Moments that matter: Toward a visitor-centered understanding of belonging in museum spaces

Imagine being a visitor or a member of a visiting group walking into the lobby of a museum you’re familiar with: you see a sign proclaiming “you belong here.” How would you get a sense of belonging in that space? What would you see, hear, and feel? Where is belonging located in an experience, in the collection of spaces that make up a museum: exhibits, lobbies, cafes, restrooms, and more? For some time, museums have been focused on creating equitable, accessible, and inclusive spaces for a diversity of people containing a multiplicity of perspectives, identities, and life experiences.
Recently, some museums have nested the concept of belonging in this work, often equating a sense of belonging to feeling comfortable, included, welcomed, and/or represented, in an effort to increase a sense of belonging among audience groups who have not had equitable representation in the museum context. Yet, without a shared and visitor-centered understanding of belonging, how can the field adequately understand what belonging means to visitors and design for belonging in order to make progress on these goals? This article shared findings from a researach study at four sites to define belonging in science and natural history museums from the visitor perspective.