Transforming Museums into Welcoming Spaces for Everyone:
A Case Study of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.

by
Tania Erándeni Fuentes Villa

Division of Art History and Contemporary Culture, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.
Master of Arts in Art Education

Supervised by
Dr Joshua Schwab-Cartas & Dr Carla Taunton

 2

Acknowledgments
I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to my advisors for their invaluable guidance and
unwavering support throughout my master's program. Their expertise and encouragement
played a pivotal role in completing this research and composing this thesis.
Dr. Joshua Schwab-Cartas, I extend my sincere thanks for your guidance and for
consistently being there for me, especially during challenging moments in this project when
your support was instrumental in restoring my motivation and confidence. Dr. Carla Taunton,
I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with you and for your belief in me, a
belief that has been present since the early days of the program. Learning from both of you
has been a privilege.
I am grateful to Laura Carmichael for providing me with the opportunity to conduct my
research at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and for all of the resources and support she
provided during my practicum and throughout this project. Thank you for supporting this idea
from the start.
My family has been my rock throughout this journey, and I want to express my
heartfelt thanks for their love and unwavering support. Without them, this journey would not
have been possible. I'd like to offer special thanks to my exceptional sister, Ayari, whose
support has been invaluable. She has served as my proofreader, research assistant,
therapist, and moral support during this project. Thank you for staying awake with me all
those late nights. To my dad, for being my greatest example and inspiration and to my mom
for always knowing the right words to comfort me. Thank you all for your unconditional love.
I also want to thank my friends, for being there and listening to me during all the
mental breakdowns and for all your encouragement and love during this process.
Finally, I would like to thank all of the participants in my study for their time and
willingness to share their experiences. This work would not have been possible without their
contribution. And, as promised: Venezuela! Venezuela! Thank you for showing up.

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Table of Contents
Transforming Museums into Welcoming Spaces for Everyone:........................................ 1
Acknowledgments................................................................................................................. 1
Table of Contents................................................................................................................... 3
Preface / Positionality............................................................................................................5
Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 10
Literature Review................................................................................................................. 16
Stereotypes and Racism.................................................................................................. 17
Government’s Response............................................................................................ 18
The Role of Museums................................................................................................ 21
Historically Exclusionary Places........................................................................... 21
Representation and Why it Matters...................................................................... 24
Existing Programs and Their Success Rate......................................................... 27
Gaps........................................................................................................................... 27
Conclusions................................................................................................................28
2.- Case Study: AGNS.......................................................................................................... 29
Past Programming Regarding Immigrants....................................................................... 32
1.-Art As Language, 2001.......................................................................................... 32
2.-Workshops with families from the Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association
(MISA), 2008.............................................................................................................. 33
3.-Family Portraits: Immigration and Identity, 2008.................................................... 34
4.-Workshops and exhibition with Student Refugee Program at World University
Service Canada (WUSC) with Dalhousie University students.................................... 35
5.-Tours with EAL programs through St Mary's University and other language
schools, special workshops with Metropolitan Immigration Settlement Association.. 36
6.-YMCA Immigrant Settlement Association.............................................................. 36
Context: Immigration in Nova Scotia............................................................................... 37
3.- Project Proposal and Description................................................................................. 39
Methodology/Theory........................................................................................................ 41
Post-colonial Theory.................................................................................................. 41
Design Thinking.......................................................................................................... 42
Participatory Action Research....................................................................................44
Participants...................................................................................................................... 46
Description................................................................................................................. 46
Recruitment Method.................................................................................................. 46
Snowball sampling............................................................................................... 46
Ethical Considerations......................................................................................................47
Workshop Lesson Plans...................................................................................................48
Session 1: Introduction / Empathize......................................................................... 48
Session 2: Identify the problem.................................................................................51
Session 3: Deﬁne, Ideate and Prototype...................................................................54

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4.-Project Implementation...................................................................................................59
Participants...................................................................................................................... 59
Session 1.........................................................................................................................60
Gallery Visit...................................................................................................................... 67
Session 2..........................................................................................................................72
5.- Data Analysis and Results............................................................................................. 99
Results per Area.............................................................................................................101
Lobby....................................................................................................................... 101
Maud Lewis Gallery.................................................................................................. 103
An Exhibition Highlight : Monkman, Johnson & Bennett......................................... 109
Laufer Gallery........................................................................................................... 114
Ta’n a’sikatikl sipu’l | Conﬂuence............................................................................. 120
Other Issues................................................................................................................... 123
Lack of Representation............................................................................................ 123
Technology And Other Media................................................................................... 124
Space....................................................................................................................... 124
Programming and Communication.......................................................................... 125
Conclusions........................................................................................................................ 128
Bibliography........................................................................................................................136
Appendices......................................................................................................................... 145

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Preface / Positionality
To begin this conversation, it is essential for the reader to understand my
motivations for embarking on this research project. As a newcomer myself, I have
experienced to some degree the struggles of adapting to a new culture and a new context. I
am a designer and educator from Mexico City who came to Halifax, Nova Scotia to pursue
a Master's degree, with the intention of settling in Canada, hoping to improve my quality of
life and advance my academic career.
Moving to Canada is not my ﬁrst experience as an immigrant. Prior to coming here, I
lived in Scotland for a couple of years while completing my previous degree. Despite both
countries being English-speaking, the experiences have been completely diﬀerent. My
program was very diverse, with international students making up the majority of our cohort.
During our time together, we became very close and had a fantastic relationship. Things
were diﬀerent outside of our school environment. While I never faced discrimination, I have
friends who did. Nearly a decade ago, decoloniality and racism weren't as loudly discussed
as they are now. Furthermore, Scotland's context and history of oppression and
marginalized groups are vastly diﬀerent from that of Canada, as is their political context, the
debate over independence, and the UK's views on immigration. The latter is what drew me
to Canada in the ﬁrst place. If the immigration process had not been so diﬃcult, if not
impossible, I would have stayed in Scotland. Canada’s immigration process seemed easier.
On the other hand, the conversation around race and identity here in Canada is
quite diﬀerent. Having to look for a term to identify with, such as BIPOC, has been really
challenging for me, since what deﬁnes Mexican identity is rooted in shared culture, history
and traditions, regardless of race. The majority of Mexicans, unless they are from a speciﬁc
Indigenous community, identify as mestizos (mixed-race), even without knowing their exact
family history; people don’t usually feel like there is a need to position themselves racially,

 6
since it does not aﬀect their sense of belonging or identity. This is not to say, however, that
racism does not exist. It is grounded in the social structure established during the colonial
period and persists to this day in the form of colorism and classism. Despite its pride in
being a mixed-race country, Mexico still suﬀers from widespread social and economic
inequality that disproportionately aﬀects Indigenous and Black populations. Furthermore,
the media has played an important role in perpetuating racist stereotypes, especially of
Indigenous and dark-skinned people, who are frequently portrayed negatively in contrast to
the aspirational quality associated with whiteness. Overall, racism's complexities are deeply
ingrained in Mexican society. I am conscious of my Spanish ancestry, yet I have never
identiﬁed as such. I am Mexican. I do not consider myself to be white, despite having
slightly fair skin. Nonetheless, I am aware that I enjoy white privilege1 in the Mexican
context and that I am racially ambiguous enough to "pass" in other settings (I've been
mistaken for a local in Greece, Spain, and even Egypt). My point is that, despite coming
from a very complicated background, I never felt the need to deﬁne myself by a term or
label until now.
As a result, when trying to ﬁnd your place in a new environment, particularly when you
suddenly ﬁnd yourself to be part of a minority, ﬁnding a sense of belonging becomes an
increasingly important factor. In general terms, I would say my experience in Halifax has
been very positive since I have found that sense of belonging and community among my
fellow art students. I have been able to connect and build wonderful relationships with
Canadians and newcomers alike. However, even though I speak ﬂuent English, I still ﬁnd
comfort when I hear another Spanish speaker on the bus, or when I can get together with
my Latin American girlfriends at the end of the week. While I didn't intend to make friends
from my own country when I moved, it seems that we gravitate towards each other, and we
1

The unquestioned and unearned set of advantages, entitlements, benefits and choices bestowed
upon people solely because they are white. Generally white people who experience such privilege do
so without being conscious of it. (The Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre, 2020)

 7
share a connection that no one else seems to comprehend. Getting together with my friend
from Venezuela is always a great experience because I can talk to someone who
understands perfectly the social and political tensions in Latin America that made us both
move away from our homeland, someone who understands the pressure to succeed, our
family values and even the way our culture imposes beauty standards on us, the
complexities of the patriarchal system in Latin America, and even how our mothers have
similar ideas and mindsets. These shared experiences create a very special bond between
us. We have even had moments when we try to tell our Canadian friends about negative
situations in our respective countries, and while they look back at us in shock, we look at
each other and laugh because we understand and are even able to joke about our shared
collective trauma. Although each of our countries has layers and unique characteristics that
make our experiences completely distinct, the similarities are suﬃcient for us to foster an
empathy that can deepen our friendship. This can be extrapolated to diﬀerent nationalities
as well.
I imagine these shared experiences as concentric circles. For example, my Egyptian
friend and I may come from very diﬀerent backgrounds, we do not share the same language
or religion, but we are both immigrants, we are both women, art students, and we both
intend to go through the process to obtain permanent residence, and we have both
experienced discrimination to some extent. These similarities enable us to connect through
empathy. Similarly, despite our cultural diﬀerences or age gaps, I can bond with my
Canadian friends over our academic experiences, our shared love of art, outdoor activities,
and even fantasy and board games. It is just a matter of ﬁnding those commonalities and
reaching out to people with openness and care.
I have been fortunate enough to have travelled and met people from very diﬀerent
countries and backgrounds. These friendships have made me realize how little I knew about

 8
other cultures, and how damaging stereotypes can be, particularly to groups that have been
historically misrepresented in the mainstream western media. Meeting these people has
opened my eyes to countless aspects that were previously unknown to me. For instance,
through my friend from India, I gained a better understanding of arranged marriages, while
my Egyptian friend enlightened me about the principles of Islam. Without their invaluable
perspectives, I would have remained ignorant, continuing to hold onto the misconceptions
perpetuated by prevailing narratives surrounding their respective cultures.
In that same manner, it makes my blood boil every time someone tells me
stereotypes about Mexico. I could spend pages and pages accounting for all the
comments, jokes, and uncomfortable questions that I’ve received. My research is motivated
by my strong belief that the best way to begin ﬁghting discrimination is through education
and personal connections. The key is to learn to see people as individuals, to listen to one
another, and to look for the things we all have in common. As a result, I decided that
empathy and relationship-building would be the cornerstones of my project. Now, talking
about the other aspect of the project –museums and their relationship to immigrants– the
idea started when I was doing my practicum at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, where I
noticed some gaps that I will discuss later on in this paper.
I recognise that my relationship with museums has been wonderful throughout my
life due to the privilege that my access to education has given me. I grew up in Mexico City,
one of the cities with the most museums in the world, with over 150 options to visit. My
parents, being both architects, transmitted their love of art and culture to me from a very
early age. So, museums for me were always a space for learning and having fun. I
remember I used to beg them every summer to register me for the summer camps at the
National Museum of Anthropology. I just loved it there. As I got older, my interest in
museums stayed strong. I got my bachelor’s in Design and visual communication, so I

 9
studied and learned about Art History and Visual Culture and was always surrounded by art.
Later in life, my love for travel complemented by my love for art led me to explore many
other museums. My experience with most foreign museums has mostly been enjoyable, but
I recognize that being bilingual is a huge advantage as well. I am always curious about the
diﬀerent ways in which museums engage with their audiences, for example why some of
them decide to have didactic panels in English in addition to the local language and others
do not. The reason why I mention this is that, while my love for museums has been the
result of my upbringing and education, not everyone has had the same experience. Some
people do not ﬁnd museums appealing at all, or consider them intimidating or even boring,
and there are many factors that shape our experiences within cultural spaces such as
galleries and museums.
In the case of immigrants, that relationship changes considerably. As a tourist, you
may only be able to visit the museum once in a lifetime, whereas as an immigrant,
museums become part of your community public spaces that you can develop a long-term
relationship with. Even though there are other places like public libraries, a museum is a
good place to have an introduction to your new home. As an immigrant, you want to learn
about the history and visual culture of your new country, and a museum could potentially be
a good place to do that. The problem, however, is that not all museums can oﬀer that, nor
do they appeal to immigrants.
For this research, I position myself as an insider, since the subjects –whom I rather
consider my collaborators– will be people who, just like myself, are trying to ﬁnd a sense of
belonging in their new city, to feel welcome, seen and heard. Hopefully, this project can help
turn the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia into a space where we can all thrive and learn.

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Introduction
Historically, museums have a tendency of perpetuating colonial ideals, being sites of
national and imperial narrative building, particularly in settler nation-states such as Canada.
This has earned them a reputation for being exclusionary, colonial, and elitist places. A lot
of people have resistance to going to museums; either they do not like them, do not feel
welcome within them, or simply are not interested. In the case of visible minorities and
immigrants, what makes them feel uncomfortable in museum spaces? What can we
improve within museums to make them welcoming spaces? What can museums and
speciﬁcally art education practitioners in museum spaces do to address longstanding
histories of exclusion and elitism? Many museums around the world are trying to transform
themselves into more community-based spaces to include more diverse audiences and
multivocal exhibitions and programs. According to the International Council of Museums,
the more recent deﬁnition of a museum is:
A museum is a not-for-proﬁt, permanent institution in the service of society that researches,
collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public,
accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and
communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, oﬀering varied
experiences for education, enjoyment, reﬂection and knowledge sharing. (International Council of
Museums, 2022)

This means that by its very deﬁnition a museum should aim to be diverse and
inclusive, but are all museums ready to live up to this description?2 As public spaces,
museums at any scale, whether globally or locally, have the responsibility of making sure
everyone feels welcome, which is particularly important for newcomers. However, this is not
always the case. Intentional or not, certain spaces can feel solely aimed at speciﬁc groups,
2

Art museums and art galleries can be considered interchangeable terms, as reflected in the names
of institutions worldwide. The term Art Museum is preferred in the United States and Art Gallery in
Canada and the United Kingdom.

 11
particularly local dominant groups such as white settlers, excluding immigrants from their
narrative. As such, it is of great importance to analyze how museums can improve their
relationship with newcomers, not only to include them in the conversation but also to look
within and consider the ways in which colonial narratives may be embedded in a museum’s
exhibitions, community programs and institutional practices, for its own sake as an
institution that relies on public engagement.
This research focuses on the Canadian context, speciﬁcally in Halifax, Nova Scotia,
using the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) as a case study. The AGNS is located in
downtown Halifax and it is the largest art museum in Atlantic Canada. The study involves
immigrant participants from various visible minorities, and it also includes members of the
dominant group, white settler Canadians, within the sample. This decision was made to
have a point of comparison between the experiences of the two groups within the gallery
space, as well as to see the interactions between participants and try to foster a sense of
empathy through sharing experiences and dialogue. The existing body of research on this
topic has predominantly focused on the United States and Europe. As for Canada,
researchers have mainly focused on the decolonization of museums considering their
relationship with Indigenous peoples and Black Canadians, leaving a knowledge gap when
it comes to immigrants and other visible minorities. This project aims to ﬁll this void by
examining the Canadian context of Nova Scotia.
While previous academic papers have explored exhibition practices, cultural artifact
collection and interpretation by museums housing foreign artifacts, this study builds on
existing literature to explore the broad question of belonging in gallery spaces and
speciﬁcally explores the local context of the AGNS as the site of research. Also, although
many other works have discussed the representation of minority cultures within museums,

 12
there has not been enough written about immigrant communities as users3 or as creators of
experiences within these spaces. This project actively involves immigrant participants as
collaborators, recognizing their valuable perspectives and engaging them in shaping their
own experiences within the gallery setting. Being an immigrant and an art scholar myself
places me in a unique position to address this matter since I can empathize with the
participants’ perspectives and experiences while understanding the museum’s position as
an art institution. Combining these two points of view will hopefully contribute to the AGNS
becoming a more welcoming space to visitors from all walks of life, which is an essential
feature of all public spaces. With this in mind, I intend to answer the following questions:
How can museums become more welcoming spaces for immigrants?
How can immigrants and members of the dominant culture collaborate in
participatory art projects within the museum context to reduce stereotypes and racist
behaviors?
Providing immigrant communities in Halifax with a safe space can foster deep
connections and a sense of belonging. At the same time, museums such as the AGNS can
help immigrants feel more welcomed by including them in the conversation regarding the
history of the province and its cultural, political, and social context. My main objective is to
investigate how museums can reduce tensions between culturally disparate groups and
address systemic racism within the institution by promoting respect and understanding
between people, in this case, Canadians4 and immigrants.

3

I selected the term "users" because the Design Thinking Methodology, which will be discussed
further in the "Methodology" chapter, mentions "user-centered design", to solve problems as if you
were designing a product or a service for a specific user.
4
I understand that within this context Indigenous peoples have historically and in many cases
continue to today being excluded within galleries, however, this is outside the scope of this research.
“Many Indigenous peoples DO NOT consider themselves Canadians. They are part of their own
sovereign nations and do not consider themselves part of one that has actively worked to assimilate
their people.” (Queens University, 2019)

 13
Through this project, I sought to identify the underlying factors contributing to
intercultural tensions within the museum context; by recruiting immigrant participants, my
aim was to bring to the forefront voices that are not typically included in designing and
planning museums, highlighting their personal views and opinions on both the AGNS’s
successes and areas of opportunity.
According to french philosopher Henri Lefebvre, society shapes its own space. It
generates practices that deﬁne that the space is theirs and only theirs, that is, diﬀerent from
other spaces generated by other societies. These practices are part of the sphere of what
can be perceived in the analysis of space. Space is conceived, according to Lefebvre, as a
product of capitalism; spaces are designed to create social dynamics that respond to the
interests of the State as a tool of inﬂuence and control. (Lefebvre, 1991)
This project encompasses issues with the physical space of the gallery, by
examining the spatial arrangements and design elements of the AGNS. This includes an
analysis of how the layout, accessibility, and overall ambiance might be inﬂuencing the
comfort and inclusivity experienced by immigrant visitors.
I will also address curatorial and narrative concerns, through a deconstruction of the
exhibited artworks, and displays to ascertain whether they resonate with the diverse cultural
backgrounds and experiences of newcomers. By critically evaluating the representation,
themes, and stories being conveyed, I seek to pinpoint any potential misalignments or
insensitivities that might be withholding eﬀective cross-cultural communication and
connection; and ﬁnally, we will discuss the Gallery’s audience engagement methods, by
looking into the strategies, programs, and interactive elements that it employs to involve its
visitors. By assessing the relevance, accessibility, and inclusivity of these approaches, we
aim to uncover any shortcomings that might be hindering the Gallery's ability to eﬀectively
reach and resonate with immigrant audiences.

 14
This thesis starts with an exploration of the most pertinent literature surrounding the
subject at hand. This chapter will be divided into ﬁve distinct and interconnected
subsections, each contributing essential insights to the state of the art. In the initial section,
I unpack the concept of racism, examining its manifestations and the persistence of
stereotypes, while also scrutinizing their correlation within museums; a museum’s use of art,
from its curation and museography to its overall discourse could inadvertently or
intentionally maintain harmful racial constructions based on nationalistic or colonialistic
ideals. After all, let's not forget how art has not only been used to forge the collective
imaginary, but also as a colonizing tool itself, as was the case of the Spanish missionaries in
Mexico, who used art as a way to teach their religion in spite of the language barriers; and
how empire and colonialism have shaped the history and collection of the British Museum,
just to name a few examples. By examining the relationship between museums and racism,
the aim of this research is to shed light on how museums can either perpetuate or challenge
racial biases and what they can do to change in a way that includes all visitors regardless of
their race or ethnicity.
The next section will look at the Canadian government's response to these pressing
concerns through a discerning analysis of policies, initiatives, and legislation, seeking
understanding about the eﬀorts made to address racism. In the third section, the review will
go through the historical trajectory of museums, delving into their evolving roles over time.
In particular, we will critically evaluate their involvement in colonialism and how these
institutions have historically functioned as exclusionary spaces. This exploration will help us
understand the historical context that has shaped museums' current status. Within this
section, I will also emphasize the importance of representation within museums. We will
underscore the signiﬁcance of diverse and inclusive representation, exploring how it can

 15
enhance the museum experience for all visitors and promote a more equitable and
respectful engagement with cultural heritage.
Chapter 3 will give the reader an overview of the AGNS, to understand why it is an
ideal setting for carrying out this project. We will provide an overview of the current
exhibitions that are part of the permanent collection, its current alliances, programs, and
past eﬀorts regarding immigrants. Then, we will round up the contextual information by
reviewing some statistical data on immigration in the province.
The following chapter will present a comprehensive and detailed description of the
project. It will encompass an in-depth explanation of the methodologies employed, notably
Design Thinking and Participatory Action Research, which are integral to the project's
execution. Also, the chapter will provide an explanation of the speciﬁc methodology used to
recruit participants for the study, assuring a diverse and representative sample.
Furthermore, within this project description, a thorough insight into the design
process for each session will be provided. This will include a presentation of the lesson
plans for each session, oﬀering detailed descriptions of the activities, learning objectives,
and materials employed. All of the materials developed for this project can be used as an
assessment tool to measure the level of welcomeness in museum spaces.
After the description, in a next chapter I discuss the implementation of the project in
detail, including unexpected situations that occurred during each stage of the research.
Readers will gain the most insight into how the project was conducted, as well as witness
the rich discussions that emerged during the sessions.
Then, we will move on to the data analysis and results. In this new chapter we will
explore all the information that was collected during the project. This section is divided
according to the diﬀerent areas in the Gallery, exploring in detail all the problems and
strengths of each one, as well as the participants' proposals to improve the space. By the

 16
end of this research, it will be determined whether the research questions were answered
and will explore how the project evolved from its initial expectations and was enriched by
the participants' contributions and experiences. Most importantly, it discusses how the
AGNS as a case study for Canadian museums can become a more welcoming space for
everyone.

Literature Review
This review will be divided into ﬁve main topics, starting with the origin of the problem,
being how negative representation in the media has resulted in deeply rooted racism that
aﬀects the lives of immigrants (Schemer, 2012). The role museums have historically had in
establishing and perpetuating these representations of "the other" will next be covered,
along with how visible minorities view these institutions.
Subsequently, I will mention the eﬀorts that both governments and cultural
institutions such as museums have made in recent decades to address these issues and
thus shift their approach to becoming more socially responsible. I will then examine the
analyses and critiques that previous researchers have conducted of several museums'
current practices and programs, as well as their proposals and recommendations for
addressing them. Finally, I'll point out the gaps in the existing literature to determine how
this research ﬁts into it and establish its applicability to the ﬁelds of art education and
museum studies. This review relied on a variety of sources, including academic journals,
theses, and books.
The topic of the relationship between immigrants5 and museums has been explored
in several research projects, particularly in the past few decades; mainly because museums
are under increasing pressure to transform themselves from places strongly related to
5

In the Canadian context, the term settler is used to refer to “the non-Indigenous peoples living in
Canada who form the European-descended socio-political majority” (Vowel, 2020). In this thesis, the
term immigrant will be used to refer to people from visible minorities who have recently moved to
Canada.

 17
oppression and colonialist discourses into welcoming and inclusive spaces. This has been
the result of the 'New Museology' movement that began in the 1960s. It aimed to give
museums a more democratic, open, and inclusive function. (Labadi, 2008)
Professor of Museum Studies, Richard Sandell (2007) states that “museums of all
kinds, and in many parts of the world, are increasingly expected to develop their displays in
ways which reﬂect the diverse, culturally pluralist societies within which they are
operating.”(Sandell, p. X)

Stereotypes and Racism
In his book Museums, Prejudice And The Reframing Of Diﬀerence, Richard Sandell (2007)
mentions how prejudice has been studied from the perspective of several disciplines,
ranging from history and sociology to politics and economics. He emphasizes how research
approaches that explore prejudice from an individualist perspective are unhelpful since they
“ignore the contexts within which institutions and individual actors operate and the lived
experiences of minority groups that are commonly the targets of intolerance and hatred” (p.
29).
To understand this hatred, we must delve into the concepts developed by Edward
Said in his groundbreaking essay, Orientalism (1978). Said describes orientalism as the
discourse –or the way of thinking– that draws an ontological line between the Orient and
the Occident, emphasizing the superiority of the Occident and the inferiority of the Orient.
Through imagery, journalism, and other forms of media, this discourse, which has
historically supported a political agenda, spreads these misconceptions. Although Said’s
Orientalism refers mainly to the Middle East, the concept can be applied to other groups or
contexts. As a result of the media's concentration on one negative element, everyone is
understood in the same harmful and paranoid light. As explained by Dr. Christian Schemer,
professor of Mass Communication and Media Research, stereotyping is a fundamental

 18
component of news reporting on minorities, as various studies have so far demonstrated.
For instance, ethnic minorities are frequently represented negatively in both European and
American media, often as poor, violent, or criminal people. “Given that media coverage of
ethnic minorities is overwhelmingly negatively biased, exposure to these sources of
information is likely to perpetuate stereotypic attitudes toward ethnic minorities.”(Schemer,
2012, p.2) According to Sandell (2007), if prejudice is thought of as a mental state and dealt
with on an individual basis, it will divert attention away from the need for societal and
structural reform.
The ultimate objective according to Said, is to change from having a unitary identity
to having an identity that embraces others without stiﬂing their diﬀerences and goes
beyond generalization. Within the context of museums, archaeologist and Professor of
Heritage, Sophia Labadi, states that:
the ﬁrst way to challenge such stereotypes is through the organization of internationally renowned
exhibitions on contentious topics related to immigration, such as on identity, Islam or borders,
that attract media attention and create debates beyond the walls of the museum.(Labadi, 2018,
p.139)

Organizing and promoting exhibitions of diverse artists is of great importance to
open people’s minds to other ways of thinking and experiences. However, at the same time
it is important that these don’t become one-oﬀ events; museums should make an eﬀort in
making diverse groups of people feel welcome in their spaces, encouraging community
building. As Canada becomes a more diverse country every day, this is more crucial than
ever.

Government’s Response
The government put into eﬀect the Canadian Multiculturalism Act, which sets out the oﬃcial
multiculturalism policy of Canada and provides for its implementation. In addition to

 19
promoting multicultural programs and activities within institutions and organizations, the act
sought to conserve the cultural heritage of Canadians. With this law, announced as an
oﬃcial government policy in 1971 by Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the Canadian
government became the ﬁrst in the world to acknowledge the intrinsic value of every
culture, and it solidiﬁed the commitment of the government to promote diversity and
cultural understanding. That same year was designated by the United Nations as the year
of International Year for Action to Combat Racism and

Racial Discrimination. This

multiculturalism policy was implemented in response to recommendations made by the
Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism; according to Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau, “These recommendations were made upon the urging of diverse ethnocultural
groups throughout Canada, a reminder of the lengthy and ongoing struggle for equality in
this country” (Statement by the Prime Minister on the 50th Anniversary of Canada’s
Multiculturalism Policy, 2021)
However, the multiculturalist approach within museums is another aspect of debate
around this policy, since it poses a great challenge to implement it. Weinstein (2017)
mentions that according to Professor of Anthropology and Canadian Studies, Caitlin
Gordon-Walker, the multiculturalism policy implies a representational completeness that is
impossible in museum work: if a state or any other institution claims to represent the
diversity encompassed within a multicultural society, it will always be accused of failing to
do so and leaving some group out.
A problematic example of multiculturalism given by Labadi (2018) quoting Canadian
political philosopher William Kymlicka’s (2012) work, is the recognition and celebration of
ethnocultural variety as seen in museums or performed at festivals. Since it ignores and
hides the unequal economic and social treatment that immigrants experience, which are the

 20
underlying causes for worry, this representation, and celebration of diversity has been
perceived to be somewhat superﬁcial.
There have been a lot of debates around the Multiculturalism Act, more speciﬁcally
around the concept of multiculturalism itself. Multiculturalism, interculturalism, and
transculturalism are topics of ongoing political debate, particularly within the Canadian
context. In their analysis, Kastoryano and Weinstein both argue that multiculturalism, also
known as "politics of recognition," is the most critiqued aspect because it threatens
national unity since it is said to accentuate cultural diﬀerences and lead to community
separation. The heart of the debate revolves around Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor's
inﬂuential work in "The Politics of Recognition." Taylor argues that political communities like
Canada should acknowledge and protect sub-state cultural groups, as these communities
shape individuals' identities and life perspectives.
Glen Coulthard, professor of Political Science and Indigenous studies, disagrees
with Taylor's view that a liberal framework of mutual recognition can fully counter the power
dynamics of colonial systems. He supports his argument based on Frantz Fanon’s theories,
and contends that within domination contexts like colonialism, recognition terms are
typically dictated by and favor the oppressor. This often portrays recognition as a "gift" from
a superior to an inferior, perpetuating unequal power dynamics. Coulthard critiques the
reliance on recognition as a means to achieve freedom and self-determination, highlighting
the limitations of such an approach. He points out that recognition conferred without
struggle fails to lead to authentic freedom and transformation of colonial subjectivity.
(Coulthard, 2007)
The idea of national citizenship and nationalism are extended by multiculturalism.
On the other hand, interculturalism is contact based, leading to civic practice and

 21
citizenship and a mutual belonging. However, although these concepts will be deﬁned, the
debate on these approaches falls beyond the scope of this research.
Another response that is crucial for the context of Halifax, is the creation of the
Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. Between 1929 and 1971, nearly one million
immigrants landed in Canada at Pier 21, a site of great importance during the post-war
period. In 1997, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada designated Pier 21 a
National Historical Site and, according to the museum’s website, in 1998 a private
community historical group called the Pier 21 Society obtained a lease for the space from
the Halifax Port Authority with the intention of creating a museum honouring the site’s
heritage, using both private and public funds (Schwinghamer, 2022). In 2010, the Canadian
Museums Act was amended by including the establishment of the museum, and the
following year, the Pier 21 Society operations were taken over by the newly-created
Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, a federal Crown Corporation. The museum’s
purpose is:
…to explore the theme of immigration to Canada in order to enhance public understanding of the
experiences of immigrants as they arrived in Canada, of the vital role immigration has played in
the building of Canada and of the contributions of immigrants to Canada’s culture, economy and
way of life. ( “Museums Act section 15.4” Justice Laws Website, Government of Canada)

The Role of Museums
Historically Exclusionary Places.
Several of the authors cited in this paper comment on the fact that museums used to be
exclusionary spaces and symbols of colonialism. If we consider the way these institutions
were used in imperialist nations such as the UK and France to display the glory, domination
and superiority over their colonies, as stated by Desi Dwi Prianti and I Wayan Suyadnya:

 22
“through the history of conquest, trade, and the politics of colonialism, Western museums
are undeniably a representation of the coloniser. For another purpose, the entire collection
is shown, displayed, exhibited, and used as a medium to build their national identity.”
(Prianti & Suyadnya, 2022) In this vein, Labadi (2018) even references how the
transformation of Le Musée du Louvre from a royal private collection into a public space in
1793 had an enormous impact as a symbol of the fall of the old regime and the birth of a
democratic one.
Indeed, museums have played a key role in the construction of Western identities,
and even to this day, they can be perceived as exclusionary places that ostracize people by
social class, education, race and ethnicity. Tony Bennett (1995) argues that when it was ﬁrst
formed in the nineteenth century, the discursive space of the museum was shaped by many
contradictions, including the fact that:
while it organized and addressed a public made up of formal equals it also served to diﬀerentiate
populations via a combination of cultural markers which established it in a cultural zone clearly
distinct from that of popular assemblies and regulatory technologies aimed at modifying the
behaviour of the visitor. […] Studies of museum visitors thus make it abundantly clear not only
that museum attendance varies directly with such variables as class, income, occupation and,
most noticeable, education, but also that the barriers to participation, as perceived by
non-attenders, are largely cultural. Those sections of the population which make little use of
museums clearly feel that the museum constitutes a cultural space that is not meant for them —
and, as we have seen, not without reason. (Bennett, 1995, p.104)

Having to modify one’s behaviour and being presented with seemingly unbreakable
cultural barriers is certainly a reason why certain sectors of the population, such as
immigrants, may feel unwelcome in museum spaces. As Labadi (2018) explores extensively,
museums have been up until recently, intimidating spaces, where social rituals are
observed; institutions created with the aim of civilizing the public. Visitors are expected to

 23
behave in a certain “speciﬁc contemplative manner”, otherwise they would feel out of place,
or as Monteiro puts it, regular museum-goers must be “educationally prepared to respond
to their symbolic cues, to walk around the museum with the correct pacing and behaviour,
indicating the appropriate level of appreciation and recognition of the art on display” (2002,
p. 140).
Labadi (2018) also mentions that even the presence of security guards can make the
experience intimidating for certain audiences who are not used to navigating these spaces,
making them feel as if they were a threat to the collection. Monteiro (2002) also addresses
these issues, mentioning how in the United States, art museums have been traditionally
spaces for the elite classes, since art is perceived as something reserved for the privileged,
educated sectors. She also raises another intriguing aspect, claiming that American art
galleries exhibit European masterworks as though they were their forefathers' creations,
making Western visitors the deserving inheritors of these traditions, and with these
narratives, perpetuating the eurocentric view.
This is also brought up by Stain, Garibay, and Wilson, who mention that in the past,
museums were designed with Western ideas and perspectives in mind, and they mainly
targeted upper and middle-class audiences rather than working-class ones. Also noted by
Bourdieau and Darbel in The Love of Art, a comprehensive study of museum visitors
throughout Europe, was that museum visiting increases greatly with an increasing level of
education, and is almost exclusively a privilege of cultivated classes. (Bourdieu et al., 1991,
p.14)
How all of this reﬂects on Halifax, speciﬁcally on the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, will
be addressed throughout the study thanks to the participants’ input and my own
conclusions on the matter.

 24

Representation and Why it Matters.
It is important to note that there are many other resources available about the
representation of visible minorities in museums and cultural institutions; the ones included
in this review are only a few of them, yet the authors here have a strong view on the matter
and address it in their work.
According to Labadi (2018), “representation in museums reﬂects who is included or
excluded and made invisible from the nation and its oﬃcial narratives” (p.130). In view of
this, she adds that the experiences and histories of minorities were omitted or marginalized
(Scorrano, 2012 as cited in Labadi, 2018). “When mentioned, minorities or non-Europeans
were often represented as diﬀerent (as the Other), inferior and primitive” (Labadi, 2018, p.
40). Weinstein adds to this by describing how, in the Canadian context, exhibitions devoted
to the portrayal of non-European immigrant minority cultures are still notably rare in
Canadian museums (2017). She recognizes that “while many museums present First
Nations’ cultural history, very few feature objects from minority immigrant groups” (Ashley,
2005, as cited in Weinstein, 2017) This statement is exactly what motivated this research
since I found it to resonate with my experience.
Weinstein (2017) also reports on Gordon-Walker’s (2003) ﬁndings, suggesting that
the Cultural Communities programme at the Royal Alberta Museum (RAM) is the only
programme in Canada dedicated to non-aboriginal minorities (p. 270). Weinstein (2017) also
urges us to question whose perspective is being shown within museums’ displays and who
is in charge of the process. Labadi also explores the concept of the contact zone, proposed
originally by Marie-Louise Pratt and then explored by James Cliﬀord. Pratt deﬁnes contact
zones as “social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in
contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power, such as colonialism, slavery, or their
aftermaths as they are lived out in many parts of the world today” (Pratt, 1991, p. 34).

 25
Cliﬀord applies this concept to the context of museums in his essay Museums as Contact
Zones, where he expresses

that “when museums are seen as contact zones, their

organizing structure as a collection becomes an ongoing historical, political, moral
relationship–a power-charged set of exchanges, of push and pull” (Cliﬀord 1997, pp.192-3).
Cliﬀord aims to challenge and reshape that relationship, commonly regarded as one-sided
imperialist appropiation. In his view, museums can become a collaborative space that
beneﬁts both them and cultures whose artifacts are displayed (Rodley, 2016).
This approach aims to change the fact that instead of using a more circular strategy
that involves the community in discussions that foster cross-cultural exchanges, many
museums adhere to colonial practices by treating the production and transmission of
information as a hierarchical top-down process, wherein it ﬂows solely from the curator to
the public. Museums must provide opportunities for visitors to see themselves or their
culture reﬂected in the museum experience, programmes, exhibition, or even staﬀ
demographics (Stein et al, 2008) The author also states that insuﬃcient representation can
result in discrimination and prevent immigrants from realizing their capability.
In this matter, the Black Curators Forum (BCF), an initiative established in 2019 to
address the challenges faced by Black arts professionals and highlight their contributions to
museums and galleries, calls for authentic reform in the Canadian arts sector, advocating for
equitable employment, leadership representation, funding conditions, and policies that
counter racism and promote cultural equity. BCF stands in solidarity with efforts to dismantle
systemic racism within arts and cultural institutions in Canada (Bélidor et al., 2020).

Disconnection with Minorities.
According to Labadi (2018), in the decade of the 2010s, some museums experienced a
dramatic 20% drop in their visitor numbers, such is the case of The National Gallery and the
Tate museum in the UK. The author suggests that this drop is due to the institutions' failure

 26
to reﬂect the increasing diversity of European societies and hence losing relevance. This
speaks to the urgency of museums to change their approach regarding how they engage
with minorities. Several authors explore the reasons behind the distancing between visible
minorities and museums, perhaps one of the most recurrent ones is language. Labadi
(2018) says that it is common for immigrants to exclude themselves or to be ostracized
from employment or volunteer opportunities at museums if they have not fully mastered the
language of the host country.
Correspondingly, Monteiro (2009) adds that language is only one of the many factors
keeping immigrants from visiting museums. She assures that it's no surprise that
immigrants and others who already face discrimination choose not to visit a place where
they will be treated strangely, struggle to read labels written in a language they don't
understand, and on top of that be asked to pay high fees just to get in. According to Stein
et. al. (2008) due to their negative perceptions of museums, minorities may believe this is
not a place for them or their families, and museums have nothing to oﬀer them.
Stein et. al. (2008) exhort museums to consider what value they can provide to a
particular audience and whether they are actually prepared to make the kinds of changes
required to do so. “For example, if a community needs or desires bilingual or multilingual
labels and interpretation throughout the museum, exhibitions, and/or programming, is the
institution prepared and willing to provide such a service?” (Stein et al., 2008, p .184) They
also point out that if museums want to deeply engage with immigrant communities they
should avoid developing one-time, tokenistic exhibits or programs since such initiatives do
not develop long-term relationships with intended audiences. If an institution is committed
to including the voices and perspectives of immigrant communities, they may be more
eager to engage with it. In this respect, the AGNS does have some history implementing
programs with immigrants, which will be explained in the following chapter.

 27

Existing Programs and Their Success Rate.
In these various bibliographical resources, the authors analyze several projects and
programs that have been implemented within museums such as Collective Conversations at
the Manchester Museum, the the interpretive projects at the National Gallery of Denmark
and Thorvaldsens Museum in Copenhagen, or Shared Journeys at the Tenement Museum
in New York.
They point out these programs’ strengths and weaknesses and give their point of
view on what could be modiﬁed to increase the impact that these have had in the
community. The authors also make recommendations regarding the actions that museums
can take to improve their representation and engagement with immigrant communities.
Some of the researchers even suggest follow-up questions to their research so that other
academics can join the conversation.

Gaps
Most of the research that has been done around the topic is within the context of the United
States and Europe, with very few papers on the Canadian context. Perhaps one of the most
comprehensive studies based in Canada is Elise Weinstein Dintsman’s contribution to
Global Mobilities, published in 2017. In the ﬁrst section of this study, Weinstein analyzes the
current eﬀorts made by a variety of museums across Canada to expand their representation
of minorities. The author then explores the case of an exhibition carried out at The Museum
for Textiles in 1995. Weinstein also mentions how perhaps the biggest initiative to address
immigrant representation in cultural institutions in Canada was the creation of the Canadian
Museum of Immigration Pier 21, in Halifax. However, she also highlights that relegating the
stories of immigration to specialized museums emphasizes the notion of “otherness” by
separating immigrants from the dominating culture.

 28
According to Labadi (2018), many academic papers have addressed the collection
and interpretation of cultural artifacts. Most of the study cases analyzed in the papers
consulted for this review, take place in museums that hold objects from other cultures in
their collections and their interpretation, with the exception of Monteiro’s proposal, which
takes place in the Harvard Art Museum and deals with paintings and photographs.
Also, the analyzed papers deal with diﬀerent demographics, most of the time
focusing on a speciﬁc community or ethnic group, and seldom including participants from
the dominant culture. In addition, as Stein et al. point out, “much scholarly work has been
written on the representation of immigrant culture –in museums, festivals, and other
contexts of cultural display– but far less attention has been given to immigrant communities
as visitors, consumers, or even producers of such experiences.” (2008, p.180)

Conclusions
The topic of museums and minorities is one of great importance within diverse societies. It
has been widely addressed from diﬀerent perspectives, especially since the proposal of the
New Museology approach in the 1980s. I believe that today more than ever a reassessment
of how institutions engage with minorities is absolutely necessary. As an immigrant myself, I
feel like positioning myself as a member of one of the agents in the subject of this research
will allow me to understand the situation from a unique perspective. The Art Gallery Nova
Scotia seems like the perfect setting to carry out this project since it faces some of the
situations described in these articles.

 29

2.- Case Study: AGNS
Located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is the largest art museum in
Atlantic Canada. It is a cultural institution that showcases and celebrates the diverse artistic
heritage of the province. Founded in 1908, it has played a vital role in preserving and
promoting the art of Nova Scotia while fostering a vibrant artistic community. It was
established as the Nova Scotia Museum of Fine Arts in 1908, making it one of the oldest art
galleries in Canada. Initially, the gallery operated out of a single room in the Provincial
Building, displaying a small collection of European and Canadian artworks. Over the years,
the gallery expanded and moved to diﬀerent locations before ﬁnding its permanent home
on Hollis Street in 1988. According to the oﬃcial website, the Gallery’s Permanent
Collection currently holds over 18,000 work (About - AGNS | Art Gallery of Nova Scotia,
2022).
One of the highlights of the collection is the Maud Lewis Gallery and house. Maud
Lewis was one of Canada's most renowned and beloved artists, due to her unique artistic
style and her interesting yet challenging life. Her popularity has increased in recent years
given the success of the feature ﬁlm Maudie, which has also sparked interest in people from
all over the world to visit the Art Gallery. According to the 2022-2023 report (Art Gallery of
Nova Scotia, 2023), they welcomed 49,306 visitors that year, plus over 62,843 virtual
visitors.
Another one of the jewels of the collection is Cree artist Kent Monkman’s
masterpiece Miss Chief’s Wet Dream, which addresses the complexities of the relationship
between the Indigenous peoples of Canada and the country’s colonizers. Last but not least,
it is important to mention the ongoing exhibition Ta’n a’sikatikl sipu’l | Conﬂuence, which
features work by Indigenous artists and seeks to “encourage dialogue about connection

 30
and exchange” (Ta’n A’sikatikl Sipu’l | Conﬂuence Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 2023).
Additionally, there are spaces dedicated to Canadian and European artists. The gallery also
hosts numerous temporary exhibitions throughout the year, showcasing both local and
international artists.
The Gallery also oﬀers a variety of programs and educational activities for the public
to engage with. These include artist talks, in gallery activities, art camps for children and
studio classes. In addition, the gallery has formed partnerships with various community
organizations, including Wonder’neath Art Society, the Alzheimer's Society of Nova Scotia,
and Autism Nova Scotia. These collaborations allow the gallery to extend its reach and oﬀer
positive art experiences to diﬀerent sectors of the community.
It is also appropriate to mention that being welcoming is part of the AGNS’s
mandate, as we can read on its website : [The AGNS will] “Be welcoming: Tell stories that
reﬂect community, create understanding, and generate meaningful thought. Our approach
is inviting: Celebrate art and artists and invite all to view, experience, and create.”(About AGNS | Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 2022)
During my Practicum in the Education Department, I observed that the gallery's
discussions on diversity and inclusion primarily centered around Indigenous peoples and
African Nova Scotians. Remarkable initiatives like the Blk Scotian; Blk Art Podcast,
dedicated to African Nova Scotian Culture and Art, and the inspiring exhibition Ta’n
A’sikatikl Sipu’l | Conﬂuence, showcasing Indigenous artists, were evident examples of this
commitment. While these eﬀorts are commendable and crucial, it is equally important to
ensure that all other groups within Haligonian society feel valued, welcomed, and
represented. Expanding the scope of diversity initiatives to embrace the stories and
contributions of other marginalized groups is vital in creating an inclusive and harmonious
space that truly reﬂects the rich tapestry of the local community.

 31
Through personal observation, as well as conversations with docents, guides, and other
staﬀ members, I have conﬁrmed the importance of addressing the issues that are keeping
people from visiting and engaging with the gallery. This project has been developed with the
support of the Public Programming Specialist at the AGNS, Laura Carmichael.

 32

Past Programming Regarding Immigrants
There have been previous eﬀorts to include programming aimed at immigrant populations.
The following information was obtained by contacting the Curator of Education & Public
Programs, Dale Sheppard, in order to gain a better understanding of what the Art Gallery of
Nova Scotia has done in terms of public programming directed toward visible minorities in
the past.

1.-Art As Language, 2001.
The Art As Language Project took place in 2001, and it was a collaboration between the
Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association, the YMCA, and the AGNS.
According to AGNS Educator, and Curator of the exhibition Dale Sheppard:
The aim of the exhibition was to provide an opportunity through the visual arts for
families new to Canada to tell their respective immigration stories. Eight families
from diﬀerent parts of the world were invited to participate in studio workshops at
the AGNS. These workshops resulted in collaborative artwork created by each
family. These artworks served to reinforce that the visual arts can cross boundaries
of language to communicate ideas; how cultural experiences can aﬀect imagery and
one's visual interpretation of the world. (Sheppard, 2001, p.4)

 33
Figures 1 & 2.
Language and Art

Note. Images courtesy of Dale Sheppard. 2001

2.-Workshops with families from the Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement
Association (MISA), 2008.
In an effort to help immigrant families transition more smoothly, MISA provides workshops
and professional support to these families. Following the practicum master's thesis of
Mexican photographer Sylvia Calatayud, art educators from AGNS and staff from MISA will
welcome a group of families to the Gallery's studios for two consecutive weekends to
provide them with art-making workshops, original art interpretation and the opportunity to

 34
express themselves and communicate with each other using visual arts. (‘Collaborative
Ventures in Arts Education’, 2008)

3.-Family Portraits: Immigration and Identity, 2008.
The Portrait Gallery of Canada and the AGNS collaborated on this project, which involved
17 families –eight in Ottawa and nine in Halifax– who explored their immigration histories
and identity through portrait workshops. The participating families gathered for several
weeks under the guidance of an immigrant artist to create their own family portraits. They
compared photographs, when available, and collectively decided what aspects they wished
to portray and how to best express them artistically. These images captured not only their
unique stories of immigrating to Canada, but also their shared experiences. In addition to
visual art, audio and video recordings also contributed to these narratives.
Once the exhibitions were installed, both the Portrait Gallery of Canada and AGNS
organized school programs that delved into the profound themes of family and cultural
identities. These programs provided students with an opportunity to explore and engage
with the captivating stories depicted within the artwork, fostering a deeper understanding
and appreciation for the diverse experiences of immigrant families in Canada.
A collaboration with the Portrait Gallery of Canada/Library and Archives Canada with
support from the Ottawa Community Immigration Services Organization (OCISO),
the Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association (MISA), Halifax, and the
Community Arts Program, Cultural Services, City of Ottawa. The exhibition included
a bi-fold publication, video, and a professionally photographed group portrait of
each Halifax family taken in their home and given as a gift to them. (Sheppard, n.d.)

 35
Figure 3
Family Portraits Brochure

Note. Portrait Gallery of Canada & Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. (2009). Family Portraits. Immigration
and Identity. Library and Archives Canada.

4.-Workshops and exhibition with Student Refugee Program at World
University Service Canada (WUSC) with Dalhousie University students.
The program sponsors refugee students who qualify for and wish to attend university in
Canada, matching students with appropriate schools and helping them obtain permanent
residency status. (Sheppard, n.d.) This program included studio workshops with both
refugee and Canada students and resulted in an exhibition of group work that shared the
story of one refugee’s journey coming to Nova Scotia. This program aimed to assist the
refugee student settling into their new community in Nova Scotia with the support of their
peers. (L. Carmichael, personal communication, August 23, 2023)

 36

5.-Tours with EAL programs through St Mary's University and other language
schools,

special

workshops with Metropolitan Immigration Settlement

Association.
Immigrant and newcomer students in EAL programs are offered guided and self-guided
tours. These ongoing tours are arranged through the local Universities, and other language
schools in the city (L. Carmichael, personal communication, August 23, 2023).

6.-YMCA Immigrant Settlement Association
Throughout recent years we worked with staff the YMCA settlement services to allot
subsidized spots in our summer day camp program to children who would not otherwise
have the opportunity to attend these types of arts-based programs (L. Carmichael, personal
communication, August 23, 2023).

 37

Context: Immigration in Nova Scotia
In order to highlight the relevance of this research, it is important to give an overview of the
immigration situation in Nova Scotia and speciﬁcally in Halifax, where this study takes
place.
The earliest permanent European settlement in Nova Scotia dates back to the early
1600s when French settlers established Port Royal in 1605. Later on, the British gained
control of the region, eventually leading to the displacement of the Acadians. Between 1749
and 1752, Protestant settlers arrived in Halifax from Germany, Montbéliard, and
Switzerland. When the British government sponsored the founding of Halifax in 1749, about
3000 English people moved to Nova Scotia. Following the American Revolution, roughly
20,000 disbanded soldiers and refugees loyal to the British Crown were relocated to Nova
Scotia. (Nova Scotia Archives, 2020) In 1773, the ship "Hector" brought the ﬁrst group of
Scottish people to settle in Nova Scotia, and many more would follow throughout the 18th
and 19th centuries. (Nova Scotia Museum, 2017) During the latter, the province saw
signiﬁcant immigration waves, including Scottish Highlanders, Irish, and later, Black
Loyalists and African Nova Scotians.
Nova Scotia experienced an increase in immigration following World War II, as
refugees and others displaced by war and violence have become a signiﬁcant part of the
immigration ﬂow. (Troper, 2022)

Throughout the last few decades, Nova Scotia has

experienced a diversity of immigration from around the world driven by economic
opportunities, family reuniﬁcations, and refugee resettlements.
According to the 2021 census, immigrants make up 11.6% of the population of the
HRM (Halifax Regional Municipality) with 50,590 immigrants in total (Statistics Canada,
2023). This number has increased since the last census. In a report presented by The
Canadian Real Estate Association, in cooperation with the Nova Scotia Migration, Nova

 38
Scotia’s population increased by 7,636 people due to international immigration in the ﬁrst
quarter of 2023, representing an increase of 134.2% compared to the same period of the
previous year

(Nova Scotia Migration, 2023). Considering the numbers of the census,

visible minorities make up 16.8% of the HRM population, with the largest groups being
Black6 with 20,565 people, followed by South Asians with 16,765 people, Chinese with
9,750 people, Arab with 9,455 people and Filipinos with 4,485. Other considerably large
groups are Koreans and Latin Americans, with 2,385 and 2,255 people respectively. The
census also shows that the most spoken languages apart from the oﬃcial languages
(English and French) and Mi'kmaq, are Arabic, Chinese, German, Spanish, Persian and
Tagalog.

6

Although this research acknowledges the historical oppression faced by Black Nova Scotians, this
project is aimed specifically at immigrant visible minorities. Due to the fact that the census does not
separate Black Nova Scotians from Black immigrants, the number in the statistics may not accurately
reflect the number of actual Black immigrants from other countries.

 39

3.- Project Proposal and Description
As a result of the literature review, this project took a diﬀerent approach from being a
program proposal that was thought out and designed by the researcher or the institution.
Instead, it sought to empower participants by providing them with a platform to express
their concerns and opinions regarding public spaces. By drawing from the Design Thinking
and Participatory Action Research methodologies, this project adopted a user-centric
approach to foster a sense of ownership and inclusivity among participants, ensuring that
their needs and perspectives were taken into account when developing solutions.
The project began by engaging participants in a process of self-reﬂection and
exploration of their own individual and collective identities to identify their needs as users of
the Gallery. Furthermore, the goal of this process was to help cultivate a sense of
community and camaraderie among the participants as they shared their personal
experiences and discussed whether they had felt a sense of welcome and belonging in
Canada, particularly in Halifax and its public spaces.
Following this initial phase, participants were invited to actively experience the
Gallery, immersing themselves in its environment and reﬂecting on their emotional
responses and overall feelings within the space. The physical space is also an essential
feature that can impact people’s sensory perception. According to Steven Holl, “the
passage of time, light, shadow, and transparency; color phenomena, texture, material, and
detail all participate in the complete experience of architecture.” (Holl, 1994, p.19) All of
these elements are essential to the museum experience. On the matter, Juhani Pallasma
(2014) states that “as we enter a space, the space enters us, and the experience is
essentially an exchange and fusion of the object and the subject.” (Pallasma, 2014, p. 20)
Participants were asked to respond to the physical space of the gallery, as well as the

 40
collection, the staﬀ, and the programming oﬀered. This experiential exercise aimed to
provide valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the Gallery as a public
space. By encouraging participants to articulate their observations and identify areas for
improvement, the project enabled them to become co-creators of the proposed solutions,
elevating their role from spectators to active agents of change.
Guided by the researcher, participants collaborated on developing a proposal that
addressed the identiﬁed problem areas. Drawing upon problem-solving techniques derived
from the methodologies outlined in the subsequent section, the researcher facilitated a
session that allowed participants to express their ideas and solve problems together.
The ﬁnal stage of the project consisted of the analysis and interpretation of the
results obtained through this process. The researcher analyzed the collected information,
identiﬁed common themes, and drew meaningful conclusions. By thoroughly examining the
participants' input and incorporating their voices into the results, the project reﬂected the
diverse range of experiences and perspectives shared. This inclusive approach ensured
that the proposed solutions were not only informed by data but also deeply rooted in the
lived experiences of the community.

 41

Methodology/Theory
In the course of this study, I will adopt Post-colonial Theory as the guiding ideological
framework. Complementing this theoretical foundation, I will integrate Design Thinking and
Participatory Action Research methodologies. By combining these methodologies, they will
synergistically empower participants, ginving them an active role throughout the process,
from problem definition and the expression of their viewpoints and needs, to the
collaborative crafting of potential solutions. This holistic approach ensures that the voices of
participants resonate throughout, embodying a comprehensive and inclusive engagement.

Post-colonial Theory
Postcolonial Theory is a dynamic and thought-provoking framework that critically analyses
colonialism's ongoing repercussions on civilizations, cultures, and identities. Developed in
response to the continuing legacy of colonial rule, this theoretical approach explores how
power dynamics, cultural assimilation, and historical injustices continue to shape the world.
Philosopher and psychiatrist Frantz Fanon, was amongst the ﬁrst authors to address these
issues. In his work, he states that colonialism and the ideologies that support it are
internalised by colonisers and colonised alike. No only does he explore the implications of
colonialism from a political point of view, but also looks at the process of decolonisation
from a psychological perspective.
Gayatri Spivack is another important post-colonial feminist author, who analyzes
how history becomes 'oﬃcial' or 'true' while excluding the voices of the marginalized,
including women. Post-colonial theory oﬀers valuable insights into the issue I am
addressing, namely the creation of otherness through media, stereotypes, fear, and
misconceptions surrounding diﬀerent cultures. Edward Said's seminal work Orientalism
particularly resonates with me, as it eloquently explores the consequences of these
dynamics. By adopting Said's theory, I aim to delve into the root causes of this problem and

 42
propose solutions that challenge and dismantle these harmful narratives. His framework
provides a comprehensive understanding of the power dynamics at play, enabling me to
analyze the complex interplay between colonial legacies, cultural representations, and the
perpetuation of stereotypes. With Post-colonial theory as my foundation, I am conﬁdent
that my project will shed light on the ways in which we can counteract these damaging
forces and promote inclusivity, understanding, and appreciation of diverse cultures. As
mentioned by Paulo Freire, Brazilian educator and philosopher, educational or political
programs that fail to respect people's unique worldviews cannot have positive results. He
also recommends avoiding oﬀering programs that are disconnected from people's
concerns, fears, hopes, and doubts, as this can worsen the anxieties of the marginalized.
(Freire, 2000, p.95-96) Taking this into consideration, this project seeks to engage in
dialogue to consider everyone’s perspectives.

Design Thinking
Design thinking is a human-centred approach to innovation that relies on understanding
customer needs, prototyping quickly, and generating creative ideas to transform the way
companies, products, and processes are developed (IDEO U, n.d.) This process involves
empathy and understanding of the users’ needs. The design thinking methodology has
evolved into one of the most effective tools for innovating based on human, technological,
and strategic needs. Its roots trace back to the 1950s and 1960s, primarily within
architecture and engineering. However, it was during the 1980s that Nigel Cross and Bryan
Lawson explored how designers solve problems differently from scientists. It was found that
designers produced multiple solutions quickly, while scientists focused on problems.
Design thinking channels the habits and mindsets of designers, who are trained to tackle problems
with creativity, curiosity, rigour, and discipline. Design thinking asks us to bring our whole selves to
the problems we face and to focus on the people our solutions will serve. It is a process that

 43
requires both head (the rational, thinking part of our brain) and heart (our feeling, intuitive side).
(Gallagher & Thordarson, 2020, p.4)

It was during the 1990s that it became popular thanks to the design firm IDEO, which came
up with its own terminology and toolkits to make design thinking more accessible. Then, one
of IDEO’s co-founders, David Kelly, who was also an engineer, designer, and educator, led
the creation of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University, known as the
d.school. As a result, many other universities, business schools, and companies are
adopting design thinking today. (Dam & Siang, 2022)
As a designer, I am familiar with this methodology and have used it for previous
research. I consider it to be a very useful approach when working with groups because it
enables participants to be the ones coming up with the solutions and ideas while fostering
the exchange of ideas and collaborative work towards a common goal. Design thinking
challenges individuals to convert insights into concrete steps and keep progressing.
Collaboration is a fundamental aspect, pushing everyone to work with others
beyond their comfort zones to address complex issues collectively. Prototyping is a key
driver, facilitating learning, feedback, and the reﬁnement of ideas. Curiosity is encouraged,
urging participants to ask questions and challenge established practices. (Gallagher &
Thordarson, 2020) One of the most wonderful aspects of design thinking is that it is a
non-linear process, which makes it very ﬂexible and adaptable. During the process, phases
can overlap, loop, be repeated multiple times, or even skipped. It is an iterative process,
which means it requires the reﬁnement and improvement of the project, by trial and error,
before reaching a ﬁnal solution.

 44

Figure 4. Design Thinking 101. NN Group, 2016. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/design-thinking/

Participatory Action Research
Participatory Action Research (PAR) involves researchers and participants working together
to examine a problematic situation or action to change it for the better (Wadsworth 1998, as
cited in Sara Kindon et al., 2007). By implementing participatory approaches, researchers
aim to challenge traditional hierarchies between them and the "researched", creating a
model where the results directly beneﬁt the communities involved. According to Colombian
researcher Orlando Fals Borda, participatory action research “[does] not follow a recipe, but
instead, is a kind of an intersubjective and empathetic dialogue between researchers and
the subject group, one that would be adjusted to the particular circumstances of the

 45
research relationship.”(Pereira & Rappaport, 2022) Following this concept, this project
attempts to foster empathy throughout the whole research process, always considering
each participant’s identity and cultural background. At the same time, this thesis directly
seeks to provide the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia with key insights on how to improve their
space in order for it to become a welcoming space where the community can learn and
thrive.
Participatory visual research methods allow participants to engage in their local
settings and collaborate in order to build knowledge for social change. These methods
encompass a wide range of approaches, from utilizing digital platforms to implementing
photovoice, digital storytelling, and participatory video. Additionally, some other methods
such as body-mapping and drawing, are also utilized in this participatory research
framework (Mitchell, 2017). As established by researchers Paula Reavey and Katherine
Johnson, participatory visual methods “hand over agency to the participants rather than
requiring them to answer researcher-deﬁned questions” (Reavy and Johnson, as cited in
Mitchell, 2017, p. 174). In this project, visual methods such as colour coding mapping,
doodling, map mapping and sketchnoting were used.

 46

Participants
Description
A) Young adults (18-45) from a visible minority who are residents7 in Halifax, preferably
with an interest in art, whose majority of friends are from their same ethnic group.
B) Young adults (18-45) of Canadian origin living in Halifax, preferably with an interest in
art, who have had little to no contact with people of other ethnic and cultural
backgrounds.

Recruitment Method
Snowball sampling

In order to recruit a sample of participants as culturally diverse as possible, and fulﬁl the
interest in art criterion, the proposed technique is snowball sampling. Snowball sampling is
a non-probability sampling method, which is based on referrals. Typically,

for this

recruitment method, current participants of a research project are asked to identify future
participants who meet the required criteria. There are several variants of this method. For
this project, I will use Exponential Discriminative Snowball Sampling, in which each subject
provides multiple referrals, and then the researcher determines which referral to recruit
based on the objectives and goals of the study.
In this case, the initial pool will consist of friends and acquaintances of diﬀerent
ethnicities. They will be asked to give the researcher’s call for participants and contact
details to members of their communities who they deem ﬁt to participate in the project. In
light of the nature of the study, no conﬂict of interest or ethical concerns were identiﬁed.

7

Foreign-born population, recent immigrants, and non-permanent residents (international students)
with the intention to stay.

 47

Ethical Considerations
Consent was established at the beginning of each of the workshop sessions. A brief
introduction of the planned activities was given at the onset of each day. As the focus is on
the generation of ideas and related skill development, there were no expected risks or harm
associated with participation in this research. The purpose of the research was to help
participants learn problem-solving skills, which involved group work and discussions.
Participants were free to choose what they shared, and they were never asked to discuss
any topics they were not comfortable with.
The researcher facilitated all the sessions and ensured the workshops were
conducted in a safe and comfortable environment. The ﬁrst day, researcher and participants
established principles of respectful conduct and these were revisited every session. There
was no monetary compensation for participating in this study.

 48

Workshop Lesson Plans

Note: Participants of the workshop will be exposed to a variety of activities described in the present
document.

Session 1: Introduction / Empathize
Delivery: In Person, At Home Follow-up.

The goals of the project will be explained to the participants.
Participants will become acquainted.
Participants will learn about the components of personal identity, explore
Lesson objectives their own and others' identities, and identify diﬀerences and similarities to
foster empathy and mutual understanding.
Through the follow-up activity, participants will develop a deeper
connection with one another.
Class Contents Introduction
(themes, sub-themes, Identity Molecule
concepts) Photo voice8 (homework)
Create Name tags
Instructor’s Preparation Create worksheets
Set up Padlet9
Create own Identity Map
Participants’ Preparation Sign consent forms

8
9

Term definitions can be found in the Glossary.
See Glossary.

 49
Didactic sequence
Estimated
Stage of the
Activity Description

time

Required resources

session
[minutes]
The Researcher will greet participants,

10 min

None

15 min

Name tags

thank them for their time and for
Welcome
participating in the project.
Land acknowledgment.
Describe the day’s activities.
Collect Consent Forms.

Pencils and Pens

Distribute name tags and materials.
Introduction
Conﬁrm that participants have read the
information letter and understand the
project's objectives.
Introductions

5 min

Name Tags

10 min

Projector

Participants will write their name and
pronouns on their name tags. Each person
Contents should say their name in front of the group
out loud as well as clarify any
pronunciation issues.

Identity Molecule

10

See Appendix

Worksheet 1 will be provided by the

Worksheet 1

researcher for this task10. The researcher

Pen or Pencil

 50
will discuss how identity is deﬁned and
provide examples of her own worksheet
responses. Then, each participant will add
their own information on the worksheet.
Covalent Bond
Once the participants have ﬁlled out their
worksheet, the instructor will give the
directions for the next activity.
The researcher will ask participants if they
feel comfortable with physical touch.
Participants will go around the room and
talk to each other about the elements they
wrote on their molecule worksheet, and try
to ﬁnd someone with a common trait. Once
they ﬁnd it, they have to form a bond
(either holding hands or linking elbows) The
pair must then go ﬁnd someone else with a
common trait among the rest of the group.
If the third person has something in
common with both, they should join their
hands in the middle. If the trait is only
shared by one of the participants, the link
is formed only between the two. (There will
be double and triple bonds as a result.)
This dynamic will continue until the entire

20 min

Worksheet 1 (completed)
Hand sanitizing gel

 51
group is connected in one big molecule.
The instructor will then comment on the
activity's metaphorical meaning, which is
that despite our diﬀerences, we are all
connected and can ﬁnd a common ground
for empathy and understanding.
Coﬀee Break

15 min

Coﬀee and biscuits
provided by the
researcher

Explain and demonstrate how to use

10 min

Padlet11 and introduce Photo Voice12

At home:

activity

Computer or phone with

Prompt: What does it mean to be

internet connection

welcome/welcoming? How do you

Mobile device with a

welcome people in your home/country/life?

camera.

A follow-up video call can be scheduled if
participants have questions regarding the
activity before the next in-person meeting.
Closure Thank participants
Total

5 min
120 min

Session 2: Identify the problem

11
12

See Glossary
See Glossary

Projector.

 52
Delivery: In Person

Participants will explore the physical space of the Art Gallery of Nova
Scotia and document their experience. They will identify and register the
range of feelings they experience throughout the space in order to locate
Lesson objectives any non-inclusive and problematic areas.
Participants will identify any problems or areas where there is room for
improvement within the gallery to make them feel more welcome,
represented and included.
Class Contents Gallery Tour / Feelings Map
(themes, sub-themes, Visualization as a tool for idea representation.
concepts) Deﬁne the problem.
Instructor’s Preparation Prepare Worksheets and materials.
Participant’ Preparation None
Didactic sequence
Estimated
Stage of the
Activity Description

time

Required resources

session
[minutes]
The researcher will greet participants, and

5 min

None

5 min

Worksheet

thank them for their time and for
Welcome
participating in the project.
Land acknowledgment.
Introduction Describe the day’s activities.

 53
Conﬁrm consent.
Distribute worksheets and materials.
Participants will tour the gallery on their

90 min

Worksheet 2

own. They will be instructed to participate

Gallery map

in the entire experience as if they were a

Feeling Wheel

regular visitor. They will use colour codes

Colour stickers

to map their emotions as they move
through the gallery.
Participants will be given a copy of The
Feeling Wheel to help them identify their
emotions (see Glossary). Each emotion is
Contents represented by a diﬀerent colour.
Participants will use the provided colour
stickers to mark the map with how they
feel in each section of the gallery. They will
be given an additional worksheet to take
notes on anything speciﬁc that triggered an
emotion (see appendix).
Participants are allowed to interact with
staﬀ, other visitors, or each other if they
feel so inclined.
Coﬀee Break

10 min

In addition to collecting worksheets, the

8 min

instructor will engage in informal

 54
conversation with the participants to
assess their perceptions of the gallery and
their opinions about the activity.
Closure Thank Participants

2 min

Total

120 min

Session 3: Deﬁne, Ideate and Prototype
Delivery: In Person

Participants will deﬁne the problem and ideate possible solutions.
Participants will work collaboratively to create a prototype of their idea
and pitch it to the group.
Lesson objectives
Participants will test out their ideas about making gallery spaces more
inclusive, welcoming, and responsive to cross-cultural community
interests and needs.
Deﬁne the problem
Class Contents
Idea Generation
(themes, sub-themes,
Prototyping
concepts)
Pitching ideas
Bring materials and worksheets from previous session
Instructor’s Preparation
Ask about any food restrictions

 55
Participants may bring their own computers if they wish to use them for
Participant’ Preparation prototyping, but they must be aware that there will be no internet access
on the premises.
Didactic sequence
Estimated
Stage of the
Activity Description

time

Required resources

session
[minutes]
The Researcher will greet participants, and

5 min

None

Welcome thank them for participating in the project.
Land acknowledgment.
Describe the day’s activities.

5 min

Introduction Conﬁrm consent.
Distribute materials.
Deﬁne

40 min

Post-it notes

Participants will deﬁne the problem using

Markers

their notes and observations from the last

Pens, pencils

session as a reference. Their task will be to

Whiteboard or ﬂipcharts

write down each problem they
Contents encountered during their visit using post-it
notes, only one element per note.
Following this, participants will sort the
notes into categories, for example, all
notes related to the physical space will be
categorized in one section and all the

 56
notes regarding the collection, in another
section. After all the problems have been
categorized, participants will work together
to deﬁne a problem statement for each of
the categories, taking into account all
notes.
Participants will then be divided into teams
of at least 3 participants per team. Each
team will work on a diﬀerent problem for
the remainder of the session.
Coﬀee Break

15 min

Coﬀee will be provided by
the researcher.

Ideate

45 min

Post-it notes

Participants will have time with their teams

Markers

to brainstorm problem-solving ideas. They

Pens, pencils

will be given materials to sketch and write

Whiteboard or ﬂipcharts

with.

White paper sheets

Lunch Break

40 min

Food and beverages
provided by the
researcher.

Prototype

60 min

Studio material:

Each team will choose the best idea and

Cardboard, paint, glue,

develop a prototype to put it to the test.

scissors, clay, etc.

The instructor will assist with any technical
aspects that are required. These

 57
prototypes can take the form of physical,
digital, or written proposals.
Coﬀee Break

15 min

Coﬀee provided by the
researcher

Pitch presentations

40 min

AGNS Programming Specialist, Laura
Carmichael, will join each team to present
their ideas.
Conclusions

15 min

Participants and researchers will have a
ﬁnal informal discussion about the
workshop results, learning experiences,
Closure
and community-building process.
Researcher will thank them for their time
and remind them that the ﬁnal outcome will
be shared with them in the future.
Total

360 min

Glossary
Design Thinking: Design thinking is a human-centred approach to innovation that relies on
understanding customer needs, prototyping quickly, and generating creative ideas to
transform the way companies, products, and processes are developed. This process
involves empathy and understanding of the users’ needs.

 58
Feeling Wheel: Designed by psychologist Gloria Willcox, the feeling wheel is a proven
visual aid that helps people recognize, talk about, and change their feelings. It consists of
an inner circle with 5 sectors and two outer concentric circles. The sectors are each labelled
with the name of a primary feeling: mad, sad, scared, joyful, powerful, and peaceful. The
outer rings contain names of secondary feelings related to the primary ones.

Padlet: Padlet is a community-centred internet application that allows users to easily
express their thoughts on a common topic and read what others have to say. It is
essentially a virtual bulletin board in which collaborators can simultaneously create and
organize posts of any content type, whether it be text, documents, images, videos, audio,
or links.

Participatory Action Research: Participatory Action Research has been deﬁned as a
collaborative process of research, education and action explicitly oriented towards social
transformation.

Photo Voice: Photovoice is a qualitative research method used in community-based
participatory research to gather information. Photovoice uses participant photography to
guide interviews. Generally, photovoice participants take photographs to respond to a
prompt. Photos taken by participants are then used as reference material. One advantage
of photovoice is that, unlike traditional interviews, it does not rely on verbal communication
alone. Since photovoice enables participants to respond to an interview question
non-verbally, with photographs, it can be used to overcome social, cultural and linguistic
barriers to verbal communication.

 59

4.-Project Implementation
Participants

Participants will be addressed in this paper by a pseudonym, to protect their privacy.

Participant
Pseudonym

Nationality

ES

Kuwait

IF

Egypt

FA

Mexico

BM

Canada

OM

Venezuela

ZB

China

MS

Iran

PC

Canda

SD

Venezuela

 60

Session 1
As described in the proposal, the main aim of this session was to get participants
acquainted and to build a sense of community through shared experiences. The session
started by giving participants a brief introduction and description of the project,
emphasizing the research objectives. Each participant was given an envelope containing
everything that they were going to need for the rest of the project, including the information
letter, consent forms, worksheets, coloured stickers, a pen and a clipboard.
After the introduction and the signature of the corresponding forms, I asked
participants if they were familiar with the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and whether or not they
had visited it before. The results were quite interesting since some of them responded that
they had been before, but there was one person who did not even know it existed, despite
having lived in Halifax for over two years: “I remember when I was new here, I would just
search on TripAdvisor where to go in Halifax and it wouldn't pop up. It's just I didn't know
something like that exists here to be honest”, said the participant. Others mentioned that
they had the intention to go but had not really found the time to do so or it just was not a
priority.
After this brief exchange, we moved on to the ﬁrst formal activity of the day, the
identity molecules. This activity, as described in the lesson plan, consisted of exploring our
individual identities by ﬁlling out Worksheet 1,13 a diagram resembling a molecule, where
participants would write their name in the middle and then use the remaining spaces to
write down traits of their identity. For this exercise, I gave them a brief introduction
explaining ﬁrst of all why deﬁning our identity was a crucial part of the project, since we
need to know who we are, as individuals and as a collective to better understand our
needs, expectations and role as members of the community and users of the Gallery.

13

See Appendix.

 61
To prepare for the activity, I explained that our identities are what make us unique
and that they are a combination of a variety of traits; some we are born with, such as our
nationality and family, and some we choose, such as our profession. Afterwards, I shared
my own molecule worksheet with them. This served a dual purpose: ﬁrstly, to establish
rapport and foster a sense of camaraderie, and secondly, to break down the perceived
hierarchical barrier between myself as a researcher and them as participants. By sharing
personal information with the group, I assumed the roles of both researcher and participant,
aligning with the principles of a participatory approach. They proceeded to work on the
activity and seemed to enjoy the process.

Figure 5
Session 1

Note. Participants sharing their Identity Molecules during the ﬁrst workshop. Photograph by Tania
Fuentes, 2023.

 62
Some mentioned that it was a very interesting exercise, since we do not often question
these things about ourselves. Once they were done with their worksheet, I encouraged
them to go around the room, talk to each other and try to ﬁnd common traits amongst
them. In no time they started ﬁnding these connections and commonalities in certain
interests, like knitting or science ﬁction, to other things like religious beliefs or being
parents. There was one case where two participants said they did not have anything in
common. I pointed out that they were both women and that that alone was a common life
experience that can be enough to empathize and bond.

Figure 6
Session 1

Note. Participants engaging in conversation during the ﬁrst workshop. Photograph by Tania Fuentes,
2023.

 63
After a few minutes, it was time to move onto the next section. To introduce the topic,
participants were asked to look at the whiteboard at the end of the room, where I attempted
to write the word “welcome” in each of the participants’ native language.

Figure 7
Welcome

Note. Whiteboard with the word Welcome written in several languages. Photograph by Tania
Fuentes, 2023.

Everyone thanked me for the gesture, and one person even got up to demonstrate how to
write the word in Arabic correctly. I then introduced the activity's prompt, which was to
consider what being welcomed meant to them. To be more speciﬁc, I asked them to
consider what they do to make visitors feel welcome, be it guests at their home, a stranger
at work, or someone coming to their native country for the ﬁrst time. This activity was
meant to be the photovoice exercise, in which participants were supposed to use images in

 64
a collective digital board to respond to the prompt. However, before the directions for this
were delivered, participants started enthusiastically responding to the prompt orally. I
decided to keep the momentum going and let them just have a conversation instead of
working on the activity as it was originally planned. This modiﬁcation did not make a
signiﬁcant diﬀerence in regards to data collection, since the session was being audio
recorded. Everyone started sharing their practices for welcoming guests in their culture. The
conversation inevitably started revolving around food and how food is for many cultures the
main way in which we show care.

Figure 8
Session 1

Note. Participants talking and smiling. Photograph by Tania Fuentes, 2023.

 65
Incidents and Unexpected Situations
During the planning stages of a project of this nature, every eﬀort is made to try to
anticipate everything that might go diﬀerently than expected and plan a solution for each
scenario. However, when working with people, it is impossible to foresee every potential
problem. The issues that arose during the execution of the workshops will be described in
the following chapters, especially the ones that resulted in modiﬁcations of the project or
that aﬀected the data collection. The ﬁrst session of the workshops started out according to
plan, except for some unexpected delays caused by road closures due to an event in the
city that day.
The most relevant and unexpected thing of the session was a conﬂict between two
of the participants. To contextualize the interaction, I would like to begin by describing what
Robin Di Angelo calls White Fragility. This refers to the fact that white people in
Anglo-America reside within a societal setting that shields them from the strains of
race-related tension. As a result of this sheltered environment, they anticipate racial ease,
meaning that even the slightest degree of racial stress becomes unbearable, triggering a
range of defensive responses (Robin DiAngelo, 2011).
It is of utter importance to describe the situation since it is the very core of the
problem that this research intends to tackle. Participants were sharing what the concept of
“welcoming” means to them and their experiences as newcomers in Halifax. Participant
MS14 was sharing a particularly vulnerable moment, talking about her experience as an
Iranian exile in Canada. She also discussed how as the only person of colour in her oﬃce,
sometimes trivial conversations about sports and other similar topics prevented her from
connecting with her coworkers because she believes they lack awareness of the intense
political conﬂict taking place in Iran. The majority of the participants were actively listening,

14

Pseudonyms are used to protect participants' privacy. See the “Participants” section.

 66
since this was a sensitive topic. Then, one of the Caucasian Canadians in the sample,
stated that it was MS’s duty as a newcomer to learn about and understand the culture she
was entering, and that since sports are a signiﬁcant aspect of Canadian society, she
needed to become familiar with it. This response made MS visibly uncomfortable, and
although another participant jumped in the conversation and successfully deviated the topic
to prevent any awkwardness with the rest of the group, it was evident that MS didn't feel
comfortable sharing her experiences with the group after the incident. “If there were no
white people in the room, I would talk more openly”, she said in private communication later
that day. She sent me several voice notes talking about this topic, and I was very touched
by the fact that she trusted me and felt comfortable enough with me to share her feelings
and opinions in private. I ﬁnd the next quote very relevant regarding this event:
Potentially uncomfortable emotions can be present when doing anti-racist and decolonising
facilitation, and how they are addressed (named, given space, or ignored) have implications for
trust. If trust is important in order for participants and researchers to believe in the research
process together, what is the role of transparency in naming the speciﬁc injustices like racism,
colonisation, and patriarchy within this work? (Thompson, as cited in Burkholder et al., 2022 , p.
282)

Having that clear communication with the participants was very important to me,
and although I did not intend for anyone to feel uncomfortable, this situation brought light to
the very issues immigrants face on a daily basis, which is key in the question of how the
dominant culture in charge of public spaces, in this case museums, can be more inclusive
and make everyone feel welcome.

 67

Gallery Visit
The session related to the exploration of the physical space of the gallery changed from
being a facilitated session as it was originally planned, to a self guided activity. This was
due to participants stating that they had diﬃculties commiting to a speciﬁc day and time.
Participants were given the instructions and worksheets at the end of session one. They
were told to go to the gallery on their own time during the week and use the provided
materials to map out their experience as they went through the space.
A list of the participants' names was sent to the AGNS in advance, so they only had
to give their name at the front desk to get free admission. Participants were instructed to
go through the gallery and pay attention to their emotions. To help them identify their
feelings more easily, they were given a print of “The Feeling Wheel”, a tool developed by
psychologist Gloria Willcox. It is made up of two concentric circles. The inner circle is
divided in six sections that correlate to the six main emotions: mad, sad, scared, joyful,
powerful, and peaceful; these emotions are also related to a color. The outer circle contains
secondary emotions related to the primary ones.15 For this particular activity, I adapted
some of the words from the original version to adjust them for this context.
Participants used the gallery maps and coloured stickers provided in their kits to
map their feelings with the help of the wheel as they went through the gallery space.
Some of the participants decided to go right after the ﬁrst session was done, while others
went in their own time throughout the following week.
Participants were asked to react to

the space, but also to the collection, the

programming and the interactions with the staﬀ. In this way, we could get an overview of
the whole visitor experience. At the moment of the project, the temporary exhibition
Arctic/Amazon: Networks of Global Indigeneity was on display, however, participants were
told that even though they could go and see the exhibition, they did not have to map it or
15

See Appendix.

 68
react to it. Instead, they were told to focus on the permanent collection. Since temporary
exhibitions are constantly changing, incorporating them into the study may not provide an
accurate analysis of the gallery as a whole, since reactions to each exhibit would vary. The
spaces that were mapped and considered for the research are: the lobby, the Maud Lewis
Gallery, and the ﬁrst and second ﬂoors of the North building (Gallery North), which include
the exhibitions Realisms Reach, An Exhibition Highlight: Monkman, Johnson & Bennett, the
Shape of Cities, Canadian Artists Collection, European Paintings, and Ta’n a’sikatikl sipu’l |
Conﬂuence.
During the ﬁrst session, one of the participants pointed out that the reactions might
also be caused by the art itself, rather than the gallery as a whole. For instance, some of the
works that deal with colonialism can evoke frustration or anger in the audience, but that is
what the artist intended to do. I told the participant that if they thought they needed to
clarify what was triggering certain emotions, they could use the space in the worksheet16
assigned for comments to include some notes and complement the report of their visit.
Participants were told to either leave their closed folders at the front desk for me to collect,
or just bring it with them to the next session. After collecting the worksheets, the comments
were transcribed and the colour mapping results were analysed by area.

16

See Appendix.

 69
Figure 9
Worksheet

Note. Participant’s Worksheet showing the feeling mapping and comments.

Listed below are some of the most relevant comments. These were the clariﬁcations
provided along with the feeling map.

“Security guards everywhere, like I get it but it makes me weary. I felt watched. Like I
am being criticized. It impacts my ability to immerse myself in the work.
Unwelcome.”

“There was a tour happening at the same time I was visiting, and the tour guide was
super nice! Her name was Vicky. She was lovely.”

 70

“The lady here [front desk] was super sweet, helpful, and welcoming.”

“I don't like having to go back to where I started when I ﬁnish walking through an
exhibition. I wish the layout of the building would naturally guide people to the other
sections.”

“I am not a huge fan of this space and paintings. [Realism’s Reach] Things are too
compressed. Need more spacing and lighting for the paintings. Also, the theme is
not very clear, especially the visual perspective.”

“The Maud Lewis exhibition always brings me joy.”

“Too cold! I get that art needs a certain temperature but it is too cold.
Uncomfortable!”

“In Miss Chief’s Wet Dream I’d like a more detailed explanation of all the painting’s
elements.”

“A lady was breastfeeding her baby next to the shop. I loved that. So inclusive.”

“I only found all gender washrooms in the lobby. I would prefer a female washroom
due to security for me as a woman.”

 71
“I was wondering why everything was in English and no French translation since this
can be a tourist spot! And French is an oﬃcial language of Canada.”

“I believe overall the Art Gallery is missing many pieces of the diﬀerent cultures and
diversiﬁed elements only a country like Canada has the advantage of having. Many of
the spaces lacked a sense of connection to what it is trying to represent.”

“Tour guide talking about Kent Monkman’s work wasn’t knowledgeable about
Indigenous peoples represented in the work. Very much from a “white perspective”.
Didn’t talk about the tragedy depicted in the work, referred to the Indigenous people
as “Maritimes, Prairies, Quebec and West Coast” Tour guide referred to Métis
people as “diluted” when it is considered extremely oﬀensive.”

“It feels like the gallery doesn’t know what it wants to be.
It doesn’t have to be just one thing, of course, but it lacks the ﬂuidity of a more
complex almost “network identity” or at least it gives that impression.”

“This last ﬂoor [Conﬂuence] was the most harmonious one. If it was all building
towards this end, great. But that is just what I imagine, not sure it was the intention.
This last ﬂoor and the Maud exhibition are the places where I felt most welcomed.”

In the next session, participants had the opportunity to verbally describe their experiences.

 72

Session 2
The second session took place at the AGNS. After waiting for a while after the established
hour, only four participants arrived. I decided to start the session with the people that were
there. I must admit that I was very disappointed when participants failed to attend the
session, especially since we had had such a successful ﬁrst meeting. However, once I was
over the disappointment, I decided to consider this as part of the research process, after
all, “non-participation is a form of participation that considers participant choice and
decision-making (see also Milne, 2012; Switzer, 2020). In other words, non-participation is
equally important in the research process, and scholars can consider this as an expression
of individual autonomy, agency, and confrontation, as well as a way to address the
parameters of the research project itself.” (Burkholder et al., 2022, p. 283)
The ﬁrst part of the session was dedicated to sharing the participants' experience
with the gallery visit. Even though they had already written their comments on the
worksheet, they were eager to discuss in person how it had gone. The discussion was
fascinating, since we touched on a lot of topics that I really wanted to address. Since two
of the participants expressed that they needed to leave early, it was very pressing to get as
much information from them as possible, given that there were fewer participants than
expected to begin with. There were two Canadian participants and two immigrants, which
provided an interesting contrast in perspectives, expectations, and experiences between
them. Below is the transcription of some of the highlights of the conversation.17

OM:
Coming [to the AGNS] in this context, my mind was kind of diﬀerent. And I guess I was
being more critical. But I came by myself on Thursday afternoon, and it felt very isolating
and very lonely. And I think in the meeting last weekend, somebody mentioned that it could
17

Rambling and filler words were edited out of the transcription for clarity.

 73
be a very elitist experience. And if you're somebody who's not into art, not that I
consider myself as somebody into art, but you know, I have some experience with it…
it can be really intimidating, and it's not a joyful experience, necessarily, you know?
There's all this pressure of, “Do I get this [or] I don't see the point?”, then you're alone
in this room sitting quietly… So all those things, I think I was trying to think from the
mindset of somebody who's not necessarily into art that this is not something that they
know about or gravitate towards, and of course, I wouldn't want to come here like that does
not sound like a nice and joyful and exciting experience. [But] having said all that, a lot of
the pieces I loved, and I was blown away, but it's not an inviting space, in a lot of these
spaces I even felt almost scared.
SD:
Yeah, it was strange, especially those two [sections] on the second ﬂoor [North Building,
ﬁrst ﬂoor], right behind the Miss Chief’s Wet Dream, those two wings, I guess you would call
them. I felt a little bit like… especially in the one that has the red walls, it felt like it was just
trying to recreate the feeling of a European classic Museum of art history, and I was like,
“the painting outside does not give me the [same] vibe [of] this area, you know?”
BM:
Yes, like, “why are we pairing Kent Monkman and Jordan Bennett with Victorian portraits?”
SD:
And also, what’s up with the Dutch paintings? They were lovely, but what the ***?
BM:
I've been a few times over the last like six months or so, and that's a permanent exhibition.
It does not move. Yeah, it's just always there.

 74
SD:
[Miss Chief] was one of the pieces that deﬁnitely made sense in this space, because it did
feel challenging. I was also more critical than I would normally be of a museum. I like to go
to museums. I enjoy art and I enjoy making art. Deﬁnitely, my mind is more attuned to
enjoy[ing], or pick[ing] up or decipher[ing] some things. But I deﬁnitely didn't feel like an
identity or a narrative [in] the gallery as a whole. In a way it feels like they have it, but it's
sort of badly arranged. [For example] Realism’s Reach. I thought that it feels like it should
be the identity of the whole museum in terms of perspectives of what diﬀerent people in the
area [Nova Scotia] see as realism. And I think you could make the argument that in a way it
is, but it took me until the end of the museum [to] really think about [it]... That's why I feel
like the Miss Chief’s Wet Dream also works really well, because it's that sort of third point of
view, look[ing] at two clashing perspectives, with a very heavy historical background that
talks about the area. That's why it's the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. So it makes sense that
you explore that conversation at least. [But] it just didn't feel… it felt more like I was trying
to piece it together as I was going along, and not in the, “oh, this is fun, I'm making the
connections'' [way] but more like, “what is this doing here?”
BM:
Now, I have a very signiﬁcant critique, relating to Miss Chief's Wet Dream. I have four red
stickers, wow. Four red stickers. A tour guide came in with a group of young adults and a
few older adults and certain teenagers or parents or something along the lines of that. And
we had seen her with this group before in the gallery, and we were kind of a step ahead of
her, right? And so she starts talking about Miss Chief's Wet Dream, about the painting and
who Kent Monkman is. And what I'm about to say is not her fault, it is the issue of the
AGNS not educating their tour guides and their docents. So she was explaining how the
painting took inspiration from a lot of classical paintings like [from] the 1800s, that Kent

 75
Monkman is reimagining to ﬁt the true history of colonization and Turtle Island. And the tour
guide wasn't particularly knowledgeable about the diﬀerent peoples represented in that
painting. And so, she's talking about, “we have Jesus here, and that brings in the element
of Christianity and how that aﬀected everything.” Her explanation of it was very much
from a white settler perspective. She didn't talk about the tragedy depicted in the
work; that work is about tragedy and genocide. And she did not talk about that. She
referred to the Indigenous people represented in that painting as “the Maritime, Prairie,
Quebec and West Coast peoples”, instead of the Mi'kmaq, Ojibwe, Cree, Mohawk. There's
an individual in the painting wearing a Métis sash. For anyone who doesn't know, the Métis
are the people who founded the Province of Manitoba. And they are of both indigenous
ancestry and European, speciﬁcally French. And so they have a very speciﬁc culture. So
she was explaining who the Métis were and how they are of mixed ancestry. She said,
“so really, they are a diluted race”, which is probably the most oﬀensive thing you
could say about someone who is Métis. I am not Métis, but I'm very defensive of the
Métis. And I kind of looked at ZB and I'm like, “Did she just say that?”, and ZB is not
from Canada originally, so she's like, “what are you talking about?” And I'm like, we
gotta go to another gallery where [the docent] can't hear me. It's not her fault
because she's from Nova Scotia most likely, and the history of the Métis settlement
and the Métis people is not really taught in Canada outside of Manitoba. So that's been
part of my education since grade two. But they really need to do a better job of educating
their docents, even just to have the names of the indigenous people correctly instead of
“Maritime, Prairie…” 18
This incident was promptly reported to Laura Carmichael, the Public Program Specialist
overseeing this project at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. The AGNS takes this issue very seriously
and has been redressed to further reduce any other harm that this incident may have caused. Steps
are already underway to prevent a recurrence of this incident. Furthermore, we have reached out to
the participant involved, acknowledging their concerns and assuring them that we will keep them
informed of the actions taken to address this issue.
18

 76

Figure 10
Miss Chief’s Wet Dream by Kent Monkman.

Monkman, K. (2018). Miss Chief’s Wet Dream [acrylic on canvas 365.7 x 731.5 cm]. Art Gallery of
Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

OM:
“Diluted” though… I don't know much about the diﬀerent Indigenous cultures that live in
this country, but I don't think that would ever be a word that I would use. And I probably
know a fraction of what you know, but like, it really boggles my mind. Of all the words that
you could use, why that one?
BM:
I don't know if any of the other guests called her out. I imagine probably not.
SD:
Yeah. It's tough to call out the people giving you the tour. [Because] you (BM) have the
arguments and the knowledge, can do it. And also you have the passion for it as well.
But sometimes, you know, like someone else could just be like… or be quiet or just
like, “I don't know anything. I don't know what they're saying.”

 77
BM:
My thought was that I was here for Tania’s research. [So] I took my folder home, and I didn't
leave it at the desk, because I am very used to galleries and places like academic situations
with people in power, reading through these types of things and losing my sheet. And so I
wanted to make sure that it got to Tania. Do I think the gallery staﬀ at the AGNS is as
vindictive as I'm putting them out to be? No, but it's a safety precaution I am willing to take,
and I didn't want them to downplay it and come up with an excuse.
PC:
But I think that museums also are not just places of education, but places of collaborative
conversation, too. So their role isn't always to educate us, but to create a space for us to be
questioned, and then do further research, not always to make us feel comfortable, either. I
think [they are] places to disrupt our thinking, disrupt our own internal dialogue, our biases,
our opinions, and have that place of agitation that we can either take farther to do more
research or not. We get to choose that but they're not just educators.
BM:
Facilitators.
SD:
There's a committee every few years where they update what the deﬁnition of the museum
is supposed to be and I don't know how often– is it like seven years or more? It is a long
interval in between each upgrade of the deﬁnition. And I feel like we haven't truly changed
towards a diﬀerent deﬁnition of what a museum is, and through that I started seeing more
videos about the British Museum and stuﬀ like that where it's like, “okay, what is this?”,
when you start to question, “okay, what is then the point of this?” [...] One of the best
experiences I've had is going to the LACMA in LA.

 78
I remember I was alone, by myself and for the ﬁrst time in the city too, so it was very
welcoming and also like transcending experience; transcending sounds a bit pretentious
but deﬁnitely [here] I felt more confused throughout–I think I put a lot of the blue and purple
[stickers] but not for a sad or depressed, but– oh wait, confused was orange I believe. I was
just confused sometimes. For example, the Maud Lewis exhibition. I loved that, but then I'm
like, “why is it tucked in the back corner, away from things?” It doesn't feel like it's
connecting to all that, and thinking with like the Realism’s Reach in terms of perspective,
that still applies to that room and especially to her as an artist it's everything, it's her
perspective of things to the point of– the development of her arthritis informs the art, so it's
like It's literally impossible to separate the perspective of her life from her work. And then
the third ﬂoor above Miss Chief, I loved that ﬂoor. But the second ﬂoor is so confusing to
me… You [AGNS] have a lot of it here, rearrange it and maybe put [...] some more writing
in the walls to guide you through the experience because I feel it can also be daunting
and confusing, especially as someone who's not from Nova Scotia, not even from
Canada. Especially Miss Chief's Wet Dream, I feel like, almost you should go around and
that should be at the center because it really showcases– even if I didn’t know everyone
represented, just by the little bit of text, I could feel all the tension, all the diﬀerent things
that were kind of going on there. And that made me, [think of a new organization of the
space], maybe start more drastic[ally] separating settler and indigenous art and then slowly
get to the middle where you then start to see the crossover because in the generations
have passed. And then you get to that middle critique, maybe it makes a bit more sense.
PC:
I think museums need to be able to understand all of those roles of holding objects,
preserving them to educate people, [and] also entertain people, right? Because people do
want to be sort of entertained, enlightened, transcended through objects, through these

 79
things. And maybe this gallery, this museum didn't quite do all of those three things and is
trying to do bits of them. I felt bits of those feelings from larger museums. So when you
said (DS) you felt a little bit confused in those red rooms, [instead] I was like, “This is
so cozy and familiar.” That's interesting, right? Suddenly we've gone from this
aggression of Monkman that we're confronted with, [to] “Oh, great.” We have to
confront who we are and what we've done in the past and people, and then you move
into that and for me, who has been going to museums forever for a long time? Those
are familiar, right? I'm comforted in these little rooms with the smaller roof, the
smaller ceiling, the red walls, and, “Okay, this is familiar again, whether that's right or
wrong.”
BM:
I don’t know if it does justice to Monkman and what he was trying to do, having it set
up that way. I think it's almost like it should be the other way around. That you should
go to your comfort, and then you have all of your beliefs shattered by the truth.
Because I like the diﬀerent play on it. Where it's like, “This is the traditional museum,
the Dutch paintings, aren't they lovely? Now, deal with your identity as a settler”.
Right?
SD:
There's not that much that needs to change in terms of the content of the museum or the
gallery. But I've been thinking more and more about space. And [it] is the way you use the
space [that] dictates a lot of that because [of] diﬀerent perspectives. But all [my] critiques
were about the space. Which one do you see ﬁrst, right? How do you curate? Deﬁnitely, the
Dutch paintings would be great ﬁrst, you walk into the museum and say, “Ah, these [are]
cute Dutch paintings”, and then keep going. Because by the time I got to the Dutch

 80
painting, there's so much in my head. It's cute, it’s beautiful. But I don't care about this
landscape at this point.
OM:
I really liked your word of entertainment. And I think it should be, like education through
entertainment, in a way because I feel like part of what makes it daunting for some people.
It's like, “I need to go and learn about all this stuﬀ”. Obviously, I think learning is great. But if
we're talking about making this space more welcoming, and trying to get more people to be
educated. We need to try to ﬁnd a way of making it through entertainment because I've met
a lot of rural Nova Scotians, for example, [and] they're not– they have not had any type of
contact with art. They don't feel like they know, they feel so separated and it ends up
making you feel dumb. You don't want to go through that experience. I don't want to go
somewhere to feel dumb. Because you're not connected. You don't have the
background. You both have said but like how do we make it an experience that you do
enjoy? How do we move that wall?
PC:It's so sad when people feel that way. Because I think art is just a life-picture story of
history and human perspectives.
PC:
I think that [Multipurpose Room] where you get to go play…those places in museums are
those places where they allow you to be accessible.
OM:
I wanted to ask a question [about] the room, like coming from this thought [of] the Museum
of Natural History. I go there [some]times. And every time I go, that museum has way more
people than here. And I think that's kind of why because it's just more [about] general
knowledge.

 81
PC:
And it’s interactive.
PC:
I just wanted to make one more comment that [Multipurpose Room]. So I have all these
three diﬀerent feelings that were happening there. One of them was yellow, joyful, because
I'm like, “Oh, look, I get to play in here.” With the blue one, I feel relaxed, and thankful, I
guess. Then the red one, when I sat down, and all of the art materials were not sharpened.
Like, there was no pencil sharpener. I was like, “Are you kidding me? I was so excited.” And
now I can't make anything because of all the materials, I felt like that was also a level of
disrespect.
BM:
But I do have something, a critique that I want to make sure gets on the recording. So I'm
just gonna just say it. I want to start by, you know, just acknowledging that I am of white,
similar background, and I am one of the more highly educated people who walk into the
space, right, I'm working towards a master's degree. And I recognize that compared to
random people who walk in oﬀ the street, I will most likely statistically have more art
knowledge and be more comfortable in a gallery space when I walk in the door. That being
said, the amount of anxiety I felt walking in one with the person at the desk not knowing
why we were there. Not her fault. She was new, but just poor communication, right? But
also the security guards planted everywhere and made me feel very watched and very
unwelcoming in the space and you know, they talk to you, right? And they're ﬁne. They're
all very lovely people. They're doing their job, I understand why an art gallery needs security
guards, especially in you know, like downtown Halifax, like I get it. At the same time, they
could be– I don't know if the uniform could be changed, or if their role in the space could be
more of a docent educator slash security guards. So they're not just sitting there

 82
cross-legged by the door, because it makes me want to leave. But you know, like the end,
that's just personality. But the role of the security guard in the space, I think needs to
change in order for it to make people feel welcome. Because I'm coming at it from an
educated white settler background. And if I'm, if you think of it from the perspective of
someone who's not who's typically disadvantaged, like, let's say, someone who's
indigenous comes into the space, for the ﬁrst time, they want to see the Kent
Monkman and they're being followed by a security guard the whole time, they're not
gonna go back. I felt I felt followed, even though it was a diﬀerent guard in every
room. But I felt very watched and very followed. And that's why I only come here when
I need to.
TANIA:
And also, like, going back to your previous comment, because I feel like that's super
important. I didn't want to interrupt earlier. But I think that we need to understand that for
most people, the vision that museums have are part of the oﬃcial narrative, right? You trust
what museums tell you in the same way that you would just a book. So if you come to an
oﬃcial space, and you're trying to be educated because you don't have any context. Like
for us, you know, we just got here, maybe we are a bit more educated–I mean, I have tried
to learn the history. But if you don't know anything, and you're presented with that version,
you trust that version, like, “Oh, this must be the truth because I'm getting it from an oﬃcial
space and the oﬃcial narrative, so it must be the truth [from] a reliable source.”
BM:
…several layers of reliability. It must be fact-checked, right? And so on. You go out
into the world, you know as someone [whose] only interaction [is] this information
and you're like, “Yeah, the Métis are a diluted race.” And it's like, no! You can’t say
that, that’s extremely racist. And so for the AGNS, as an institution in a position of

 83
power, to be perpetuating that kind of information is really, really problematic. My
other critique is that this carpet is everywhere and I feel bad for the cleaning staﬀ.

Participant MB had to leave the session early after this last statement.

SD:
Honestly, also the lobby.
PC:
The lobby wasn’t friendly. It was boring.
SD:
I wrote down boring, apathetic. I couldn’t do anything.
SD:
Going back to what you (PC) were saying [about], entertaining. The whole thing with–
installations that at some point museums were just putting out so that people would go take
pictures for Instagram? Yeah, it's deﬁnitely not 100% the route [the gallery should take]. But
if I'm sure it brought people into museums, right? So the value of entertainment [for getting
the attention of] someone like… Mike [hypothetical person] could come in and see maybe a
funny installation, where it's more about, “Okay, this is an art that is going to attack your
senses for a little bit. It's going to be funny, weird stuﬀ. And then okay, maybe you go and
see the rest of the paintings, but at least it got you in, right?” But it's deﬁnitely complicated.
SD:
We were talking about including everyone and stuﬀ, but the art world at that level is
not inclusive at all. It's very elitist.

 84
After this discussion, the participants were asked to write down all the things they thought
the AGNS could improve, and then together divide the words according to diﬀerent
categories.
SD:
They should somehow do diﬀerent events to involve people from the community.
OM:
After that, was like, I'm gonna start following the Instagram account. Because… I thought
about the same thing as a possible solution. Like if they would have… activities and more
interaction. Maybe you [can] bring your kids and [they can] have that experience.
PC:
Like dancing in the courtyard? [I think they have that on] Thursday evenings and summer,
or something.
SD:
Yeah, exactly. Putting something out. Or maybe, [Grand Parade] has a huge space, maybe
over the summer, like “Hey, we're gonna go and hire someone to do a little fun installation
there”, then people can walk and see it, or I feel closer to the museum; they should interact
more with, public art, art in public spaces that has a way of– you see all these pieces,
imagine that around downtown. There is a diﬀerent mural or little sculptures or something
here and there. And you're like, “Oh, this is cool. This is fun. This is interesting. This is from
the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia that's on this street. You can ﬁnd out more about these artists
over here or come check out more.”

To this comment, PC suggested banners around the city.

 85
SD:
In museums in Europe or even in New York, in the Metropolitan Museum, you can go have a
drink on the rooftop or something like that. So maybe a social place [like that], or it could be
a cafeteria. [...] If there was a little space here where maybe [they] had some prints of the
art–because you're not gonna put the art next to the social area just in case. But some
printed stuﬀ and you can come here and either pay a little bit extra for a beer but [drink]
after or before [going] into the gallery or whatever. I would pay the extra for that beer
compared to a bar, [so] maybe if there's a place [we could] have some ambiance there [that]
feels comfortable and interesting.
PC:
They used to have a cafe before COVID. The cafe was the spot where you could [go after
the] end [of] a visit and have a conversation with a friend about the show. It was nice.
SD:
You mentioned this multipurpose studio place where you could go do art, apparently, that I
didn't see on the map. But when I was walking around, nothing pointed me toward it, like
“Yes, this is where you can go”, because I would have loved– I would love to go there… But
we should write that down. Like the [Multipurpose Room] [should be] pointed out more? I
don't know. [There was a ] lack of direction.
PC:
[Sometimes] the museum assumes that you know how to get here. And what's the point of
having entertainment or exercises for kids, if we can't ﬁnd it? We don't even know it's there.
[About assumptions]

 86
SD:
We should never assume that someone else has the same context.
PC:
We shouldn't move forward with those assumptions but always allow people into the world.
But how do you create that? Through wording or through arrows to direct you? Let's give a
context of this is what the museum is trying to do. Maybe it works. Maybe it doesn't. [They]
want you to walk through Monkman and into this…I don't know, like just context. Like,
“This is our permanent collection. That's all we've got. Sorry.” So that we don't assume,
“Oh, you chose these paintings to display.” Maybe the museum was just given these
paintings. And that's why they're on the walls, [so they should be] clearing up those
assumptions. I think that can help with that… aggression, that we feel, “Oh, you
haven't addressed me. You haven't done this right”.
TANIA:
What do you think or how to feel about the use of technology within museums?
SD:
Honestly, I like it. I wrote down “more video installations and diﬀerent displays”. Because
it's a very tiny screen where most of the stuﬀ was playing. I feel like even some of the
corner rooms, [if they could be] self-contained rooms, if [they were] blackened out or, or
making [them] more like their own space, not following the rest of the collection… But [a
room that] has a bigger screen and a little bench [where] you sit down and watch-there was
a lot of video work that it's displayed like that.
TANIA:
Actually ZB mentioned that there's nowhere to sit.

 87
OM:
That’s a good idea, it would be cool. I know that it is intentional, that the seating is not
inviting and comfortable. They don't want people sitting there for hours and I get that. But
on the other hand, [having] a comfortable space where you come in, look at the art, chat
with a friend, it’s a place where you come and the conversation starts with a piece, but then
many diﬀerent ways.
SD:
I agree with all that and putting that with video installations. I feel like the video installations
can be inviting at ﬁrst because it's a medium that we're very accustomed to in terms of
[having] our phones with us all the time, we're always used to seeing moving images. That
doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to stick to watching the rest of the video, like
I've seen in a lot of museums with [video] pieces that a lot of people come in, watch three
seconds and go, “That’s weird”, and move on. But still, I would be the person that walks in
and sits down and watches this thing. Even if I pick it up halfway through, I'll wait till the
end and until it loops around to where I started. If I catch it when it's starting or ending,
fantastic, but if not, I'm like okay, I'm not gonna like, wait, walk around, because it's kind of
tough to ﬁgure that out. But you know, more video artwork might be a way to bring in
people as well.
CP:
Interactive [stuﬀ], like headphones, those kinds of things.
OM:
I think technology, also like in museums, just has to evolve overall. And even though I'm
more conventional in the sense that I don't think technology always makes things better.
But I think it's unavoidable.

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TANIA:
For you guys (SD and OM) English is not your ﬁrst language. I noticed that in the
Conﬂuence section, they have texts in Mi’kmaw and in French, but the rest of the gallery
lacks that translation. So, do you think that impacted your experience? I know that you're
both super ﬂuent in English, but for someone that maybe it's not as comfortable?
SD:
For sure. For example, my mom doesn't speak English very well, [but] loves when we go to
museums where she [takes] a look at a guide in Spanish and at least in the guide, she can
ﬁnd the number and be like, “Oh, this is this or that” and she can ﬁgure it out by herself.
TANIA:
My mom was here around Christmas. And we came here and she loved the Maud Lewis
exhibition. I made her watch the ﬁlm the night before [to give her] some context. And then
when we came and saw the show she loved it. But she was asking me to translate
everything. Like she speaks English, but she's not super conﬁdent, and some complex
vocabulary is diﬃcult, right? So she was trying to do it on her own at ﬁrst, but then she
went “Okay, what's this word?” And I tried to ﬁll in the blanks. But yeah, some things were
too complicated. And I just thought that maybe, if at least as you say, if you can pick up the
guide in Spanish it would make it better or more comfortable for them.
SD:
Deﬁnitely, guides in diﬀerent languages also feel like something that can be achieved. And
it's not that complicated, you don't need to add the extra three translations to the wall, you
also have the map, and the guide, and you can look up and maybe see a little bit of an
in-depth, talk about each piece.

 89
TANIA:
I think that that's important because during Nocturne last year, we had a lot of people and I
was working here while I was doing my practicum. And I was just welcoming people to a
photography exhibition [by Stan Douglas]. And there was this older woman who spoke
Arabic and her English was okay, but a bit broken. You could tell that she was struggling.
And she was asking me some questions that I didn't necessarily know the answers to,
because it was something speciﬁc about the technique that the artist was using. So I said,
“Oh, I don't know, but it's on the guide.” And she looked at the guide and gave it back to
me, [and said] “No, I can’t understand this. It's too much.” And then she took it and said,
“Okay, I'll ask my son to translate when we get home.” But you could see that she was a bit
disappointed because she couldn't understand what was going on, like, on-site. And I don't
know that of course, it's too ambitious to think that we could have the information in every
language. But I think that if we could get some statistics like, “What are the most spoken
languages here?” We could have Arabic and Spanish, for sure.
SD:
[On creating diﬀerent guides depending on what the visitors are interested in, like “diﬀerent
perspective guides”, such as artistic techniques or themes] Then there's a separate guide
for that, to try to personalize your visit in terms of “What are you more interested in? Just
walking by? Seeing pretty pictures? We give you a little bit of context for each and you have
it in three languages.”

After the very meaningful discussion, I proceeded to give them the instructions for
the workshop. As most of the activities were designed for teamwork to align with the
methodology, they had to be adapted to ﬁt the number of participants, so rather than
working in teams, participants worked all together. We started by getting the materials for

 90
sketching and visualization. Participants were asked to write down the problems or areas of
improvement they encountered during their visit using post-it notes, with only one element
per note. Following this, participants sorted the notes into groups. The deﬁned categories
were: collection/content, space, staﬀ, communication and programming. These notes
contain the following information:

Content And Collection
●

Lack of Gallery Identity

●

Lack of informational context

●

Lack of information in other languages

●

Lack of video installations and interactive

●

More printed materials

●

Entertainment merge with art

●

Assumptions

●

Current contemporary art with technology

●

Wrong order European Art / Colonialism

●

Art for all kinds of people

●

More Historical Local pieces

●

Themes don’t connect

●

Message is not clear

Space
●

Lobby is boring, felt unwelcoming

●

Lack of direction

●

Art materials in studio space

●

Lack of Social Space for interaction

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●

Lack of Beverages and Snacks

●

Lack of spaces to linger and contemplate

●

Air conditioning is too high

●

The use of space

●

Feels isolated

●

Too much carpet

Staﬀ
●

Security Guards

●

Docents training

Promotion
●

Gift shop more informative books/ exhibition catalogues

●

Lack of advertising

●

Social media

●

External Awareness

Programming
●

Public events

Afterward, the participants were asked to think of possible solutions to the problems
that were discussed, and they were prompted to write down their ideas. Below is a
transcription of what was being said during this stage, followed by a list of the proposals
that were written down on the workshop materials.

PC:
I think that a little reading nook, a corner area [would be a good addition] that combines
what we talked about, I think you (OM) said a place to linger.

 92
I guess if you're adapting a permanent collection or adapting a contemporary space, [you
need to] include a breathing corner or seating area. Like one big open space.
SD:
It needs to be sort of an informal chair [like beanbags] and an informal seating place.
Because I feel like that would make it inviting. With chairs or square, puﬀy, stools or even
recliners. This is what we call the boyfriend area. I can come here and relax while my
partner is doing something. Read a book, or maybe I'll just look through those pictures, or
maybe I won't, but at least I have a space.

Participant PC left the session. At this point, since the researcher and the participants were
all Spanish speakers, the remainder of the session was conducted in Spanish.19
Participant SD also proposed the establishment of projection rooms, to which I responded:

TANIA:
This could be connected to what was said about the lack of contextual information. For
example, if there was like a mini-documentary about Kent Monkman’s work, and you go
into the room, you sit, and watch the history of the represented peoples, or like a
behind-the-scenes of the artist’s studio, and then you go and look at the painting…
SD:
Also a documentary about Maud Lewis’s house restoration.
TANIA:
Actually, that footage exists! I saw it while I was working here.

19

The recording has been translated from Spanish to English, trying to keep it as accurate as
possible.

 93
SD:
That would be a wonderful addition to Maud Lewis’s exhibition! I imagine myself crying just
looking at the images.
SD:
I think the conversation regarding settlers and First Nations is more prominent right now
than trying to include newcomers. But there is a lot of local art, so it would be great to
have a room, or a rotating exhibition for local contemporary art. Also, NSCAD [Nova
Scotia College of Art and Design] is next door, there could be a partnership, and
newcomers can be included in there. So maybe feature two or three artists for a
couple of weeks and then have a constant rotation. Because this is the Art Gallery of
Nova Scotia, so show what is happening in Nova Scotia right now. That can even be
featured in the lobby. And it doesn’t have to be an exhibition where people linger, but
people like that. Interacting with the local community is gaining a lot of traction right now.
So that could be what hooks people into coming into the gallery. So for example, “This
artist graduated from NSCAD three years ago and is now working on this, or this other artist
moved to Nova Scotia from Vancouver and is working on ceramics” or Something like that.
It doesn’t have to be too elaborate or have its own room. I would rather they utilize
those resources to give me more context about the Settler-First Nations conversation;
don’t harm that conversation by adding more variables to it.
TANIA:
So how would you ﬁx that lack of cohesion or narrative? Particularly on the second ﬂoor
[North Building, ﬁrst Floor]?
SD:
Deﬁnitely move the Dutch paintings from there. They are cute, and they are nice, but by that
point [after seeing Miss Chief’s Wet Dream] I am not in the right headspace to appreciate

 94
them. It would be worthwhile that the museum’s identity revolves around that conversation.
So they need to structure the art pieces’ curation around it. So you have Indigenous art
ﬁrst, then settler art, and after we’ve had a more nuanced conversation about it we could
see artists from mixed backgrounds or themes, like Miss Chief’s Wet Dream, like “Wow,
everything that I’ve seen has led me to this point”. So I would switch these exhibitions,
and I don’t know where I’d move it, but the pig pissed me oﬀ. What is it doing there?

The participants agreed that, while they know some things are impossible to change due to
the layout of the building, such as Miss Chief’s Wet Dream, moving some of the exhibitions
can be achievable.

SD:
I think it makes sense to start oﬀ with European and classic art, and then suddenly you are
confronted by the shock of [Miss Chief’s Wet Dream].
TANIA:
And then, ﬁnish oﬀ with Realism’s Reach, which is the contemporary part and the
combination of all these things.
SD:
Yes, but that narrative has to be constructed so that the course of the exhibitions makes
sense.
OM:
It would be great if they could explain this in some way. Like, “The ﬂow is like this for a
reason. This is the history, blah blah blah”. So provide a little more context.
SD:
Yes, through texts on the walls. The lobby would also be a good place for it.

 95
TANIA:
To start the conversation.
SD:
It’s like some TV shows, where they show you a little scene as a teaser and then go “24
hours earlier”. Obviously, not including too much information, like from Miss Chief’s Wet
Dream, because that would be a spoiler. But to indicate that there is an implicit narrative
that no one has actually said out loud, so this is what we are trying to do intentionally. And
maybe the museum has [a narrative] already, but they assume we have enough
context and information and they downplay its importance.
TANIA:
Yes. For example, in Latin America the conversation around colonization and Indigenous
peoples is very diﬀerent, so having that context here would be of great help to understand.
It’s very interesting to center this around the province’s identity. I think that’s the central
theme of all the art pieces but it’s not clear.

Content/Collection
●

Include a projection of a documentary of Maud’s house restoration.

●

Create a temporary exhibition room in the lobby that features local artists and
newcomers. The exhibition can rotate each month.

●

Provide printed materials in multiple languages.

●

Enhance the narrative ﬂow on the 2nd ﬂoor to ensure themes connect and create a
clearer message.

●

Provide more context on the social situation surrounding the collection, particularly
regarding the settler/Indigenous relationship.

 96
●

Introduce a conversation-starter in the lobby as a teaser for visitors to engage with
the content.

●

Expand the text on the walls to provide additional information and enrich the
visitor's experience.

●

Include video and interactive elements to make the exhibits more engaging and
immersive.

Space
●

Create a reading nook with a selection of books related to the collection,
accompanied by comfortable chairs for visitors to relax and explore further.

●

Establish a rooftop bar with a pleasant view of the waterfront, complete with a
covered glass roof to accommodate visitors during the winter.

●

Oﬀer a variety of beverages and snacks, including beer, wine, cocktails, and locally
sourced options, partnering with nearby breweries for exclusive oﬀerings.

●

Have more green spaces.

●

Improve the hall leading to Maud's house to avoid a sense of isolation, and consider
adding cat footprints leading from the lobby to pique visitors' curiosity.

●

Incorporate a coﬀee shop within the green spaces to provide a relaxing environment
for visitors to enjoy refreshments.

Communication
●

Adapt the facade of the building according to each exhibition to create a visually
captivating and ever-changing exterior.

●

Designate spaces within the museum for visitors to take photos and engage with
social media, making it a part of the overall experience.

●

Boost social media presence and regularly post content on platforms such as
YouTube, Vimeo, Reels, and TikTok to attract a wider audience.

 97
Staﬀ
●

Develop a training program for docents and volunteers in which they are taught how
to address sensitive topics and follow a trauma-informed approach.

●

Change the security guards uniform for a friendlier and less intimidating image.

Programming
●

Increase advertising eﬀorts for events like "Paints and Pints" to ensure more visitors
are aware of and participate in these activities.

●

Segment events to cater to both young adults and families, organizing speciﬁc
events to better meet their interests and needs.

●

Host a variety of events targeted towards young adults to make the museum an
appealing and relevant destination for this demographic.

●

Extend the museum's presence beyond its physical walls by hosting courtyard
events with food vendors to create a vibrant and inclusive atmosphere for the
community.

Modiﬁcations
Given the small number of participants at the end of the session (2), it was not possible to
get to the ﬁnal stage of the workshop -prototype- so results will be registered up to the
ideate stage. This session produced extremely useful and rich results, but due to the
absence of so many participants, the sample was not as diverse as anticipated. To make up
for this missing data, a follow-up form was sent to the absentees.
In the ﬁrst section of the form, participants were shown a series of statements based
on the most common comments from the worksheets, and asked to say if they agreed or
disagreed with the statement on a scale from one to ﬁve. In the second section, participants
were asked to write down the proposals they could come up with to address the problems

 98
they detected for each category (Content/ Collection, Space, Staﬀ, Communication, and
Programming).

 99

5.- Data Analysis and Results

In the upcoming section, I will delve into the results derived from both the emotional
reactions documented in the feeling map worksheet and the insightful comments provided
by participants during in-person sessions and through follow-up form. By putting all this
data together I will reﬂect on the problems that I found during the research. Additionally, I
will explore the various solutions proposed by the participants, along with my own
recommendations and interpretations.
Based on the feeling map, data was divided by gallery area, then the number of
stickers corresponding to each feeling was counted for each gallery area. We can see the
predominant feeling for each section in the graph below. However, it is important to
remember for each main feeling, there are other secondary feelings associated as follows:

Mad (red): jealous, critical, hateful,angry, irritated, and frustrated.
Scared (orange): rejected, discouraged, embarrassed, anxious, insecure, and confused.
Joyful (yellow): stimulated, playful, delighted, creative, fascinated, and excited.
Powerful (green): conﬁdent, intelligent, proud, appreciated, respected, and satisﬁed.
Peaceful (blue): relaxed, pensive, trusting, sentimental, thankful, and thoughtful.
Sad (purple): ignorant, depressed, inferior, bored, ashamed, and apathetic.

 100
Table 1. General percentages of emotional reactions per area.

It is also important to mention that not all the participants reacted to the same spaces.
There are some areas that only got reactions from one or two participants, so the
corresponding

graphs and analysis will not be included in this section. However, the

complete set of tables and graphs can be consulted in the Appendixes.
Figure 11
General percentages of emotional reactions.

 101

In Table 1 and Figure 11, we can see that the gallery evokes more joyful and peaceful
feelings, which indicates a positive overall experience. The emotions sad and scared have
high percentages too –emotions associated with boredom and confusion– so I believe they
are crucial to address.

Results per Area

Lobby
Figure 12
Lobby Results

Note. Emotional response to the Lobby.

One of the areas that received the most comments on both worksheets and in person was
the lobby. Although the highest number corresponds to joyful with 30%, a lot of the verbal
comments indicated that the lobby was not exciting or welcoming. Since this is the ﬁrst
point of contact between the public and the gallery it is important to engage visitors and

 102
enhance the perception of welcomeness. A lot of the participants mentioned feeling bored
in the space.

“The gallery is too white in many areas, particularly the lobby. A warmer color would
suit the lobby better, such as yellow, or a light blue. Also, it would be nice if there
were some indicators to guide visitors toward the ﬁrst collection (Maud Lewis), such
as kitten paws on the ﬂoor or something more playful because the space is very
boring as it is right now.”

“I think the vibrancy brought by the murals and bright painted walls in the exhibition
spaces could be brought into the lobby, which I found to be plain and
unwelcoming. Maybe the gallery could commission Jordan Bennett to do a
mural in the lobby area.”

“The lobby is nice but it is too white, feels like I’m in a waiting room for the dentist.”

We also found some positive comments, but mostly related to the front desk staﬀ's
friendliness rather than the space itself, with the exception of this next one:

“The staircase, the ceiling height, and the installation make this area cute”.

These results indicate that the space is not succeeding in generating a feeling of excitement
in the visitors. This could be improved particularly through the use of colour to make the
space more inviting, but also adding other visually engaging elements, since the only one
right now is the hanging installation. This could be a great opportunity to kill two birds with

 103
one stone and address the problem of lack of context pointed out by participants and
include some didactic panels or quotes on the wall to give visitors an introduction to the
topics that will be discussed further ahead, such as the Indigenous/settler relationship, a
brief history of the province and its peoples throughout time, and how art is an excellent
tool for storytelling. This information could be presented through engaging visuals that
could be commissioned to a local graphic designer, or as one participant suggested, the
commission of a mural or installation to a renowned Mi’kmaw artist such as Jordan Bennet
would be an amazing way to incite the excitement that this space is lacking.

Maud Lewis Gallery
Figure 13
Maud Lewis Gallery Results

Note. Emotional response to the Maud Lewis Gallery.

One of the spaces that got the most positive reactions and comments was deﬁnitely the
Maud Lewis Gallery. With Joyful and Peaceful being the most represented emotions, it’s no
surprise that this is one of the visitors’ favourite spaces.

 104
“Homey, the lighting ﬁts the work.”
“Maud Lewis gallery is a cute space.”
“This last ﬂoor [Conﬂuence] and the Maud exhibition are the places where I felt most
welcomed.”
“The exhibition of Maud is inspiring.”
“I liked the timeline of Maud Lewis’ life on the hallway that leads to the exhibition.”

However, this does not mean that there is no room for improvement. Participants mentioned
that the air conditioning was too cold in this area, making them want to move faster. There
were also other comments regarding the presence of Everett Lewis’s work in the exhibition,
but these came from participants that had a little more knowledge about Maud’s story,
those who were not aware of the alleged abuse, did not mention anything in this regard.

“What's the point of having Everett’s paintings on the exhibit? It takes away the attention
from Maud’s beautiful work.”

This is just proof of how important it is to have the appropriate background and context.
Participants mentioned that they would like more information on Maud. I ﬁnd the proposal
of having a documentary of the House’s restoration process to be particularly interesting.
Another thing that I would like to point out is that none of the participants noticed
that this area is the only one in the gallery that counts with an audio guide. Perhaps the sign
could be located in a more visible spot within the space. While I am aware that the audio
guide is relatively new to this gallery, I believe it is a positive step toward making this space
more welcoming. However, due to the popularity of this space and the number of visitors, I
believe it would be of great importance to have the content available in other languages so

 105
that visitors whose primary language is not English can be able to enjoy the exhibition. This
reminds me of my ﬁrst day of my Practicum at AGNS. Vicky, one of the docents, gave me a
tour and we started with the Maud Lewis gallery. As soon as she learned that I was from
Mexico City, she asked me to follow her full of excitement and showed me a painted cookie
sheet with a scene from the Xochimilco canals in Mexico. “Do you recognize the place?”,
she asked.”Of course!”, I replied both happy and surprised. I never expected to ﬁnd
something related to Mexico here. It made me feel so nice.
She then told me a story of one time she was having a hard time trying to connect
with a family of visitors from Mexico. Since only the mother spoke English, the dad and the
children seemed unbothered. Then she thought of showing them the painting and
immediately got their attention.They were engaged again, and asked the mom to tell her
about the canals and how to pronounce Xochimilco. I ﬁnd this story to be a perfect example
of how representation can make a huge diﬀerence in the visitor experience. I am sure this
family will remember Vicky for a very long time. I would like to add that one of the
participants also mentioned that she was lovely and welcoming.

 106
Figure 14
Painted Cookie Sheet : Boat with Flowers in Mexico by Maud Lewis

Note. Lewis, M. (c.1940). Painted Cookie Sheet : Boat with Flowers in Mexico [Oil on tin cookie sheet
23.0 x 32.7 cm]. Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Photograph by Tania
Fuentes, 2022.

Before moving on to the next section, it is worth mentioning that participants expressed
that the ﬂow between exhibitions is not clear and they were not sure where to go following
the Maud Lewis Gallery.

“There should be […] arrows demonstrating the best path to each exhibition. This
would help tie the exhibitions together.”

 107
“I don't like having to go back to where I started when I ﬁnish walking through an
exhibition. I wish the layout of the building would naturally guide people to the other
sections.”

Figure 15
Realism’s Reach

Note. Emotional response to the Realism’s Reach exhibition.

The next section that we will look into is Realism’s Reach. Looking at the graph, we can
see that Joy is still the prevalent emotion, however, the verbal comments indicate most of
the participants agree on the fact that the theme of this section is unclear.

“I am not a huge fan of this space and paintings. Things are too compressed. Need
more spacing and lighting for the paintings. Also, the theme is not very clear,
especially the visual perspective.”

“In Realism’s Reach the theme seems all over the place, disjointed.”

 108
“Maybe the theme for the gallery should be more aligned with the space of Realism’s
Reach. It feels like the gallery wants to be that, but it is not allowed to be that.”

It is this last comment that got me thinking. What does the participant mean by this? My
interpretation is that in this section is where we can see more of what contemporary Nova
Scotian Art is. We have amazing artists featured here, like African Nova Scotian Letitia
Fraser, who is a very active and well known member of the Halifax Art scene, and Alex
Colville, who is one of the most iconic Canadian painter of the last century, and of course
the marvelous Mary Pratt, who I admire deeply.
But sadly, their presence loses power in the eyes of a newcomer visiting the space.
Why? Because we don't know who they are. Even myself as an educated person within the
arts did not know about these artists. We do not know about them outside of Canada. It
was only after my practicum, where I started doing research for a feminist-themed self
guided tour project, that I learned about Mary Pratt, her struggles to to succeed as a female
artist in a male dominated world, how she found inspiration in everyday life, how she was
rejected from Glasgow School of Art –the same place where I got my masters–, and how
she passed on her love of art to her daughter Barbara, whose work is also featured here. I
fell in love with her work and admire her as a woman because I got the chance to know
her. But if you do not know all these nuances, how can you appreciate the work in the
same way? As a newcomer I would love to have that experience, to get to know about the
local artists, and, just like with the identity molecules, empathize and ﬁnd the connections
even though I come from a very diﬀerent land. I want to learn and connect with art and with
my new country. Sadly, without more information, you might ﬁnd yourself leaving the gallery
without really appreciating what you just saw.

 109

An Exhibition Highlight : Monkman, Johnson & Bennett
Figure 14
An Exhibition Highlight : Monkman, Johnson & Bennett Results

Note. Emotional response to Miss Chief’s Wet Dream by Kent Monkman.

This is the only case where instead of analyzing a whole area, we are analyzing an individual
artwork. Miss Chief's Wet Dream undoubtedly stands out as the highlight of the entire
collection, evoking the most intense emotional responses from the participants. Many
expressed that they felt everything all at once. Whether it be joy and fascination caused by
Monkman’s remarkable artistic technique, the massive scale, and the impressive details in
the painting or intense sadness for the tragedy depicted in the scene; uncontrollable anger
and frustration for the suﬀering caused by colonisation… or perhaps also a bit of shame for
not knowing much about the history behind it. Whatever it might be, the truth is that this is
the most emotionally charged piece of the whole gallery, it is memorable and
thought-provoking. It is also the representation of the axis of the whole conversation that
we all need to be part of.
I would like to refer to the case of the misinformed docent reported by participant
BM. This illustrates the whole problem that we face as newcomers. On one hand, the

 110
Canadian participant, BM, had the background and knowledge to be extremely upset by
the docent’s lack of judgement, knowledge and empathy to address topics as delicate as
the pain and oppression inﬂicted on Indigenous people; on the other hand, participant ZB,
being from another country, did not even realize what was going on and why what the
docent had said was oﬀensive and wrong. I believe this is perhaps the most important part
of the results of the whole project. Participant MS mentioned in the ﬁrst session that being
an immigrant is like arriving late to a movie. You miss the beginning and try to catch up, but
unless someone tells you what is going on, it is very diﬃcult to understand the plot. This is
the perfect metaphor. I would also like to compare it to arriving late to a party where you do
not know anyone. You try to be part of the conversation but you do not know what they are
talking about, what your role is in the conversation, or even if you are allowed to have an
opinion on the matter since you just got there. This is exactly how it feels like.
What is our role as newcomers in the whole Indigenous/ settler matter? How do we
establish relationships with them? How do we identify ourselves? As I mentioned in the
preface, it is already hard enough trying to label yourself so you can ﬁnd your place in a
society that asks for a label. Am I BIPOC? Am I allowed to take up space here? When will I
be considered Canadian? And then, what is my role? Am I supposed to feel “settler’s guilt”
or am I on the other side because I come from a colonized country?
All of these questions arise when we are confronted with a work like this. So what
can the Gallery do? First of all, as an institution with the power of being a reliable source
and holding the “oﬃcial narrative”, it is their responsibility to ensure that all the staﬀ
conveying information regarding this matter to visitors are well informed and trained
accordingly to have a decolonized view and trauma-informed approach.

 111
“The AGNS NEEDS to educate their docents on the work in the gallery, especially
the work of Indigenous artists like Kent Monkman.
Bringing in Indigenous scholars who are familiar with work like Monkman's could be
an asset, and maybe the AGNS could host professional development workshops for
their docents, and extend these workshops to gallery staﬀ and community members
who wish to learn more.”

Secondly, the gallery should provide visitors with more context and information, so it
can take on the role of that person at the party that welcomes you in, introduces you to all
the people there, tells you what you missed and shows you to your seat. This could be
achieved in various ways, as proposed by the participants, there could be an
accompanying video showing the artist in his studio, a brief history of the peoples depicted
in the painting and all the symbolisms utilized in this masterpiece. If having a video
projection is not feasible, an interactive touchscreen, or even some laminated prints with
reference numbers and a brief explanation of each element would be of help.

“There is not enough information for visitors to understand most of the art pieces.
For example, I would make available some headphones with a recording explaining
all the diﬀerent elements of Miss Chief's Wet Dream, if possible in English, French,
Michif, or Mi'kmaq (a tablet with a short video would also be great for
hard-of-hearing visitors or for those who are visual learners.)”

Before moving on to the next exhibition, I want to make some remarks regarding the
two works that share the gallery space with Monkman: Ursula Johnson’s Hide and Jordan
Bennet’s Na'ku'set. To begin with, these pieces are supposed to be seen together, but the

 112
layout of the gallery makes visitors see the Monkman and then go to Shape of Cities,
Canadian Artists, to then see Johnson’s and Bennet’s work on their way out. This breaks
the cohesion between these three pieces and interrupts the narrative. Also, we are faced
again with a lack of context. Ursula Johnson's piece sits against the wall in a manner that
almost feels temporary. The tools accompanying the piece are separated from the main
piece and it is hard to see the connection.

“The bear skin doesn't seem to have its own spotlight, it's just leaning against the
wall. The sprayer and other tools displayed next to it seem to have more importance,
they should not be placed in the middle. I would either remove or place them on the
side.”

 113
Figure 15
Hide by Ursula Johnson

Note. Johnson, U. (2016). Hide [Faux fur on wooden stretcher, tools]. Art Gallery of Nova Scotia,
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Photograph by Tania Fuentes, 2022.

The didactic vinyl next to it tells us that it was created during a performance as a
way of exploring the way Indigenous practices are passed along intergenerational
relationships, however, we do not know what the performance was about, the cultural
signiﬁcance behind the bear hide, or what the tools are for. So the visitors that are not
familiar at all with Indigenous practices are again left with a feeling of confusion when
looking at the piece, taking away from the cultural experience. Although I am aware of the
ephemeral character of performance art, even accompanying the piece with a more ﬂeshed

 114
out explanatory text, a video or some archival pictures of the performance would greatly
improve the visitors’ experience with this piece.

Laufer Gallery
Figure 16
Laufer Gallery Results

Note. Emotional response to the Laufer Gallery, containing work by European artists.

The section containing European paintings was one of the most controversial sections. As
Illustrated in the graph, joy is no longer the predominant emotion in this area, but instead
we ﬁnd that emotions related to sadness and peacefulness are the most recurrent.
The Laufer Gallery hosts an amazing collection of European art ranging from the
1500's to 1800’s, featuring works from artists such as Gustav Doré, Salvator Rosa, and the
Studio of Peter Paul Rubens and Frans Snyder. It is wonderful to have the opportunity to
see such great classical pieces. However, this section feels completely disjointed with the
rest of the pieces showcased on this ﬂoor. There is a problem with the narrative. Why are
these pieces here? Do they have any ties to the province’s history at all? How do they
engage in conversation with the Indigenous artists right next to them? Looking back at the

 115
comments from the second session, we can see that it is not so much about the presence
of this section, but the order in which the works are presented in relation to the rest of the
collection and how the narrative is constructed:

“There's not that much that needs to change in terms of the content of the museum
or the gallery. But I've been thinking more and more about space. [...] But all [my]
critiques were about the space. Which one you see ﬁrst, right? How do you curate?
Deﬁnitely, the Dutch paintings would be great ﬁrst, you walk into the museum and
say, “Ah, these [are] cute Dutch paintings”, and then keep going. Because by the
time I got to [this section], there's so much in my head. [...] they are nice, but by that
point [after seeing Miss Chief’s Wet Dream] I am not in the right headspace to
appreciate them. It would be worthwhile that the museum’s identity revolves around
that conversation.”

“I understand the importance of a gallery collection and housing art objects, however
I think there are a number of severely outdated and colonial exhibitions currently on
display at the AGNS (Dutch landscapes, traditional portraiture, etc). These art objects
could be presented in a new context, with contemporary or historical work by POC,
thereby decentering the white colonial experience.”

An example of narrative construction within a gallery space can be seen in the
Founding Identities Exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. This particular example
comes to mind because they also have a wonderful painting by Kent Monkman, titled "The
King's Beavers," placed at the very beginning as a powerful opening statement. During my
visit, I was captivated by the storytelling that unfolded in this section. In this exhibition,

 116
Christian religious art is juxtaposed with Indigenous art, seamlessly narrating the story of
colonization and cultural clash. In this exhibition, the curation and museography work
together to present a very clear intentional narrative.

Arban, T. (2011). New Pavilion of Quebec and Canadian Art and Concert Hall [Photograph].
https://www.archdaily.com/176526/new-pavilion-of-quebec-and-canadian-art-and-concert-hall-prov
encher-roy-associes-architects?ad_source=search&ad_medium=projects_tab

Cramer, M. (2018). Identités fondatrices [Photograph].
https://www.cntraveler.com/activities/montreal/montreal-museum-of-ﬁne-arts

 117
Another example that I would like to bring up is the exhibition “Historical Imaginary”
at the Hood Museum of Art, at Dartmouth College. This exhibition, curated by Michael
Hartman, pairs the work of Emanuel Leutze –a romantic German-American painter– with
other worlds from Hood's collection to talk about how artists have shaped our perception of
the past. What I ﬁnd fascinating about this show is how the artworks are accompanied by a
didactic panel that gives us context and then poses questions for the viewer to reframe
their interpretation.

 118
Figure 17 Didactic Panels

Note. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth. Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Photograph by
Tania Fuentes, 2023.

This is a wonderful way of seeing classical art through a more critical and decolonial
lens, more in line with our times. In the words of the curator, “revisiting historical artworks,
asking new questions of them, and thinking about the contexts in which they were made
invites us to join in a broader conversation about how history and historical images inform

 119
our understanding of the present. Through this process, can we marshall this useable past
to create a forward-looking future?.”(Hartman, 2023, p.9) In this exhibition, even the
landscapes are reframed in this way; perhaps following a similar strategy could be an
eﬀective way of tying together the artworks on this ﬂoor for a more cohesive discourse.
This is of particular importance not only for newcomers, since as we learned during
the session, for one of the Caucasian participants (PC), the European art section meant
going back to a comfort zone after being faced with the “aggression” of Monkman’s work,
while for the other (BM), the order should be reversed so that you “go to your comfort, and
then you have all of your beliefs shattered by the truth. Because I like the diﬀerent play on it,
where it's like, This is the traditional museum, the Dutch paintings, aren't they lovely? Now,
deal with your identity as a settler-”.

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Ta’n a’sikatikl sipu’l | Conﬂuence
Figure 18
Conﬂuence 1

Note. Emotional response to the Conﬂuence section Awareness and Reﬂection.

Figure 19
Conﬂuence 2

Note. Emotional response to Tautology by Duane Linklater.

 121

Figure 20
Conﬂuence 3

Note. Emotional response to the gallery space showing the craved masks by Plains Cree/
Wolastoqiyik artist Ned Bear.

Figure 21
Conﬂuence 4

Note. Emotional response to the Conﬂuence sections Sustainability & Treaty, Community,
Memory & Remembering.

This exhibition is so rich that the reactions had to be divided by sub-sections for
their analysis. On the subject of posing questions for the viewer, as we mentioned in the last

 122
section, this exhibition does a great job. It is the only exhibition in the gallery that engages
visitors with phrases and questions to learn and connect to the exhibition contents: “Do
you know the history of where you live? The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia lives in Mi’Kma’ki,
the territory and home of the Mi’kmaq Nation for more than 13,000 years. It is important
that we all learn about histories on the lands that we visit or love as home.” (Gillis &
McCormack, 2021)
It is also the only exhibition that counts with multilingual panels, with the
information being available in Mi’kmaw, English, and French, which participants mentioned
to love. The exhibition also oﬀers free printed pamphlets with the Treaties of Peace and
Friendship which visitors can take home. Overall, I believe this is a very well curated and
designed exhibition. Participants did not have any negative comments regarding the
contents of the show, on the contrary, participants mentioned feeling most welcomed in
this space.

“This last ﬂoor was the most harmonious one. If it was all building towards this end,
great. But that is just what I imagine, not sure it is the intention. This last ﬂoor and
the Maud exhibition are the places where I felt most welcomed.”

They also complimented the design choices:

“From this ﬂoor I thought it was very interesting, appealing and stimulating how they
painted the walls black.”

However, there were some suggestions regarding the use of the space and some
issues with the display. For example, someone mentioned that in some cases, the label with

 123
the information was placed too far away from the plinth containing the object, making it
hard to ﬁnd the reference. It was also mentioned that the display felt lackluster and that
there were not enough pieces for the space. Another participant also suggested that the
Wolastoqey masks were given more power.
A comment that was recurrent was the fact that the rooms in the back of the
exhibition felt like unused space, with just a monitor occupying the whole room.

“This room can deﬁnitely use more items to activate the space. Now it seems
isolated.”

Participants also mentioned the lack of seating spots in this area and how the
window nooks could be a nice option for including them. An interesting proposal was the
addition of a “reading nook” to activate one of the back rooms, with books to learn more
about the Indigenous groups featured in the show and thus creating a space to learn as
well as to rest and unwind. Besides these few issues, participants found this space to be
the most cohesive and welcoming.

Other Issues
During the research, several other issues came up that were not necessarily related to a
particular exhibition or space, but rather to the general visitor experience.

Lack of Representation.
Although it was mentioned by participants that the main issue was the lack of cohesion
and the insuﬃcient informational context, the issue of representation also came up.In the
follow up form a participant commented that:

 124
“The art that was presented was mostly of the Native cultures and European
cultures. Canada is a wide diverse country and I would imagine the number of
cultures and ethnic groups that can be presented in such a gallery are enormous,
reﬂecting the number of the diverse population we have. The contents/collections
deﬁnitely lacked inclusivity and that is very clear from the paintings, pieces and
spaces of the art gallery.”
In the same form, participants also expressed that they would like to see more
international artists featured in the Gallery.

Technology And Other Media.
In addition to the previous discussions, participants raised the issue of technology's
absence in the permanent collection. They emphasized the need to incorporate more
contemporary artworks such as video installations and interactive elements to elevate the
overall museum experience, making it more engaging, dynamic, and immersive. “I'd like to
see more contemporary craft in the space, as well as more tech-based, multimedia work. I
know it's a far stretch, but could the AGNS get a temporary (3-5 yr) small MeowWolf
installation?”

Space
Regarding the physical space, participants expressed various areas for potential
improvement that would enhance their overall museum experience. One recurring concern
centered on the indoor climate, with a couple of participants noting that the air conditioning
felt too chilly, making them feel uncomfortable. Additionally, the outdated design choice of

 125
the carpet garnered attention, prompting suggestions for a more modern and aesthetically
pleasing replacement that is also easier to keep clean during the winter months.
Another aspect that drew attention was the use of color within the gallery, speciﬁcally in the
Canadian Collection and European Art sections. Some participants found the colors to be
overwhelming.
Furthermore, one of the comments that I would like to address is that two of the
female

participants expressed their discomfort with the fact that there were only all

gendered washrooms in the lobby. “I would prefer a female washroom due to security for
me as a woman.” Although I applaud the eﬀort to be inclusive towards the 2SLGBTQ+
community, we need to consider that for other people, particularly women, and even more
so if they are from religious group as Muslims, the idea of an all-gender washroom can be
unwelcoming.
While I am aware that there are gendered washrooms in other levels perhaps that
needs to be indicated somewhere to make sure that visitors know that these are also
available and that their needs are being considered too.
Overall, by addressing these physical space concerns, the museum has the
opportunity to create a more welcoming and comfortable setting for visitors, allowing them
to fully immerse themselves in the exhibits and deepen their connection with the artwork.

Programming and Communication
Unfortunately, despite there being an existing oﬀer of programs and activities, it seems like
people are not ﬁnding out about them. There was even a comment expressing that they
“never knew the museum hosted activities and events”.
When asked about their awareness of the programming oﬀer, or the Gallery’s social
media presence, the comments were all pointing towards communication being a huge area

 126
of improvement that the gallery needs to address. Here are some of the comments
regarding that matter:

“I haven't seen much advertising, which implies that the AGNS is not advertising their
programming through the correct avenues to reach their target demographics, which I
believe should include NSCAD students, artists, and arts professionals (I check all 3 boxes).
I ﬁnd that the AGNS is not communicative, tends to appear exclusive to the cliques that
frequent the space, and to secure the future of the AGNS as a public institution, more
communication, programming, and outreach needs to occur. This communication etc must
be through avenues that these demographics use frequently.”

“The museum’s media platforms are extremely boring and not inviting.”

“The gallery's Instagram could improve a lot. [..] Stories and reels could also be used to
promote the gallery amongst young people, with fun videos. Hashtags would also be a good
way of creating fun social media moments. Apparently, the gallery organizes a lot of events
[...] but doesn't promote them enough for people to ﬁnd out about them.”

During the second session, participants developed some proposals to improve this
matter. One of the suggestions was to adapt the facade of the building according to each
exhibition to spark curiosity amongst people passing by. Additionally, they said it would be
great to designate spaces within the museum for visitors to take photos and engage with
social media, making it a part of the overall experience. They also emphasized the
importance of improving social media presence and regularly post content on platforms
such as YouTube, Vimeo, Reels, and TikTok to attract a wider audience.

 127
During my Practicum I had already pointed out that the lack of engagement in social
media was a problem and I wrote a proposal to address this, but sadly my time at the
gallery ended before this project could be executed. I would just like to mention that a lot
of museums around the world are taking advantage of social media, particularly video
based platforms, to combat the idea of the “stuﬀy museum” by creating fun content,
jumping on trends and engaging with younger audiences, however that falls beyond the
scope of this paper.
In terms of programming, participants did not express a desire for anything
speciﬁcally geared toward immigrants, but they did mention that they would like to see
more events targeted at young adults, to make the museum more appealing and to turn it
into a social gathering place for young people.

 128

Conclusions
As a conclusion to the study, this chapter will summarize the key research ﬁndings in
relation to the research aims and questions, and discuss their value and contribution and
propose opportunities for future research, but ﬁrst I would like to mention the limitations of
the study.
Within the scope of this research, certain limitations emerged that warrant careful
consideration. Among these limitations was the modest scale of the sample size,
particularly evident during the second session. While the data collected held substantial
value and illuminated noteworthy trends, it is undeniable that a more extensive and diverse
participant pool could have propelled our exploration to greater depths, yielding a more
comprehensive and panoramic understanding of the subject. Additionally, I believe that the
lack of funding was a limitation, as participants might have been more willing to dedicate
longer periods of time to the study if they had been economically compensated.
Findings
Referring to the ﬁrst research question, How can museums become welcoming spaces for
immigrants? I believe a lot can be said from the participants’ experiences and suggestions,
but the main takeaway is that, in the case of the AGNS, including immigrants in the
conversation by creating a more deﬁned narrative that explains the context and history of
Nova Scotia is what could make it a more welcoming space.
Perhaps one of the most diﬃcult conversations to understand as a newcomer is the
relationship between settlers and Indigenous peoples. This is due to the fact that this is a
debate that is very speciﬁc to the context of settler colonialism and Indigenous
sovereignties in Canada and the United States as well as in other settler nations states such
as Australia and New Zealand. The experience of colonization varies greatly depending on
where you come from, so even familiarizing yourself with the terminology can be

 129
challenging. Words such as settler, and even the term BIPOC, can be unknown to a lot of
people coming from other contexts. I have to admit that before moving to Canada I didn’t
even know what BIPOC was, let alone consider myself as part of that group. These terms
are needed in this speciﬁc context and might be part of the everyday conversations here,
but that is not the case for everyone. I also think that I have come to learn a lot of these
terms and issues because I am in the academic environment, but someone who has not
been taught these concepts might ﬁnd the conversation intimidating, especially when it
comes to deﬁning oneself and one’s role in a new society. Also, the whole conversation
about truth and reconciliation, and the histories of oppression, are very crucial things to
know for anyone who lives on this land. And, where are you going to learn about these
issues as a newcomer if you are not in the academic sphere? This is where museums could
play a very meaningful role in introducing these topics to newcomers and helping them
understand.
This brings me to the next relevant issue that was found: Assumptions. We cannot
assume what others already know. Participants mentioned that the Gallery is assuming that
everyone understands the context, the history, and the relevance of things, when in fact we
need a lot more guidance. This is the core of the problem, that lack of understanding of
local conversations can translate into not feeling welcomed, not feeling considered, or
included.
Another important issue to address that links directly to the understanding of
contextual information is the lack of multilingual materials. Although participants were ﬂuent
in English, they mentioned that even if you have enough conversational skills to navigate
daily life situations, it can be challenging to understand complex topics in a foreign
language, especially for older generations. The language barrier can negatively impact a
visitor's experience and level of engagement with the art. As it was mentioned during the

 130
ﬁrst session, it is when the other anticipates your needs that you feel most welcome. In this
case, anticipating that someone might have the need to have things explained in their
language would make a huge diﬀerence. The participants discussed the possible formats in
which this could happen. It could be through audio guides or multilingual videos, but it can
also be something simpler, like having brochures with essential information or self-guided
tours available in diﬀerent languages. The statistical information provided at the beginning
of this study regarding the most spoken languages could be useful to address this issue.
This would not only be beneﬁcial for immigrant communities but also for the high inﬂux of
foreign tourists that come to the gallery, especially during the summer months. It is
important to mention that a lot of the participants applauded the fact that the Conﬂuence
exhibit had didactic panels in three languages. This proves that even if you do not ﬁnd your
language, seeing that an eﬀort is being made to try to include more people in the
conversation deﬁnitely increases the feeling of welcomeness.
Another suggestion regarding this matter was to include more multisensory
materials for audiences with disabilities, perhaps audio descriptions for the visually
impaired and more sensory experiences for those under the autistic spectrum, although
these issues fall beyond the scope of this study.
One of the most recurrent issues the participants mentioned as a problem was the
lack of a cohesive narrative within the gallery space, as well as the lack of an evident
connection between exhibitions. I want to go back to the fragment of the mandate that I
quoted earlier: [The AGNS will] “Be welcoming: Tell stories that reﬂect community, create
understanding, and generate meaningful thought.” In that sense, the story that is being told
is not clear, and it is not reﬂecting the whole community. I believe the Gallery needs to
decide what is the story it wants to tell and who is going to be part of the story so that it
can achieve its vision of being a welcoming space for the community. I would like to

 131
highlight that although as it has been mentioned in this study there are a lot of things that
could greatly improve within the Art Gallery. The feeling that it evoked most prominently was
joy and peacefulness, and more than half of the participants indicated on the follow-up form
that they had fun during their visit. So, while this research focused on the areas of
opportunity, there are still a lot of positive things the AGNS has to oﬀer. Following the
recommendations mentioned above, as well as including more technology, featuring more
diverse artists, and improving the Gallery’s communications can reﬂect in a better
experience for all visitors.
In addition, surprisingly, representation within the museum space was not as
relevant in the participants’ conversation as the inclusion of immigrants into the Canadian
context, but certain concerns did arise. Some participants mentioned that there were not
enough Black artists displayed, as well as artists from diﬀerent backgrounds. One
participant thought there were “a number of severely outdated and colonial exhibitions
currently on display”, while another stated:

the art that was presented was mostly of the Native cultures or [...] European cultures.
Canada is a wide[ly] diverse country and I would imagine the number of cultures and
ethnic groups that can be presented in such a gallery [is] enormous [...] The
contents/collections deﬁnitely lacked inclusivity and that is very clear from the paintings,
pieces, and spaces of the Art Gallery.

As it was proposed during the second session, having rotating exhibitions of
diﬀerent artists from local communities would increase a sense of belonging among
underrepresented groups. Perhaps a partnership with NSCAD could be a good opportunity

 132
for emerging international artists to showcase their work and break into the local art scene,
using the AGNS as a platform.
It is not that we expect to ﬁnd representation of each of our countries in every single
museum. Such a collection would be endless. However, it is nice when it happens and you
ﬁnd yourself represented, even in a small way, like how the Mexican family and I felt when
we discovered the Maud Lewis painting Boat with Flowers in Mexico.
As for the second research question, How can immigrants and members of the
dominant culture collaborate in participatory art projects within the museum context to
reduce stereotypes and racist behaviors? This project revealed a very nuanced
conversation, both with positive and negative aspects. On the negative side, this study
demonstrated that white settlers can have very diﬀerent initial attitudes regarding the
representation of other cultures and identities, as well as a willingness to hear from others’
experiences, all rooted in their awareness of their own white privilege.
While one participant (BM) expressed a quite decolonized mindset, the other (PC)
was unintentionally insensitive toward an immigrant participant (MS)’s situation. In
conﬁdence, MS shared that they felt PC showed a “lack of empathy and compassion”,
since “no one [immigrants] wants to leave home, we want to leave dangerous situations”.
While PC might have not been ill-intentioned, they, unfortunately, exhibited the idea that
people of colour should assimilate into white culture, which can be quite upsetting,
particularly considering the Canadian history of Indigenous peoples. Learning the culture
and embracing the traditions of a new country can be a positive thing, as we have learned
throughout this project. However, the context in which PC suggested it had the opposite
eﬀect since they did not take into consideration MS’s reality.
Furthermore, I realized white privilege was a key factor in how the Gallery visit was
experienced by the white participants; PC referred to Miss Chief’s Wet Dream’s message as

 133
an “aggression”, feeling comfort in ﬁnding European art in the following rooms. Participant
BM, in contrast, as seen in the transcript, proposed a diﬀerent layout where you walk out of
your comfort zone (the European paintings) to “confront your identity as a settler” (Miss
Chief’s Wet Dream). Nevertheless, during the second session, PC was more receptive to the
other immigrant participants’ (SD and OM) comments, and their exchange of ideas turned
out to be fruitful and rewarding.
While I could have chosen only immigrant participants for this research, I considered
it crucial to involve white participants as well in order to make them realize how immigrants
might feel unseen and unwelcome in a system that mostly works in their favour. Fostering
these conversations was an essential part of this research, so as to create an initial attempt
in building a sense of community by opening their eyes to the fact that we have more in
common with each other than we think, as seen with the molecule exercise from the ﬁrst
session.
Which brings me to the positive side of this topic. During the ﬁrst session, it was
very heartwarming to listen to the participants excitedly share their experiences while
talking about what made them feel welcome in a public or private place. Many talked about
food, speciﬁc traditions in their home countries, and even had a good laugh about funny
situations they had encountered upon their arrival in Canada or by welcoming a foreign
friend into their homes. This moment made me realize how important these exchanges are
for community building. Learning about others’ experiences brings people closer, which
was one of the main objectives of this research.
At the same time, ﬁnding community with people from similar cultures and
backgrounds within a safe space can be comforting and can make you feel less alone.
During the second session, after the English-speaking participants left early and the
remaining participants and I started speaking Spanish, we were able to speak more freely,

 134
not only joking around more but also having deeper conversations about our shared
experiences as Latinos. Also, due to the fact that the project had to be adjusted given the
absence of the rest of the participants, they also showed great solidarity towards me,
which made me feel very supported and understood.
So, I believe the answer to the question is that collaboration in projects such as this
one can be achieved with the participants’ complete willingness to hear each other out,
engaging in active listening, and showing respect and care. This project was a great
opportunity for participants to meet and socialize with people who they would not normally
interact with. Establishing a community with these particular participants was not possible
due to a lack of time and commitment throughout all sessions, but it was deﬁnitely a step in
the right direction.
One of the participants wrote in their worksheet that they were grateful for the
opportunity to express their thoughts and opinions, while another one sent me a voice note
saying that this research is very valuable and thanking me for making a change. This is what
makes it all worth it, and this is why participatory methods are so beneﬁcial for both
participants and researchers to learn and create knowledge together.

Recommendations for future research
A further study could examine how the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia or another institution
implements these recommendations to complete the stages of the Design Thinking
methodology, moving beyond conceptualization by testing and getting feedback from users
after its implementation. This research could shed light on the eﬃcacy and impact of the
proposed strategies in a tangible context, further enriching the comprehension of their
practical implications. In addition, future research could be done by carrying out the same
process in several museums across Canada and comparing the data with the one shown in

 135
this study in order to ﬁnd patterns and have a better understanding of the overall situation
of the museums in the country.
This model could also serve as a valuable tool to evaluate the inclusivity and
hospitality oﬀered to various other demographics, including Indigenous peoples, persons
with physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments, the elderly, and more. This
expansion of its application would ensure that museums truly embrace and accommodate
a diverse range of visitors, fostering an environment of genuine welcome for all.
Moreover, future research could explore this subject from interdisciplinary
perspectives. The ﬁndings from this study hold potential implications for ﬁelds like
Exhibition Design and User Experience Design, enriching their practices and approaches.

 136

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 145

Appendices

Data Analysis
Worksheets

 146

Appendix A
Data Analysis

General
Space
Lobby
Gift Shop
Multi Purpose Room
Studio
Maud Lewis Hallway
Maud Lewis Gallery
Washrooms First Floor
Boar Hallway
Realisms Reach
Miss Chief's Wet Dream
Bennet & Johnson
Ondaatje Gallery
The Shape of Cities
Laufer Gallery
Confluence: Awareness
Confluence: Tautology
Confluence Masks
Confluence: Sustainability
Confluence Corner

Mad
1
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
1
5
1
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
14

Scared
1
1
0
0
0
1
2
3
2
2
2
5
3
2
0
1
4
1
0
30

Joyful
3
2
2
1
1
8
0
0
6
5
7
8
5
1
6
3
2
1
5
66

Powerful
1
0
0
0
0
4
0
0
2
5
1
1
1
0
0
2
1
1
1
20

Peaceful
2
0
1
2
2
8
0
1
2
3
0
2
4
3
3
2
1
8
3
47

Sad
2
1
0
0
1
1
1
2
1
3
1
3
4
3
3
0
2
2
2
32

10
4
3
4
4
23
3
6
14
23
12
21
19
9
12
8
10
13
11
209

General
66

47
32

30
20
14

Mad

Scared

Joyful

Powerful

Peaceful

Sad

General
Lobby
Gift Shop
Multi Purpose Room
Studio
Maud Lewis Hallway
Maud Lewis Gallery
Washrooms First Floor
Boar Hallway
Realisms Reach
Miss Chief's Wet Dream
Bennet & Johnson
Ondaatje Gallery
The Shape of Cities
Laufer Gallery
Confluence: Awareness
Confluence: Tautology
Confluence Masks
Confluence: Sustainability
Confluence Corner

10
4
3
4
4
23
3
6
14
23
12
21
19
9
12
8
10
13
11

 147

General (%)
Space

Mad

Scared

Joyful

Powerful

Peaceful

Sad

Lobby
Gift Shop
Multi Purpose Room
Studio
Maud Lewis Hallway
Maud Lewis Gallery
Washrooms First Floor
Boar Hallway
Realism's Reach
Miss Chief's Wet Dream
Bennet & Johnson
Ondaatje Gallery
The Shape of Cities
Laufer Gallery
Confluence: Awareness
Confluence: Tautology
Confluence: Masks
Confluence: Sustainability
Confluence: Corner

0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.5%
0.0%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.5%
2.4%
0.5%
1.0%
1.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
6.7%

0.5%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.5%
1.0%
1.4%
1.0%
1.0%
1.0%
2.4%
1.4%
1.0%
0.0%
0.5%
1.9%
0.5%
0.0%
14.4%

1.4%
1.0%
1.0%
0.5%
0.5%
3.8%
0.0%
0.0%
2.9%
2.4%
3.3%
3.8%
2.4%
0.5%
2.9%
1.4%
1.0%
0.5%
2.4%
31.6%

0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
1.9%
0.0%
0.0%
1.0%
2.4%
0.5%
0.5%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
1.0%
0.5%
0.5%
0.5%
9.6%

1.0%
0.0%
0.5%
1.0%
1.0%
3.8%
0.0%
0.5%
1.0%
1.4%
0.0%
1.0%
1.9%
1.4%
1.4%
1.0%
0.5%
3.8%
1.4%
22.5%

1.0%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0%
0.5%
0.5%
0.5%
1.0%
0.5%
1.4%
0.5%
1.4%
1.9%
1.4%
1.4%
0.0%
1.0%
1.0%
1.0%
15.3%

4.8%
1.9%
1.4%
1.9%
1.9%
11.0%
1.4%
2.9%
6.7%
11.0%
5.7%
10.0%
9.1%
4.3%
5.7%
3.8%
4.8%
6.2%
5.3%
100.0%

General
31.6%

22.5%
15.3%

14.4%
9.6%
6.7%

Mad

Scared

Joyful

Powerful

Peaceful

Sad

General
Lobby
Gift Shop
Multi Purpose Room
Studio
Maud Lewis Hallway
Maud Lewis Gallery
Washrooms First Floor
Boar Hallway
Realism's Reach
Miss Chief's Wet Dream
Bennet & Johnson
Ondaatje Gallery
The Shape of Cities
Laufer Gallery
Confluence: Awareness
Confluence: Tautology
Confluence: Masks
Confluence: Sustainability
Confluence: Corner

4.8%
1.9%
1.4%
1.9%
1.9%
11.0%
1.4%
2.9%
6.7%
11.0%
5.7%
10.0%
9.1%
4.3%
5.7%
3.8%
4.8%
6.2%
5.3%

 148

Lobby

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
2
0
0
0

0
1
0
1
0
0

0
0
1
0
1
0

0
0
0
0
0
1

1
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
1

0
0
0
0
1
0

Lobby
Mad

1

Scared

1

percentage
10%
10%
30%
10%
20%
20%
100%

Lobby

Joyful

3

Powerful

number of
cases
1
1
3
1
2
2
10

Mad

10%

Scared

10%

Joyful

1

30%

Powerful

10%

Peaceful

2

Peaceful

20%

Sad

2

Sad

20%

number of cases

percentage

Gift Shop

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
1
0
0
0
1

0
0
1
0
0
0

Gift Shop
Mad

Mad

Joyful

Peaceful

0

Sad

25%

Joyful

2
0

0%
25%
50%
0%
0%
25%
100%

0%

Scared

1

Powerful

percentage

Gift Shop

0

Scared

number of
cases
0
1
2
0
0
1
4

50%

Powerful

0%

Peaceful

0%

Sad

1

number of cases

25%

percentage

Washrooms Level 1

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
1
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
1
0
0
0
1

0
0
0
0
0
0

Washrooms Level 1
Mad

Washrooms Level 1
Mad

0

Scared

2

0%

Scared

67%

Joyful

0

Joyful

0%

Powerful

0

Powerful

0%

Peaceful

0

Peaceful

0%

Sad

number of cases

1

number of
cases
0
2
0
0
0
1
3

Sad

percentage

33%

percentage
0%
67%
0%
0%
0%
33%
100%

 149

Multi-Purpose Room

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

0
0
1
0
0
0

0
0
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
1
0

Multi-Purpose Room
Mad
Scared

Powerful

Mad

0%

0

Scared

0%

Sad

0%
0%
67%
0%
33%
0%
100%

67%

Joyful

2

Powerful

0

Peaceful

percentage

Multi-Purpose Room

0

Joyful

number of
cases
0
0
2
0
1
0
3

0%

Peaceful

1

Sad

0

number of cases

33%
0%

percentage

Studio

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

1
0
1
0
1
0

0
0
0
0
1
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

Studio
Mad
Scared

Powerful

Mad

1

Scared

Powerful

0
2
0

number of cases

25%
0%

Joyful

1

Peaceful
Sad

Studio

0

Joyful

number of
cases
1
0
1
0
2
0
4

25%
0%

Peaceful
Sad

50%
0%

percentage

percentage
25%
0%
25%
0%
50%
0%
100%

 150

Maud Lewis Hallway
Participant 1
Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 2

0
0
0
0
0
0

Participant 3

0
0
0
0
0
0

Participant 4

0
0
1
0
0
0

Participant 5

0
0
0
0
0
0

Participant 6

0
0
0
0
1
0

Participant 7

0
0
0
0
0
0

Participant 8

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
1

Maud Lewis Hallway
Mad

0

Mad

0%

0

Scared

0%

Powerful

Joyful

1

Powerful

0

Peaceful

percentage
0%
0%
25%
0%
50%
25%
100%

25%
0%

Peaceful

2

Sad

0
0
0
0
1
0

Maud Lewis Hallway

Scared
Joyful

number of
cases
0
0
1
0
2
1
4

Participant 9

50%

Sad

1

number of cases

25%

percentage

Maud Lewis Gallery

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad
Comments

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

0
0
0
0
1
0

0
0
1
0
0
0

0
0
1
1
1
0

0
0
1
1
1
0

0
1
1
1
1
1

0
0
0
0
2
0

0
0
1
0
1
0

0
0
1
1
1
0

1
0
2
0
0
0

number of
cases
1
1
8
4
8
1
23

Homey, the

Maud Lewis Gallery
Mad

1

Scared

1

Joyful

8

Powerful

number of cases

8
1

Mad

4%

Scared

4%

Joyful

35%

Powerful

4

Peaceful
Sad

Maud Lewis Gallery

17%

Peaceful
Sad

percentage

35%
4%

percentage
4%
4%
35%
17%
35%
4%
100%

 151

Realism´s Reach

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

0
1
0
0
0
0

0
1
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
2
0
1
1

0
0
1
2
0
0

0
0
1
0
0
0

0
0
1
0
1
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

1
0
1
0
0
0

Realism's Reach
Mad

Realism's Reach
Mad

1

Scared

Scared

2

Joyful

7%

6

14%

Joyful

43%

Powerful

2

Powerful

14%

Peaceful

2

Peaceful

14%

Sad

number of cases

1

Sad

percentage

7%

number of
cases
1
2
6
2
2
1
14

percentage
7%
14%
43%
14%
14%
7%
100%

 152

Miss Chief's Wet Dream

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad
Comments

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

0
0
1
1
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
1
0

1
1
1
1
1
1

1
0
2
1
0
0

1
1
0
0
0
0

1
0
0
0
0
1

0
0
0
1
0
0

1
0
1
1
1
1

number of
cases
5
2
5
5
3
3
23

percentage
22%
9%
22%
22%
13%
13%
100%

Tour guide

Miss Chief's Wet Dream
Mad

Miss Chief's Wet Dream
Mad

5

Scared

22%

Scared

2

9%

Joyful

5

Joyful

22%

Powerful

5

Powerful

22%

Peaceful

3

Peaceful

13%

Sad

3

Sad

13%

number of cases

percentage

Bennet & Johnson

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

0
0
1
0
0
0

0
0
2
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
2
1
0
0

0
1
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
1
0
0
0

1
1
0
0
0
1

Bennet & Johnson
Mad

Mad

7

Powerful

1

Sad

number of cases

1

17%

Joyful

58%

Powerful
Peaceful

0

8%

Scared

2

Joyful

Peaceful

Bennet & Johnson

1

Scared

number of
cases
1
2
7
1
0
1
12

8%
0%

Sad

percentage

8%

percentage
8%
17%
58%
8%
0%
8%
100%

 153

Ondaatje Gallery

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

1
0
0
0
0
1

0
0
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
2
1
0
0

0
3
1
0
0
0

0
0
3
0
1
0

0
0
0
0
0
1

1
1
0
0
0
0

0
1
1
0
1
1

Ondaatje Gallery
Mad

Mad

Powerful

1

38%
5%

Peaceful

2

Sad

24%

Joyful

8

Peaceful

10%
24%
38%
5%
10%
14%
100%

10%

Scared

5

Joyful
Powerful

percentage

Ondaatje Gallery

2

Scared

number of
cases
2
5
8
1
2
3
21

10%

Sad

3

number of cases

14%

percentage

Shape of Cities

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

0
0
2
0
1
0

0
0
0
0
2
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
1
0
0
1

1
1
0
0
0
1

0
0
2
1
0
0

0
1
0
0
0
0

1
1
0
0
1
0

0
0
0
0
0
2

The Shape of Cities
Mad

The Shape of Cities
Mad

2

Scared

11%

Scared

3

Joyful
Powerful

5

Powerful

1

16%

Joyful

26%
5%

Peaceful

4

Peaceful

21%

Sad

4

Sad

21%

number of cases

number of
cases
2
3
5
1
4
4
19

percentage

percentage
11%
16%
26%
5%
21%
21%
100%

 154

Boar Hallway

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

0
1
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
1
0
0
1
0

0
0
0
0
0
2

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
1
0
0
0
0

Boar Hallway
Mad

Mad

0

0%
50%
0%
0%
17%
33%
100%

0%

Scared

3

50%

Joyful

0

Joyful

0%

Powerful

0

Powerful

0%

Peaceful

1

Sad

percentage

Boar Hallway

Scared

Peaceful

number of
cases
0
3
0
0
1
2
6

17%

Sad

2

number of cases

33%

percentage

Laufer Gallery

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

0
0
0
0
0
1

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
1
0
1
0

0
0
0
0
0
1

0
0
0
0
1
0

0
0
0
0
0
1

0
1
0
0
0
0

0
1
0
0
1
0

Laufer Gallery
Mad

Mad

0

Scared

Powerful

0

Sad

number of cases

22%

Joyful

1

Peaceful

0%

Scared

2

Joyful
Powerful

Laufer Gallery

11%
0%

3

Peaceful

33%

3

Sad

33%

percentage

number of
cases
0
2
1
0
3
3
9

percentage
0%
22%
11%
0%
33%
33%
100%

 155

Confluence Awareness

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

0
0
2
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
3

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
2
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
2
0
0
0

0
0
1
0
1
0

Confluence: Awareness and Reflection
Mad

0

Mad

0%

0

Scared

0%

Powerful

percentage
0%
0%
50%
0%
25%
25%
100%

Confluence: Awareness and Reflection

Scared
Joyful

number of
cases
0
0
6
0
3
3
12

Joyful

6

Powerful

0

50%
0%

Peaceful

3

Peaceful

25%

Sad

3

Sad

25%

number of cases

percentage

Tautology

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

0
0
1
0
0
0

0
0
0
1
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
1
0
1
0

0
0
1
1
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
1
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
1
0

Confluence: Tautology
Mad

Confluence: Tautology
Mad

0

Scared

0%

Scared

1

Joyful

3

13%

Joyful

38%

Powerful

2

Powerful

25%

Peaceful

2

Peaceful

25%

Sad

0

number of cases

number of
cases
0
1
3
2
2
0
8

Sad

0%

percentage

percentage
0%
13%
38%
25%
25%
0%
100%

 156

Confluence Masks

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

0
1
0
0
0
1

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
1
1
0
0
0

0
1
1
1
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
1

0
1
0
0
1
0

Confluence: Masks by Ned Bear
Mad

Joyful

Peaceful

1

Sad

40%

Joyful

2
1

0%
40%
20%
10%
10%
20%
100%

0%

Scared

4

Powerful

percentage

Confluence: Masks by Ned Bear
Mad

0

Scared

number of
cases
0
4
2
1
1
2
10

20%

Powerful

10%

Peaceful

10%

Sad

2

number of cases

20%

percentage

Confluence Sustainability
Participant 1
Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 2

0
0
0
0
0
0

Participant 3

0
0
0
0
0
1

Participant 4

0
0
0
0
0
0

Participant 5

0
0
0
0
0
0

Participant 6

0
0
1
0
2
0

Participant 7

0
0
0
0
0
0

Confluence: Sustainability & Treaty,
Community, Memory & Remembering.
Mad

Participant 8

0
1
0
0
0
0

Participant 9

0
0
0
1
3
0

0
0
0
0
3
1

number of
cases
0
1
1
1
8
2
13

percentage
0%
8%
8%
8%
62%
15%
100%

Confluence: Sustainability & Treaty,
Community,
Memory & Remembering.

0

Scared

Mad

1

Joyful

1

Powerful

1

Peaceful

8

Sad

0%

Scared

8%

Joyful

8%

Powerful

8%

Peaceful

2

62%

Sad

number of cases

15%

percentage

Corner

Mad
Scared
Joyful
Powerful
Peaceful
Sad

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

Participant 4

Participant 5

Participant 6

Participant 7

Participant 8

Participant 9

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
1
0

0
0
1
0
0
0

0
0
1
1
1
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
1

0
0
1
0
1
0

0
0
2
0
0
1

Corner

Corner

Mad

0

Mad

0%

Scared

0

Scared

0%

Joyful
Powerful

5

Powerful

1

Peaceful
Sad

number of cases

Joyful

3
2

45%
9%

Peaceful
Sad

percentage

27%
18%

number of
cases
0
0
5
1
3
2
11

percentage
0%
0%
45%
9%
27%
18%
100%

 157

Appendix B
Worksheets

worksheet 1

TRANSFORMING Museums INTO Welcoming spaces for everyone

IDENTITY MOLECULE
The characteristics, traits, and attributes that make up our identity are what make us
who we are. While we are born with certain aspects of our identity, we can choose
others. Gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, profession, hobbies and interests, skills,
values and beliefs, family, physical appearance, languages spoken, personality, and
many more are examples of these elements. What makes you unique? In the centre of
the molecule, write your name. Then, write down the characteristics you believe define
your identity.

Mexican
Sister/
Daughter

Designer

Single

Teacher/
Student

Tania

Feminist

Knitter
New in
Canada

Woman

Outdoorsy

Bilingual:
Spanish/
English

 158

TRANSFORMING Museums INTO Welcoming spaces for everyone

worksheet 2

exploring the gallery
You are now free to explore the gallery at your leisure. Pay close attention to every
aspect of your experience. Describe how you feel when you walk in, how you navigate
the space, how you interact with the collection, staff, services, other visitors, and so on.
Make a map of your emotions by using the Feeling Wheel and colour stickers. If there
is anything specific that triggered a certain emotion or something you would like to
discuss, write it down in the notes section.

Notes

Doodles

 159

TRANSFORMING Museums INTO Welcoming spaces for everyone

The Feeling wheel
The feeling wheel is a proven visual aid that helps people recognize, talk about, and
change their feelings. It consists of an inner circle with 5 sectors and two outer
concentric circles. The sectors are each labelled with the name of a primary feeling:
mad, sad, scared, joyful, powerful, and peaceful. The outer rings contain names of
secondary feelings related to the primary ones. Use the colours to identify and mark
your feelings as you move through the gallery space.

d

an

xio

er

in
s
ec
C
u
o
re
n
fu
s
ed
fru
st
r
a
ted
ir
r
i
t
ated

angry

hateful

s

lou

es
se

d

inf

al
critic

jea

pr

pi

u
st

de

io

r

REJECTED
d
urage
disco
ed
ass
arr
emb
us

bor

Mad

ed
sa
d

ed

ED
AR
SC

asha
m

relaxed

ve

al
t
n

cted
respe
d
fie
s
i
sat

appreciated

t
llig
en

Inte

ent

igh

cr

ted

ea
tiv

FA
sc
in

ul

fid

th
o

del

ed

t

ha

l

t
ci
Ex

se

ul
f
nk

tf

e

im
nt

Co
n

t

playfu

Powerful

proud

g

tin
rus

ug
h

i
pens

stimulate
d

jo
y
fu
l

l
fu
e
ac
pe

apathetic

e

at
e

d

 160

TRANSFORMING Museums INTO Welcoming spaces for everyone

Multi purpuse
room

Lobby

Gift Shop

Studio

Maud Lewis
Gallery

 161

TRANSFORMING Museums INTO Welcoming spaces for everyone

Notes

2

 162

TRANSFORMING Museums INTO Welcoming spaces for everyone

Notes