What can museums learn from agencies serving immigrants and what can they offer to newcomer audiences?
I have been visiting a couple of organizations who serve immigrants lately -mainly looking for mentoring programs- and I am always positively surprised by the fact that the person helping me has a strong connection with the immigrant experience. Often, these consultants themselves immigrated to Canada at some point in their life -at an adult stage usually- or they are second generation Canadians, so being a newcomer is something they can truly relate to.
During one of my visits to these agencies, I started to wonder whether the person in front of me would be visiting a museum over the weekend. Would s/he go to a lecture or check a new exhibit? Being an arts administrator who immigrated from Spain three years ago, I regularly visit museums in Toronto and I rarely find other newcomers like myself among their visitors.