I’m speaking in two sessions at the 2023 National Humanities Conference:
Access and Inclusion Through University-Community Public Humanities Collaborations
Friday, October 27
Laura Holzman, Kris Johnson, Elizabeth Kryder-Reid, Lois Silverman
This roundtable explores how public humanities can support inclusive practices and diverse partnerships, particularly through university-community collaborations, using examples from the IUPUI Museum Studies Program. The conversation includes Museum Studies faculty, graduate students, and community partners sharing the experiences and lessons from public humanities projects, including exhibits, public programs, and professional development initiatives, many of which received funding from Indiana Humanities. Participants will share their successes, as well as the challenges and lessons learned from failure, in mobilizing public humanities to include underrepresented audiences, address social justice issues, work across diverse organizations and stakeholders, and democratize knowledge.
Curating for a Different Future: Public Humanities and Collaborative Practice
Saturday, October 28
Erin Benay, Laura Holzman and Kavita Mahoney, Keri Watson
How can the humanities be harnessed in collaborative, community-based curatorial interventions that shape future paths for organizations, communities, and individuals? Panelists in this session will discuss the ethical and logistical implications of curatorial strategies and interventions that increasingly seek to diversify the types of voices commonly heard in museum, academic, and community spaces alike. This panel explores how community partnerships, transdisciplinary practices, and applied learning are employed as curatorial interventions to build more just and equitable encounters in and beyond conventional exhibition contexts.