Benefits of Collaborating with Older Adult Learners to Develop a Museum Program for Seniors

Many museums are adopting new engagement strategies to strengthen connections and relations with their communities in an effort to better serve their community’s needs. Museums are well-positioned to facilitate positive change in their communities by engaging or partnering with like-minded community groups and leveraging community assets. Museums and these community groups have much to gain by working together, but putting community engagement strategies into practice can be particularly challenging with limited resources. Adding to this challenge are current gaps in knowledge around the benefits of community engagement in museums, which have received little attention in the academic literature beyond exhibit-based projects. Using a participatory action research approach and a community engagement strategy, this study explores the benefits of collaborating with a group of seniors (or older adult learners) in the context of museum programming. Six museum-based volunteers (55 years and older) agreed to participate in four workshops facilitated by a museum educator to help develop an outreach program for seniors. Descriptions of participants’ experiences were collected through post-workshop interviews and, in supplementary form, through recorded workshop discussions. The study found that participants experienced a range of benefits, including new knowledge and skills, cognitive stimulation and physical activity, transformative learning, socialization, and a stronger sense of community and identity. Participants also gained a rare view into the world of museum education and a greater appreciation for the complexities of museum work, potentially strengthening the museum’s social capital. Challenges of participating in the study’s collaborative process were explored, including cognitive demands, misaligned expectations, cultural differences and language barriers. Relevant facilitation strategies are suggested to scaffold or mitigate these challenges in future.