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. I'm particularly excited about two internships that relate to participatory exhibition design. First, there is the Participatory Exhibit Design Internship.

Participatory 37

Participatory Museum Photography Unconference 37

Connection Cafe

APRIL 21, 2014

Working with arts organizations there are often concern that your constituent stories aren’t as impactful. million likes surely someone touting the effect of music and art on their lives can get just as many. Participatory fundraising often starts with events that allow people to get involved causally with a small time commitment.

Arts 37

Arts Story Org Personal 37

Museum 2.0

MARCH 4, 2015

This week marks five years since the book The Participatory Museum was first released. Weekly, I hear from someone who is putting ideas from the book into action. I thought the pinnacle of participatory practice was an exhibit that could inspire collective visitor action without facilitation. and "why?" to "how?".

Participatory 20

Participatory Museum Empowerment Facilitation 20

Deborah Elizabeth Finn

NOVEMBER 25, 2019

Deciding Together Shifting Power and Resources Through Participatory Grantmaking. Empowering Communities: Participatory Grantmakers Say We Must Go beyond Feedback. Practical Ideas for Improving Equity and Inclusion at Nonprofits. Community-based participatory research. Philanthropy is at a turning point.

Philanthropy 98

Philanthropy Open Participatory Evaluation 98

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JANUARY 19, 2017

Yesterday, I spent a day facilitating leadership workshops for arts leaders attending the Art House Convergence Conference near Park City, Utah. on personal and organizational resilience based on the ideas in my new book, The Happy Healthy Nonprofit. Have you ever had to do a room hack?

Lecture 91

Lecture Classroom Experiment Learning 91

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 10, 2012

What happens when you let visitors vote on art? Let's look at the statistics from three big participatory projects that wrapped up recently. Each of these invited members of the public to vote on art in a way that had substantive consequences--big cash prizes awarded, prestige granted, exhibitions offered.

Arts 47

Arts Artist Museum Award 47

Museum 2.0

MARCH 3, 2010

As many of you know, I've been working for the past year+ on a book about visitor participation in museums, libraries, science centers, and art galleries. The Participatory Museum is a practical guide to visitor participation. The Participatory Museum is an attempt at providing such a resource.

Participatory 30

Participatory Museum Vietnam Netherlands 30

Museum 2.0

APRIL 14, 2011

As of May 2, I will be the executive director of the Museum of Art & History at McPherson Center in Santa Cruz, CA (here's the press release ). Because of the increased workload I expect in the months to come, as well as the likely possibility that we will start a Museum of Art & History blog, I'm lowering my Museum 2.0

History 55

History Museum Arts Consultant 55

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

Scene: a regional workshop on arts engagement. A funder is speaking with conviction about the fact that her foundation is focusing their arts grantmaking strategy on engagement. Engaging people actively in the arts. It is not code for one idea. PARTICIPATORY: can people get involved or contribute to it?

Participatory 55

Participatory Museum Arts Culture 55

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

APRIL 23, 2008

I'm prepping for a workshop on Social Media and wanted do a round up of recent compelling examples of arts organizations using social media strategies and tools. I've covered arts organizations and social media here and there over the past three years and last winter co-wrote a cover story article with Rebecca Krause-Hardie for ArtsReach.

Arts 74

Arts Social Media Examples Artist 74

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

MAY 26, 2015

Designing A Participatory Hook for a Virtual Meeting. This was helpful because you could discuss an issue that might be coming up at a meeting – and this contributes to new ideas and more efficient meeting time. Design must comes first. Finally, you identify next steps and follow up. Flickr Image by Derek Gavey.

Facilitation 50

Facilitation Virtual Arts Participatory 50

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 28, 2013

Earlier in 2013, I was amazed to visit one of the new “Studio” spaces at the Denver Art Museum. The Denver Art Museum is no stranger to community collaborations, but we’ve been dipping in our toe a little more deeply when it comes to developing permanent participatory installations.

Denver 35

Denver Museum Arts Collaboration 35

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 25, 2012

A few weeks ago, the MAH Director of Community Programs, Stacey Garcia, came to me with an idea. This past Friday, we experimented with a new feedback format at an evening event focused on poetry and book arts. The events are informal, personal, and fun, but our feedback mechanism--onsite and post-event surveys--not so much.

Activities 50

Activities Active Activism Participatory 50

Museum 2.0

JUNE 10, 2015

Last week, the international press lit up with a story from Paris : the city is removing the "love locks" from the Pont des Arts bridge. And so, one of the most successful, accidental, and fraught participatory projects of the past decade comes to an end. The "love locks" are not a project with an institutional or artistic director.

Participatory 20

Participatory Project Artist Instruction 20

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

MAY 7, 2010

Source: Share Your Ideas. Nina has written a fantastic book engagement called The Participatory Museum. A third argues that the project won’t be truly participatory unless users get to define what content is sought in the first place. I've purchase a two copies, one for me and one to give away.

Model 98

Model Activities Active Activism 98

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

APRIL 1, 2010

I am putting the finishing touches on another social media lab designed for arts organizations. So, have been updating arts 2.0 The use of FourSquare fits in with its other experiments with mobile and playing with the idea of place. Location-based social networks also offer opportunities for the performing arts and theatre.

Museum 97

Museum Mashup Badge Participatory 97

Museum 2.0

APRIL 7, 2009

Which of these descriptions exemplifies participatory museum practice? But the difference between the two examples teases out a problem in differentiating "participatory design" from "design for participation." In the first case, you are making the design process participatory. In the second, you make the product participatory.

Participatory 27

Participatory Design Difference Museum 27

Museum 2.0

JULY 10, 2018

But I also had a more immediate problem: I had no idea how to lead a staff meeting. I had no idea what to do. Priya Parker's wonderful book The Art of Gathering shares the core principles of how to drive. Here are my three big takeaways from The Art of Gathering : Hosting is an exercise in courageous leadership.

Hosting 31

Hosting Arts Help Museum 31

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 30, 2013

Our theory of change posits that when we develop projects that bridge “unexpected connections” between diverse people and ideas, people build understanding and social capital with community members from different cultures, generations, and backgrounds. But how do we know whether these efforts are working?

Measure 47

Measure Arts People Museum 47

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

This simple participatory project invites visitors to contribute their own small objects in little alcoves in our bathrooms. We have seven participatory elements in our current exhibitions on three floors, ranging from voting to talkback walls to an in-depth "make a memory jar" craft activity.

Museum 47

Museum Difference Examples Participatory 47

Museum 2.0

JULY 1, 2011

I've now been the Director of The Museum of Art & History in Santa Cruz for two months. Instead, whether she intended it to be or not, it was a symbolic act of not only a new regime at the MAH, but a new idea of what a museum is supposed to be. And yet she backs up the bromides with concrete ideas. she said.

Museum 31

Museum History Arts Work 31

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019

Their space is designed for local nonprofits to connect, share ideas and develop solutions together. My style of teaching is participatory; I don’t lecture with PPT endlessly and involve the audience. Just added these to my trainer kit). My audience included many people who were blind.

Detroit 77

Detroit Instruction Instructional PPT 77

Museum 2.0

JULY 23, 2014

The Silk Mill is part of the Derby Museums , a public institution of art, history, and natural history. A strong participatory process is not a loosey-goosey, open the doors and do whatever strategy. It''s not a question of the participatory process being unidirectional, something that we are doing for you the community.

Museum 53

Museum Product Participatory Community 53

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

It is always challenge to use participatory techniques when your participants are not native English speakers and you don’t speak the language. I thought I’d share a few quick insights and tips that I learned for others who may be preparing for doing tech training internationally and want to use participatory techniques.

Facilitation 50

Facilitation Training Train International 50

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

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. 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.

Museum 45

Museum Question Participatory Evaluation 45

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 15, 2012

We've gotten a little more organized at The Museum of Art & History , and we've now released opportunities for summer internships. This could be a serious research opportunity for someone interested in impact assessment, community attitudes towards the arts, and the role museums can play in transforming communities.

Museum 34

Museum Participatory Arts Attitude 34

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. We filled 8 flip chart pages with close to hundred ideas.

Causes 50

Causes Change Museum Social 50

Museum 2.0

APRIL 25, 2011

I've seen this line of questioning almost completely disappear in the past two years due to many research studies and reports on the value and rise of participation, but in 2006-7, social media and participatory culture was still seen as nascent (and possibly a passing fad). In 2008, the conversation started shifting to "how" and "what."

Question 49

Question Participatory Museum Evaluation 49

Museum 2.0

JULY 23, 2019

Today, I wanted to think about participatory elements, something so essential to this blog. Lumin at Detroit Institute of Art Now on to the interactives…I’ve been thinking a great deal about the function of interactives in museums. For some visitors, the feeling of engagement comes from being connected to ideas quickly.

Museum 35

Museum Participatory Interaction Classroom 35

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

AUGUST 29, 2006

I met Janet Salmons many years ago while I working on various arts and technology projects in New York State for the New York Foundation for the Arts. I started in the Cornell University Center for Theatre Arts , where I founded and directed two programs: Cornell Theatre Outreach and the Community-Based Arts Project.

Arts 50

Arts Community Online Intergenerational 50

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 2, 2013

Proposals involve sculpture, performance, participatory-projects, videos, and installation that use and respond to the museum’s collection. This past July, artist Guillermo Gómez proposed to restore a piece of art. Both objects and art-objects would be part of this continuing transformation and evolution.

Artist 49

Artist Museum Proposal Participatory 49

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 16, 2013

Then again, Saturday was hardly normal at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. This past weekend, in conjunction with our exhibition about Ze Frank's current participatory project, A Show , we hosted " Ze Frank Weekend "--a quickie summer camp of workshops, activities, presentations, and lots of hugging.

Reflection 43

Reflection Community Museum Participatory 43

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

The event also included plenary speakers, including a provocative talk about data methods from Alexandra Samuels and cross-track sessions from traditional panels to unconference. The culmination of these two and half very intense days was an Idea Accelerator Lab. Scribe: The role of the scribe is to capture ideas and build group memory.

Reflection 124

Reflection NTEN Change Facilitation 124

Museum 2.0

MAY 10, 2011

It's my second week as the Executive Director at The Museum of Art & History in Santa Cruz, CA, and boy is my everything tired. I'm also making the 2011-2012 budget, getting to know our terrific staff and volunteers, and starting up a few small participatory projects to launch us into being a more community-driven institution.

Museum 53

Museum History Participatory Arts 53

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

We can change that by embracing participatory culture and opening up to the active, social ways that people engage with art, history, science, and ideas today. Right now, they're often seen as elitist organizations serving an diminishing percentage of our population.

Museum 55

Museum Open Charlotte Participatory 55

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

Museum 2.0

MAY 9, 2012

Here, in no particular order, are the things that energized me most: "No idea is too ridiculous." I found this idea really powerful. Our curator writes labels about licking the art. Merilee Mostov and the Columbus Museum of Art. Participatory art and co-creation on the rise. I host dating games.

Reflection 43

Reflection Columbus Museum Participatory 43