Hey--this is our group's original draft proposal: Jin, Joanna, Amy, Bridget, Lauren.

Of central importance to our group are:
* Personal Resonance (sense of connection, belonging and stake)
* Multi-tiered Participation (the ability for people to contribute in some way)
* Social Interaction (the development of a shared interpretive community on-site)

Key messages:
We would like visitors to be more deeply engaged with the American collections, to form a stronger connection to the museum, and perhaps to leave something behind. Inspired by Becker’s idea: “every man his own historian”, we want to validate the idea of multiple interpretations, and to pull personal objects into the exhibitions.

Key audiences:
We are interested in reaching local communities and in enabling visitors to make personal connections. Through interpretive components and programming we will strategically engage people from Providence. Visitors will develop a sense of ownership of and stake in the RISD Museum. They will also develop as an interpretive community.

Key objects:
Objects will be American with a special emphasis on personal local objects that relate to the idea of “American story.” The objects will be both those in the collections of the American galleries and Pendleton House, and objects that community members contribute, either in Show & Tell programs, or in temporary installations of local objects. We will enable people to participate in live interpretation, asking their own questions and thereby providing their own contributions to object interpretation.

We have developed three interpretive strategies which meet our objectives, they are as follows:
1. Show & Tell Program (please describe)
2. Temporary Installations of Local Objects (please describe)
3. Live Interpretation (please describe)

How will we evaluate success?