Projects

The Resiliency Collective

This project is a demonstration inviting the public to participate in humanities-focused discourse about mental health topics. The goal of this project is to seize on this unique moment of collective health awareness in a way that destigmatizes mental health topics and fosters engagement in community healing through art, culture and the humanities. Led by the Illinois Association of Museums and NAMI Illinois, the project joins our state’s museum and mental health communities to advance participation in cultural experiences exploring mental health issues and resilience. The project creates an adaptable template for museums and NAMI affiliates to show how the humanities can cultivate healing and recovery.

Each affiliate brings a perspective and network of relevant contacts to reflect targeted audiences in overlapping regions throughout Illinois. Collaboration between these sectors opens the door to marginalized populations disengaged from one of these two domains, allowing audiences from each to experience reflection and support from the other. IAM and NAMI will combine knowledge of humanities engagement and mental health resources to target community-specific mental health issues. Ultimately, this project serves as a collaborative model for the humanities and mental health sectors, laying the groundwork to serve their communities in new and relevant ways.

Through meetings with three targeted partner organizations from three diverse locales and disciplines, IAM and NAMI will gain relevant insight into regional demographic mental health needs. This insight will help partner museum leaders engage their audiences in mental health discourse and help mental health leaders create humanities-focused resources and experiences to better reach stigmatized audiences. The selected partner museums will represent urban, rural and suburban locations. Targeted partners will also represent different disciplines, including historical, art-focused, cultural, or age-specific categories.

The project envisions three exhibits running simultaneously for the duration of one month at three partner museums in an urban, rural, and suburban location. Each museum’s chosen format and content is tailored to their needs, capabilities and demographics.

Partner museums will host an exhibit along with either one or more experiences or events focused on a relevant mental health topic. Each will receive a stipend to create their exhibits, along with a physical element, including pallets that can be suited to their own design. They may also elect to host one or more events, discussions and/or activities to engage their audience in verbal and non-verbal forms of reflection or expression.

Each partner represents a unique type of institution. Our model seeks to demonstrate the diversity in location, discipline and population served. We have chosen sites that reflect urban, rural and suburban areas of the state to reflect a wide background and audience pool. We believe the strength between a humanities and mental health sector partnership could pave the way for both museums and mental health organizations to deepen their connections within their own communities and engage new, harder-to-reach participants in each sector.