Date of Degree Completion
Spring 2025
Degree Type
Capstone - Open Access
Instructor/Advisor
Dr. Melissa Nemon & Dr. Audrey Falk
Abstract
The focus of this capstone is on decolonizing cultural institutions through organizational partnerships in order to make recommendations to other organizations that wish to begin or continue this work. This capstone was a case study that invited seven nonprofit organizations to be interviewed virtually to discuss decolonial methods within their organizational partnerships. Interviews were conducted with cultural institutions and community organizations in the Northeast United States with aims to support the arts, education, community building, and environmental stewardship. This capstone found that cultural institutions with a desire to decolonize their body of work had to build trust with a community organization through individual relationships, self-reflection, and reevaluation of mission and values. This capstone also found that Black, Indigenous, Queer, and marginalized communities’ resiliency equips them for creating strong partnerships reinforced by decolonial methods. This study demonstrates how decolonizing cultural institutions can be achieved through thoughtful alignment of missions and by welcoming the possibility of operating outside of a capitalist system of perpetual production– in a new system founded in Indigenous worldview.
Recommended Citation
Juele, Andy, "Built on Trust: Decolonizing Cultural Institutions through Organizational Partnerships" (2025). Community Engagement Student Work. 131.
https://scholarworks.merrimack.edu/soe_student_ce/131