In this conversation with Edwin Rutsch, our co-founder Gretchen Jennings shares the vision for creating the Empathetic Museum and what that entails.

I was thinking about institutional body language when the word empathy first occurred to me in connection with museums some time ago. Empathy, the experience of feeling with and not just for another, requires a strong core, a sense of self that can dare to be open to the experience of others. I think of the truly empathetic person as one whose inner and outer expressions of compassion are consonant with each other.

Institutions have an inner core, an identity; and they can also manifest a kind of body language – messages that come through loud and clear even when the mission statement, website, and marketing materials say something different. An institution that is not at its core truly visitor-centered, dedicated to inclusion, and committed to its community cannot, in my view, attract and retain the new and diverse audiences it may say it wants.