Science Museum of Minnesota
We’re committed to sharing power and decision making, internally and with external partners. Connection is key—with cultural liaisons and family advocates to engage community members with the museum, with local libraries to learn successful strategies for reaching Latinx communities, and to deepen relationships with our listening session participants.
Science Museum of Minnesota
Annual operating budget: $20 million +
Total number of employees: 372
Annual visitorship: 439,212
**Numbers reported at time of participation
Our plan: Let the community guide us
Spanish is the second most common language in Minnesota, but we knew it hadn’t been fully integrated into the museum experience. Our plan was to embrace and implement incremental changes toward the ultimate goal of authentic representation and inclusion of our Latinx communities, and to do it by fostering community connections. With this in mind, we turned to the community to guide us on how we could better welcome and represent Spanish speakers at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
Our projects: Bring Spanish into the museum
Our main project was hosting a bilingual community listening session focused on Latinx perspectives and how to incorporate Spanish into the museum. The session included activities, reflection, and discussion in small groups in both English and Spanish. In this culturally relevant listening session, we provided Lotería games with prizes, Latin cuisine, and stipends to offset barriers to participation. We took cues from the Cambio six-spoke framework: we built relationships with community partners, considered identity within our institution and the surrounding community by discussing Spanish-language representation and use within the museum, and examined our structures and assumptions by gathering community feedback on our current language practices. We’ll continue this work by updating our museum signage and creating a task force to formalize the process for creating signage that incorporates Spanish and other languages.
Our takeaways: Listen, connect, and collaborate
Our Cambio year led to real institutional growth as we explored the process and challenges of working in cross-functional teams to tackle complex topics. We shared our work within the organization and were thrilled when other staff members, including someone from the Facilities department, asked to join the team. Their participation provided more diverse perspectives and Latinx representation.
The work doesn’t stop here. We’ll continue to share our learnings:
- being responsive and relevant comes from community feedback and insights
- incorporating other languages at the museum requires a dedicated approach
- extend the invitation to create new relationships and renew existing ones
We’re committed to sharing power and decision making, internally and with external partners. Connection is key—with cultural liaisons and family advocates to engage community members with the museum, with local libraries to learn successful strategies for reaching Latinx communities, and to deepen relationships with our listening session participants.
To read other museums’ stories of change, visit our Cambio Stories page.
