The Studio Museum in Harlem
by Sandra Jackson-Dumont
The early 1990s witnessed the release of the classic hip-hop
record aptly entitled Edutainment, by KRS-One and
Boogie Down Productions (BDP). Arguably the last great album
by one of hip hop’s earliest socially conscious rappers, Edutainment was
nothing short of what the title inferred— education and
entertainment combined as a strategy to meet the public where
they were intellectually, politically and socially. To some,
I might be dating myself by referencing the term edutainment.
To others, it may sound like another sorry effort to coin a
word. But to those of us in the field of education, museums
and/or community organizing, this reference resonates because
it has been the source of much dialogue at museum and education
conferences around the world. Over the last decade, many museums
have taken steps to become increasingly more audience-centered
spaces, giving rise to interactive public programs ranging
from attention-grabbing family activities like Family Fun
@ the Studio, complete with appearances by familiar cartoon
characters, to social parties like SMH’s own Uptown
Fridays! Music, cocktails, culture, which was designed
as a point of entry for young professionals and new museum
goers. Seminars, including contemporary Issues in Context,
at The Studio Museum often meld popular culture and traditional
art history in an effort to contemporize subjects while simultaneously
nurturing a new cultural consumer. When comparing the complexion
of today’s museum with the role historically carved out
for this kind of institution, some questions beg for answers.
Have museums been reduced to programmatic entertainment? What
would museums look like in the absence of “edutainment”?
While the fields of community and k-12 education seem to have
embraced this approach to learning, museums that experiment
with new ways to make content relevant and meaningful have
often been heavily criticized and even accused of dumbing down.
And as a result, the state of museums in the 21st century is
wrought with contradiction. The territorialized exclusionary
practices on which museums have traditionally been built is
in direct conflict with modern technology and, in most cases,
the contemporary patron. Slowly and progressively, this sturdy
historic framework is withering in the glare of a flourishing
model that is at once unexpectedly interesting and surprisingly
relevant. Many museums are embracing a new model that focuses
on redefining the museum as a hybrid space where history and
the contemporary can set up camp alongside theory and practice.
By functioning as a “site for the dynamic exchange of
ideas,”1 various constituencies are able to intersect
with and within the museum to make the space more than a holding
facility for objects. All things considered, if “edutainment” translates
into an engaging, vital and exciting environment, then employing
this pedagogy is well worth the criticism!#
Sandra Jackson-Dumont is the
Director of Education & Public
Programs, The Studio Museum in Harlem.
