Essential Engagement: Dialogic Interpretation

Delivered by International Coalition of Sites of Conscience * 3 Day Workshop from March 20-22, 2018 As museums seek to engage and fulfill audiences in an increasingly complex society, dialogue is a key tool that is taking museum education into the future. Engaging the public in contentious conversations is not easy, but it is often necessary. This multi-day course provides instruction in facilitated dialogue, an intentional, structured process that allows visitors to interact with site content and with one another in profound new ways. This training will help staff and volunteers in museums, historic sites and other public spaces create dynamic centers for community engagement through training grounded in the work of thought leaders, educators and human rights advocates around the world. Delivered by International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (https://www.sitesofconscience.org/), the only global network of historic sites, museums and memory initiatives that connect past struggles to today’s movements for human rights. The Coalition has trained over 10,000 professionals from across the globe in dialogue since this program premiered in 2012. Learning Objectives • Clarify the characteristics of effective dialogue • Examine and apply the Arc of Dialogue model • Share facilitation leadership styles and techniques to engage visitors in dialogue • Identify the competencies and functions of facilitators • Model dialogue experiences • Use the Arc of Dialogue as a tool for developing effective dialogue programs • Pilot attendee-written dialogue programs and provide feedback Target Audience museum educators, public programmers, interpreters, interpretive planners, and those who manage and train front-line interpretive staff at museums ***Dialogic Interpretation Agenda*** DAY ONE – 9:00 Introductions Overview of International Coalition of Sites of Conscience Overview of Goals and Agenda 9:30 Guidelines "What do we need from each other to engage openly and honestly today?" 9:45 Why dialogue? Museums as Agents of Audience Engagement and Social Change 10:15 - Break - 10:30 The Arc of Dialogue: Designing a Process You Can Facilitate 11:30 Methodology Touch Base – Questions and Concerns 12:00 - Lunch - 1:00 Asking Better Questions to Build a Better Arc 2:00 Compelling Invitations 2:30 Break 2:45 What Could it Look Like at Your Site? (Small group work to create compelling invitations) 3:45 Questions and Review of Next Day's Agenda DAY TWO – 9:00 Morning Check-In 9:30 Compelling Invitation Prototyping 10:30 Break 10:45 Facilitating Your Arc (Facilitators use a variety of techniques to help participants engage one another in productive learning. The challenge a facilitator faces is to employ a diversity of techniques that welcome people of various learning styles into the experience of dialogue) 12:00 - Lunch - 1:00 Facilitating Your Arc, Continued 2:15 "What Could it Look Like Here?" (Small group work to develop/adapt facilitator-led dialogue models) 3:45 Questions and Review of Tomorrow’s Agenda DAY THREE - 9:00 Responding to Visitor Scenarios (What are specific examples of conflict that you would like to explore with one another to determine “what could I have done differently”? or “what should I be prepared to do”?) 9:30 Addressing Conflict in Dialogue 10:15 - Break - 10:30 Putting It on Its Feet (Groups facilitate programs they have designed) 12:00 - Lunch - 1:00 Putting It on Its Feet, Continued (Groups facilitate programs they have designed) 3:30 Final Questions and Evaluation ---------------------------------------------------------------

Ontario Science Centre

Mar 20-22, 2018