Hello peeps. Back at it again with another amazing, one of a kind blog made just for youuuu. As always, new project just dropped, but that means the last one has ended!! 😱 That project was called “Beyond the Exhibit” and the driving question was “What role do museums and governments play in acknowledging and addressing historical injustices?” As you can probably guess (if not that’s okay 👍) the project was all about museums and governments and the role they have with historical injustices.

So how do we even find this out? By going to Victoria, BC of course! Yep. That’s right. We got to go on a little 2 day field study to the Royal BC Museum (RBCM) and the Parliament building in Victoria. However, before we could go, we needed to run some background checks on the 2 places. Turns out, the RBCM recently put on a new look.

They planned on renovating the exhibits, but there was overwhelming backlash from the public, so it was canceled. They did put up new signs around the Old Town exhibit and changed the name to Old Town, New Approach. The signs basically just gave more insight into what is actually going on in the exhibit, whereas before there was no signage at all.

There wasn’t much news with the parliament, so we got on to developing our final product. We got the choice of making video, audio recording, or writing a letter to answer the driving question. I decided to make a video because I know I wasn’t that good at making videos, so I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to improve.

The trip was fun. We got to talk to some people that worked at the museum, and I was very engaged in the discussion. I usually don’t participate in group discussions, especially if it’s with someone I don’t know, but I was fully into it that day. Because of that, I found it very fun, and I learned a lot of things. It is here that I found my answer to the driving question, and recorded it on my product plan.

Parliament building was on the next day. We got toured by staff and our own Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Susie Chant. She even gave us a shoutout during the legislative meeting. We also got to talk to the Speaker of the House Raj Chouhan. The trip was overall super fun, and I made some memorable moments.

Before going on that trip, I had an initial answer to the driving question, which was museums and governments have a role of educating the public on the right information and that they are the ones who can really shape the public’s opinions. My answer changed a little bit at the museum. I had more insight on the Old Town, New Approach exhibit, and I wanted to include how museum and governments also need to represent groups such as Indigenous People. It should be a safe place for those groups to come out and say “Hey, we’re here” and address historical injustices with their own voice.

With my answer ready, I got right into making my video, starting with the script. I didn’t have much of a problem making this video at all, and the video turned out great. I think it’s because I was really engaged in the learning, so that made it easier for me to make a video and provide evidence and examples to help support my claim. I am proud of the product that I’ve made, so I encourage you to watch it. That’ll be it for this one. See ya!