From Mono to Multi

Multiculturalism & Multilingualism in Museums

Authors

  • Denisse Brito Tucson Museum of Art

Abstract

Museums are educational institutions that support the understanding of one’s heritage and create dialogue and reflection. As one commentator puts it, “Museums around the world hold some of the most valuable artifacts in existence.” (Mia 2016) However, these artifacts are predominantly Western, with Eurocentric values attached to them. One could argue that, with such a high value placed on Western heritage, museums reinforce a primarily white visitor demographic. Moving forward, museums have to acclimate to the nonhomogeneous population around them. By so doing, the multiple barriers diverse audiences feel when visiting and feeling welcomed in a museum can be overcome, creating safe spaces for visitors to have rewarding experiences. Denisse Brito, the author of this short report, works at the Tucson Museum of Art as the Assistant Curator of Community Engagement.

Author Biography

Denisse Brito, Tucson Museum of Art

Brito obtained her BFA from the Division of Art and Visual Culture Education with an emphasis in Community and Museums from the University of Arizona in 2014. In 2017, she received her MA from the University of Leicester, England in Museum Studies. Denisse has a wide range of experience teaching individuals of different age and nationalities. She has been teaching in a museum setting for 5 years. Currently, she works at the Tucson Museum of Art as the Assistant Curator of Community Engagement.

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Published

2018-08-31

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2018): Languaging as Refuge: Practice Meets Theory

Section

“They Don’t Hear my Tongue Dance in Arabic”

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