Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

The Lost Childhoods exhibition is a platform for 100+ partners to share their stories, artwork, ideas, projects, volunteer opportunities, and events. This argument became one of the foundations of The Participatory Museum. Even a smash hit program is hard to scale up in this model. This is the participatory platform model.

Platform 31

Platform Impact Childhood Museum 31

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

Museum 2.0

APRIL 4, 2012

Museums have been grappling with this question for years ( here's a 2007 roundup of such projects ), most aggressively in zoos and natural history museums where staff hope to inspire conservation and in history/concept museums that focus on civic engagement and activism. No small task for a museum exhibition.

Story 47

Story Participatory Museum History 47

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 14, 2013

In this post, she writes about Experimonth, an intriguing set of crowd-sourced projects that connect scientists with research participants in surprising ways. The project blew away our expectations. And my museum, and this new model, as a space for them to do so. But at my museum , the support doesn''t stop at our visitors.

Museum 51

Museum Roles Game Participatory 51

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

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 11, 2012

I can't say that any one experience--working on a collage with other visitors, swinging on a hammock, discovering a participatory display for pocket artifacts in the bathroom--directly contributed to increased attendance and giving. They all have in concert, and they build on each other.

Audience 47

Audience Museum Participatory History 47

Museum 2.0

MAY 2, 2012

Today is my one-year anniversary as the executive director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. We went through a dramatic financial turnaround and redefined our relationship with our community through a series of experimental participatory projects and new programmatic approaches.

Museum 55

Museum Director Participatory Culture 55

Museum 2.0

MAY 3, 2017

This is the ninth 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. Building the Abbott Square project taught me a whole new mindset: that of the real estate developer. We develop the projects. We develop the ideas.

Develop 20

Develop Artist Participatory Blended 20

Museum 2.0

MAY 9, 2012

I led a session with Eric Siegel and Ellen Rosenthal on museum business models and some of the issues we grapple with in managing money. And I talked about some of the challenges of finding the right income and expense models for a museum that operates more like a community center than a traditional cultural institution.

Reflection 43

Reflection Columbus Museum Participatory 43

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 12, 2017

A cheerful curly-haired deli owner stands in front of 30 of us and shares a quote he loves: "Artists live in the present and write detailed histories of the future." You can write a vision for yourself, your organization, your project, or your team. It was even more useful to learn how participatory writing visions can be.

History 26

History Pennsylvania Michigan Indiana 26

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010

Over time the movement and arrangement of things trails a layered aesthetic that convey histories and narratives of changing communities passing through this unfolding three-story artwork. Elsewhere’s challenge today is how to continue modeling the public commons by practicing social exchanges through our set of things.

Collaboration 36

Collaboration North Carolina Museum Artist 36

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 18, 2008

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! Consider the experience of the Computer History Museum and their Yelp! event, the Computer History Museum had 15 reviews on Yelp! Projects participatory museum.

Museum 22

Museum Hosting Model Community 22

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 27, 2012

A national election is the ultimate participatory project. I talk a lot about the "why" behind our work at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History when I'm with donors, at conferences , or presenting at Rotary Clubs. Who's really going to read the fine print to find out why?

Product 51

Product Build Museum Arts 51

Museum 2.0

MARCH 18, 2015

I sat down with Emilyn Green, Executive Director of the Community Science Workshop Network , to learn more about their history, design, and engagement strategy. So the Community Science Workshop model is to put a drop-in, FREE community science center in a place that is walkable to kids'' lives and schools. We''re not going to do that.

Green 20

Green Interview Share Community 20

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 29, 2009

Last week, Jim Richardson and I hosted MuseumNext , a 24-hour workshop for museum professionals focused on bringing new, wild museum projects into the world. Wild idea" sessions , featuring six dream projects, some already in motion, others firmly ensconsed in their creators' heads. Facilitator bits.

Facilitation 32

Facilitation Reflection Museum Participatory 32

Museum 2.0

MAY 3, 2011

Last week, I talked with Tina Olsen, Director of Education and Public Programs at the Portland Art Museum, about their extraordinary Object Stories project. They designed a participatory project that delivers a compelling end product for onsite and online visitors… and they made some unexpected decisions along the way.

Story 53

Story Interview Museum Audio 53

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Yes, community involvement is at the heart of our shifted, successful business model. But that business model requires experienced staff who know how to empower people, facilitate meaningful participation, respond to community issues and interests, and ignite learning. What is the metaphor for participatory arts? Not a crowd.

Journal 54

Journal Participatory Museum Community 54

Museum 2.0

APRIL 24, 2012

I'll also be part of two sessions on Tuesday, May 1 - one in the morning about money and business models, and one in the afternoon about prototyping and experimentation. Here's what I'd love to explore at AAM this year: Event-driven models for museums. Participatory history programming. How prevalent is this?

Conversation 43

Conversation Participatory Museum Minneapolis 43

Museum 2.0

JUNE 2, 2010

Kathleen McLean (Independent Exhibitions), Dan Spock (Minnesota History Center), and Kris Morrissey (University of Washington) all shared thought-provoking and useful insights on visitor participation in museums, but Mark Allen and Emily Lacy brought down the house with their bluegrass rendering of the Machine Project and its engaging, quirky work.

Slides 22

Slides Museum Los Angeles San Jose 22

Museum 2.0

MAY 15, 2008

We have a show coming up right now about synthetic biology, where engineers are building life forms that are new to existence, new to the history of life. It's a show where the hosts model a way for YOU to have conversations with scientists, a way for regular people to engage with experts rather than deferring to or ignoring them.

Conversation 20

Conversation Arts Museum Voice 20

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 8, 2008

There are many models as well for what we do with user-generated content in the museum. And while some sites strive for transparency, most find ways to feature the kind of content and behavior that they want to see modeled for other users. Ideas participatory museum usercontent. There are some emerging case studies for this.

Authoring 42

Authoring Platform Museum YouTube 42

Connection Cafe

JUNE 29, 2020

Carefully vetting each project and partner is the due diligence required to make good decisions. Grantees painstakingly provide long histories of past performance, financial projections, and thorough descriptions of expected results. On the surface this feels reasonable, but in practice significant issues and challenges emerge.

Change 49

Change Proposal Grant Application 49

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

MARCH 6, 2019

While I originally wrote this post to advocate for more participatory practice (i.e. There are many models as well for what we do with user-generated content in the museum. And while some sites strive for transparency, most find ways to feature the kind of content and behavior that they want to see modeled for other users.

Authoring 44

Authoring Share Museum YouTube 44