What have we done?
Summer 2010
The teens began their work with Teen Miami for five weeks during the summer of 2010 learning about museum culture and life. Each department created a “101 class” consisting of a syllabus and activities that the teens would do in order learn what we do as a museum. We developed overall objectives considering museums working collaboratively as public spaces of interpretation and as having certain roles and functions. These understandings guided our efforts to create our summer curriculum. By the fifth week the teens worked in three groups of seven each to create a final exhibition project. Each team had roles, budgets and had to complete an entire exhibition based on these parameters, including maquettes of how the exhibition floor would look like given the artifacts and images they were able to attain. They presented their work to staff who were impressed with their results.
Fall 2010
During Fall 2010, we were awarded a substantial grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) which has funded the rest of the project until June 2013. During this semester the teens were with us about eight hours per month, which manifested itself into four hours on two Saturdays a month. The teens used our archives, resources at the main library and current scholarship on youth to study the history of teen culture nationwide and the specific research tools used by curators for developing and organizing exhibition content. Their final project was to create a book based on their research which included an optional creative portion. These books were exhibited at the Main Library’s Art of Storytelling event in April 2011.
Spring 2011
This semester, spring 2011, the teens are working closely with our Folklorist, Mike Knoll, learning how to conduct oral histories. The lessons range from “Why are Oral Histories Important” to “Technical Preparation” to “Creative Uses of the Finished Product.” The teens will be conducting these interviews with locals who grew-up in Miami during their teens years (13-18) sometime during the 1930s-1990s and enjoy telling their stories. Hence, I’d like to invite anyone in the community to possibly participate in the program. All materials and interviews gathered for Teen Miami will live as part of the growing collection documenting the history teen life in Miami Dade County. Some oral histories will become part of the Teen Miami exhibition set to open in Sept. 2012.
Spring 2012
This semester the teen team will be collaborating with the Miami World Cinema Center (MWCC) to create a series of three to five minute vignettes documenting contemporary teen life with various teen groups in Miami. These videos will provide the voice of the contemporary teen in Miami as a reflective piece that will compliment the online portion of the Teen Miami exhibition. The project will also include a behind-the-scenes video which will document the teens’ experience during the project. All videos will be screened on Saturday, June 9th during Family Fun Day at the Museum of HistoryMiami.
