Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 17, 2012

When I started this blog in 2006, I made a multi-media introduction to the concept of "museum 2.0" Venue as content platform instead of content provider: the museum becomes a stage on which professionals and amateurs can curate, interpret, and remix artifacts and information. The museum gets better the more people use it.

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Museum Artist Remix Professional 47

Museum 2.0

MAY 6, 2016

Five years ago, I left the consulting world to take the helm at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH) at a time of crisis and change. We have spent the past three years planning and raising money for a project to build a creative town square for our city on the front porch of the museum. I like change.

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Museum Director Arts History 20

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 4, 2010

It's rare that a participatory museum project is more than a one-shot affair. But next month, Britain Loves Wikipedia will commence--the third instance of a strange and fascinating collaborative project between museums and the Wikipedia community (Wikimedians). Some of these challenges were about mission fit.

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Wikipedia Arts Museum Images 40

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 1, 2018

I was at an informal talk by a visitor research professional from a large American art museum. Our real challenge," she said, "was how to attract new audiences while protecting loyal patrons." When the MAH was changing aggressively, we embraced Elaine Heumann Gurian's idea of "the museum of and." We bring them together.

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Museum Audience Slides Press 40

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 2, 2013

George Scheer is the director and co-founder of Elsewhere Collective, a fascinating "living museum" in a former thrift store in Greensboro, NC. In this post, George grapples with the challenges of balancing the care for a museum collection with that of contemporary artists-in-residence who are constantly reinterpreting it.

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Artist Museum Proposal Participatory 49

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.

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Museum Question Participatory Evaluation 45

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 24, 2012

I like to ask myself this question periodically, challenging myself to find substantive ways for visitors to contribute to our museum. We actively seek participation and develop structured opportunities for visitors to collaborate with us. We don't have to convince them that it's their museum. Happening Couch.

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Platform Open Museum Participatory 41

Museum 2.0

MAY 3, 2010

Last week, I attended Structure Lab , a half-day workshop on legal and financial structures for ventures for social good. Like many people in the arts, I'm interested in new models that help people combine mission-driven work with an entrepreneurial spirit.

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Structure Model Social Profit 31

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

OdysseyWorks is a collective that makes immersive art experiences for one person at a time. And then, based on their research, they remake the world for a weekend, twisting the person's environment with sensory experiences that explore and challenge their deepest inclinations. You have to generalize. They spend time with them.

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Arts Artist Audience Project 20

Museum 2.0

MARCH 28, 2012

At the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH), we've started experimenting with a "community first" approach to program development. There are many amazing community representatives from business, arts, education, and social services who connect us to powerful ideas and partners. Six goals for MAH community programs.

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Program Community Design Museum 49

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 always seemed challenging here to find funds for interpretative materials. We created a teen arts council, invested in staff, and invested in programming.

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Arts Interview Teen Artist 46

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 22, 2012

At the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, we take our interns seriously, give them real responsibility, creative challenges, and meaningful work opportunities. Second, and highly experimental, is the Museum Camp Internship. And of course, much more to come about Museum Camp in the months to come.)

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Participatory Museum Photography Unconference 37

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

Audience segmentation and research has become a hot topic in museums, especially when it comes to crafting appealing offerings that are customized to different kinds of visitors. I sat down with Kristen Denner, Director of Membership and Annual Fund, to learn more about the program's development and the museum's goals for its future.

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Interview Director Museum Arts 46

Museum 2.0

MAY 31, 2011

Last week, at the annual meeting of the American Association of Museums in Houston, I was honored to chair a fabulous panel on empowering museum staff to take creative risks ( slides here ). Beck beautifully described her entry into museum work. What kind of support do you need to be confident about taking a risk in your work?

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Denver Museum Oakland PowerPoint 55

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.

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Build Community Museum Artist 20

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

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. CON: can feel disconnected from the primary governance of the museum or can feel like a second-class board overall. I struggle with both these options.

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Community Story Museum Map 39

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 24, 2017

In the first rectangle, I sketched out one version of how our organization could be structured. After an hour, I had 12 different versions of our staff structure, each in its own little box. But among them lay the seeds of our museum’s future. But among them lay the seeds of our museum’s future. But I resisted structure.

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Org Learning Structure Museum 20

Forum One

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

This Black History Month, we reflect on the strategy work that our team does through our partnership with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture —much of which centers around expanding access. And for those who have, they quickly understand that the Museum has much more to offer than can be absorbed in a day.

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History Accessibility Museum Award 73

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 12, 2009

The conventional wisdom on museum memberships is that they are "one size fits many" programs whose primary benefits are free entrance to the museum and insider access to exhibition openings. But what about all the other people who love your museum? Want to know how the Brooklyn Museum is answering this question?

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Museum Audience Program Artist 24

Connection Cafe

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

In early 2019, Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh’s Engagement team, one arm of the Advancement and Community Engagement department, lost nearly every mid-level manager. Instead, we challenge you to move beyond what’s happened (the things you can’t control) and look forward by focusing on the things you can control. . Just Do It!

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Change Museum Leadership Fund 21

Museum 2.0

JUNE 1, 2010

You can join the conversation in the blog comments, or on the Museum 2.0 Like many museum and library professionals, I am enamored of the idea of cultural institutions as “third places” – public venues for informal, peaceable, social engagement outside of home or work. This is the only post written by me, Nina Simon.

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Place Discussion Culture Museum 41

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JANUARY 6, 2014

One of the themes I’m going to discuss is the Art and Science of Engagement. The art part includes all the ways nonprofits and schools can engage and connect with alumni of their programs through social channels. Inspiring your network to action is about building those relationships as Debra Askanase points out in this post.

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Social Media Network Media Free 108

Museum 2.0

MARCH 9, 2009

I once asked Eric Siegel, the Director of the New York Hall of Science, why museums are rarely innovative shining stars on the cutting edge of culture. He commented that as non-profits, museums are built to survive, not to succeed. Unlike startups and rock stars, museums aren't structured to shoot for the moon and burn up trying.

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Model Business Los Angeles Museum 55

Museum 2.0

JULY 7, 2010

As Peter wrote: If someone enjoys Arts Event A because it’s social, informal, energetic, fun, and hip, why should we expect her to also enjoy Arts Event B if B is individual, formal, quiet, serious, and traditional (at least in its presentation, if not artistically)? Dias de las Muertos or Chinese New Year to attract new audiences.

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Audience Museum Oakland Participatory 40

Museum 2.0

MARCH 8, 2011

Nikki created "The Ministry of Rules" --a shadow organization that existed for one week during half-term break, staffed by visitors who served as "Inspectors" investigating, exploring, and poking fun at the rules that make museums and galleries go. How did the museum staff respond to this experience? How did this project come about?

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Interview Museum Badge Game 37

Museum 2.0

APRIL 23, 2009

Like many people who've worked in science centers and interactive experience museums, I've always been perplexed by the fact that hands-on workshop audiences top out around age 14. They are more than just workshop spaces--they are member institutions, like museums. Isn't this one of our dreams for museums?

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Museum North Carolina San Francisco Structure 24

Nonprofit Tech for Good

DECEMBER 14, 2022

Nonprofit organizations have a lot of challenges relating to fundraising. For example, if you join a modern art museum, there is a good chance you won’t have to pay admission to other modern art museums. By Sean Kosofsky , is the Nonprofit Fixer and founder of Mind the Gap Consulting. It was super cool.

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Donor Sponsor Accessibility Music 330

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. The Museum 2.0 In 2008 and 2009, there were many conference sessions and and documents presenting participatory case studies, most notably Wendy Pollock and Kathy McLean's book Visitor Voices in Museum Exhibitions.

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Question Participatory Museum Evaluation 49

Forum One

DECEMBER 13, 2023

Forum One partnered with the Museum to launch their new brand to the world. Forum One partnered with the Museum to launch their new brand to the world. This work not only included launching a new website but also revitalizing the American Jazz Museum brand as a whole.

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Celebrate Award Colorado Museum 67

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 29, 2009

Last week, Jim Richardson and I hosted MuseumNext , a 24-hour workshop for museum professionals focused on bringing new, wild museum projects into the world. We also ended the entire event with one of my favorite exercises, the Exquisite Corpse game, in which participants co-created comics of their craziest museum dreams.

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Facilitation Reflection Museum Participatory 32

Museum 2.0

JUNE 27, 2008

The VSA has replaced their keynotes with structured group dialogue. But the VSA has taken an intentional approach to these structured conversations with the goal of putting the (arguably) best part of conferences—the side conversations and hallway discussions—front and center. Where do our eyes go to in art?

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Studies Associations Houston Museum 20

Museum 2.0

APRIL 7, 2009

Which of these descriptions exemplifies participatory museum practice? Museum invites community members to participate in the development and creation of an exhibit. Museum staff create an exhibit by a traditional internal design process, but the exhibit, once open, invites visitors to contribute their own stories and participation.

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Participatory Design Difference Museum 27

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

Payne," member of the incredibly popular Santa Cruz roller derby team, wants to pitch a partnership with our museum. The challenge, then, is to figure out how to say yes consistently, smartly, over the long term. It's a Saturday night when I get the email. What will we harden into?

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Phase Library Museum Homeless 38

Forum One

DECEMBER 13, 2023

We partnered with the Museum to launch their new brand to the world. We partnered with the Museum to launch their new brand to the world. This work not only included launching a new website but also revitalizing the American Jazz Museum brand as a whole.

Celebrate 46

Celebrate Award Colorado Museum 46

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 13, 2007

The essays in this section, on “Expressing and Co-Creating,” present projects in which visitors create exhibition content, contribute to its creation, or get a heavy done of meaning-making in their experience of museum content. Who controls the content in the museum? Who controls the museum experience? First, museum content.

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Voice Create Museum Arts 20

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 30, 2006

There have now been a couple comments on this blog to the effect of: "Visitors already create content in museums through their thoughts and social interactions." The most immediate place to start sharing is with the people with whom you came to the museum. Give people tools to interact socially while in the museum. Great point.

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Share Second Life Museum Structure 20

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 2, 2008

Today, Museum 2.0 I started the Museum 2.0 blog in 2006 as a personal learning exercise about "the ways that museums do and can evolve from 1.0 I started the Museum 2.0 blog in 2006 as a personal learning exercise about "the ways that museums do and can evolve from 1.0 and watched the Museum 2.0

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Museum Voice Minnesota Participatory 20