The Field Museum hired Amdur Spitz & Associates to build a consortium of 10  leading museums from urban areas that use innovative strategies for community engagement. Amdur Spitz & Associates led an inquiry and facilitated a series of meetings where museum leaders exchanged ideas, strategies and shared best practices. Pulling from the shared knowledge of the group, we wrote a blue print for how to develop programs that truly engage communities, and an evaluation rubric to measure whether it is working.  Combined with essays and case studies, we put together a book, Urban Network: Museums Embracing Communities, c. 2003 University of Chicago Press, Urban Network is widely used in museum studies curricula.

Since the book is sold out, we’ve made it available to download for FREE here.

Contributors:
Bronwyn Bevan, Mike Bradecich, Robert W. Crawford, Jr., Beth Crownover, Norma
Dolcater, Robert Eskridge, Sumita Goel, Charles Hartsoe, Barbara Henry, Joel
Hoffman, Karen Ransom Lehman, Patricia Williams Lessane, Alisa Martin, John W.
McCarter, Jr., Lisa Meyerowitz, Tony Mobley, Paul Mohrbacher, Mariet Morgan,
Mary Ellen Munley, Nicole Neal, Karen Nelson, Lisa Rebori, Paul Richard, Carolee
Smith Rogers, Beth B. Schneider, Sarah Schultz, Susan Schwartzenberg, Kiyoko
Motoyama Sims, Sophia Siskel, Jean Sousa, Jennifer Amdur Spitz, Mary Ann Steiner,
Carolyn Sumners, Encarnaçion Teurel, Margaret Thom, Ellen Wahl