About Me
Introduction
Welcome to my portfolio! I'm Margaret Grace Collier, but you can call me Gracie. I'm passionate about curating and preserving cultural heritage, and caring for places that contribute to a community's culture.
My Mission
As someone whose life was deeply touched and transformed by a visit to a museum that was also an active religious site, my mission as a museum professional is to develop museum exhibits and spaces that allow visitors to engage dynamically with a museum’s collection in a manner that goes beyond intellectual learning.
My Vision
My vision is to develop and maintain spaces that deeply speak to visitors, whether physically, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, or socially. Such settings would engage with as diverse an audience as possible and provide equitable access to the experience.
My Values
Equity
Equality by itself is not enough; I value accounting for imbalances, to identify and overcome barriers to fairness in what is always an ongoing process. In addition, I strongly believe in equity as proportional participation at every level of an institution.
Wisdom
For me, wisdom as a value encapsulates two aspects: the love of learning and discernment. One is open-mindedness, a willingness to continue to learn and grow. But, only through discernment does that love of learning have good, actionable outcomes. Discernment applied to an open mind leads to wisdom, the ability to critically engage with what one has learned and thus putting that knowledge to its best use.
Altruism
Empathy on its own is not enough; museums, as existing in the public’s trust, must continuously act with full remembrance of who they serve. But just keeping the audience in mind is not enough; those thoughts and actions must also come from a place of empathy, where engaging with a community’s needs is a priority.