Peabody Museum Exhibit Renovation Update

September 25, 2021

Peabody Museum Exhibit Renovation Update

By Emma Adams

In an effort to make the museum more welcoming to all people, the Yale Peabody Museum has cooperated with Sci.CORPS alumni to create new, engaging labels for the North American Dioramas exhibit.
The museum aims to make its exhibits an inclusive place for people of all backgrounds. To ensure their new labels meet this goal, the exhibit evaluator Neeti Jain, associate director for exhibitions Kailen Rogers, and Sci.CORPS alumni have hosted focus groups with members of the New Haven Community to gather their feedback and input on their new labels.

Hosting focus groups has not come without difficulties. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, all focus groups must be held online. In an interview, Neeti Jain mentioned that receiving the feedback of working parents was difficult due to parents’ busy schedules. To work around this, they have attended farmer’s markets to receive input from the attendees.

After 8 months of dedicated work and input from the New Haven community, the team has finished their labels for the exhibit. In the future they hope to work with other parts of the museum to create an engaging museum for all. More on this topic, Kailen Rogers, associate director for exhibitions, states: “We're so grateful for the thoughtful and creative perspectives the Sci.CORPS alums have contributed, making the renovated Peabody's exhibitions more engaging and relevant to old and new visitors alike. They bring expertise as science communicators who've spent a lot of time speaking with Peabody visitors, offering powerful insights into the barriers that keep the Museum from feeling approachable to everybody. The Sci.CORPS team cares deeply about New Haven and the Peabody and doesn't feel beholden to the status quo when thinking about what the future could hold. We also hope that this fantastic set of projects with Sci.CORPS alums serves as a model for other departments around the Museum to join forces with dedicated and savvy young collaborators.”