Connection Cafe

AUGUST 16, 2018

As you try different scenarios, remember to expand your engagement strategy through testing, risk-taking, and evaluation. Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh utilized their resources to develop an innovative retention strategy. The creative technology comes from how Carnegie Museums tracks the stamps.

Museum 26

Museum Retention Conversation Rate 26

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 26, 2012

Writing my masters thesis for Gothenburg University’s International Museum Studies program while also working four days a week as the Director of Community Programs at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History this spring was certainly a challenge but also an incredible opportunity.

Museum 49

Museum Program Participatory Community 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.

Museum 45

Museum Question Participatory Evaluation 45

Museum 2.0

JULY 17, 2013

Last week, my museum hosted Hack the Museum Camp , a 2.5 day adventure in which teams of adults--75 people, of whom about half are museum professionals, half creative folks of various stripes--developed an experimental exhibition around our permanent collection in our largest gallery.

Museum 49

Museum Arts History Professional 49

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. The theory of change has been invaluable as a "playbook" that we use to guide programming decisions, evaluation protocols, and marketing messages about our impact.

Museum 20

Museum Director Arts History 20

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

Photo Source: Indianapolis Museum of Art Blog. That's the cultural norm in the nonprofit sector, with a couple of exceptions. The Indianapolis Art Museum has been doing just that by sharing its institutional dashboard out for everyone to view. Two years later, we might have some answers.

Public 94

Public Indianapolis Museum Organization 94

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

DECEMBER 1, 2010

She uses the word “curate&# which makes me imagine nonprofits as museum curators. Museum curators have expertise in a particular area of art, they know the ecosystem around the art – the artists, the patrons, other collectors, and other museum curators interested in that art form.

Artist 96

Artist Structure Museum Nonprofit 96

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 17, 2017

Dear Museum 2.0 friends, I want to share two great opportunities to get involved at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History in 2017. Each summer, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History hosts MuseumCamp , a professional development experience that is part retreat, part unconference, part adult summer camp.

Job 20

Job Museum Childhood Arts 20

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. We heard again and again that the museum was cold and uncomfortable.

Museum 55

Museum Learning History Arts 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. The area that houses the Creativity Lounge also shows art.

Museum 51

Museum Arts History Columbus 51

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 11, 2012

For years, I'd give talks about community participation in museums and cultural institutions, and I'd always get the inevitable question: "but what value does this really have when it comes to dollars and cents?" We're hearing on a daily basis that the museum has a new role in peoples' lives and in the identity of the county.

Audience 47

Audience Museum Participatory History 47

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.

Question 49

Question Participatory Museum Evaluation 49

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? They are successful with audiences who already believe in the intrinsic power of art or the role art plays in civic engagement, but it's unclear how helpful they are to the people who aren't attending, participating, or supporting.

Arts 54

Arts Museum Roles Public 54

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 25, 2010

When it comes to user participation in cultural institutions and the arts, it's popular to launch projects that pit visitors against experts. at the Brooklyn Museum, where you could track how people of various levels of art expertise rated crowd-contributed photographs. There was Click! What tools do we use?

Audience 38

Audience Music Artist Museum 38

Museum 2.0

APRIL 19, 2016

We realized that we needed a systematic way to evaluate these kinds of requests--a tool that would help us evaluate when to say yes and why to say no. Our museum has already had several requests to lend our support to bond measures that will be on the ballot in 2016. We incubate a youth art and social change program.

Policy 20

Policy Advocacy Create Museum 20

Connection Cafe

MARCH 3, 2020

Read next: 4 Ways AI is the Next Big Game-Changer in Museum Membership & Attendance. With all the data available as a result of new technology, nonprofits have new tools available to identify concrete targets and evaluate their success at reaching those targets. What is a KPI? That’s where the term KPI comes into play.

Goal 45

Goal Data Metrics Hype 45

Museum 2.0

JULY 3, 2007

This week, we look at Chapter 5 of Elaine Gurian's book Civilizing Museums , Choosing Among the Options: An opinion about museum definitions in two parts. First published in Curator magazine in 2002, this essay presents five different museum "types" and their distinct opportunities and challenges.

Museum 20

Museum Taxonomy Arts National 20

Museum 2.0

JUNE 22, 2011

This was an aha moment for me at the time about self-confidence and self-evaluation, and it's one I've carried into my career. I've often argued that art and history museums should adopt this approach and encourage visitors to explore their potential as artists or historians, not just audiences for content.

Artist 48

Artist Museum Raise History 48

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

They provide detailed case studies of projects in each area, including project descriptions, informal science education goals, participant training techniques, and evaluation outcomes. I've added a fourth model to this citizen science typology, one may be more appropriate to facilities like museums than to scientific organizations: co-option.

Public 36

Public Research Participatory Report 36

Museum 2.0

JUNE 9, 2009

Yesterday, I enjoyed three hours of graduate students' presentations of social media plans for museums in the Pacific Northwest. What is the evaluation plan? Jill Hardy worked with a museum that is trying to attract a younger, more diverse adult audience. How will this project be tracked and tested against the goals?

Social Media 43

Social Media Develop Media Museum 43

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. Third, you need to align your idea with institutional culture. It’s nice to have both.

Project 22

Project Museum Teen North Carolina 22

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 3, 2009

Last month, the Christian Science Monitor published an article entitled, "Museums' new mantra: Connect with community." It took me a couple weeks (and various museum blog responses ) to realize what bugs me about this article--it treats "connecting with community" as a marketing ploy, a "mantra" rather than a mission.

Community 22

Community Museum San Diego San Francisco 22

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JULY 13, 2006

We created and ran the web site for the Liberal Arts College in an atmosphere which, upon reflection is a lot like Linden Lab. When I graduated in 2003, I moved out here to California and worked with the San Jose Museum of Art before getting a job with Linden Labs. I learned a lot from San Jose Art Museum.

Second Life 50

Second Life Life Interview San Jose 50

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

Exhibit labels in science centers ask more questions than any other kinds of museums, and yet the questions are often awful--teacherly, overly rhetorical, and totally meaningless. asked by a cop or mother, garners the full attention of asker and askee alike, museum questions like "what is nanotechnology?,"

Reflection 20

Reflection Research Question Museum 20

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

Research and assessment is rare in the arts, and it tends to focus on "proving" our value. Studies of how arts participation affects student test scores. And given what I''ve seen on micro and macro-levels in arts funding and power, I don''t think this strategy is working. Economic impact studies. She needed money.

Arts 55

Arts Museum Arkansas Student 55

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 8, 2006

Elisa’s focus is interactive arts, media design, and cultural management, and she has been involved in many pertinent projects, such as MUVI (the Virtual Museum of the Collective Memory of Lombardia). the question of how cultural objects are defined and valued and 2. We are discussing how to do that [with the CU Museum].

Interview 20

Interview Museum Culture Sound 20

Neon CRM

OCTOBER 25, 2023

Here are 10 important factors to consider when evaluating different event management solutions: Event Type and Size: Begin by assessing the types and sizes of events your nonprofit typically hosts. Cost Structure: Understand the pricing model of the software you’re evaluating. Arts People Arts People (hey that’s also us!)

Software 52

Software Management Guide Registration 52

Museum 2.0

MARCH 8, 2010

It's evaluating people. Occasionally it's a place for a surprising cross-cultural encounter. I could imagine having a great time on videochat debating the merits of a piece of art with a stranger, trying to solve a puzzle together, talking about a news event, or sharing stories.

Interaction 26

Interaction Giving Museum Internet 26

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 22, 2012

What happens when a formal art museum invites a group of collaborative, participatory artists to be in residence for a year? Will the artists ruin the museum with their plant vacations and coatroom concerts? But for museum and art wonks, it could be. This is particularly true when it comes to project evaluation.

Artist 39

Artist Museum Project Public 39

Museum 2.0

JUNE 16, 2020

Andrea has been a leader in the museum technology field. The Detroit Institute of Arts has been a precious anchor where many of us have created memories that helped define who we are today. This field is varied, and each voice adds to our collective understanding of the situation.

Museum 22

Museum Detroit Arts Leadership 22

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

"The words we use in attempting to change museum directions matter. We need translators within each cultural context. Our museum in Santa Cruz has been slammed by those who believe participatory experiences have gone too far. I''ve always known that some people feel that social work means mission creep for museums.

Participatory 53

Participatory Museum Arts History 53

Museum 2.0

MAY 8, 2013

Like a lot of organizations, my museum struggles with two conflicting goals: The museum should be for everyone in our community. At the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History , we''re approaching this challenge through a different lens: social bridging. And rarely the twain shall meet.

Museum 55

Museum Social Arts History 55

Connection Cafe

FEBRUARY 7, 2016

At The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, fundraising is all about data and their data is all about their donors. The Museum uses their data to get know their donors at a deeper level: what they care about, what motivates them, and how to keep them engaged with their organization. “We Acquisition.

Museum 20

Museum National Report Giving 20

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 13, 2009

Earlier this year, the New Museum and Creative Time commissioned a traveling piece by artist Jeremy Deller called "It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq." I saw It Is What It Is twice at the Hammer Museum. Why would I want to talk about Iraq on a visit to an art museum? Even for me, the barriers were too high.

Iraq 28

Iraq Challenge Museum Library 28

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 22, 2008

There are lots of things visitors can’t do in museums. But what about the things that museum professionals can’t (or feel they can’t) do? This week at the ASTC conference, Kathy McLean, Tom Rockwell, Eric Siegel and I presented a session called “You Can’t Do That in Museums!” And so my question is, why are we keeping them away?

Museum 20

Museum Professional Teen Map 20

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 11, 2011

The longer I consult with museums and cultural institutions, the more time I spend peering into people's eyes, wondering: do folks here feel able to innovate? Light calls out four common questions used to evaluate new ideas: Is this faithful to who we are? Is this a place where staff members are comfortable taking risks?

Discussion 39

Discussion Minnesota Phoenix Structure 39

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 19, 2008

Every museum has a number for its operating cost per visitor. Most museums don't strategically set this number--too many operating costs are fixed by building needs--but they can use it to assess how expensive each visitor interaction is and evaluate the efficacy of programs. So where do online initiatives fit in?

Virtual 20

Virtual Museum North Carolina Evaluation 20