(Visual created by Museum Teen Summit Youth)
How do you create and develop a relationship between museums and teens?
A museum needs to communicate to the teens a strong sense of its identity. What difference can it make in a teen's life? They have to see each other frequently for this to happen. This allows for more opportunities to make mistakes and learn from them. Both have to work together for the project to work. They have to listen to the opinions and suggestions and for this to happen you need respect and recognition. It's also important to offer teens something that they can do. Teens get told what not to do all the time: don't drink, don't go out late, don't do drugs, don't hang with those people. Offer them a new kind of freedom, one that empowers them. For my part I'm trying to see how you can get an emotional impact out of an experience with a museum because that's what we all remember. You need:
- identity, both parties need to recognize who they are
- respect, they have to listen to opinions and suggestions
- freedom, an outlet or alternative in their lives
