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4) to raise awareness of the potential of museums as social and community-based institutions

From the outset, the program realized that literacy had to encompass more than reading and writing. It also had to take account of visual literacy, scientific and computer literacy as well as cultural literacy. Yet the program was not about to invent another amalgam and begin promoting museum literacy. Rather it recognized from the beginning that museums are places where several literacies are at play; hence the program's initial and continuing purpose which is "to encourage literacy in and through museums."

PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATIONS

The CMA recognized that the program must not be confined to museums and galleries if it was really to work. Community involvement was and continues to be a necessary strategy and objective for all facets of the program including workshops on plain language, publications and information sharing. From the beginning the program has also worked with Storylinks, initially an Ontario-based organization that pioneered oral history as a method for literacy education. Storylinks'work with learners and local groups provided a model for cooperation and Storylinks staff, currently Jenifer McVaugh, are resource people for the Reading The Museum program. Collaboration is especially critical to the success of demonstration projects which involve museums, literacy educators and most importantly learners. Looking back at the seventeen previous projects and the six current ones, their success is primarily based on the extent to which the needs and interests of all the stakeholders are satisfied.

BEGINNING A PROJECT

For a demonstration project to work a museum and a literacy, organization or program must have a desire to cooperate. There is always an initiator in any partnership but there must also be incentives and grounds for a collaboration. Expectations, agenda and approaches to learning and organization may vary. Many museums will also discover that most literacy students are first time visitors and require a lot of encouragement to come and participate. Yet if a museum really wants to open its doors and a literacy program or organization really wants to venture in, these are sufficient reasons to begin a relationship.

To initiate a project, a museum can contact a public library in its community. Many have literacy programs or they can direct the museum to an appropriate partner. Several cities and municipal authorities also have literacy councils that can provide input or a museum can seek advice from

a provincial literacy coalition. The "Reading The Program" can also provide suggestions to museums and literacy organizations about possible partners. Contacts often can be made informally through other community organizations, such as a social service agency or school board.

CHOOSING A FOCUS

The task begins with the choice and development of an approach. Some museums and literacy programs will opt for a project that involves a large number of learners. This usually entails a tour in which learners visit a particular display or exhibition and participate in several activities, including the reading of labels and didactic panels. Projects that are more specific usually involve fewer learners and occur over longer periods of time. They also tend to be more inclusive with museum staff, literacy educators and learners all engaged in both the design and outcome of the project.

The Reading The Museum project has supported the general approach and definitely recognizes its value because it enables the participation of many learners. Yet it has tended to favour projects that are more focused. They give learners a greater opportunity to express themselves and make connections between their experiences and what they see, hear and read in the museum. Learners will produce written and visual work that they can take pride in and that provide other learners with evidence of what is possible in the museum.

DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS: A SAMPLING

Below are brief descriptions of four types of projects supported by the Reading The Museum program. They show what kinds of initiatives are possible and what ingredients are necessary, for a successful project.

1. Oral History
Oral history has many attributes as method for encouraging literacy. It enables learners to tell their own stories and gives them an opportunity, to hear about and record historical accounts by other people in their community. In practical terms an oral history project involves:

a) deciding what to collect,
b) taping the stories and
c) putting them in some assembled form to make them accessible to others.

Often a publication results that requires reading, writing and production skills such as transcribing the stories, introducing them and designing the publication.

Museums are an ideal site for doing oral history. Learners feel that they are making a contribution to history about
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