This research project seeks to understand how the Departments of Education and Public Programs in three art museums across Spain and the U.S are changing to promote equitable dialogue, collaboration, and programming that is relevant to citizen and community organizations. The aims of this project are to identify the differences and commonalities of the emerging practices in each cultural institution, to engage in a cross-cultural dialogue about the strategic lines that the museums have developed in both countries, and to disseminate the outcomes of this research to art education and art administration communities globally. There are two main reasons for the development of this research. Firstly, I believe this research is timely for the current museum education field in US and in Spain as in both countries visitor-oriented trends in cultural institutions are gaining presence and relevancy across practitioners and academics. This is of major importance for the field of museum studies and also for art education. There are crucial conversations and debates taking place in US and Spain around issues of civic engagement and equity. These dialogues are mainly being sprouted by civic organizations and grassroots movements that are showing a deep understanding of the transient, multi-cultural, intersectional nature of our society today. I believe citizen movements are reaching a mature state, but is seems to me that some institutions, governmental and otherwise, are not rising to the occasion. In this context, if museums do not pay attention to the current conversations, they risk becoming irrelevant, not mattering to the people, become outdated in their representation of a society that was, but that no longer exists. Relevance is at stake. Secondly, my professional experience working in participatory arts and social practice in a project-based fashion has allowed me to have a vast and varied experience in program design and implementation as well as has taught me that there is just so much that can be achieved through temporary collaborations. For this reason, I am presently interested in the ways that collaborative work amongst cultural intuitions and civic organizations can be founded on non-hierarchical and long-lasting sustainable relationships as we as in the risks this entails. Moreover, I have been attentive to the current adoption of skills native to the fields of participatory arts and social practice by museums as abilities desired and needed in the positions responsible for the development of collaborative practices in the cultural institutions. This project has been guided by the following research questions: • What is, in the eyes of museum professionals, the emerging role of the art museum of the 21st century? • What strategies are three Departments of Education and Public Programs across Spain and the US developing to foster civic engagement? • What determines successful participation in each context and what conflicts have manifested? Moreover, in my data collection I have also paid special attention to the following categories: Strategies, Work Culture, and Nature of Collaborations. In Strategies I look at the methods, programs and strategies developed in order to promote and sustain partnership and collaboration. In Work Culture, I focus on the shifts that, influenced by the development of collaborative practices, are taking place in the mission, internal organization, and job descriptions within Departments of Learning and Public Programs. Lastly, in Nature of Collaborations I pay attention to the ways in which museum staff and community members experience collaboration and what they identify as successes and challenges. As a way to explore and analyze the experiences of professionals and collaborators at each of the three museums, I employed a case study methodology. For collecting data, a residency of three to seven days was accomplished at each of the three participating museums: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (Madrid, Spain), Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (Chicago, U.S), and Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (Santa Cruz, U.S). At each museum, interviews with staff from the Departments of Education and Public Programs were recorded on video or audio. Data were also collected using photography and journal reflections. The result of this project is this website that represents the interviews, excerpts from video and audio interviews, a description of the research project, and conclusions. The reasons for choosing these museums are multiple. Firstly, I believe a portion of US and Spanish art museums are going through a similar moment in their history in which collaborating with civic organizations is opening the path for testing the role of these cultural institutions as social agents as well as for democracy experimentation. Secondly, these museums are very different in size, nature, and location. This diversity has promoted the gathering of a wide representation of museums which I believe has strengthen the final aim of Becoming Civic Museums which is to create international dialogue around the various visitor-oriented strategies that art museums are implementing in US and Spain. Lastly, this selection supports my intention of collecting ideas, experiences and opinions from practitioners and community members in this online platform with the hope it will work as a handbook of practices and also as inspiration for students, academics and practitioners in the field worldwide. Lastly, in my conclusions I determine that each of the participating museums is facing a similar challenge of creating ways to place the experience and participation of diverse audiences, community groups, and activists at the forefront of their agenda. These cultural institutions attempt to accomplish this aim through the creation of stable and equal relationships which collaterally question the structural functioning of the organization, its power as an institution, and its potentials to be a transformative social agent. Ideas such as educating the institution, relationship building, care, and new methods of assessment are common values and concepts that all participating museums are questioning and addressing.