At the National Museum of the American Indian today, I was struck when Dan Davis (Manager of the Museum’s Media Group) mentioned that “native people” are NMAI’s “constituents,” but only make up about 10% of its visitors. This made me wonder about the demographics of other museums that tell the story of a specific group, and whether those museums consider that specific group to be its “constituents.” What percentage of NMAAHC’s visitors are African-American, for example? When creating content and programming, does NMAAHC write with a specific demographic in mind, or do they attempt to elicit the same emotional and intellectual responses from all visitors?

This brings to mind the mantra of “Not about us without us,” expressed by Matt Leifer and others at the Newseum, meaning that many members of the LGBTQ community were consulted in the creation of “Rise Up.” But is that exhibit for the LGBT community? Or did the exhibit seek to pack the same emotional and intellectual punches from the largest possible array of visitors?

But would the programming and labels look different either way? All children need to know about the Montgomery Bus Boycott, so do you tell that story differently depending upon whether you’re telling it to a white child, black child, or visitor from China? There are a lot of questions, but the answers only come with practice and input from a larger team.