Engaging Communities with Supported Interpretation

During recent years, a growing number of art museums and galleries have experimented with innovative approaches to exhibition development to create more meaningful visitor experiences. However, although commendable, their efforts to make exhibitions visitor-centered have still not been consistent, partially due to the lack of existing models for practice for these kinds of projects. This chapter focuses on supported interpretation (SI), a model for developing visitor-centered exhibitions that can help museum professionals better advocate for their audiences, engage community members in the process of exhibition development, and turn visitors into active participants who feel empowered to share content during their museum visits. The authors dive deeply into the guidelines for implementing SI, discuss prior iterations of the model, share lessons learned, and explore new scenarios in order to provide current and future art museum educators and interpretive planners with an easy-to-follow roadmap for developing successful visitor-centered SI exhibitions.