Ron Chew’s Keynote Speech at National Guild for Community Arts Education Conference
Ron Chew, a leader in the community-based model of museum exhibit development, delivered a keynote address to the Conference for Community Arts Education in November 2014 called The Five Essentials: Arts and the movement for social justice. The text of the keynote is published at Northwest Asian Weekly:
I was recruited to work as director of a small, struggling historical society called the Wing Luke Asian Museum. It was here that I came to understand the power and importance of multi-disciplinary cultural work.
- Develop programs that connect to today’s issues and needs
- Embrace diversity
- Invest in long-term relationships
- Cultivate community ownership
- Bring in the next generation
The Wing Luke Museum was facing a crisis at the time I arrived there in 1991.
The Museum had been established in 1968 in honor of Wing Luke, a Chinese immigrant elected to the Seattle City Council in 1962. The Museum operated without much passion as a tiny volunteer organization for most of its early years.
The mission statement I inherited talked about the Museum educating the public about Asian history, culture and art, and collecting and preserving objects. The new mission –developed in collaboration with community members – talked about “engaging” Asian Americans and others in “exploring issues” related to Asian American history, culture and art.”