Amy Sample Ward

JUNE 21, 2011

Ruth Cohen – American Museum of natural History. Jason Eppink – Museum of the Moving Image. Research libraries have been facing daunting challenges in the digital world, but not everything is digital in research and the library really wants to connect people with the curators and staff that can help them.

Game 140

Game Culture Museum Change 140

Museum 2.0

JUNE 29, 2009

By a strange and lucky coincidence, I was at the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum (EMPSFM) in Seattle for a two-day workshop. EMPSFM is one of a handful of museums worldwide for which the death of the King of Pop is a very big deal. Are museums only relevant when they can serve our most pressing needs?

Museum 34

Museum Teen Learning Music 34

Museum 2.0

MARCH 4, 2015

This week marks five years since the book The Participatory Museum was first released. Over 150,000 people have accessed the free online version. Across the museum field, the questions about visitor participation have gone from "what?" A black box with people crowded around, talking and sharing and making and doing.

Participatory 20

Participatory Museum Empowerment Facilitation 20

Museum 2.0

JUNE 15, 2016

Here's one of my favorite stories about the London Science Museum and their work to make their science shows relevant to families with deaf or hearing-impaired family members. There are doors through which people enter your room. Think of the Subjects to Change teen program, or the free lunches at the Cleveland Public Library.

Museum 20

Museum Arts Language Chapter 20

Museum 2.0

JULY 20, 2010

Last week, I gave a talk about participatory museum practice for a group of university students at UCSC. During the ensuing discussion, one woman asked, "Which audiences are least interested in social participation in museums?" Many teens love to perform for each other. First, teens often have incredibly tight social spheres.

Teen 49

Teen Social Museum Participatory 49

Connection Cafe

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

You gravitated toward the museum, zoo, gallery, symphony, cultural management organization because of your roots. So, how can we use family or experiences to get people to donate? Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh created a Summer Adventure program. As kids become teens, encourage them to volunteer with your organization.

Arts 31

Arts Generation Culture Giving 31

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 9, 2010

Recently, I was giving a presentation about participatory techniques at an art museum, when a staff member raised her hand and asked, "Did you have to look really hard to find examples from art museums? Aren't art museums less open to participation than other kinds of museums?" I was surprised by her question.

Museum 29

Museum Difference Participatory History 29

Get Fully Funded

AUGUST 24, 2021

Email is a powerful marketing tool, but to get results you need to learn how to write fundraising emails that connect emotionally and inspire people to give. Not the content (which most people skim in about 13 seconds or less). Start by being very clear what you want people to do after they read your email.

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Results email Fundraising Story 122

Museum 2.0

MARCH 22, 2010

These are some thoughts on a very small museum called the Brazos Valley African American Museum. I was fortunate enough to visit it during the Texas Association of Museums conference, and it brought up some reactions and emotions that I wanted to share with you. I eagerly read hundreds of words and then moved onto the next one.

Museum 23

Museum Experiment Community Texas 23

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JULY 1, 2009

Submitted by Nina Simon, publisher of Museum 2.0. I’ve had it with museums’ obsession with open-ended self-expression. The point, in the context of this conversation, is that a minority of social media users are creators—people who write blog posts, upload photos onto Flickr, or share homemade videos on YouTube.

Participatory 50

Participatory Experiment Museum Teen 50

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 19, 2015

One of my favorite comments on the first post in this series came from Lyndall Linaker, an Australian museum worker, who asked: " Who decides what is relevant? When you say you want to be relevant, that usually means "we want to matter to more people." Or different people. My answer: neither. The market decides what's relevant.

Teen 20

Teen Museum Voice Collaboration 20

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 16, 2013

It's not every day that a visitor buys pizza for everyone in the museum. Then again, Saturday was hardly normal at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. It was an opportunity for people who participate with Ze Frank's projects online to come together in real space and connect with him and with each other.

Reflection 43

Reflection Community Museum Participatory 43

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 3, 2008

I’ve received a few inquiries over the last year about museums and geocaching. to ask him all the dumb questions about geocaching and museums you can imagine… and a few more. to ask him all the dumb questions about geocaching and museums you can imagine… and a few more. Leary , is something of an expert. I sat down with Seth!

Museum 20

Museum Teen Arts Project 20

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

What's the biggest mistake people make when involving non-professionals in exhibition design? This summer, I worked with the Chabot Space & Science Center on a design institute in which eleven teens from their Galaxy Explorers program designed media pieces for an upcoming Smithsonian exhibition on black holes.

Teen 20

Teen Volunteer Create Design 20

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JULY 11, 2016

Museums , gardens, and parks have jumped on it. As a parent of two teens, I was curious if there were any potential safety issues to discuss with them or if they had downloaded or wanted to play. Others are using it to lure visitors to their location.

Ohio 50

Ohio Hype Nonprofit Game 50

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

Last Friday night, my museum hosted a fabulous (in my biased opinion) event called Race Through Time. It was a local history urban scavenger hunt that sent teams of 2-5 people out into the city to track down as many historic checkpoints as they could over the course of an evening. Performances just for teens.

Audience 52

Audience Develop Museum History 52

Museum 2.0

APRIL 18, 2008

Thanks to Bryan Kennedy from the Science Museum of Minnesota for providing this overview/reflection on the Museums and the Web conference that recently concluded in Montreal. Museums and the Web 2008 guest blogger Bryan Kennedy here. The Walker Art Center is turning its teen website over to the teens.

Museum 20

Museum Web Teen Flickr 20

Museum 2.0

MARCH 21, 2017

This is the second installation 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. MAH staff and trustees see downtown as a vibrant retail, dining, and entertainment district, packed with diverse people.

Community 34

Community Build Arts History 34

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

One of the best personal brands that I’ve seen on Instagram from a nonprofit leader is Thomas P Campbell the CEO of the Metropolitan Museum. This shot is a painting at a museum visited during a professional conference for museums. This shot is from a program for teens that the met sponsors, #metteens.

Personal 50

Personal Create Photography Museum 50

Museum 2.0

MARCH 16, 2009

I’ve had it with museums’ obsession with open-ended self-expression. The point, in the context of this conversation, is that a minority of social media users are creators—people who write blog posts, upload photos onto Flickr, or share homemade videos on YouTube. And yet many museums are fixated on creators. Consider a mural.

Participatory 44

Participatory Experiment Museum Teen 44

Museum 2.0

MARCH 27, 2009

This week, the Denver Art Museum (DAM) opened a new temporary exhibition called The Psychedelic Experience , featuring rock posters from San Francisco in the heyday of Bill Graham and electric kool-aid. It is an incredible museum experience. The visitor is given a copy of her poster and the museum keeps a copy as well.

Denver 21

Denver Museum Arts Remix 21

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 18, 2008

I've long believed that museums have a special opportunity to support the community spirit of Web 2.0 People who engage deeply in any online community, whether a bulletin board or social networking site, want to meet in person. The event brought hundreds of hip, young professionals to the museum for lots of booze and partying.

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Museum Hosting Model Community 22

Museum 2.0

JULY 26, 2010

I've been spending time recently interviewing people who run unusual cultural and learning venues. From a museum perspective, I think there's a lot to learn from these venues' business models, approach to collecting and exhibiting work, and connection with their audiences. Skill-sharing free schools. Community science workshops.

Culture 49

Culture Alternative St. Louis Los Angeles 49

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 12, 2011

We may say that we want to support programming and cultural opportunities for low-income and non-white people, but that's not where the money is going. There's the barrier of the concern that this work is "social work" and not art--and therefore doesn't belong in a museum or a theater. He got to see the museum process from the inside.

Arts 52

Arts Fund Artist Houston 52

Museum 2.0

APRIL 8, 2015

I''m getting ready for the American Alliance of Museums conference later this month. In addition to reconnecting with old friends and mentors, I want to meet people who aren''t on my radar who will help me learn and grow. Contact people who share your interests and set up meetings with them. Follow people, not topics.

Museum 20

Museum Mentoring Linkedin Hints 20

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 24, 2011

This post features an interview with Sarah Schultz, a museum staffer at one of the institutions Light profiled in the book (the Walker Art Center). It's easier to secure grants for community-based programming or exhibitions, but it's not easy to get funding for some of the core work that museums do.

Arts 46

Arts Interview Teen Artist 46

Museum 2.0

JULY 31, 2013

I spent the weekend queuing up posts for my forthcoming blog-cation--nine weeks of guest posts and reruns from the Museum 2.0 You''re in for a treat, with upcoming posts on creativity, collections management, elitism, science play, permanent participatory galleries, partnering with underserved teens, magic vests, and more.

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Museum Participatory Reflection Conference 35

Tech Soup

JUNE 21, 2012

Here in TechSoup’s San Francisco office, we use audio and video conferencing every day to talk with people working remotely in the Bay Area, New York, or Seattle, as well as with our partner nonprofits around the world. Teen Outreach Pregnancy Services. " —Laura Pedersen. Executive Director.

Foundation 63

Foundation San Francisco Donation Los Angeles 63

Museum 2.0

MARCH 3, 2007

But I’d been scribbling notes for an art museum label post for awhile, and then yesterday, the NY Times had a review of a new show at MOMA, Comic Abstraction. MOMA has standard art museum labels. When I asked an art museum educator about this (“How should I look at art?”) Most people aren’t educated in how to look at art.

Arts 30

Arts Museum Artist Audio 30

Museum 2.0

JULY 6, 2016

FoodWhat's staff and teens have taught me a lot about what it really means to be relevant to people who are often overlooked or ignored. I firmly believe that all people have something meaningful to contribute to our communities, cultural work, and society at large--including youth. Kids with no food in the fridge.

Teen 25

Teen Arts Classroom Student 25

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

JULY 24, 2007

This week, thoughts on Chapter 12 of Elaine Gurian’s book Civilizing the Museum , "Threshold Fear: Architecture program planning." In this essay, Elaine discusses the various barriers to entry for non-traditional visitors to museums, that is, the threshold fear that keeps such potential visitors from walking in our doors.

People 20

People Museum San Jose Chapter 20

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 7, 2010

Last week marked four years for the Museum 2.0 People--especially young folks looking to break into the museum business--often ask me how I got here. Ed Rodley recently wrote a blog post about museum jobs entitled "Getting Hired: It's Who You Know and Who Knows You." This seems like an appropriate time to share the story.

Museum 52

Museum Boston Participatory Job 52

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. Santa Cruz Collects is based on collections and stories from people throughout our county.

Participatory 44

Participatory Museum History International 44

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 14, 2009

Unsurprisingly, some of my favorite museums are small, funky places run by iconoclasts—but that’s not useful to most professionals who work for organizations in which they have little control over size or leadership matters. I worked on one project in which the client institution thought they wanted unfettered teen expression.

Project 22

Project Museum Teen North Carolina 22

Connection Cafe

OCTOBER 19, 2015

After jumping in, you swam across the short length of the hole (about 10 yards), and emerge, wet and freezing, only to get to race through temps in the teens to try to warm up in a lukewarm hot tub. Museums, zoos, and aquariums are finding that crowdfundraising can be a strategic tool to add to their fundraising playbook. Denver Zoo.

Arts 20

Arts Wisconsin Los Angeles Denver 20

Museum 2.0

JUNE 15, 2010

You can join the conversation in the blog comments, or on the Museum 2.0 Conversation flowed, laughter floated up to my window, people strolled and ate or drank (or both), and when I went down to the square myself people included me in all of this without hesitation. Facebook discussion board here.

Place 23

Place Discussion Columbus Italy 23