Next year, we will initiate a new research project at UFMG, under my coordination, titled Inclusive Management and High Abilities in Museums and the Arts.
The research will focus both on individuals identified by a specialised professional as having high abilities/giftedness, and on neurotypical individuals (those without disabilities or neurodivergent conditions) who also demonstrate high performance (intellectual, academic, leadership, managerial, etc.). In other words, the research is interested in both innate and acquired abilities.
The project will also seek to analyse the specificities involved with audiences having dual or multiple exceptionalities. For example, when giftedness is associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), visual impairment, hearing impairment, or another condition.
Research on the inclusion of people with high abilities in museums and the arts is still in its early stages of development. This is the gap we intend to fill with this project.
Furthermore, misinformation about giftedness leads many to mistakenly believe that there are only benefits, such as cognitive advantages. In reality, however, gifted people often exhibit divergent thinking and may face mental health challenges, emotional distress, anxiety, or social isolation. Therefore, it is necessary to raise awareness among the general population about this issue.
We will primarily investigate how truly inclusive management can contribute to better support, productivity, and quality of life for high-ability professionals who are part of the neurodiverse teams of complex museums.
For this project, complex museums are understood to be those that manage non-trivial challenges in their daily operations, such as conserving extensive collections or handling the influx of millions of visitors annually.
The research also includes museums whose complexities are not necessarily associated with their size, but with their unique concept or collection, which ultimately require sophisticated operational and management dynamics stemming from the sensitive debates they raise.
For example, museums that deal with controversial situations or themes, such as decolonisation, repatriation, sensitive content, ideological vandalism, wars, terrorism, symbolic violence, slavery, etc. This list also includes institutions that suffer political pressure from authoritarian or autocratic governments.
In this preparatory phase for structuring the project, we are creating a database and analysing the possible research universe, seeking the following information:
- Researchers and professionals with experience in the topic of high abilities and giftedness in the context of museums or the arts.
- Publications – academic or otherwise – that involve high abilities and giftedness in the context of museums or the arts.
- Research groups and institutes focused on high abilities and giftedness at universities abroad, related to the arts or culture.
- Actions developed by museums aim to serve visitors with high abilities and giftedness, whether this is a spontaneous audience, school groups, or those from institutions that offer curriculum enrichment programs for gifted individuals. Although the focus is on museums and the arts, experiences in libraries, archives, and companies are also of interest to us at this stage, as they can serve as inspiration for the museum field.
- Educational or management actions developed within the university context that focus on the inclusion of individuals with high abilities and giftedness.
If you can help us with the information listed above, please write to me using the Contact form on this blog.
Finally, from now on, we will always have a section on High Abilities in our blog’s bimonthly newsletter. If you are interested in this topic, be sure to register using the form at the end of this post or by clicking here. Thank you very much!
Notes
Acknowledgements: Thanks to Alberto Nogueira Veiga.
Image: Magnifying glass and brain (ChatGPT).
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