Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 29, 2016

That's why our museum, the MAH in Santa Cruz, focuses on social bridging. Rather than operating in a bubble of “art people” or “history people,” we strive to connect ALL people in our county. Homeless adults and history buffs improving a historic cemetery. In our community, we build bridges through art and history.

Museum 20

Museum History Arts Celebrate 20

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 This month brings three examples of museums hosting meetups for online communities: On 8.6.08, the Computer History Museum (Silicon Valley, CA) hosted a Yelp! Me: Have you ever been to this museum? several years.

Museum 22

Museum Hosting Model Community 22

Museum 2.0

JULY 27, 2011

I'm trying to reposition our museum as a cultural hub supporting creative and intellectual community growth. Our conversation made me reflect on the museums that most inspire me from a public service perspective--institutions with missions that stretch far beyond their walls. These museums work differently.

Advocacy 44

Advocacy Public Service Homeless 44

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 18, 2012

When talking about active audience engagement with friends in the museum field, I often hear one frustrated question: how can we get adults to participate? In children's museums and science centers, this relationship is at its most extreme. And yet in the museum world, we still see interactives as being mostly for kids.

Interaction 47

Interaction Design Museum Participatory 47

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.

Build 20

Build Community Museum Artist 20

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 28, 2010

Every once in a while I come across a project I wish I could have included in The Participatory Museum. an exhibition produced with schoolchildren at the Wallace Collection in London, is a lovely example of co-creation that demonstrates the multiple benefits of inviting audience members to act as partners in arts organizations.

Children 46

Children Museum Create Project 46

Museum 2.0

JUNE 8, 2010

This guest post was written by Rebecca Lawrence, Museum Educator, Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center in Pennsylvania. You can join the conversation in the blog comments, or on the Museum 2.0 The Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center (SLHC) is a small museum located in Pennsburg, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Place 27

Place Museum Discussion Pennsylvania 27

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 20, 2013

It started as a handout for a session that Stacey and I are doing at the California Association of Museums, and then I realized it was so darn useful that it was worth sharing with all of you. The majority of our public programs at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History are created and produced through community collaborations.

Collaboration 55

Collaboration Community Tools Museum 55

Qgiv

APRIL 23, 2021

And, this type of fundraiser can be applied to all types of organizations and their audiences! As you can see, silent auctions are versatile events suitable for all audience types. Art & History Museums Maitland is planning a virtual 3-day online art auction for summer 2021. With giving projected to increase 5.1%

Fundraising 52

Fundraising Virtual Sponsor Hosting 52

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Groupon is an audience development machine, and it's highly relevant to cultural institutions looking to attract people with promises of exciting new discoveries within. A coupon goes up for half-price museum admission or spa treatments, and users have one day to buy. Does a Groupon promotion devalue the visitor (or member) experience?

Learning 39

Learning Museum San Francisco Cleveland 39

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 19, 2009

They edit the conversations into radio shows, which are then made available as a podcast (you can listen to episode featuring me, #89: Museum Secrets, here ). Mercedes and Zachary don't even ask their own questions, and yet they demonstrated unbelievable interest in me and my experiences during our conversation.

Reflection 20

Reflection Museum Podcast Participatory 20

Museum 2.0

JUNE 6, 2011

This is the casual attendance data from my first full month as the Executive Director of The Museum of Art & History in Santa Cruz. This graph is making me change the way I think about what our museum is for and how we should market it. The audience is diverse and attentive; the experience is content-rich and on-mission.

Museum 55

Museum Arts History Artist 55

Museum 2.0

MAY 5, 2009

I just returned from the American Association of Museums (AAM) annual meeting in Philadelphia. I led two sessions, one on visitor co-created museum experiences, and the other on design inspirations from outside museums. what is the value of the exhibition experience to non-participants, that is, regular museum visitors?

Slides 20

Slides Participatory Museum Children 20

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 8, 2008

When museum professionals talk about extending the museum experience, they’re usually talking about post-visit experiences. The expectation is that visit extension is a way to motivate repeat visits, that “taking the museum home with you” will keep the institution in mind for the future. But what about pre-visits?

Museum 23

Museum Websites Content Design 23

Museum 2.0

JUNE 11, 2014

This post was written by my colleague Nora Grant, Community Programs Coordinator at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. Pop Up” has become an international buzz term to describe ephemeral, experimental projects--from pop up restaurants to pop up boutiques--but a “Pop Up Museum” is still somewhat mystifying.

Museum 49

Museum Grant Lesson History 49

Museum 2.0

MAY 28, 2014

I cut out from the meeting by myself to check out an exhibition called Open House, if These Walls Could Talk at the Minnesota History Center. If there was a way to engage these deep emotions in the context of science museums, then there is an opportunity to expand our impact. Is there a target audience for the project?

Help 45

Help Museum eBook Project 45

Have Fun - Do Good

JANUARY 16, 2009

If you think of artists like Gaugin, or artists who paint naked indigenous women-- as women it's easier for us to get into a museum if we're naked in a painting. I encourage everyone to get it, because we also have an essay on the history of the black-and-white political graphic, and tips on how to create design for social justice movements.

Artist 40

Artist Digital Arts San Francisco 40

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

As many of you know, I’m writing a book about participatory design for museums. Over the last week, there’s been a lively discussion on the wiki about the key audiences and goal of the book, and I wanted to open that up to you (and you are, of course, welcome to join the wiki and help). And there’s a third reason.

Participatory 26

Participatory Design Museum Wiki 26

Museum 2.0

MAY 21, 2007

It's late at night at the Museum Curator smackdown. Museum folks often talk about the time decades ago when museums began to shift from places for objects to places for visitors. My background is in science and children's museums, where it's relatively easy to keep visitors in the foreground. Is the fix in?

Museum 20

Museum Donor Arts Artist 20