Reaching Out MARIA JOÃO RODRIGUES DE ARAÚJO Abstract: As they have moved into the second decade of the 21st century, museums throughout the world have been increasing the proi le and outreach of their education departments in order to create a greater impact among the visiting public and sections of the population not usually engaged with museums, and thus to ef ect changes in their surrounding communities. In this article I discuss this trend through an analysis of four museums: the Museu de Serralves (Porto), the Tate Gallery (London), the Singapore Art Museum (Singapore) and the Serpentine Galleries (London). In addition, I provide detailed data tables about these programs and their location within the organograms of their host institutions. Riassunto: Mentre stanno entrando nella seconda decade del ventunesimo secolo, i musei in tutto il mondo hanno cambiato le loro strutture per aumentare il proi lo e la portata dei loro dipartimenti d’educazione, per raggiungere un maggior impatto fra il pubblico visitante e parti di popolazioni non normalmente raggiunte da questi musei, così da ef ettuare cambi nelle loro comunità circostanti. In quest’articolo si parla di que- sta tendenza attraverso un’analisi di quattro musei: il Museu de Serralves (Porto), il Tate Gallery (Londra), il Singapore Art Museum (Singapore) e le Serpentine Galleries (Londra). Addizionalmente si presentano tabelle dettagliate di dati su questi program- mi e le loro ubicazioni fra gli organigrammi delle loro istituzioni. Keywords: Contemporary art museums, Learning, Education programmes, Education departments, Education activities. 1. Body of the article Museums, through dedicated outreach and education programmes, de- velop audiences for, and public awareness of, their art collections. h ey reach out beyond their immediate audiences, address the interests of constituen- cies not usually associated with the institution, and engage in broadly edu- cational and outreach activities aiming to enrich and enhance the quality of life and cultural development of individuals, as well as their psychological and physical well-being. EDUCATION SCIENCES & SOCIETY 172 Maria João Rodrigues de Araújo Education and outreach engage people as participants, rather than as spectators, enabling them not only to deepen their understanding of the art forms on show, but also to discover and develop their individual talents, creative skills and passions, and to go beyond what they were formerly ca- pable of. By fostering community-engaged learning, outreach programmes can actively transform communities and contribute to the development of individuals committed to community engagement, as well as to building a better society. h e ef ectiveness of education and outreach programmes depends on their organisation and planning. h is article will examine the function- ing of four leading education departments in contemporary art museums, specially with regard to the organization of the education team and the planning of their activities. h e museums analysed are: the Museu de Serralves (Porto), the Tate Gallery (London), the Singapore Art Museum (Singapore) and the Serpentine Galleries (London). After a brief analysis of each museum, I present comparative charts between the four museums as a summary. h e material used in this article stems from personal inter- views with the directors of the museums in question, or with the director of the education department, as well as on-site observation of their work. 2. Museu de Serralves, Porto h e Serralves Museum was founded in 1996, in the city of Porto in Portugal. h e architect was Siza Vieira and it is located in a park of 18 hec- tares. For this reason its education services also encompass environmental issues. It receives 440,000 visitors annually, of whom 140,000 participate in educational activities. h e museum organizes two big annual events: the Autumn Party in October and the Serralves Party in June, with around 25,000 participants each. h e museum’s education program proposes dif erent ways of deepen- ing the visitor’s contact with Serralves’ collections, based on a long term pedagogically oriented strategy valuing processes and partnerships, and fostering the intersection of transversal references in order to encourage knowledge of and the ability to enjoy these cultural spaces. Since the mu- seum has a privileged context of relationship with the community, its edu- cational objective is for encounters with works of art to be inspirational, to enable the visitor to value a diversity of points of view and interpreta- ARTS AND MUSEUM EDUCATION Reaching Out 173 tions in order to achieve critical and creative understanding of contem- porary culture. With regard to the natural environment, the museum tries to form knowledgeable and involved citizens, in order to contribute to behavioural change towards a more active, participating and responsible community. Serralves has an education team whose members have professional and academic training in dif erent areas: visual arts, history of art, sociology, architecture, biology, engineering and others. In the general organogram of the institution, the coordinator of the education department reports to the director of the museum. h e permanent and fulltime education team of Serralves comprises six people, organized according to the following tasks: EDUCATION SCIENCES & SOCIETY 174 Maria João Rodrigues de Araújo In addition to this permanent team, there are thirty part time teachers paid on an hourly basis. At the beginning of each season, these educa- tors receive an ‘open call’ to present their project proposals, which are then analysed by the permanent team. h is team of teachers receives regular continuing education provided by a consultant of the museum. h e full education team of the museum, then, including the temporary staf and additional consultants, includes thirty-nine people. 2.1. Educational Activities at Serralves h e educational activities at Serralves are divided into the following areas: Schools and Teachers; Special Needs; Children/Youth and Families; ARTS AND MUSEUM EDUCATION Reaching Out 175 Projects; and Adults. Work with schools and teachers is a priority. With these groups in mind, the museum aims to foster cooperation in order to: • Stimulate the development of creative projects and partnerships. • Identify pedagogical opportunities via the articulation of proposals with the school’s programmatic contents. • Use the spaces of Serralves for activities organized by the teachers. • Evaluate and rel ect upon the development of the activities organi- zed. • Debate perspectives and possibilities for future collaborations. h e activities developed in collaboration with the school community have the following guiding principles: • Valuing cultural identity and diversity. • Valuing dif erent forms of knowledge and expression. • h e development of curiosity, a critical attitude and a love of knowl- edge in visitors. • Valuing the relational dimension of learning. • Valuing experimentation and creativity. Activities for schools and teachers include: visits and visit-workshops to the exhibitions, architecture and park, art workshops, environmental work- shops, an annual project, the Environment Party, and an annual meeting for teachers. Activities for children and families include Families at Serralves (Sunday activities), School Holidays at Christmas, Easter and during sum- mer holidays (for 4-12 year old children), the Autumn Party and Christmas at Serralves. Activities for adults include visits, courses, conference and de- bates. During these events researchers, curators and artists dialogue with the public about the visual arts and contemporary culture. Other activities are directed towards children and youth in at-risk groups as well as people with special needs, and include visits and special programs tailored to the specii c characteristics of each group. h ese activities aim to stimulate relational capacities, to develop autonomy and a capacity for con- cretising, always in collaboration with the respective expert leaders. h ese programs are divided into Science for Everyone, with monthly sessions, and Senses in Action, with weekly sessions in Serralves Park and the Museum about movement, music, painting, and three-dimensional construction. With regard to specii c projects with groups from disadvantaged com- munities, the Educational Service of Serralves visits schools in low-income areas in order to organize activities to motivate citizen participation and engagement in the Museum’s projects. EDUCATION SCIENCES & SOCIETY 176 Maria João Rodrigues de Araújo 3. Tate Modern, London Inaugurated in May 2000, Tate Modern welcomes an average of 7 mil- lion annual visitors. h e building, formerly Bankside Power Station, was converted into a gallery by the Swiss architects Herzog and De Meuron. In 2009 Tate Modern embarked on a major development project. Working again with Herzog & de Meuron, the transformed Tate Modern will make use of the power station’s old oil tanks in order to increase gallery space and provide improved visitor facilities. h e Education Department at the Tate is led by a Director of Learning, who is one of the Board of Directors of Tate and reports directly to the Head of Tate National, demonstrating the importance given to education within the institution. Reporting to the Director of Learning, the learning department has two responsible heads: Tate’s learning programmes, both in the galleries and online, take the collection and exhibitions as their starting