BROOKE FRIDAY
Assistant Curator of Education
How can the Hood Museum rekindle its vital relationships with the K–12 school communities in a postpandemic world? For decades, the museum's education department has built strong partnerships with schools and teachers, offering teacher workshops and tailored tours. Yet, as was the case for many museums, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted these connections, and school visits declined. Teachers who once brought their students have not returned in the same numbers. How can we support educators in bringing students back to our museum?
To redress this decline, I visited ten nearby schools last year. In my listening sessions, teachers spoke candidly about their needs, offering invaluable insight into the cultures and values of their communities. With such a diverse collection, the Hood Museum can use its exhibitions to support connections across disciplines—from history and science to language arts and world languages. Approaching subjects through art can spark new connections and make meaningful differences for students. Our free, tailored tours are designed to align with classroom curricula, but we still wondered: How can we better meet teachers where they are?
Teachers identified barriers ranging from time constraints and busing costs to concerns about student behavior in post-pandemic classrooms. At the same time, many of them shared powerful stories of past visits and emphasized how meaningful those experiences had been. They also described the resources they currently rely on and what they hope to see from the Hood Museum in the future.
These insights have already begun to shape outcomes. In response to these sessions, I have collaborated with individual educators to adapt to their needs and interests, whether that meant offering early gallery access so all sections of a local high school could visit the Hood Museum or co-organizing professional development sessions for two local schools' teaching teams. Thanks to a generous donation, we launched a program to refund busing expenses, removing a key barrier for schools challenged by budget cuts. At Marion Cross School, we were delighted to accept the invitation from Library Media Specialist Jillian Van Ells to participate in their school-wide Community Read Day, where we worked with 155 students in grades K–3 to explore connections between science and art. At Proctor Academy, I partnered with educator Rosanna Eubank to codevelop a term-long project for art history students centered on objects from the Hood Museum's collection. These collaborations reaffirm our commitment to serving as a resource for teachers and students in our K–12 community.
We are deeply grateful to the teachers who have embraced partnership and voiced their needs. During COVID-19, so many of us were isolated and limited by the confines of a Zoom screen. Now, with the world reopened, we are eager to come together with passionate educators and rebuild a renewed vision for the Hood Museum's role in K–12 education—one that is responsive, collaborative, and deeply connected to the communities we serve. Looking ahead, we aim to strengthen sustainable partnerships and launch new initiatives that make museum learning more accessible and supportive to schools throughout our region.