Museum 2.0

AUGUST 16, 2017

Like Seema, I've been looking for ways to increase active resistance of racism, hate, and bigotry--both as an individual and as the leader of a museum. Seema and I have started an open google doc to assemble ideas for specific things museums and museum professionals can do to resist oppression. Museums are ideas.

Museum 40

Museum Doc America National 40

Museum 2.0

JUNE 27, 2012

A year ago, I wrote a post speculating about whether events (institutionally-produced programs) might be a primary driver for people to attend museums, with exhibitions being secondary. Many museums, big and small, thrive on events. At our museum, about 68% of casual visitors (non-school tours) attended through events this year.

Museum 53

Museum Arts Dallas History 53

Bloomerang

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Recently, modernist and impressionist paintings have been selling particularly well in the art world. Recently, modernist and impressionist paintings have been selling particularly well in the art world. Art that has personal meaning for your community is also a safe bet.

Artist 74

Artist Classes Arts Local 74

Connection Cafe

AUGUST 1, 2019

Museums and nonprofits can also reap huge benefits from employing artificial intelligence, particularly in their membership and development departments. Nonprofits and museums depend on dedicated, but oftentimes limited, development staff to sift through countless prospects to determine which ones are priority.

Museum 29

Museum Game Chicago Indianapolis 29

Museum 2.0

JUNE 26, 2013

Over the past three years, the Detroit Institute of Art (DIA) has served as the museum poster child for the debate on the public value of the arts. Last year, the DIA was saved from financial crisis by voters in its three neighboring counties who elected to take on an additional property tax to support the museum.

Detroit 52

Detroit Museum Michigan Arts 52

Connection Cafe

FEBRUARY 25, 2014

Last week Ginny Fitzgerald, the Director of Visitor Services and Membership at Chicago History Museum, joined us to host a webinar about how she prepares her team for peak attendance times. Chicago History Museum defines their summer season as June 1 through August 31. Ginny has over 17 years of experience in visitor services.

Arts 32

Arts Culture Business Chicago 32

Museum 2.0

MAY 2, 2012

Today is my one-year anniversary as the executive director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. A year ago, I put my consultant hat on the shelf and decided to jump into museum management (a sentence I NEVER would have imagined writing five years ago). The possible determinism of cultural geography.

Museum 55

Museum Director Participatory Culture 55

Whole Whale

SEPTEMBER 20, 2022

AS works with nonprofits across a wide range of industries, including arts and culture, the environment, foundations, and government. The firm is especially committed to working with partners involved in performing arts, the environment and conservation, education, and women. Website: [link]. Alexander Haas. Website: [link].

Consultant 52

Consultant Fundraising Phoenix Atlanta 52

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 29, 2012

Earlier this month, the Detroit Institute of Arts was "saved" by a voter-approved property tax (called a "millage") in its three surrounding counties. Residents in the three counties that pay the millage will receive special benefits : free admission to the museum and expanded educational programming.

Detroit 49

Detroit Arts Public Support 49

Museum 2.0

MAY 15, 2012

Last week, I sat down on a toilet in our museum and found myself looking at an interactive station intended to test a “Legends of the Stall” sign concept for the restrooms. Some of my happiest moments as a director come when I encounter awesome things in our museum that I had absolutely nothing to do with. Sorry for the delay.

Culture 53

Culture Build Museum Articulate 53

Museum 2.0

JULY 1, 2011

I've now been the Director of The Museum of Art & History in Santa Cruz for two months. But the point is that the MAH, like just about every other museum in the known universe, was content to define the museum experience as something removed from the outside world, a rarefied church-like space of refined artistic reflection.

Museum 31

Museum History Arts Work 31

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. At one point, Mark commented that they have a "deliberately unsustainable" business model.

Model 55

Model Business Los Angeles Museum 55

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 14, 2013

One of the greatest gifts of my babymoon is the opportunity to share the Museum 2.0 First up is Beck Tench, a "simplifier, illustrator, story teller, and technologist" working at the Museum of Life & Science in Durham, NC. As a person who works for a science museum, I work in an environment that supports play.

Museum 51

Museum Roles Game Participatory 51

Museum 2.0

JUNE 18, 2014

And it''s got me thinking about how we build energy and audience for the arts in this country. Barry Hessenius recently wrote a blog post questioning the theory that more art into the school day will increase and bolster future adult audiences for art experiences. Like Barry, I feel that more art in schools is always better.

Arts 47

Arts Build United States Audience 47

Museum 2.0

APRIL 2, 2014

In his thoughtful preface to this project, I reconnected with five lessons I''ve learned from participatory projects in museums and cultural sites. The fact that there is no original recording by Beck of the Song Reader songs, no model upon which "covers" would be based, frees the reader to imagine the songs in any number of ways.

Participatory 52

Participatory Arts Music Learning 52

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 23, 2011

An exhibiting artist approached me recently at an evening event at the museum. But it's a question that many museums seem to address inadequately. It's interesting to me that so many museums debate admission fees but don't get comparably riled up about open hours. he said, "I have some feedback for you. He's right. They aren't.

Museum 55

Museum Open Artist Audience 55

Museum 2.0

JUNE 28, 2017

I can think of many extraordinary innovators in the nonprofit cultural sector--people and organizations creating brilliant programs, site-based experiences, and products. Why aren’t more cultural organizations franchising, scaling, and replicating like comparable businesses? Precarious business model. Change may be necessary.

Culture 21

Culture Organization Model Podcast 21

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 25, 2018

For the past five years, each summer, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History has hosted MuseumCamp. This new, experimental training is a hands-on deep dive into the MAH’s model. I'm excited to share the MAH's community-first model and to invite you to this in-depth, immersive learning experience.

Community 31

Community Participatory Museum Registration 31

Whole Whale

MAY 20, 2021

AS works with nonprofits across a wide range of industries, including arts and culture, the environment, foundations, and government. The firm is especially committed to working with partners involved in performing arts, the environment and conservation, education, and women. Website: [link]. Alexander Haas. Website: [link].

Consultant 52

Consultant Fundraising Phoenix Atlanta 52

Connection Cafe

SEPTEMBER 12, 2017

While AR has a host of applications for the commercial sector ( IKEA is using it to allow customers to place furniture in their home before they buy it and car makers like VW will use AR in their upcoming models), it can also be used to create impactful, substance-filled interactions. Don’t miss out on bbcon 2017. Register today!

Arts 31

Arts Create Social Application 31

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 8, 2018

You run a regional museum. This is the plan that plunged the Berkshire Museum into hot water. In July, the Berkshire Museum released its $60,000,000 New Vision , along with a funding mechanism: selling 40 of its most valuable artworks. It states that museums can only sell objects to purchase or care for other objects.

Public 40

Public Build Museum Detroit 40

Museum 2.0

JULY 26, 2010

I've been spending time recently interviewing people who run unusual cultural and learning venues. Art spaces masquerading as laundromats and letterpresses. 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.

Culture 49

Culture Alternative St. Louis Los Angeles 49

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

JULY 20, 2016

When we say we want our museum to be "audience-centered," what do we mean? However, I have enormous respect for the customer-centered model when it is executed in ways that truly invite visitors in on their own terms and deliver satisfying experiences. Many of my favorite museums, libraries, and zoos are customer-centered places.

Museum 20

Museum Audience Music Arts 20

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 20, 2009

I'm working on a section of my book about sharing social objects and am writing about the most common way that visitors share their object experiences in museums: through photographs. Revenue Streams: Museums want to maintain control of sales of "officially sanctioned" images of objects via catalogues and postcards.

Museum 54

Museum Photo Policy Open 54

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 26, 2018

Our goal is to help civic and cultural institutions become more representative OF, co-created BY, and welcoming FOR their diverse communities. We've see this model succeed at the MAH and at other community-centered organizations around the world. The model we landed on was movement building. Publishing toolkits. Consulting.

Los Angeles 31

Los Angeles Network Oakland Change 31

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

The book looks at how individuals can avoid burnout through self-care and how nonprofits can support it – through activities that promote well-being, cultural cues, or an overall strategy. How cultural norms influence participation. A team culture that prioritizes collaboration and excellence. ½ Have story?

Product 50

Product Time Create Museum 50

Connection Cafe

NOVEMBER 10, 2014

In early October, Laura Beussman blogged about demand-based pricing for arts and culture organizations. Her blog talked about several different ways arts and culture organizations could ease into demand-based pricing, including scaling the house, peak load pricing, targeted discounts, and dynamic pricing.

Indianapolis 41

Indianapolis St. Louis Experiment Arts 41

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

MARCH 14, 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. The MAH fundamentally has two jobs: we bring art and history out into our community, and we invite our community in.

Public 27

Public Museum Arts History 27

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Trying to do everything, a scarcity model, is such an exhausting way to work. What needs to change in the way that nonprofits are structured and their culture to make this happen? Or are we talking about all curation? Are there good examples of organizations working in this new way that can inspire us?

Artist 96

Artist Structure Museum Nonprofit 96

sgEngage

APRIL 28, 2022

I model the hospitality I expect our volunteers to show to visitors by welcoming them with warmth, fully listening and engaging when they are present, and showing appreciation for their choice to [volunteer] that day. – Rebecca Barnes, volunteer manager at Tellus Science Museum .

South Dakota 84

South Dakota Volunteer Tips Social 84

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.

Place 41

Place Discussion Culture Museum 41

Museum 2.0

JULY 2, 2014

What if we used art to activate space in a different way? I''ve been reflecting a lot recently on our museum''s work on " social bridging "--bringing people together across cultural, ethnic, geographic, generational, and socio-economic differences--and how to take it outside. We don''t have a business model for it.

Design 47

Design Community Museum Hype 47

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

Our county board of supervisors had brought their official meeting to the museum. In it, I argued that museums could give up control of the visitor experience while still maintaining (a new kind of) power. Museums could make the platforms for those experiences. Traditionally, museums and cultural organizations offer programs.

Platform 31

Platform Impact Childhood Museum 31

Museum 2.0

JULY 6, 2011

It's a rough week for cultural practitioners. When I came to become the director of The Museum of Art & History two months ago, we were on the financial brink. This is the first time I've really grappled with the reality of "the museum as a business." Well, they only cost me $8 apiece. Let me explain.

Business 50

Business Minnesota Museum Netherlands 50