Open at the Robert H. Jackson Center
September 6 - October 18
Exhibition Sites
As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, museums are searching for ways to engage their local communities with connections to the history of our nation. They are seeking ways to tell multivocal stories of our past, to embrace all the people who live in their communities regardless of race, religion, or nation of origin; and how to engage their communities with stories of those excluded from democratic processes, whether historical marginalized, enslaved, incarcerated, or members of Native Nations on unceded lands.
Twelve museums across the New York State will use the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street Exhibition Voices and Votes: Democracy in America as a launching point for “A New Agora for New York” series of humanities programs.
These museums will host the Voices and Votes exhibition for six weeks, install an exhibition from their collections related to project themes, and present three public programs: Community Conversations, Scholar Lectures, and Teacher Workshops.
“A New Agora for New York: Museums as Spaces for Democracy” programs will explore the context and main controversies behind our democratic system including the principles and events that inspired the writers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the struggle for civil rights, voting rights, and equal participation in our democracy; the freedoms and responsibilities of citizens; and the formal and informal processes of our political systems.
Humanities New York will work with MANY and the twelve museums to produce Community Conversation programs that will focus on the relationship between democracy and republican institutions, between the dynamism of the former and the regularity of the latter and will use a critical humanities lens to explore the influence of the past not just on the present, but also on the different futures of the public imagination. HNY staff will work with staff at the selected museums to teach them how to implement their own Community Conversations the day after the Community Conversations public program. Community Conversations programs promote dialogue by bringing people together to join in a facilitated discussion. These discussions will use a short humanities-based text centered on an aspect of American identity.
Museums will collect and share stories from multiple generations about voting, collective action, and civil disobedience, the power of the press, national identity, diversity, citizenship, and civil rights.
New York State Museum Curators and Museum Educators will lead teacher training workshops hosted by the twelve museums that will demonstrate how exhibitions, works of art, archives, and objects of material culture can be used as primary resources in the classroom to enhance student learning.
Project Participants and Host Sites
![PLI_main_contact_us_01_07_2018 Preservation Long Island exterior](https://agoranewyork.org/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/PLI_main_contact_us_01_07_2018-landscape-d7c6391f702f0a6131ed0c1836c66b9f-tu5jb0218z7o.png)
Preservation Long Island
Cold Spring Harbor, NY
March 24 - May 3, 2024
![SACKETTS_HARBOR_BATTLEFIELD Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site exterior](https://agoranewyork.org/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/SACKETTS_HARBOR_BATTLEFIELD-scaled-landscape-4915d48d42ea617fb7c65ac316591124-ryn43g8oksiw.jpeg)
Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site
Sackets Harbor, NY
May 17 - June 28, 2024
![273878970_10158635223427543_5483204592619977508_n National Women's Hall of Fame exterior](https://agoranewyork.org/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/273878970_10158635223427543_5483204592619977508_n-landscape-cf1048316492344daa263ed424ddc17c-qtz1ahfmiv59.jpg)
National Women's Hall of Fame
Seneca Falls, NY
July 12 - August 23, 2024
![RHJC_Center_with_Jackson_statue RHJC Center with Jackson statue](https://agoranewyork.org/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/RHJC_Center_with_Jackson_statue-landscape-576f56697ca15dcb5a57b4641fcfe00b-z6wm5ilep197.jpeg)
Robert H. Jackson Center
Jamestown, NY
September 6 - October 18, 2024
![Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica NY Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica NY](https://agoranewyork.org/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Munson-Williams-Proctor_Arts_Institute_Utica_NY-scaled-landscape-723c845c69ff4a86f3ab42bff3bd3afa-vu9yrti27wjm.jpeg)
Munson
Utica, NY
November 11 - December 13, 2024
![aliceaustenhouse Alice Austen House Museum exterior](https://agoranewyork.org/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/aliceaustenhouse-landscape-a0ef6bf2c34fc1f32f89f251b7967e3a-t7dl5qbyefr1.jpg)
Alice Austen House Museum
Staten Island, NY
December 27, 2024 - February 7, 2025
![Carriage_fountain_LIM Long Island Museum of American Art, History, and Carriages exterior](https://agoranewyork.org/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Carriage_fountain_LIM-landscape-78dcaa7b61ca1a2a66bd0faf3573de79-gd2c3to69e8j.jpeg)
The Long Island Museum
Stony Brook, NY
February 20 - April 6, 2025
![Onondaga Historical Association : Skä-ñonh Great Law of Peace Center Onondaga Historical Association / Skä-ñonh Great Law of Peace Center exterior](https://agoranewyork.org/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Onondaga-Historical-Association-Ska-nonh-Great-Law-of-Peace-Center-landscape-639ec5f9f998c9dab278b9693e534a20-m2n7b3yscxiu.webp)
Onondaga Historical Association / Skä•noñh Great Law of Peace Center
Liverpool, NY
April 18 - May 30, 2025
![Genesee Country Village Museum Genesee Country Village Museum building exterior](https://agoranewyork.org/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Genesee-Country-Village-Museum-landscape-f9fa80fad6235c61846b7673e534d717-eyubs5xaj9o8.jpg)
Genesee Country Village & Museum
Mumford, NY
June 3 - July 25, 2025
![Michigan_Avenue_African_American_Heritage_Corridor_Memorial_Arch,_Buffalo,_New_York_-_20191001_-_01 Michigan Avenue African American Heritage Corridor Memorial Arch, Buffalo, New York](https://agoranewyork.org/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Michigan_Avenue_African_American_Heritage_Corridor_Memorial_Arch_Buffalo_New_York_-_20191001_-_01-landscape-11518d322f73070d866c899577b08a08-8y1jtlwve3an.jpeg)
Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor
Buffalo, NY
August 8 - September 19, 2025
![Exterior_of_the_Chemung_County_Historical_Society_-_2014 Exterior of the Chemung County Historical Society](https://agoranewyork.org/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Exterior_of_the_Chemung_County_Historical_Society_-_2014-landscape-e1aced415439f5284ff0db5e63da4393-g63alkrpy2f0.jpg)
Chemung County Historical Society
Elmira, NY
October 3 - November 14, 2025
![Underground Railroad Education Center Underground Railroad Education Center exterior](https://agoranewyork.org/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Underground-Railroad-Education-Center-landscape-0df6060884879e32ad0aa1668c6c82ff-yo8v2jzurxst.jpg)
Underground Railroad Education Center
Albany, NY
November 28, 2025 - January 9, 2026