A Decolonizing Approach to Exhibit Development with Indigenous Communities

ID: WMA2026_593

Track: Indigenous

NHMU’s team shares their collaborative approach to creating an exhibit on Indigenous basketry. This process, guided by co-curators nominated by their tribes, has strengthened NHMU’s decolonization efforts and created a model for exhibit development, building on NHMU’s history of relationship-building with Indigenous communities. We have witnessed strengthened relationships within and between co-curators, NHMU, and tribes. The group has a shared resolve to preserve and communicate Indigenous knowledge and share this model with the museum community.

Session Information

Format: Regular session/panel (roundtable, single speaker, etc.)

Uniqueness: We have been meeting for the past year with a group of 12 co-curators from the eight federally recognized tribes in Utah and will continue to hold meetings past the opening of the exhibit in December of 2026. Since we have 12 co-curators, we need to determine an equitable process for who will fill these 5 indigenous presenter positions for the conference. We plan to cover the cost of their travel and provide an hourly wage for their time. Here is a breakdown of the budget: ·     $50 an hour for 3 hours of work at the conference (including set up and prep), $150 total ·     $200 per hotel room ·     $250 travel stipend ·     Total= $600 per person   With this process in mind, we will solidify speakers over the coming months by having these discussions in-person during upcoming meeting.

Objectives:

• Session participants will hear from NHMU staff and Indigenous co-curators about their experience of collaboration
• Session participants will come away with recommendations for ways they could work on decolonization in their own museums across departments, including Collections/Research, Exhibits, Public Programs, Marketing, and Education

Engagement: We invite audience members to participate in Indigenous ways of storytelling and sharing knowledge.

Relationship to Theme:

Audience

Audiences: Curators/Scientists/Historians Marketing & Communications (Including Social Media) Other Registrars, Collections Managers 

Professional Level: All levels 

Scalability: This session would apply to any organization that collaborates with Indigenous or community partners and can serve as a model for power-sharing and deep collaboration with Indigenous communities.

Participants