Museum 2.0

MAY 21, 2014

Seeing so many cheerful one-liners in my inbox made me think about how different my work situation is today than the last time I reflected on it in public in 2012, at my one-year anniversary. I''ve now been the executive director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History for three years. They are still problems.

Museum 49

Museum Director History Teen 49

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 15, 2014

When basketball players are offering more cogent commentary on racial issues than cultural institutions, you know we have a cultural relevance problem. Museums are a part of this educational and cultural network. Where do museums fit in? We believe that strong connections should exist between museums and their communities.

Museum 52

Museum Blogger Cleveland Missouri 52

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

I feel strongly that there are huge issues with racial and ethnic diversity in museums and arts organizations that deserve a million more posts. One was a conference on pushing our practice in art museums. In library- and museum-land, the participants were 80-90% women. This is a problem. That's why I wrote this.

Arts 54

Arts Problem Open Museum 54

Twenty Hats

MAY 3, 2021

At the same time, nurture your volunteers with a figurative “hug”: be supportive, kind, and provide an inclusive environment: H onor, thank, and recognize volunteers on a daily basis. We have a long-time volunteer that staff avoided because she disregarded policies and procedures. It requires some trial and error.

Relationship 73

Relationship Leadership Museum Policy 73

Amy Sample Ward

JUNE 21, 2011

Ruth Cohen – American Museum of natural History. Jason Eppink – Museum of the Moving Image. Ruth Cohen – American Museum of natural History. For years we have been producing digital media to fulfill our mission of educating the public about science and history.

Game 140

Game Culture Museum Change 140

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

This morning, I checked in on the Pocket Museums on our museum's ground floor. After I took down all the "kick me" and "kick it" post-its covering the Pocket Museum title label in the men's room, I realized that this is the perfect example of an A-to-B test for gendered response to a participatory museum experience.

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Museum Difference Examples Participatory 47

Museum 2.0

JUNE 12, 2013

TCG is the industry association for non-profit theaters, the way AAM is for museums. Given TCG''s multi-year Audience (R)evolution initiative, I took the opportunity to write a new talk about what revolution has looked like at our small museum in Santa Cruz. At the same time, our community relevance was limited.

Museum 55

Museum Learning History Arts 55

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 15, 2014

This week, my colleague Emily Hope Dobkin has a beautiful guest post on the Incluseum blog about the Subjects to Change teen program that Emily runs at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. Subjects to Change is an unusual museum program in that it explicitly focuses on empowering teens as community leaders.

Teen 45

Teen Change Museum History 45

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

This August/September, I am "rerunning" popular Museum 2.0 Originally posted in April of 2011, just before I hung up my consulting hat for my current job at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. I''ve spent much of the past three years on the road giving workshops and talks about audience participation in museums.

Museum 45

Museum Question Participatory Evaluation 45

Museum 2.0

APRIL 18, 2017

This is the seventh in a series of posts on the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History ( MAH )'s development of Abbott Square , a new creative community plaza in downtown Santa Cruz. My museum was being sued over the Abbott Square project. I didn’t take the time to learn how to retrain my energy for the long haul.

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Museum History Instruction Instructional 37

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 23, 2013

In the course of the conversation, Devon Smith, a social media consultant from Threespot, started talking the problem of arts organizations that are no longer relevant or useful to their communities. For a long time, I agreed with this argument. I am part of the problem. Consider the museum I run. Hence, death panels.

Organization 55

Organization Museum Arts Nonprofit 55

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 9, 2011

Two weeks ago, we inaugurated a Creativity Lounge on the third floor of our museum. It's a little living room in a lobby area that invites people to lounge on comfortable chairs, leaf through magazines and books related to art and Santa Cruz history, and generally hang out. Lisa was thrilled that her work was on display at the museum.

Museum 51

Museum Arts History Columbus 51

Museum 2.0

APRIL 29, 2015

These are the slides and notes for the talk I gave at the American Alliance of Museums conference on Monday, April 27 about the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. When I became the director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History four years ago, I took this work with me.

Build 20

Build Community Museum Artist 20

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 8, 2016

Last week I was honored to be a counselor at Museum Camp , an annual professional development event hosted by the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH). Nina Simon, the executive director of the museum, is an expert in participatory design and fantastic facilitator. Being Intentional About Your To Do List.

Causes 50

Causes Change Museum Social 50

Connection Cafe

DECEMBER 13, 2019

This is the biggest wealth transfer in human history and may be one of the largest moments for philanthropy ever. A bequest is the largest gift many people will give – a one time chance to use their assets for good. The Cleveland Museum created a society with annual events to illustrate the impact of their work.

Data 43

Data Giving New York City Pledge 43

Forum One

MARCH 23, 2021

Business goals : What problem are you trying to solve? Your audience is ultimately the one interacting with the site, and so you want to be certain that you’re solving the right problems. Your site has a flat structure where audiences don’t need to spend a lot of time on lower levels. What gaps need to be addressed?

Audience 46

Audience Design Help Structure 46

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

I''ve been curious about this question for a long time. I''ve mostly seen museums employ one of two methods for formal community advisors: Create special "spots" on the board of trustees for certain kinds of community representatives. But there was a problem: it wasn''t a consistent body.

Community 39

Community Story Museum Map 39

Museum 2.0

APRIL 4, 2012

Museums have been grappling with this question for years ( here's a 2007 roundup of such projects ), most aggressively in zoos and natural history museums where staff hope to inspire conservation and in history/concept museums that focus on civic engagement and activism. No small task for a museum exhibition.

Story 47

Story Participatory Museum History 47

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 31, 2019

Like a film, time slowed. Though when I read Susan’s tweet, I did wonder how many people at 22 can get hired at a museum in anything but a part-time job. Blog research in 2029 museum pros will have solved which work issue? Have you ever tossed a coin? He’d toss it up in the air. Finally, the reveal and the answer.

Museum 22

Museum Poll Attitude Org 22

Museum 2.0

MAY 9, 2012

Last week, I was in Minneapolis for the American Association of Museums annual meeting. Kathleen McLean led a terrific session called "Dangerous Ridiculous" about risk-taking in museums. Interestingly, at my museum, our team is naturally better at ridiculous than we are at dangerous. We dance out our bad times.

Reflection 43

Reflection Columbus Museum Participatory 43

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 25, 2007

We looked at the museum map on the wall. There was a recent post on the ASTC listserv from a museum planning to revamp their wayfinding system. The wayfinding question in museums—or any complex space—is multifaceted. There’s the “I can’t read the map” problem. The “Where was that thing I liked” problem.

Map 21

Map Museum Experiment Aggregator 21

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 10, 2008

In the final installment of Museum 2.0’s s four part series on comfort in museums, we get down to the basics: creature comfort. So for this last piece, we look at going the other way: making museums more physically comfortable. And on the walls, my friend explained, was art from the museum itself. There was funky music.

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Museum Denver Arts Design 30

NTEN

JUNE 21, 2011

The speakers for this panel include: Tracy Fullerton - Electronics Arts Game Innovation Lab Ruth Cohen - American Museum of natural History Elaine Charnov - The NY Public Library Jason Eppink - Museum of the Moving Image Syed Salahuddin - Babycastles Elaine Cohen: The New York Public Library 100 Years of the flagship library in New York.

Game 52

Game Culture Change Museum 52

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 4, 2015

If people on the street are talking about X, the museum should be talking about X too. I used to work at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, CA. Our mandate was to be the museum of Silicon Valley--not of its material history, but its pulse of innovation. The problem was not one of content but one of form.

Content 20

Content San Jose Museum Miami 20

Museum 2.0

APRIL 1, 2009

On Monday, I gave the keynote at the Museums in Conversation conference in Tarrytown, NY. It happened at 7:45 in the morning, and I know that many of you were not there, let alone awake, at that time. What amazing thing is this designer or author or game creator doing that I can take a slice of and stick into my museum?

Museum 20

Museum Conversation Columbus Local 20

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

In the spirit of a popular post written earlier this year , I want to share the behind the scenes on our current almost-museumwide exhibition at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, Santa Cruz Collects. This is the first time we've had an ongoing activity with a lot of materials (Memory Jars). Pocket Museums in bathrooms.

Participatory 44

Participatory Museum History International 44

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

FEBRUARY 8, 2011

It was great to see long-time colleague from NPower Seattle Peg Giffels who I met ten years ago when she first joined the staff. I’ve asked this question before, but this is the first time I had so many stories that it was hard to narrow it down to a few. It was great to see long-time colleague from NPower Seattle Peg [.]

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Knowledge Seattle Social Media Measure 97

Museum 2.0

MAY 27, 2015

I have an unusual education for the director of an art & history museum: a degree in electrical engineering. Engineering taught me to be a tinkerer, a builder, and a problem solver. Start here , and get ready to spend a lot of time with each post. It taught me that you can design a different future.

Course 20

Course Artist Museum Learning 20

Qgiv

APRIL 23, 2021

Guests bid on items, have an exciting time, and go home with a valuable prize. However, silent auctions are likely not the best for time-sensitive campaigns like an emergency fundraising appeal. Now that you have your planning committee, it’s time to figure out where and how exactly your fundraising silent auction will take place.

Fundraising 52

Fundraising Virtual Sponsor Hosting 52

NTEN

JUNE 12, 2012

Here's how it works: take 5 minutes of your time to tell Nancy about your organization's messaging – the who, what, and how; what's working well and what's getting in the way – via this online survey. Submit now!

Texas 54

Texas NTEN Austin Camera 54

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 12, 2017

A cheerful curly-haired deli owner stands in front of 30 of us and shares a quote he loves: "Artists live in the present and write detailed histories of the future." A vision is not a solution to a problem. A vision is a detailed history of the future. This is a detailed history from the future. WHAT IS A VISION?

History 26

History Pennsylvania Michigan Indiana 26

Museum 2.0

JULY 7, 2010

It requires trading a certain history for an uncertain future--a nerve-wracking prospect no matter the situation. Most museums that offer interactive exhibits, media elements, or participatory activities offer them alongside traditional labels and interpretative tools. I employ the parallel strategy all the time in my work.

Audience 40

Audience Museum Oakland Participatory 40

Museum 2.0

APRIL 25, 2011

I've spent much of the past three years on the road giving workshops and talks about audience participation in museums. I like to use half of any allotted time slot to talk and half for Q&A, so we usually have time to get into meaty discussions. The Museum 2.0 The Museum 2.0

Question 49

Question Participatory Museum Evaluation 49

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 18, 2008

Over the life and growth of this blog, one statistic has remained the same: 60% of the visitors to the site at any given time are new to it. Many blogs don't have this problem because they function more like news services--the most recent post is the new news and the archives are history. This has always made me a bit uneasy.

Museum 20

Museum Pbwiki Wikispaces Help 20

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 31, 2009

In 2006, John Falk and Beverly Sheppard, seasoned museum researchers and practitioners, released a co-authored book entitled Thriving in the Knowledge Age: New Business Models for Museums and Other Cultural Institutions. This is a pretty powerful and provocative book—you talk about rethinking the whole business of museums.

Knowledge 26

Knowledge Interview Museum Model 26

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Coupons are usually time-limited, and that's part of the appeal--to find the thing available THIS WEEK ONLY in time to use it. A coupon goes up for half-price museum admission or spa treatments, and users have one day to buy. The Cleveland Museum of Natural History sold 1,318 half-price memberships last week.

Learning 39

Learning Museum San Francisco Cleveland 39

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 25, 2011

As I drop 5 cent tokens into my slots of choice, I often wonder: could my museum be on this list? If you want to go to the museum and I want to go to the baseball game, we're each making our own choices with our recreational time and money. Would anyone put their token in our slot?

Arts 54

Arts Museum Roles Public 54