Going Digital: Reflecting on COVID’s Impact on Museum Learning
By: Innovation Studio
Tags: Museums, Musetech, Museum Education

Editor’s Note: This guest post was written by Danielle Linzer, Director of Learning and Public Engagement, The Andy Warhol Museum.

March 2020. With little notice, like so many schools and businesses, The Andy Warhol Museum shut its doors and sent staff home, for what we thought would be a two week closure. This unexpected and unprecedented disruption took a particular toll on the museum’s learning department. Our work has always revolved around bringing people and art together. We found ourselves reeling from having to cancel dozens of programs during our busiest time of the year, from small group gallery tours to huge annual events like Youth Invasion, our annual teen night. As the pandemic stretched on, we began to adapt our programs to virtual and remote experiences whenever possible. Now, as we near the one year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, we can take a moment to reflect on our efforts to reach out digitally.

At The Warhol, we’ve always had a strong focus on hands-on learning. With museums and schools closed and families stuck from home, how could we nurture the sense of playful experimentation and creative expression that can come from making art? The pandemic not only gave us permission to experiment — it demanded it. Our first attempt was a series of short DIY videos created by our educators at home during lockdown, highlighting Warhol-inspired art projects using everyday materials. We released our first video in March 2020, just a few weeks after our closure, and have now produced over 20 films highlighting accessible techniques, from bookmaking and pop up cards to potato stamping and mail art. The Making It Video series quickly became popular on social media, garnering thousands of views, likes, and shares on Facebook and YouTube. To date, the Making It Videos have received over 200,000 views online and were honored with an award as one of the Best International Digital Activities by UK-based Kids in Museums.

Like so many organizations, we tried to replicate or reimagine our offerings on digital platforms. Nicole Dezelon, The Warhol’s Associate Director of Learning, relaunched our museum tours as immersive distance learning experiences that broadcast live from the galleries. A rolling rig holds a light, laptop, iPad, and other devices, enabling an educator to talk directly to students from anywhere in the museum, sharing slides, showing artworks in context, leading a live demonstration, or using the iPad to quickly zoom in on interesting details and archival objects. In these programs, students who would probably never had the opportunity to visit The Warhol were able to experience our singular collection from thousands of miles away.

At the same time, Zoom was also essential for helping us stay connected to our local youth.

The Warhol’s Youth Arts Council, a group of teens who meet weekly at the museum and work closely with our staff, began meeting virtually shortly after the shutdown. Youth Programs Coordinator, Eileen Viloria, realized how important it was for young people to stay in touch and creative during a traumatic and isolating time. She distributed art supplies to students’ homes, launched mail art exchanges. This year, rather than taking over The Warhol for Youth Invasion, the Youth Arts Council worked together to produce Quaran-Zine, an animated film featuring artwork they created in quarantine, which has been viewed over 5,000 times online.

Within a few months of the initial closure “zoom fatigue” had entered our lexicon. With work, school, extracurricular activities, entertainment, and social interaction all happening online, we realized that our audiences were also craving physical interaction, material exploration, and hands-on learning. Saturated with screen time, we wanted to get our hands messy again, so we introduced Making It Art Boxes. These thematic boxes are packed with high quality art supplies, colorful instructions for a series of Warhol-inspired art projects, and links to additional videos and learning resources online. Spearheaded by Heather White, Program Coordinator for Artists in Communities, the boxes were carefully hand-assembled and shipped to homes all across the United States, with the goal of sparking creative engagement for families.

One of our most beloved annual programs at The Warhol is our LGBTQ+ Youth Prom, which draws hundreds of queer and gender non-conforming youth to the museum for an inclusive evening of dinner, dancing, artmaking, and celebration each spring. The event, which has become a tradition and touchstone, is planned by and for youth via a series of community meetings at the museum. It was clear that it would be impossible to replicate the Prom experience in the midst of COVID, but what could we do to stay connected and continue to support the young people we serve? We convened a group of youth who have been actively involved in our LGBTQ+ youth programming for a focus group. Based on their input, in fall 2020 we launched Pop Out, a virtual program that gives teens a safe space to connect to each other and fosters mentorship across generational lines. Shannon Thompson, The Warhol’s Inclusion Programs Coordinator, brings LGBTQ+ artists, educators, and activists together with small groups of youth for a biweekly series of interactive workshops, culminating in a virtual celebration and showcase. This time has encouraged us to expand our offerings for LGBTQ+ youth, but we look forward to once again hosting vibrant community gatherings at the museum.

During this time we’ve also grappled with how to continue our commitment to sensory-friendly programming and accessibility. While online experiences work well for some people with disabilities by reducing barriers to entry and making it easier to participate, online programs are not for everyone. We hosted a successful virtual verbal description program for visitors who are blind or have low vision, with participants in different states connecting for an afternoon of vivid description and animated discussion about works of art. However, in surveying families and community members affected by autism spectrum disorders and sensory sensitivities, we found that some individuals really needed the multi-sensory, hands-on, embodied experience of the museum — learning in front of a screen, in isolation, simply doesn’t work. During our summer partnership with Creative Citizen Studios, we led a hybrid program, with some individuals learning on-site at the museums and others participating from home.

This strange and challenging time pushed us to experiment, to innovate, and to question everything. Now, with vaccine distribution starting and the prospect of a return to some kind of normalcy on the horizon, what can we learn from this period of rapid adaptation? Will we return to traditional on-site programming and leave online learning behind? Will our educational landscape be forever transformed? We’re hoping to learn as much as possible from this strange, challenging, and generative time. With the support of the McCune Foundation, we’ve embarked on a deep evaluation of our programming in 2021, investigating learning outcomes and equity of both digital and in person experiences. As we emerge from this pandemic, we remain committed to nurturing creativity, connection, and learning for our diverse audiences, whatever it takes.