ABSTRACT
In this piece, Poornima Sardana introduces the Museums of Hope consortium and the ways in which institutions worldwide are creating physical and digital spaces for addressing social challenges that acknowledge and bring to light violence and societal issues that are often hidden, silenced, or left in denial. She highlights the importance of vulnerability, uncertainty, and spontaneity in museum programming and experiences, and the value of relationships over impact evaluation, as illustrated through myriad India-based museum–arts–cultural heritage partnerships with organizations including Folk Musicians as Professors: the RRAP Hub in Jaipur; the Tandel Fund of Archives: the Koli (fishermen) community in Mumbai; and Improv for Elderly at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum in Delhi.
