Museum of Us CEO Micah Parzen reflects on 16 years

S1: Welcome in San Diego. I'm Andrew Bracken in for Jade Hindman today. After over a decade and a half , the leader of Balboa Park's The Museum of Us is saying goodbye. He reflects on how museums have changed and what work still lies ahead. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. After 16 years , Micah Parsons is moving on from his role as CEO at Balboa Park's Museum of Us. During his time there , he led the museum's decolonization efforts , taking the institution from being the Museum of Man to become the Museum of Us. Micah Parsons joins me now to reflect on his time in the role and what's ahead. Micah , welcome to Midday Edition.

S2: Thanks so much , Andrew. Really happy to be here. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. Glad to have you. So for someone who may not know , how would you describe the Museum of Us?

S2: Yeah , the Museum of Us is really a anthropology museum that has become focused on relational repair with indigenous communities. Our institution and so many others like ours , did a lot of harm to indigenous communities by taking their belongings , by taking their ancestors and representing them in ways that didn't feel good to them. So our work over the last many years has really been about , um , starting to build trust anew with those folks , to build relationship anew and to really begin to repair the harm that we've done and be in deep partnership with them as we go forward.

S1: And I want to talk more about that effort. But first , you started in your role as CEO back in 2010. Um , I think , you know , the most obvious change over the time in your tenure has been the name of the museum went from being Museum of Man to the Museum of Us. Why was that an important view? Why was that an important change for you?

S2: Yeah , the museum had evolved and changed so much over the years , and our values had changed and sort of our focus , instead of wanting to reproduce the kind of harm that we had done to indigenous communities and other communities of color , we wanted to go down a different path. And so as we changed , our name had stayed the same and was a very old school sort of anthropological , scholarly San Diego Museum of Man. And eventually we realized that , you know , it was time to go down a different path. And so the new name , ultimately , Andrew , it was part descriptive of the journey that we had been on in this anti-racist and decolonial space. But I think even more importantly , it was part descriptive , part aspirational , really asking that question of what does it really mean to be a museum that is truly for all of us instead of the usual suspects? And so that has been ever since the name change , really. The driving question of the of the museum. How are we more inclusive? How do we tell more multifaceted stories? How do we sort of share the diversity of the human experience from a very lived , human centered perspective.

S1: And totally obviously , the the inclusiveness kind of rings through there. But you mentioned the museum being old school , having this long tradition , you know. How was that new name received back in 2020?

S2: Yeah , as you can imagine , there was a wide variety of reactions. There was a lot of love and support. Folks really came out in droves saying , oh my goodness , thank you so much. We didn't know a museum could change its name and stand for these values. And of course , there were also haters. You know , there were folks who were unhappy , who really missed the nostalgic kind of old school approach that the museum had taken. And we found ourselves on August 2nd , 2020 , the day we named the , renamed the museum and rebranded it soon on Fox News and Tucker Carlson.

S1: Getting a lot of attention.

S2: It got huge press. We were lambasted , as you can imagine , for woke cancellation , culture run amok and political correctness at its worst. But in many ways it was the best thing that sort of happened to us. It allowed us to be really crystal clear about who we were as an organization and what we stood for , and to move forward with everybody rowing in the same direction. Not so much from a political perspective , but really from a human perspective and from a value based perspective.

S1: You mentioned , you know , kind of the haters , some of that reaction , I didn't even realize , you know , the national reaction to it. You know , looking back now , some six years later , um , you know , is everyone kind of on board? Like , how do you look at the change now and how the community feels about it?

S2: Yeah , I think the community , it just depends on who you are. I will say with 100% confidence , though , that our organization in and of itself is fully aligned along those lines , whether it's our team , our board , our community partners , our donors , we are all sort of rowing in the same direction. And , you know , one of the most beautiful things about. My tenure , I think , has been that when that happens , there's just this sort of power of an organization and magical things start to happen. So I think that's what I'm most proud of , really. As I reflect back on the last 16 years.

S1: You mentioned this decolonization effort , and part of that has meant working with indigenous communities to return cultural artifacts. What progress has the museum made there?

S2: Yeah , we've made extraordinary progress. I mean , and this takes a very long time. There's a long arc , right? You can't harm somebody for decades or even a century more , and then come to them and say , we're different now. Let's be best friends. Just doesn't work that way. You have to show up. You have to say what you mean. You have to do that repeatedly , and eventually you start to rebuild trust. And once that trust is rebuilt , those relationships can be formed and you can really begin to talk about with honesty and openness. What does a real partnership look like , where the power dynamic is and skewed toward the museum as it had been historically? Um , once that happened , and that took years , and it can always be very fragile at the same time. Sometimes it's one steps forward and two steps back. But , um , as we move forward , we've been able to return many , many belongings , many ancestors to indigenous communities. Um , we've really become seen in many instances as an ally instead of an adversary. And that's been extraordinarily rewarding and really helped us shift kind of the reason for being of the museum.

S1: I imagine , you know , you've seen a lot of exhibits come through the doors over , over your decade and a half there. I don't know , but when you think about some of those standout exhibits , what comes to mind? What'll stay with you after you leave? Yeah.

S2: Yeah. So many. I'll share one. Early on in my tenure , we brought an exhibit called Ramp It Up Skateboard Culture in Native America , and it was from the Smithsonian , a wonderful exhibit of fairly flat lots of skateboards , lots of videos , as you can imagine. And we thought , how do we next level this from a public engagement perspective? And we decided to build a functioning half pipe in the museum where the public could free skate on Fridays. And we had professionals come and do demonstrations. And it was such a pivotal moment for us , Andrew , because not only did it engage the public in a new way , but I think even more so , it helped our staff really reimagine what's possible at a museum like ours. And , you know , the first response was , you can't possibly do that. And I said , well , why not? And he said , well , we just can't do it. And I said , well , let's see if we can find the path. And and we did. So it was really a watershed moment for us. I'd say another , more recent example would be just back in November of last year. In 2025 , we opened , um , race power resistance and change. And that is a really powerful exhibit about race as a cultural construct , about how indigenous and other communities of color have resisted racial oppression , particularly regionally in this area. And then pathways to positive change and seeing the community come together , particularly communities of color and indigenous communities , to really feel that their lived experiences , well represented in that exhibit , has been just extraordinarily rewarding.

S1: So obviously , you know , the US were celebrating America two 52.5 centuries since signing of the Declaration of Independence. I'm just wondering , how do you see the role of museums in telling the real story of American history?

S2: Yeah , I think , um , you know , it has to be a comprehensive story. Um , it can't just be the wonderful things about who we are as Americans. And of course , there are many. But it also has to be the challenges we've had , the mistakes we've made , the problems we've encountered along the way , um , things that we regret If we don't tell that full story and we don't give equal and even more playing time , I think , to folks whose lived experience has often been overlooked or swept under the rug or misrepresented. We're only telling a portion of that story and the way we grow as a community , as a region , as a country , is to , you know , really tell that full story so that we don't make the same mistakes we've made in the past.

S1: You know , earlier you painted this picture of a skate park building , you know , into into the museum. And it really got me thinking of , you know , what I think of what you know , what we think of when we think of museums and how much that's changed over the , over the decades , certainly in my lifetime. You know , talk to me about what makes museums important today.

S2: Yeah , I think museums have to redefine themselves for the future. You know , we have a new generation of young people who need to feel engaged , who need to feel that museums are telling their stories , who are engaging in the difficult and sometimes controversial issues that they really care about. Museums are one of the few places left that really still maintain that public trust , and I think it's critically important that instead of , um , putting that public trust on a foundation of smoke and mirrors , that we do so by being trusted to tell the full story and to bring in the lived experience of others who typically don't get their stories heard.

S1: We have about 30s left , but I'm just wondering if you have any final thoughts. You know , as you're preparing to leave San Diego , what will you take away from your time here?

S2: Yeah , I have to say , I feel so sort of happy. Sad. You know , I'm grieving , leaving a place that I poured every morsel of my being into for over 16 , almost 16 years and also excited about the future. I think San Diego is just an extraordinary community filled with extraordinary people. And I'll miss my staff and my board and all of our community partners most.

S1: I've been speaking with Micah Parsons. He's a long time CEO of the Museum of Us in Balboa Park , and soon to be executive director at UC Berkeley's Hearst Museum of Anthropology. Micah , thank you so much , and congratulations on your new role.

S2: Thanks so much , Andrew.

S3: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.