Rhode Island Historical Society (Museum of Work and Culture)

The Rhode Island Historical Society will implement a comprehensive professional development program for its staff and volunteers to build their knowledge and practice in using dialogue facilitation with different audiences and improve their readiness to work on re-interpreting programming, exhibitions, and collections practices. Staff members will participate in a three-day training offered by the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience on fostering dialogue and civic engagement. They will also engage in a series of four online sessions with the Memorial ACTe (a museum in Guadeloupe, on the site of the former Darboussier sugar factory); the Barbados Museum and Historical Society; Maison des Esclaves on Gorge Island in Senegal; and the Whitney Heritage Plantation Museum in Louisiana. The project will also include site visits to Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, CT; the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives & Special Collections at the University of Massachusetts (Dartmouth); and the Hip-Hop Archive at the Joseph P. Healey Library at University of Massachusetts (Boston).