for visitors to see themselves reflected in what they saw. In the Spring of 2020, the home museums allowed students to think about the arts within their own environment and share their experiences, knowledge and artifacts to a wider community. The museum projects were both grounded in the idea that the arts are in all of our lives and tiny museums and student-curated exhibitions can be an avenue for highlighting the artistic in the everyday.

Header image: Sports, Dance and Movement Tiny Museum