Radical Approach to Institutions Making Art Accessible
My first museum trip was during elementary school, I remember how excited I was to ride the bus and travel downtown. I held on tight to my paper lunch bag that held my favorite sandwich and snacks, and in my little purse was five dollars that my dad gave me to buy something for myself. I felt in those moments that I was taking a trip to a magical place, that I would get to discover new things. This annual sponsored trip to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, was one that my sisters who are older than me had taken before, and to me it was finally my turn to explore something I’d never seen before. My parents were hard working people, who were not interested in culture beyond our community, and the plights of black persons in Washington, and the world. They were focused on bringing us up to be independent and smart in science and math but had no way to expose to us what they didn’t have experience with. I didn’t hold this against them, but thought it was my turn to learn something and get an experience that I could share on Sunday with my dad as we did the crossword puzzle and read the comic section. The trip to the museum, was in my mind a way to finally be smarter and bring something only I could share to my family. This thinking is still deeply ingrained in me, and is how I feel knowledge should be shared, gaining a new perspective on something, tangible or not, and then sharing that experience with someone else to encourage them to seek new ideas.