For the past few years Rainey Tisdale has been working with Trevor Jones (Kentucky Historical Society) and Elee Wood (IUPUI Museum Studies) as an informal think tank to address big, entrenched problems of museum collections stewardship, problems that many museum professionals are worried about but no one has figured out how to solve. They call this project Active Collections. They argue that the core approach to museum collections has stayed largely the same while everything around those collections—cultural, social, and economic systems; people’s relationships to the

material world; the museums themselves—has changed. In her brown bag talk, sponsored by IU’s Historical Teaching and Practice seminar series, Tisdale will discuss major societal trends influencing museum practice, the Active Collections project, and what it might mean to steward leaner, more sustainable collections with greater impact. Rainey Tisdale is an independent curator who leads for change on a number of field-wide museum issues, including creative practice, place-based interpretation, collections stewardship, and empathetic museums.. She is the co-author of “Creativity in Museum Practice” (with Linda Norris, Left Coast Press, 2013). The brown bag talk is free and open to the public.

Free visitor parking is available by the Indiana Avenue lobby entrance. Metered parking is available at the McCalla School parking lot on the corner of Ninth Street and Indiana Avenue. The parking lot also has spaces designated for Indiana University C and ST permits. During the weekends free parking is available on the surrounding streets. An access ramp is located at the Fess Avenue entrance, on the corner of Ninth Street and Fess Avenue. Reserved parking spaces are available on Ninth Street, between Fess Avenue and Indiana Avenue. If you have a disability and need assistance, special arrangements can be made to accommodate most needs. Please call 812-855-6873.

Cost: Free

For more information contact:

Judith Kirk
(812) 855-6873
[email protected]