Invisible Doors The Hybrid Museum: Early Childhood Virtual & In-Person Learning in Art Museums

Abstract

The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is the preeminent art museum in the city of Detroit. The museum is looking to continue to increase its relationship with the community and grow its education program to best match its vision to be the town square of the community, a gathering place for everyone. Lave and Wenger’s Communities of Practice (CoP) framework was used to reveal how the community built around museums is important to their existence. Through semi-structured interviews and a survey, the study found that museums have taken various paths with no one set method of online hybrid experiences, yet all museums created the specific experiences in order to encourage the feeling of community among preschool aged children, their families, and educators. It also found that funding structures have changed at most museums interviewed due to implications of COVID-19 and there was much more systematic listening being done by the museums/education departments of their constituents. Equal access to museums for all students is also a concern for education departments.