Museums have started a new a history holiday
A Q&A with Caroline Klibanoff about ‘Civic Season,’ a new annual tradition.
Last weekend, museums around the country kicked off the 2022 “Civic Season,” a nascent but fast growing national tradition. Beginning just last year, Civic Season aims to help people connect with history and use it to take civic action in the present. Stretching from Juneteenth through the Fourth of July, Civic Season features a loosely-connected, wide range of history-focused events and resources from museums and other institutions across the country. Collectively, these organizations are using this stretch of the summer to remind people—especially young people—of the importance of learning history and the many ways you can participate in civic life and improve your community.
Civic Season is led by Made By Us, a coalition of more than 100 history museums and related organizations. Together, they are engaging young adults to connect them with history and support their efforts toward civic action and community building. As the most tangible expression of that goal so far, Civic Season is one of the most exciting public history initiatives the country has seen in a long time. As it enters its second year, Civic Season already has a remarkably wide reach.
Following a kick-off event at the Atlanta History Center last weekend that featured music, food, history, and the presentation of the American Civic Collaboration Awards—The Civvys—the next three weeks will include more than seven hundred events at history museums and civic institutions across the country. Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello will host a U.S. naturalization ceremony on the Fourth of July. The Chicago History Museum has produced a virtual exhibit about women’s activism and democracy. A group of history, humanities, and civic organizations in Utah will host a whole series of events exploring major moments in the state’s history through film screenings, community events, and other activities; Utah Governor Spencer Cox even produced a great PSA about history’s civic utility to support it.
What I find most impressive about Civic Season, along with the broader efforts of Made By Us, is that is offers such a fantastic example of meeting people where they are. It’s one thing to shout “the youths should care more about history!” into the abyss; it’s quite another to work directly with young people, genuinely considering how they think about the country’s past and their role in the country’s future. By speaking with and really listening to young people in the development of Civic Season activities, Made By Us and the history community have been able to gain a clearer sense of how young people understand the challenges facing the nation, how they conceive of history’s place in their lives, and then develop programming tailored for that audience.
It has been incredibly exciting to see Civic Season come into its own this year; it really seems poised to claim a place as a new national tradition in the years to come. It’s very cool to consider the possibilities of a three-week holiday each summer that focuses on thinking deeply about history and taking part in meaningful civic activities. I hope this ongoing investment history and civics for young adults will really pay off in a meaningful way as we approach the nation’s 250th anniversary over the next four years—and long after.
To get a better sense of what this new annual tradition is trying to achieve and how they’re doing it, I spoke with Made By Us managing director Caroline Klibanoff.
John Marks: Made By Us is built on a coalition of history museums and related organizations all across the country. How would you describe what you all are trying to achieve with the Civic Season?
Caroline Klibanoff: Civic Season is a time to explore what you stand for. It is held between two momentous dates in U.S. history [Juneteenth and Fourth of July] as a time for reflection on yourself, your values, and your role in your community and country. To support that reflection, learning, and action, organizations provide credible resources and activities across the broad American experience. We hope that everyone who participates in Civic Season begins to see themselves as part of the story, that their actions add up to shaping the country’s future. And we hope that historic sites, museums and cultural institutions can step into that role as civic hubs for the next generation who is looking for those resources.
Especially right now, after devastating recent events have left many people fatigued and disheartened, it’s more important than ever to understand that the future is up to us. No one else is coming. That’s not a threat – it’s an opportunity. To have a functioning democracy requires that we believe in the big vision the United States articulated in its founding documents, that we work hard to bring that vision to life, and that we continually raise the bar on our ideals—working towards that “more perfect union.”
Therefore we all have a role to play. But instead of haranguing tired, worried people to do more, fight more, step up, speak up, contribute, et cetera, Civic Season is about recognizing and celebrating the many ways in which people are working to close the gap between our nation’s promises and practices. It’s about discovering new avenues to shape the future, informed by the past. And it’s about connecting with others through an annual tradition, a ritual that informs, inspires and connects us to the big picture.
JM: A big part of Civic Season, at least to me as an outside observer, is helping people make the connection between learning about the past and civic engagement in the present. What’s the quickest way you’ve developed to describe to people the relationship between civics and history?
CK: Understanding the past is critical to shaping the future. When you see how others have made change or wrestled with the tough chapters of history, you approach our present moment with critical context that can help you navigate.
JM: It seems like Civic Season is really coming into its own in its second year. From the outside, it feels like there’s a lot more energy around it. How is this year different than the first year? How much of the buzz is natural second year growth, and how much is the return of in-person programming?
Last year, when we started the Civic Season, the world was still operating primarily virtually. Most of the offerings were virtual and we did not have an opening or closing event. We just wanted to test out the concept, in an audience-first way. That looked like assessing the needs of our young-adult audience and designing a program to match. This year we had all of that learning to go off of, and we did a significant amount of data collection and analysis following the 2021 Civic Season. This generated a set of recommendations that we used to design the program this year.
One of the primary recommendations, driven by the needs of our audience, was to lean into local celebrations, in-person opportunities to volunteer and participate, and social experiences. So it made sense to hold an in person kick off party that would achieve all of these goals. This tracks with a larger vision we have discussed with our youth advisors, of the Civic Season becoming a kind of festival or sustained entertainment experience that meets some of the social and personal needs of this audience while fulfilling their interest in civic engagement and history. While we don’t know the exact shape or format of the program in the future, we do know Civic Season will evolve over the next several years in alignment with the needs of people who are ages 18-30, designed by and for them.
One of the aspects that should not be diminished is the importance of funding for this effort. Part of the reason the Civic Season is able to reach more communities this year is because we had support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Coca-Cola, and American Heritage Chocolate. Without significant financial support, it is very difficult to scale up any initiative, no matter how compelling or urgently needed. Civic Season is as grassroots as it gets, with 300+ communities participating from coast to coast and beyond, and even then, to coordinate and materialize this effort requires staffing and operations.
That being said, it takes time to grow in recognition and awareness. I believe we are on a similar trajectory to Giving Tuesday, which grew over 10 years, and that Civic Season will be a household-name celebration by 2026, the nation’s 250th anniversary.
JM: That’s really exciting, Caroline. Putting it in the context of Giving Tuesday like that really helps see where this might be going in the next few years. In your work so far, what has organizing Civic Season taught you about how you people connect with history? How does it differ from older audiences?
CK: Young adults today are a distinct demographic with distinct needs. As they come of age to work, vote, lead, serve, pay taxes, run for office, et cetera, it’s critical that credible institutions are there to provide context, support and programming. And yet, many history organizations lead with their own expertise when they design programs and content for the public. On the surface, this seems acceptable—expertise matters, doesn’t it? But designing this way creates barriers to understanding for the public. You can build it, but they won’t come. It misses the mark, because it doesn’t fully consider the knowledge, circumstance and mental models that this audience is bringing into the experience.
We design around young people’s needs and interests, taking into consideration not only their “starting point” for new information, but also what else is on their minds—economic concerns, family, careers, the news—and what else is available to them in the landscape that might meet that need. For example, understanding the terrain of Instagram history accounts, Netflix documentaries, or podcasts is helpful to assess the ways a history institution might be filling or not filling a gap. Even for an event like the Civic Season, which kicked off last Sunday with fun events across the country, it’s important to understand the many other ways that people might choose to spend their time. And if we want people to truly participate, actively, in learning history, it’s not enough to have a one-way producer-consumer relationship. It needs to be a conversation, and for that, institutions need to play the role of host – gracious, inviting, and cognizant of the many other ways people can get information or spend time (or money).