Pandemic Pivot: How 2 Shuttered Ohio Science Museums Created Takeaway Kits So Kids and Their Families Could Do Experiments at Home

City planners and governments often overlook culture when trying to rebuild cities blighted by war, disasters, or other types of urban distress. But not Medellín, Colombia. After the drug trade made Medellín a violent place, the local government turned to the concept of "citizen culture" to restore the city. By building libraries and parks, enabling art, and creating transportation access in the comunas in the hills above the city, the government invested in people-centric policies that also made economic sense.

The Assortment Room is an art space that serves as both a gallery and a platform to support artists. It also facilitated the evacuation of 600 pieces of art from cities in the line of fire during the war in Ukraine to ensure artists’ work wouldn’t be lost or destroyed.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese Canadian Museum and the Chinatown Storytelling Centre both opened in Vancouver with the goal of documenting and honoring the role of Chinese immigrants in Canadian history. Roughly 13,000 people have visited each museum since their openings, and members of the Chinese Canadian community say the exhibits preserve important stories while acknowledging the harm Chinese Candians have faced.

Interactive museums and venues are shifting their exhibits during the coronavirus pandemic to better attract patrons while still abiding by safety precautions. Although it has been a struggle in some cases, and all venues are at restricted capacities, several museums in New York have been able to still sell out with executive saying "some revenue was better than none."

Some arts organizations in Orange County, CA have found creative ways to deal with Covid-19 closures by bringing their collections online, creating digital programming, and reaching out to new audiences. For example, the Muckenthaler Cultural Center hands out weekly art kits to kids and seniors and reports donation support from an entirely new group of donors. Others have taken the opportunity to create new content and bring their collections online to engage with those stuck at home of all ages. Not all have been able to withstand the Covid-related closures and many art galleries have closed down for good.

For many jobs across the country, working from home is a fairly easy adaptation to cope with social distancing measures. But for many scientists who work in laboratories with ongoing research, a work from home solution does not quite fit. Labs and universities are finding ways to adapt and prioritize which experiments to put on hold.

Art galleries are pivoting their sales to online platforms due to closures from the coronavirus pandemic. In the past, similar versions of virtual viewing rooms have resulted in significant sales for some galleries, despite the limitations of not viewing the artwork in person. While this transition is made harder for smaller galleries because of the cost of implementation, some are experimenting with smaller-scale virtual performances or online stores.

Soil collection ceremonies offer a meaningful way to help cope with and create institutional memory of racial violence across the United States. The Equal Justice Initiative is working to keep the victims of lynching and racial violence alive in America’s collective memory by promoting a practice common across cultures—the collection of soil. Communities collect soil from sites of racially motivated killings into jars, which are then displayed at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.

For migrant detainees in San Diego County's Otay Mesa Detention Center, a recent letter writing campaign from participants at nearby San Diego State University has brought a small form of hope and courage. The university library released hundreds of letters between detainees and university participants, which served to humanize the immigration debate. “In the U.S. our tendency is to really dehumanize migrants,” said Kate Swanson, another geography professor at San Diego State. “We put them in these concrete boxes. This helps them become visible.”

As climate change has led to more frequent droughts and volatile weather in Australia, climate-dependent jobs like farming are increasingly imperiled. In response, the Australian state government of Victoria launched its Drought Employment Program, which puts underemployed farm workers back to work on environmental or cultural projects of high priority for the community. These projects, like land regeneration, also help farm workers develop new skills.