The Science Museums Community Curator program asks artists to collaborate with the collections team to take items from the museum's collections to share with the public. Artists have the freedom to connect their practice or culture with the pieces however they choose. I chose to connect community with as many pieces as possible because it's not widely known that the museum has a large collection of items from around the world. I choose items from West, Central, and East Africa and intentionally put as many of them as close to the windows as possible so that the creations would see the light of day. This was important to me because these pieces sit in dark storage far from the sun in ways that do not align with the reasons they were created.

 

I held an event called "Weaving IN Community" to ensure the community had an opportunity to have some of the same access I was given to the museum's collection. Working with the collections, curatorial, design, and event staff I proposed displaying many items during an event that was open to the public. I also invited other artists to come to the museum to help choose what pieces we would share at the event. This engagement was successful because it gave multiple artists an opportunity to learn about the community Curator program but also many people learned more about the collection and the reality that anyone can set an appointment to see the collection.