The rights of the putti: a review of the literature on children as cultural citizens in art museums

Abstract

Through a review of the scholarly and non-governmental organization (NGO) literature, this paper seeks to contribute to an emergent dialogue on the cultural citizenship of children in art museums. A comprehensive search of the current literature on this topic reveals a paucity of attention and understanding in this area, despite an increasing focus on children's services in art museums. In order to bridge this gap, the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is highlighted as an international vehicle for entrenching the participatory rights of children in cultural life and the Arts from birth. Lundy's model for participation based on ‘space, voice, audience and influence’ is interpreted for an art museum setting. Promoting children's cultural rights shapes museums into more democratic institutions; thereby activating the public art museum's founding principles.

Keywords:

• cultural citizenship
• art museums
• children's rights
• museum education

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge and thank Dr Gene Sherman and her staff at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation for their support of the research we conducted at the Foundation during the Contemporary Art for Contemporary Kids exhibition in 2010. The authors would also like to thank the reviewers of this article whose insightful comments greatly evolved our thinking.

Notes

1. The term ‘cultural citizenship’ has also been used to refer to ethnic and multicultural rights and to mass media and mass culture. These definitions are considered alternative interpretations which do not apply to this paper. Black (2010) has chosen the term ‘civil engagement’, which is more closely aligned with our definition. We have stayed with the term cultural citizenship, however, as we have noted it used at conferences on museums and the Arts, e.g., Creative Minds, National Portrait Gallery, 8 October 2010, Canberra, Australia http://www.portrait.gov.au/site/creative_minds_forum.php.

2. The authors would like to acknowledge Nina Simon's blog Museum 2.0 (http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/) which first brought our attention to the exhibition Shhh … it's a Secret at The Wallace Collection.