More than just a place to enjoy art, the University of Mississippi Museum is increasingly being used as a space for education, exercise and entertainment. For community members and visitors, the museum can be a resource for their daily lives, whether it’s through a family activity day, taking a yoga class or walking on the trails.
The goal is to engage a broad group of visitors, museum Director William Andrews said.
“We want to make sure the museum is relevant to the community and bring in a different segment of visitors to the museum, as well as add value for current museum members,” Andrews said.
Recently the “Let’s Move! Museums and Gardens” initiative, coordinated by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and promoted by first lady Michelle Obama, began providing opportunities for museum and garden visitors to learn about healthy food choices and physical activity through interactive exhibits and programs.
Since one of the core missions of museums is to focus on creating healthy environments for children and their families, this was a natural fit.
Part of the University Museum’s participation with “Let’s Move!” has been to add health and nutrition activities to the ArtZone afterschool programming.
“ArtZone is a robust program filled to capacity, and for the first time, this year we are receiving support from the city of Oxford, with the students being bused straight here from school,” Andrews said.
Rachel Randazzo, a UM student earning a bachelor’s degree in dietetics and nutrition, is working this fall as a museum intern.
Randazzo uses the skills she learned in her classes to create interesting, healthy snacks such as fruit kabobs and trail mix for the children, whose ages range from 5 to 12. Recipes are sent home for parents, along with a nutritional value sheet so they can see the serving size, calories and fat grams, and learn how to prepare them at home.
“So far, the kids have really enjoyed the snacks,” said Randazzo, a native of St. Louis. “I try to incorporate a variety of food items per snack so that ‘picky’ eaters may pick and choose what they like or dislike. The staff members at the museum have treated me with utmost kindness and respect and work hard to create a successful, learning environment for the kids participating in ArtZone.”
In another effort to get people moving, museum space is being used to host yoga classes, beginning Monday (Oct. 3) and running through mid-November.
“I was thinking of a way the museum could be utilized in the morning when the administrative staff is in the office but before the galleries are open to the public,” Andrews said. “Since the climate control is working and we have great spaces, and because we’re involved in ‘Let’s Move! Museums and Gardens,’ the concept of yoga came to mind. I love how this promotes the museum as a participatory environment and also illustrates the concept of community and relevance.”
Blue Laurel Yoga, co-founded by UM English professor Ann Fisher-Wirth and Oxford residents Betsy Banner and Jennie Lee, came to fruition when the three completed their 200-hour teacher training through Southern Star Yoga Studio last spring and were encouraged to help spread yoga throughout the L-O-U community.
“More and more Americans are discovering the benefits of yoga for health and well-being, and we are delighted that the University Museum has invited us to offer classes suitable for students of all ages and all levels of experience in its beautiful surroundings,” Fisher-Wirth said. “We all have many years of experience practicing and/or teaching yoga, and are registered with Yoga Alliance.”
Participants of all ages and all degrees of experience with yoga are encouraged to attend the gentle/beginner classes, which will meet twice a week over six weeks. The cost is $105 for museum members and $120 for non-members. Registration is available on the museum website
Banner’s classes are Mondays 8:30-9:30 a.m. and Wednesdays 5-6 p.m. Lee’s classes are Mondays from 10 to 11 a.m. and Thursdays from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Fisher-Wirth’s classes are 8:30-9:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Fridays.
The museum is also utilizing education elements through Alyssa Yuen, an AmeriCorps VISTA fellow. For more than 40 years, VISTA has been the national service program designed specifically to fight poverty, with members serving a year at a nonprofit organization or local government agency, working to fight illiteracy, improve health services, create businesses and strengthen community groups.
Yuen’s efforts involve outreach to area and regional schools with the museum’s traveling trunks.
“Our goal is to alleviate poverty through education, and I do a lot of outreach to the Mississippi Delta with the traveling trunks,” Yuen said. “They come with teacher training material and lesson plans and supplies for the activities. I’ve been working to make sure these trunks are not just in Lafayette County, but that they branch out to different counties.”
The trunks give students opportunities to see the things they are learning about. For example, the Greek and Roman trunk helps when teachers are talking about mythology.
“It’s good for them to have something to look at, and not just read about, because some students are more visual learners,” Yuen said. “It’s nice to have people come to the museum, but at the same time doing outreach for students who don’t have the opportunity to come here is important.”
Five VISTA fellows are working on campus, including at the Office of Provost, the College of Liberal Arts, and the schools of Engineering and Education.
All the programs help make the museum become relevant to the community, said Sarah Story, curator of education.
“It makes the museum more accessible to a wider variety of people because not everyone is interested in just art,” Story said. “I think there are many ways to educate and many ways to incorporate art into different forms of education.”
The nearby Bailey’s Woods is used as an educational tool, and an opportunity to be physically active, as well.
“Ideally, we will have tours of school children arrive at Rowan Oak, tour the house, hike Bailey’s Woods to the museum, tour the collections, then have a nutritious picnic lunch on the museum grounds,” Andrews said.
For more information, visit the University Museum.
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