What 50 things would you pick to tell the story of your community?
Which landmarks, famous sons and daughters, and notable incidents would you pick? Which employers, cultural motifs, turns of phrase, and old shops are quintessentially associated with your community?
Is it the story of a community of place or a community of interest? Perhaps it’s the story of a community of people with shared characteristics? Perhaps it’s a story of the intersection of each type of community.
Our pocket museum is a proven concept in which people come together to co-curate the objects – the things – that tells their community’s story. They create the long list, they whittle it down and they forge consensus. Not people from outside. Not self-appointed experts.
It’s a project that has democracy and inclusion baked into it. It’s a deliberative process that is community-led and which invariably helps surface new narratives for the community in question to use to propel it forward. It is also extremely effective in reaching a community’s diaspora; those people who may have left their community many moons ago but still carry that community in their heart.
We at Grow Social Capital build the scaffolding around the process and bring ready-made features to the table such as the design and branding templates (though these can be adapted for each community in terms of colour scheme, logos, etc.), curation documents, and lots more.
The pocket museum was inspired by a project that emanated from the first ever Modern Cockney Festival and which has since been adapted elsewhere. Feedback from participants includes making people feel good about themselves, and their community with positive responses of:
‘identity’, ‘dignity’, ‘anchoring’, ‘memory’
‘belonging’, ‘social cohesion’, ‘your position in the world’
‘neighbourliness’, ‘mental well-being’, ‘family connections’
If you would like a chat about how your community might go about co-curating its own pocket museum, email us at [email protected].
