Local Examples
We picked 5 museums that provide great examples of inclusive programming. These programs illustrate commitment to equity and inclusion, interactive learning materials and activities for children. They foster curiosity and exploration and offers sensory-sensitive activities.
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art offers youth-specific programs, including guided school visits, summer art camps, and interdisciplinary art classes investigating the connections between art, science, and building. Additionally, the museum offers programs that address DEIA for youth. These include an East Asian summer art camp that grounds children in the fundamentals of Asian art, an Art Exploration Camp for Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth, and Art Access VSA Workshops for K-12 Children with Special Needs. Additionally, the museum offers several inclusive programs for adults, including Reflections and Connections, a program for adults with Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
Courtyard at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon.
Eugene Science Center
The Eugene Science Center is a small hands-on children’s museum located next to Eugene, Oregon. The museum hosts several interactive exhibits aimed at helping children learn about scientific principles, natural science, and technology. In addition to its interactive exhibits, the center has a planetarium that offers a wide array of visual shows. The museum was featured in the article Expanding Accessibility: Sensory Sensitive Programming for Museums, as an example of museums trying to expand sensory-sensitive programming for children and adults that are neurodivergent.
To create an inclusive environment for children that struggle with sensory processing difficulties, the museum offers sensory bags with supplies to help process sensory stimulation, including fidget toys and headphones. The museum also offers sensory nights, where the museum is closed to the general public. In addition to sensory sensitivity programs, the museum has made strides towards inclusive practices by providing large text labels in both Spanish and English. Wide paths between exhibits to provide access for wheelchairs and a variety of types and heights of seating, the Science Center also participates in museums for everyone, a program that reduces admissions costs to $1 for EBT (food stamps) and WIC participants and created programs dedicated to teaching girls STEM.
Entrance to the Eugene Science Center in Eugene, Oregon.
The Springfield History Museum
The Springfield History Museum is located in downtown Springfield OR. The museum and its programming are part of The Springfield Public Library’s services. The museum is relatively small and has two gallery spaces; one dedicated to the museum’s permanent collection and the other to temporary exhibits. The museum has made strides towards inclusive practices by offering participatory activities for visitors, including interactive worksheets for children, a kid’s corner and interactive elements for their temporary exhibits.
The current temporary exhibit Working Springfield: exploring labor in Springfield through local voices, promotes inclusive practice by featuring local perspectives from diverse backgrounds. The exhibit conflates oral narratives from the city’s workforce with a timeline of historical local, regional, and national labor and union facts. The exhibit was curated by Maddi McGraw and is dedicated to celebrating the contributions of Springfield’s workforce over the last 200 years. For the Working Springfield exhibit, the museum partnered with local historians from the University of Oregon’s Labor Education and Research Center (LERC) to interview local workers. The interviewees held jobs ranging from Starbucks baristas, Peace Health healthcare workers, teachers, and more.
Entrance to the Springfield History Museum in Springfield, Oregon.
Portland Art Museum
The Portland Art Museum, Located in Portland, Oregon, is dedicated to the preservation and display of cinematic and visual arts. In 2019 the Portland Art Museum’s board of trustees approved its equity and inclusion statement. This statement included a commitment to partner with diverse community organizations, question and challenge how the museum collects and preserves art and film and change policies and programs to advance equity and create a more inclusive practice. As part of this work, museum staff created an equity team composed of 20 museum staff members from across departments that worked with the Guidance of The Center for Equity and Inclusion to create DEIA tools to help guide the museum’s commitment to inclusive programming.
Some of the museum programs that exemplify this commitment to equity and inclusion include the Create More Resiliency Project, this program partnered with local artists, and Create More Fear Less project to create a virtual workshop series dedicated to building social and emotional learning. The Journal On a program started in the summer of 2020 that asked community members to respond to a series of prompts around the theme of resiliency throughout the Covid 19 Pandemic. Additionally, the museum has expanded its community partnerships in an effort to make the museum accessible to a wider audience and increase the impact of the museum programming. The museum is currently partnering with over 25 organizations.
Entrance to the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon.
Museum of Natural and Cultural History
The Museum of Natural and Cultural History is located in Eugene, Oregon. Dedicated to preserving the PNW’s natural and cultural histories through the collection and display of objects and artifacts, and stories. To ensure inclusive practice and representation, the museum is dedicated to working alongside the state’s tribes. The museum serves as an interdisciplinary education center that caters to a diverse range of visitors, including K-12, high school, and University students and the wider public.
The Museum has demonstrated a commitment to inclusive practices through its programming. One aspect of their programming that exemplifies inclusivity is the museums’ efforts to improve access to their exhibits. This includes virtual exhibits, a mobile museum education program that brings a collection of artifacts to local schools, DIY museum kits for local libraries, and bilingual museum adventure packs that are available for students to check out. Additionally, the museum’s exhibits tell the diverse local histories. Some examples of this include: Racing to Change: Oregon’s Civil Rights Years—The Eugene Story, Oregon, Where Past Meets the Present, this exhibit chronicles Oregon’s first peoples and combines historical content with current perspectives of the state’s tribes.
Entrance to the Museum of Natural and Cultural History in Eugene, Oregon.
Local Examples
We picked 5 museums that provide great examples of inclusive programming. These programs illustrate commitment to equity and inclusion, interactive learning materials and activities for children. They foster curiosity and exploration and offers sensory-sensitive activities.
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art offers youth-specific programs, including guided school visits, summer art camps, and interdisciplinary art classes investigating the connections between art, science, and building. Additionally, the museum offers programs that address DEIA for youth. These include an East Asian summer art camp that grounds children in the fundamentals of Asian art, an Art Exploration Camp for Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth, and Art Access VSA Workshops for K-12 Children with Special Needs. Additionally, the museum offers several inclusive programs for adults, including Reflections and Connections, a program for adults with Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
Courtyard at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon.
Eugene Science Center
The Eugene Science Center is a small hands-on children’s museum located next to Eugene, Oregon. The museum hosts several interactive exhibits aimed at helping children learn about scientific principles, natural science, and technology. In addition to its interactive exhibits, the center has a planetarium that offers a wide array of visual shows. The museum was featured in the article Expanding Accessibility: Sensory Sensitive Programming for Museums, as an example of museums trying to expand sensory-sensitive programming for children and adults that are neurodivergent.
To create an inclusive environment for children that struggle with sensory processing difficulties, the museum offers sensory bags with supplies to help process sensory stimulation, including fidget toys and headphones. The museum also offers sensory nights, where the museum is closed to the general public. In addition to sensory sensitivity programs, the museum has made strides towards inclusive practices by providing large text labels in both Spanish and English. Wide paths between exhibits to provide access for wheelchairs and a variety of types and heights of seating, the Science Center also participates in museums for everyone, a program that reduces admissions costs to $1 for EBT (food stamps) and WIC participants and created programs dedicated to teaching girls STEM.
Entrance to the Eugene Science Center in Eugene, Oregon.
The Springfield History Museum
The Springfield History Museum is located in downtown Springfield OR. The museum and its programming are part of The Springfield Public Library’s services. The museum is relatively small and has two gallery spaces; one dedicated to the museum’s permanent collection and the other to temporary exhibits. The museum has made strides towards inclusive practices by offering participatory activities for visitors, including interactive worksheets for children, a kid’s corner and interactive elements for their temporary exhibits.
The current temporary exhibit Working Springfield: exploring labor in Springfield through local voices, promotes inclusive practice by featuring local perspectives from diverse backgrounds. The exhibit conflates oral narratives from the city’s workforce with a timeline of historical local, regional, and national labor and union facts. The exhibit was curated by Maddi McGraw and is dedicated to celebrating the contributions of Springfield’s workforce over the last 200 years. For the Working Springfield exhibit, the museum partnered with local historians from the University of Oregon’s Labor Education and Research Center (LERC) to interview local workers. The interviewees held jobs ranging from Starbucks baristas, Peace Health healthcare workers, teachers, and more.
Entrance to the Springfield History Museum in Springfield, Oregon.
Portland Art Museum
The Portland Art Museum, Located in Portland, Oregon, is dedicated to the preservation and display of cinematic and visual arts. In 2019 the Portland Art Museum’s board of trustees approved its equity and inclusion statement. This statement included a commitment to partner with diverse community organizations, question and challenge how the museum collects and preserves art and film and change policies and programs to advance equity and create a more inclusive practice. As part of this work, museum staff created an equity team composed of 20 museum staff members from across departments that worked with the Guidance of The Center for Equity and Inclusion to create DEIA tools to help guide the museum’s commitment to inclusive programming.
Some of the museum programs that exemplify this commitment to equity and inclusion include the Create More Resiliency Project, this program partnered with local artists, and Create More Fear Less project to create a virtual workshop series dedicated to building social and emotional learning. The Journal On a program started in the summer of 2020 that asked community members to respond to a series of prompts around the theme of resiliency throughout the Covid 19 Pandemic. Additionally, the museum has expanded its community partnerships in an effort to make the museum accessible to a wider audience and increase the impact of the museum programming. The museum is currently partnering with over 25 organizations.
Entrance to the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon.
Museum of Natural and Cultural History
The Museum of Natural and Cultural History is located in Eugene, Oregon. Dedicated to preserving the PNW’s natural and cultural histories through the collection and display of objects and artifacts, and stories. To ensure inclusive practice and representation, the museum is dedicated to working alongside the state’s tribes. The museum serves as an interdisciplinary education center that caters to a diverse range of visitors, including K-12, high school, and University students and the wider public.
The Museum has demonstrated a commitment to inclusive practices through its programming. One aspect of their programming that exemplifies inclusivity is the museums’ efforts to improve access to their exhibits. This includes virtual exhibits, a mobile museum education program that brings a collection of artifacts to local schools, DIY museum kits for local libraries, and bilingual museum adventure packs that are available for students to check out. Additionally, the museum’s exhibits tell the diverse local histories. Some examples of this include: Racing to Change: Oregon’s Civil Rights Years—The Eugene Story, Oregon, Where Past Meets the Present, this exhibit chronicles Oregon’s first peoples and combines historical content with current perspectives of the state’s tribes.
Entrance to the Museum of Natural and Cultural History in Eugene, Oregon.