Conclusion: Transitioning from Selective to Non-selective Implementations for NSC

This chapter will conclude the case studies before Chap. 17 presents non-selective curation as a formed method. The development findings from the research into non-selective curation were conducted over seven years, between 2013 and 2020, and suggest that the Us and Them dynamic will continue to be active within museums regardless of language changes or the embedding of meaningful participation. Unless these changes are made at a level that addresses disparities between heteronomous responsibilities and desires to be more autonomous. Non-selective curation, using a balance of radical openness (hooks, b. (1989). Choosing the Margin as a Space of Radical Openness. Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media, 36, 15–23. JSTOR.), languaging (Phipps, A. M., & Gonzalez, M. (2004). Modern Languages: Learning and Teaching in an Intercultural Field. SAGE) and time for confidence building between co-curatorial partners (Lynch, B. (2011). Whose Cake Is It Anyway? Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Retrieved January 18, 2024, from https://www.phf.org.uk/reader/whose-cake-anyway/ ) using theatre methods can do this. It shows that using theatre and community arts methodologies for inclusive decision-making in the context of museum work can be successful. Participants experience feelings of increased agency in decision-making and ownership over the space and place of participation, especially when off-site and performing in a site perceived as non-governmental. Challenges occur when museum professionals undermine these feelings of agency if the participant’s decision-making is in conflict with heteronymous responsibilities to the funders and/or museum brand and their innate dispositional duty of care.