Connection Cafe

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

The following post was originally published on the Center for the Future of Museums blog. On Wednesday, August 8, over 300 museum professionals joined CFM director Elizabeth Merritt and Seema Rao, principal of Brilliant Idea Studio , to explore self-care in the museum workplace. But effort and efficacy are not the same.

Museum 21

Museum Culture Professional Training 21

Museum 2.0

MAY 21, 2014

I''ve now been the executive director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History for three years. This year was a year of building, challenging, and strengthening. We talk a lot at our museum about empowering our visitors, collaborators, interns, and staff by making space for them to shine. Naming our goals and our culture.

Museum 49

Museum Director History Teen 49

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.

Museum 47

Museum Artist Remix Professional 47

Neon CRM

DECEMBER 13, 2023

Every membership program needs a structure that appeals to its intended audience. In this article, you’ll learn about various membership models for nonprofits and discover both the keys to success and potential challenges you may face. However, developing membership models often comes with challenges, too.

Model 52

Model Florida Nonprofit Benefit 52

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

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 bridle under too much structure.

Museum 20

Museum Director Arts History 20

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

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." Cultural institutions are willing to change to attract new audiences. I remember the exact moment when I snapped. We bring them together.

Museum 40

Museum Audience Slides Press 40

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010

Jasper Visser and his colleagues at the not-yet-physically-open National Historisch Museum of the Netherlands have impressed me with their innovative, thoughtful approach to developing a dynamic national museum. Last weekend my museum presented itself at the Uitmarkt in Amsterdam.

Museum 34

Museum Comment Experiment Participatory 34

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.

Artist 49

Artist Museum Proposal Participatory 49

Museum 2.0

MAY 11, 2010

While it hasn't happened here in awhile, a new Museum 2.0 Many museum and library professionals use the concept of the third place to describe the idealized vision of a cultural institution as a place for community use and civic engagement. For four weeks starting June 1, each Tuesday there will be a Museum 2.0

Museum 25

Museum Place Library Discussion 25

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. The Structure Lab is set up as a "game" in which you explore cards in various categories (values, assets, financing, etc.) to better articulate what you are really trying to do with your project concept.

Structure 31

Structure Model Social Profit 31

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.

Platform 41

Platform Open Museum Participatory 41

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 28, 2009

What role does “promoting human happiness” play in the mission statements and actions of museums? That’s the question I’m pondering thanks to Jane McGonigal and the Center for the Future of Museums (CFM). Earlier today, the CFM offered a free webcast of Jane McGonigal’s talk on gaming, happiness, and museums.

Museum 21

Museum Game Structure South America 21

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.) Exciting, right?

Participatory 37

Participatory Museum Photography Unconference 37

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. A Seat at the Table It was March 2020. Endowed by Dr. Ruth J.

History 73

History Accessibility Museum Award 73

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. We asked the whole group to brainstorm communities/constituencies who they thought could make a stronger connection with art, history, and culture. Six goals for MAH community programs.

Program 49

Program Community Design Museum 49

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. They talked about community building.

Build 20

Build Community Museum Artist 20

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!

Change 21

Change Museum Leadership Fund 21

Museum 2.0

MARCH 27, 2013

I've written about different structures for participatory processes (especially in museums), and recently, I've been interested in how we can apply these structures to the design of public space. Tokenism: The most challenging and most common among very well-meaning adults. Here's a synopsis: Participation 1.

Design 49

Design Participatory Children Museum 49

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

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.

Wikipedia 40

Wikipedia Arts Museum Images 40

Museum 2.0

APRIL 1, 2009

On Monday, I gave the keynote at the Museums in Conversation conference in Tarrytown, NY. Greed, because creative greediness motivates us to hunt down and steal the best design techniques the world has to offer, and generosity, because giving those great ideas and applications away is the only way to change the larger cultural landscape.

Museum 20

Museum Conversation Columbus Local 20

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. Is it true of your museum too? To make it, museums need to survive AND succeed.

Model 55

Model Business Los Angeles Museum 55

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?

Museum 24

Museum Audience Program Artist 24

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.

Celebrate 67

Celebrate Award Colorado Museum 67

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JANUARY 6, 2014

I did a scan of the several hundred organizations registered for the webinar, many from Jewish education organizations, looking at their social media engagement practices as well as a literature scan of alumni network engagement with social mediaHere’s some reflections: Alumni Networks: Benefits, Challenges, and Strategy.

Social Media 108

Social Media Network Media Free 108

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

AUGUST 12, 2009

About three months ago Beth Kanter wrote about the Crowdsourcing of Vision at the Smithsonian Museum. A crowd’s aggregated collective response to a question or challenge creates a perspective or a position. I've been keeping a careful eye out for thoughtful comments that could turn into guest posts.

Aggregator 82

Aggregator Model Leadership Method 82

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. This beautifully designed branding and website won five awards this year!

Celebrate 46

Celebrate Award Colorado Museum 46

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. She doesn't have a specific idea for a partner event or exhibit, but she feels like we have a lot to offer each other in terms of publicity and a shared focus on enhancing cultural experiences in the community.

Phase 38

Phase Library Museum Homeless 38

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 11, 2010

Dear Museum 2.0 The cafe will also be an R&D innovation lab for the cultural sector. They may ask models directly to pose for the in more structured encounters. Here's the challenge: I need to settle on a final name for the cafe. readers, I need your help. If they succeed, they get free fries made out of that potato.

Project 35

Project Help Badge Model 35

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 are culturally in a time of serious recalibration and that's a bumpy ride.

Arts 46

Arts Interview Teen Artist 46

Bloomerang

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

I’ve managed campaigns ranging from about $5 million to over a billion dollars in health care, education, arts and culture, and advocacy sectors. So strategy really focuses on organizational direction, establishing values, mission, ensuring the organization embodies its cultural ethos. It builds a culture of trust and respect.

Leadership 62

Leadership Fundraising Gift Slides 62

Museum 2.0

MARCH 8, 2010

Occasionally it's a place for a surprising cross-cultural encounter. I can't help but think how much better it would be if the system provided an external prompt--a challenge or a topic to discuss. I've had some fabulous interactions with strangers in comparably open-ended environments that offered just a bit more designed structure.

Interaction 26

Interaction Giving Museum Internet 26

Museum 2.0

MAY 9, 2008

There's a tag applied to many Museum 2.0 Posts under that tag tend to examine non-museum things, from malls to games to ad campaigns , and draw some design lessons for museums from their foreignness. What aspects of that socialness are desirable in museums (and how might we mirror buses or trains to promote them)?

Participatory 20

Participatory Design Museum Childhood 20

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. It has been challenged for our community-centered approach. But we do have ''and.''

Participatory 53

Participatory Museum Arts History 53

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