This is a book about adult education in the sphere of public museums and art galleries. It aims to enrich and expand dialogue and understanding amongst adult and community educators, curators, artists, directors, and cultural activists who work within and beyond the walls of these institutions. The various chapters take up the complex and interconnected pedagogics of subjectivity, identity, meaning making and interpretation, knowledge, authority, prescription, innovation, and creativity. The contributors are a combination of scholars, professors, graduate students, heritage and cultural adult educators, artists, curators and researchers from Canada, United States, Iceland, England, Scotland, Denmark, Portugal, Italy and Malta. Collectively, they challenge us to think about the dialectics of passivity and engagement, didactics and learning, gender neutrality and radicality, and neutrality and risk-taking amongst a collage of artworks and artefacts, poetry and installations, collections and exhibits, illusion and reality, curatorial practice and learning, argument and narrative, and struggle and possibility that define and shape modern day art and culture institutions. The chapters, set amongst the discursive politics of neoliberalism and patriarchy, racism and religious intolerance, institutional neutrality and tradition, capitalism and neo-colonialism, ecological devastation and social injustice, take up the spirit and ideals of the radical and feminist traditions of adult education and their emphases on cultural participation and knowledge democracy, agency and empowerment, justice and equity, intellectual growth and transformation, critical social and self reflection, activism and risk-taking, and a fundamental belief in the power of art, dialogue, reflection, ideological and social critique and imaginative learning.

Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer and her co-authors have taken an important study and turned it into an intriguing, readable, and practical book. Adult learners provide a unique opportunity for museum educators. But what are adult learners looking for? What motivates them to take a class or attend a museum-sponsored activity? What do planners and instructors need to know to maximize the experience for participants? The authors analyzed a wide variety of programs from the perspective of planners, instructors, and participants. They discovered what works and what doesn't, and they've distilled this knowledge into twelve basic steps you can use to design truly meaningful experiences for your museum's adult programs. Visit the authors' web page

This book contains 28 papers presenting perspectives from Europe on museums and adult learning. The papers, each of which is devoted to a specific country, examine topics such as the following: further education and inservice training; programs for unemployed individuals; lectures and open days; elderly visitors; immigrants; refugees; disabled visitors; cooperative programs; the Internet; training and staff development; cultural policy; museum education; modern trends; museums and promotion of adult education; museums as advisors and organizers; workshops; belief in the value of education; innovations; assessing educational needs; local community programs; museum education as cultural politics; outreach; public and private sponsors of adult education; structural models; and case studies. The following papers are included: "Preface" (Elizabeth Esteve-Coll); "Introduction" (Alan Chadwick, Annette Stannett); "Conceptual Framework" (David Anderson); "Norway" (Eva Maehre Lauritzen); "Sweden" (Helena Friman); "Latvia" (Aija Fleija); "Croatia" (Ivo Maroevic, Toncika Cukrov); "The Czech Republic" (Radka Schusterova, Pavel Hartl); "Hungary" (Laszlo Harangi); "Poland" (Daniel Artymowski); "Romania" (Virgil Stefan Nitulescu); "Russia" (Irina Mikhailovna Kossova); "Slovenia" (Tatjana Dolzan-Erzen); "Cyprus" (Loukia Loizou Hadjigavriel); "Italy" (Edi Fanti, Lida Branchesi, Paolo Orefice, Gianni Maria Filippi); "Malta" (Carmel Borg, Peter Mayo); "Portugal" (Ana Duarte); "Austria" (Gabriele Rath); "France" (Jean Galard); "Germany" (Dorothee Dennert, Helena von Wersebe);"Switzerland" (Flavia Krogh Loser); "Belgium" (Willem Elias); "Luxembourg" (Bettina Heldenstein, Herbert Maly); "The Netherlands" (Bastiaan van Gent); "Ireland" (Ann Davoren, Ted Fleming); "The United Kingdom" (John Reeve); "European Initiatives" (Alan Chadwick, Annette Stannett); "Israel" (Nina Rodin); and "Conclusions" (Nicole Gesche). Some papers include substantial bibliographies. (MN)