Expert insights. Personalized for you.
We are very excited to connect with the amazing people who work hard to amplify the online museum experience at this year’s virtual MuseWeb 2021 conference in April. Conversational Marketing: Can Chatbots Increase Engagement with Your Museum? MORE
The Western Museum Association was kind enough to invite me to speak on a panel about engagement at their annual meeting in Boise. Phillip’s early remark about museums was an invocation for everyone. As an outsider, he immediately saw that museums were operating “under a business model that doesn’t work.” He then went on to note that we run museums with the hopes of being supported by philanthropy, when in fact we could have a product that people want. MORE
TL;DR A lot of really shitty people hate museums and hate that museums would even attempt social justice therefore museums are okay, maybe. It is well documented that most jobs in museums pay poorly. Many museums perpetuate violence against marginalized people everyday. MORE
After the International Committee on Museums spent some time debating the definition of museums, many folks took up the charge on social media to give their own definitions. ICOM2019 #ICOMKyoto2019 — Dan Hicks (@profdanhicks) September 7, 2019 But this week I want to focus on a tweet by Dan Hicks who suggested instead of a definition we need museum verbs. I know I’m missing early innovators of interaction in museums; feel free to tell me who in the comments.) MORE
Museums and nonprofits can also reap huge benefits from employing artificial intelligence, particularly in their membership and development departments. Here are 4 ways AI can help museums and nonprofits deepen member engagement, increase attendance, more effectively communicate with donors, and drive revenue: Boost Your Staff’s Productivity. That’s why they can also come in handy in museums. Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. MORE
I''ve now been the executive director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History for three years. We talk a lot at our museum about empowering our visitors, collaborators, interns, and staff by making space for them to shine. A donor walked into the museum a few weeks ago, someone who supported me from day one, and she asked me, "why is this lobby still so cold and uninviting?" We''re investing a lot in a public plaza project outside of the museum. MORE
A new company in New York, Museum Hack , is reinventing the museum tour from the outside in. They give high-energy, interactive tours of the Metropolitan Museum and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). The tours are pricey, personalized, NOT affiliated with the museums involved… and very, very popular. Today on Museum 2.0, How did you first get involved with Museum Hack? Who is the audience for Museum Hack? MORE
Museum of Science and Industry. The Museum of Science and Industry's membership program had a large gap where very few people were contributing. " After looking at past data and finding new ways to talk about membership, the museum was able to grow its membership base and encourage donors to give more. Chicago Museum of Industry Community Data Leadership Mark Mathyer nptech nten Strategy Fundraising Mark Mathyer. Development and Membership Services Manager. MORE
Holocaust Museum Houston needed a volunteer management solution to help them recruit, engage, and manage volunteers, following expansion. Opened in 1996, Holocaust Museum Houston has become a valuable resource for community residents and people around the world. MORE
Beecher Hicks III, President & CEO of the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) in Nashville, TN. NMAAM is the only museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the many music genres created, influenced, and inspired by African Americans. MORE
They wanted to help museums and galleries across the UK make significant, sustained changes in the ways they engage community partners and visitors as participants in their work. The result, Our Museum , is an extraordinary funding program with a focus on community participation. In its first five years, Our Museum yielded real change at twelve diverse UK organizations. You could spend a day getting lost in the meaty, thoughtful writing and videos on the Our Museum site. MORE
Writing my masters thesis for Gothenburg University’s International Museum Studies program while also working four days a week as the Director of Community Programs at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History this spring was certainly a challenge but also an incredible opportunity. I chose to focus my thesis on Community and Civic Engagement in Museum Programs. This can be accomplished through a variety of feedback methods conducted both inside and outside the museum. MORE
TechSoup offers many donated and discounted products for nonprofit museums and history organizations, such as historical sites and societies, of every type. Here's our guide to what's most popular with our over 8,000 museum TechSoup members. Plus we've got some tips on some less well-known programs that are useful for museums. Nearly all museums and historical sites need Adobe Creative Cloud for developing compelling exhibits and educational web content. MORE
I write this piece in good faith about the organizations I know best: museums. The vast majority of American museums are institutions of white privilege. The popular reference point for what a museum is--a temple for contemplation--is based on a Euro-centric set of myths and implies a white set of behaviors. Three quick lenses on Whiteness and privilege in museums: Whiteness is in the language we use to describe the objects that we show and the programs we produce. MORE
Or maybe hello museum world! Previously, I had worked at the same museum for 17 years.) So, when you visit more than 300 museums, parks, and historic sites, what do you learn? This week, I wanted to start with us, museum and cultural workers. Each label, I assure you, is a testament to the care of scores of museum workers. I attempted to do some of the interactives in the National Museum of Scotland with encouragement from the education staff there. MORE
It invites visitors to make the museum better. When visitors share their brilliance, it brings the museum to life. I believe that every person who walks into our museum has something valuable to share. This is the participatory museum, played out loud. creative placemaking Museum of Art and History participatory museum usercontent visitorsIt's late in the afternoon. MORE
Recently, we''ve been talking at our museum about techniques for capturing compelling audio/video content with visitors. It made me dig up this 2011 interview with Tina Olsen (then at the Portland Art Museum) about their extraordinary Object Stories project. We ended up with a gallery in the museum instead. The other parts of the gallery are for experiencing the stories, and for connecting with the Museum collection. interview Museums Engaging in 2.0 MORE
While many American museums require 37.5 The whole issue of wages gets at the heart of the faulty systems of capitalism, the culture of women’s work, and museums as privilege-concentrating institutions. Museums might earn their philanthropy partly through commercial enterprises, but for a very long time, their workplaces were run very differently. In the last twenty years, or so, professionalization has changed museum work. We are at that museum way more than 37.5 MORE
I was thinking I’d do a few alternative histories of museums for the first post of the last month of the decade. As I imagined a world without the many museum tech projects of the decade, I felt inherently sad about the imagining away the successes that friends and colleagues have enjoying. As I imagined a world without Nina Simon ’s Participatory Museum , I felt sad about all the visitors whose voices (and post-it note comments) weren’t honored. MORE
It's time to make your dreams a reality and apply to become the next executive director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH). When you check out the job description , you'll see the MAH is not looking for museum-director-as-usual. Museum of Art and HistoryHey, you. Yeah you, generous community builder. You, brilliant manager. You, fearless fundraiser. You, playful leader. MORE
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. Now, a year later, I've seen the beginnings of how that question has borne out at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH) , as well as hearing from folks around the museum industry about the interplay of exhibitions and events at their own institutions. MORE
In the spirit of this belief, I’ve decided to unleash the Museum 2.0 For that reason, I’m thrilled to announce that over the next two months, I’ll be transferring ownership of Museum 2.0 Seema is a brilliant museum educator, a generous spacemaker, a prolific writer, and a creative troublemaker. She is committed to community participation, equity, and innovation in museums. I know Museum 2.0 I’m excited to reconnect in August and share more about what Museum 2.0 MORE
Beecher Hicks III, President & CEO of the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) in Nashville, TN. NMAAM is the only museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the many music genres created, influenced, and inspired by African Americans. MORE
We connect with people both professionally and personally, at the museum and on the street. This weekend, I got my answer in Seoul--the 18th biggest city in the world--at Hello Museum. Nestled in a forest of high-rise apartment buildings, this small museum connects children and families with contemporary art. Like the New Children's Museum in San Diego, Hello Museum creates building-wide interactive exhibitions with artists, on themes like nature and #NoWar. MORE
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. How can you take something as substantial and precious as a museum and add a pop up twist? We have created a free and downloadable pop up museum organizer’s kit. MORE
Nina Simon, Lauren Bentua, and many others would host us in the halls of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art. When we think about mapping these ideas onto an organization I think about how museum leadership can take these on personally as individuals (CEO, COO) and as departments (Human Resources, Education) and so on. Science museums are a forum and a space for communities to tackle issues that are important to them- climate change, poverty, food insecurity, air and water quality. MORE
I wanted to put in a plug for the Tech Museum Awards. Here's the blurb from the nice people at the Tech Museum: Nomination Deadline: March 24, 2008 Nominations are being accepted for the 2008 Tech Museum Awards, an international Awards Program that honors innovators from around the world who are applying technology to benefit humanity. We've been a Laureate twice (for Bookshare.org and Martus) in the past, and it's a great honor and a great event. MORE
This month we’ve been thinking about “What is a museum?” (I'm I’ve been visiting museums my whole life. Does that make me the best judge of museums? People are the defining characteristics of museums. I’ve worked with and at plenty of museums that can sometimes feel empty. When the galleries are quiet, with my clipclop shoes the only sound, the museum feels dead. Her answer is what many a museum professional would want people to say. Museum matter. MORE
Monday, May 18th is International Museum Day , the mission of which is to raise awareness of the fact that, “museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among peoples.”. MORE
Written by Seema Rao Last month, I shared some of my thoughts about the best of museums over the last decades. (I I'll mention now, Kate Livingston, listed Museum Twitter as one of the best things, and I definitely thought this as I read people's responses. MORE
Here are a few of the hashtags I''ve seen applied to photographs of museum objects on Instagram lately: #heytherebigfella #biggysmallistheillest #forbrightfuture #myfavorite #instagood #bestday #withmyhomies #whatever #learnedfromthebest #revolutionary #nowicandie These tags all do a great job capturing the magic of exploring a museum. They position museums as social starting points, experiences worth sharing, braggable moments. MORE
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. Seema) In some museum work places, the culture of stress is tied to perceived effort, as you mention. Q: Do you know any museums that have implemented telecommuting successfully? MORE
It gave me a chance to really think about how we have been opening up our museum and what it means for our community. Museums can be incredible catalysts for social change. We're doing it in Santa Cruz and it has absolutely transformed our museum into a thriving community institution. We see every visitor who walks in the door as a contributor who can make our museum better. How can we make museum objects more like dogs? Museum of Art and History Core Museum 2.0 MORE
Museums, archives, and libraries share many goals and functions. The items that museums, archives, and libraries collect reflect the human spirit. Archivists, librarians, and museum curators understand this in a very personal way because this is what curation is all about. MORE
Specifically, AI can be applied in educational spaces like museums. Because museums are heavily reliant on the work of volunteers , it is difficult to have staff members continuously answering questions and engaging with visitors. MORE
This month, we're thinking about the way we do work in museums. As someone texted me recently, Art History grad school didn't teach us anything about working with others in museums. Sharing articles that work is a great reason to stay on Museum Twitter by the way. MORE
As a Historic Interpreter for Telfair Museums, I would lead visitors through the Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters on a 45 minute guided tour of antebellum Savannah history discussing politics and urban slavery. When the Museum closed I was expecting the next few weeks to be different. MORE
After our complete closure on March 16, 2020 due to COVID-19 , our museum staff was busier than ever preparing to navigate these uncharted times. Carey Cahoon is the Database Administrator and Strategist at the Currier Museum of Art, overseeing and providing staff support for Altru. MORE
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. First Friday is not just a Museum event; it happens all over Santa Cruz and has grown tremendously over the past few years. More people come to the event who don't casually visit the museum than the other way around. MORE
In this age of increasing hacks and cybercrime, the Norman Rockwell Museum has a lot of digital assets, museum operations data, and private patron data that need to be protected. Find out why Frank Kennedy, IT manager at the Rockwell museum, chose Veritas Backup Exec to be a key part of the museum's security strategy. About the Museum. The museum now has 140,000 annual visitors, and 220,000 people view its traveling exhibitions each year. MORE
These two adages were both in my mind last week when I asked people for the worst museum trends. In this decade museums worst trends were in labor and tech: 1. Suse Anderson spoke about the drawbacks of professionalization: Moves to “professionalise” the sector that make an MA entry level + cost of grad school + systemic under compensation —> further embedding class stasis of who can work in museums, whilst making public arguments for DEAI that contradict institutional actions. MORE
It’s 2019, and a whole lot is changing in the museum and nonprofit world. That’s not to mention how strained museums already are in terms of resources. According to the American Alliance of Museums, the average museum has 6 volunteers for every paid staff member , a ratio which s oars to 18:1 in museums with budgets under $250,000. Adding to this equation, more museums are starting to unionize. MORE
Museum Membership Software can take all the administrative and membership tasks at a museum and automate them completely while you focus on what’s important — your members and your collection MORE
Then, I get home, confined to the couch with a terrible sinus headache, to find ICOM was debating the definition of a museum. ICOM matters because museums are a global phenomenon. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed interacting with all the international museum folks at conferences, particularly at AAM. ICOM might not seem to matter to our workdays in American museums, but it does matter global. People can only define museums on what we have now. MORE
Museum Related Topics 
Volunteer Hub
JULY 26, 2021
Holocaust Museum Houston needed a volunteer management solution to help them recruit, engage, and manage volunteers, following expansion. Opened in 1996, Holocaust Museum Houston has become a valuable resource for community residents and people around the world.
TechSoup
JULY 5, 2021
Specifically, AI can be applied in educational spaces like museums. Because museums are heavily reliant on the work of volunteers , it is difficult to have staff members continuously answering questions and engaging with visitors.
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Museum 2.0
NOVEMBER 26, 2019
This month, we're thinking about the way we do work in museums. As someone texted me recently, Art History grad school didn't teach us anything about working with others in museums. Sharing articles that work is a great reason to stay on Museum Twitter by the way.
Forum One
APRIL 13, 2021
Museums, archives, and libraries share many goals and functions. The items that museums, archives, and libraries collect reflect the human spirit. Archivists, librarians, and museum curators understand this in a very personal way because this is what curation is all about.
Museum 2.0
SEPTEMBER 24, 2019
This month we’ve been thinking about “What is a museum?” (I'm I’ve been visiting museums my whole life. Does that make me the best judge of museums? People are the defining characteristics of museums. I’ve worked with and at plenty of museums that can sometimes feel empty. When the galleries are quiet, with my clipclop shoes the only sound, the museum feels dead. Her answer is what many a museum professional would want people to say. Museum matter.
Museum 2.0
NOVEMBER 5, 2019
While many American museums require 37.5 The whole issue of wages gets at the heart of the faulty systems of capitalism, the culture of women’s work, and museums as privilege-concentrating institutions. Museums might earn their philanthropy partly through commercial enterprises, but for a very long time, their workplaces were run very differently. In the last twenty years, or so, professionalization has changed museum work. We are at that museum way more than 37.5
Museum 2.0
SEPTEMBER 10, 2019
Then, I get home, confined to the couch with a terrible sinus headache, to find ICOM was debating the definition of a museum. ICOM matters because museums are a global phenomenon. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed interacting with all the international museum folks at conferences, particularly at AAM. ICOM might not seem to matter to our workdays in American museums, but it does matter global. People can only define museums on what we have now.
sgEngage
APRIL 6, 2021
Beecher Hicks III, President & CEO of the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) in Nashville, TN. NMAAM is the only museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the many music genres created, influenced, and inspired by African Americans.
Museum 2.0
JULY 10, 2019
Or maybe hello museum world! Previously, I had worked at the same museum for 17 years.) So, when you visit more than 300 museums, parks, and historic sites, what do you learn? This week, I wanted to start with us, museum and cultural workers. Each label, I assure you, is a testament to the care of scores of museum workers. I attempted to do some of the interactives in the National Museum of Scotland with encouragement from the education staff there.
Museum 2.0
MARCH 25, 2021
TL;DR A lot of really shitty people hate museums and hate that museums would even attempt social justice therefore museums are okay, maybe. It is well documented that most jobs in museums pay poorly. Many museums perpetuate violence against marginalized people everyday.
Connection Cafe
MAY 7, 2020
Monday, May 18th is International Museum Day , the mission of which is to raise awareness of the fact that, “museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among peoples.”.
Museum 2.0
MAY 7, 2020
As a Historic Interpreter for Telfair Museums, I would lead visitors through the Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters on a 45 minute guided tour of antebellum Savannah history discussing politics and urban slavery. When the Museum closed I was expecting the next few weeks to be different.
Museum 2.0
JUNE 10, 2020
Nina Simon, Lauren Bentua, and many others would host us in the halls of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art. When we think about mapping these ideas onto an organization I think about how museum leadership can take these on personally as individuals (CEO, COO) and as departments (Human Resources, Education) and so on. Science museums are a forum and a space for communities to tackle issues that are important to them- climate change, poverty, food insecurity, air and water quality.
Museum 2.0
SEPTEMBER 17, 2019
After the International Committee on Museums spent some time debating the definition of museums, many folks took up the charge on social media to give their own definitions. ICOM2019 #ICOMKyoto2019 — Dan Hicks (@profdanhicks) September 7, 2019 But this week I want to focus on a tweet by Dan Hicks who suggested instead of a definition we need museum verbs. I know I’m missing early innovators of interaction in museums; feel free to tell me who in the comments.)
Museum 2.0
JULY 1, 2019
In the spirit of this belief, I’ve decided to unleash the Museum 2.0 For that reason, I’m thrilled to announce that over the next two months, I’ll be transferring ownership of Museum 2.0 Seema is a brilliant museum educator, a generous spacemaker, a prolific writer, and a creative troublemaker. She is committed to community participation, equity, and innovation in museums. I know Museum 2.0 I’m excited to reconnect in August and share more about what Museum 2.0
Connection Cafe
SEPTEMBER 22, 2020
After our complete closure on March 16, 2020 due to COVID-19 , our museum staff was busier than ever preparing to navigate these uncharted times. Carey Cahoon is the Database Administrator and Strategist at the Currier Museum of Art, overseeing and providing staff support for Altru.
Wild Apricot
MARCH 5, 2018
Museum Membership Software can take all the administrative and membership tasks at a museum and automate them completely while you focus on what’s important — your members and your collection
Museum 2.0
DECEMBER 23, 2014
A new company in New York, Museum Hack , is reinventing the museum tour from the outside in. They give high-energy, interactive tours of the Metropolitan Museum and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). The tours are pricey, personalized, NOT affiliated with the museums involved… and very, very popular. Today on Museum 2.0, How did you first get involved with Museum Hack? Who is the audience for Museum Hack?
Connection Cafe
APRIL 6, 2021
Beecher Hicks III, President & CEO of the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) in Nashville, TN. NMAAM is the only museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the many music genres created, influenced, and inspired by African Americans.
Museum 2.0
DECEMBER 3, 2019
I was thinking I’d do a few alternative histories of museums for the first post of the last month of the decade. As I imagined a world without the many museum tech projects of the decade, I felt inherently sad about the imagining away the successes that friends and colleagues have enjoying. As I imagined a world without Nina Simon ’s Participatory Museum , I felt sad about all the visitors whose voices (and post-it note comments) weren’t honored.
Connection Cafe
JULY 23, 2019
It’s 2019, and a whole lot is changing in the museum and nonprofit world. That’s not to mention how strained museums already are in terms of resources. According to the American Alliance of Museums, the average museum has 6 volunteers for every paid staff member , a ratio which s oars to 18:1 in museums with budgets under $250,000. Adding to this equation, more museums are starting to unionize.
Museum 2.0
DECEMBER 17, 2019
These two adages were both in my mind last week when I asked people for the worst museum trends. In this decade museums worst trends were in labor and tech: 1. Suse Anderson spoke about the drawbacks of professionalization: Moves to “professionalise” the sector that make an MA entry level + cost of grad school + systemic under compensation —> further embedding class stasis of who can work in museums, whilst making public arguments for DEAI that contradict institutional actions.
Museum 2.0
MARCH 6, 2018
It invites visitors to make the museum better. When visitors share their brilliance, it brings the museum to life. I believe that every person who walks into our museum has something valuable to share. This is the participatory museum, played out loud. creative placemaking Museum of Art and History participatory museum usercontent visitorsIt's late in the afternoon.
Museum 2.0
DECEMBER 9, 2019
Written by Seema Rao Last month, I shared some of my thoughts about the best of museums over the last decades. (I I'll mention now, Kate Livingston, listed Museum Twitter as one of the best things, and I definitely thought this as I read people's responses.
NTEN
FEBRUARY 24, 2014
Museum of Science and Industry. The Museum of Science and Industry's membership program had a large gap where very few people were contributing. " After looking at past data and finding new ways to talk about membership, the museum was able to grow its membership base and encourage donors to give more. Chicago Museum of Industry Community Data Leadership Mark Mathyer nptech nten Strategy Fundraising Mark Mathyer. Development and Membership Services Manager.
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. First Friday is not just a Museum event; it happens all over Santa Cruz and has grown tremendously over the past few years. More people come to the event who don't casually visit the museum than the other way around.
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. Seema) In some museum work places, the culture of stress is tied to perceived effort, as you mention. Q: Do you know any museums that have implemented telecommuting successfully?
Museum 2.0
NOVEMBER 13, 2012
It gave me a chance to really think about how we have been opening up our museum and what it means for our community. Museums can be incredible catalysts for social change. We're doing it in Santa Cruz and it has absolutely transformed our museum into a thriving community institution. We see every visitor who walks in the door as a contributor who can make our museum better. How can we make museum objects more like dogs? Museum of Art and History Core Museum 2.0
Connection Cafe
AUGUST 1, 2019
Museums and nonprofits can also reap huge benefits from employing artificial intelligence, particularly in their membership and development departments. Here are 4 ways AI can help museums and nonprofits deepen member engagement, increase attendance, more effectively communicate with donors, and drive revenue: Boost Your Staff’s Productivity. That’s why they can also come in handy in museums. Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Tech Soup Blog
JANUARY 10, 2017
TechSoup offers many donated and discounted products for nonprofit museums and history organizations, such as historical sites and societies, of every type. Here's our guide to what's most popular with our over 8,000 museum TechSoup members. Plus we've got some tips on some less well-known programs that are useful for museums. Nearly all museums and historical sites need Adobe Creative Cloud for developing compelling exhibits and educational web content.
Museum 2.0
NOVEMBER 12, 2018
We connect with people both professionally and personally, at the museum and on the street. This weekend, I got my answer in Seoul--the 18th biggest city in the world--at Hello Museum. Nestled in a forest of high-rise apartment buildings, this small museum connects children and families with contemporary art. Like the New Children's Museum in San Diego, Hello Museum creates building-wide interactive exhibitions with artists, on themes like nature and #NoWar.
Museum 2.0
DECEMBER 17, 2018
It's time to make your dreams a reality and apply to become the next executive director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH). When you check out the job description , you'll see the MAH is not looking for museum-director-as-usual. Museum of Art and HistoryHey, you. Yeah you, generous community builder. You, brilliant manager. You, fearless fundraiser. You, playful leader.
Museum 2.0
OCTOBER 15, 2019
The Western Museum Association was kind enough to invite me to speak on a panel about engagement at their annual meeting in Boise. Phillip’s early remark about museums was an invocation for everyone. As an outsider, he immediately saw that museums were operating “under a business model that doesn’t work.” He then went on to note that we run museums with the hopes of being supported by philanthropy, when in fact we could have a product that people want.
Museum 2.0
OCTOBER 1, 2014
Recently, we''ve been talking at our museum about techniques for capturing compelling audio/video content with visitors. It made me dig up this 2011 interview with Tina Olsen (then at the Portland Art Museum) about their extraordinary Object Stories project. We ended up with a gallery in the museum instead. The other parts of the gallery are for experiencing the stories, and for connecting with the Museum collection. interview Museums Engaging in 2.0
Tech Soup Blog
OCTOBER 3, 2017
In this age of increasing hacks and cybercrime, the Norman Rockwell Museum has a lot of digital assets, museum operations data, and private patron data that need to be protected. Find out why Frank Kennedy, IT manager at the Rockwell museum, chose Veritas Backup Exec to be a key part of the museum's security strategy. About the Museum. The museum now has 140,000 annual visitors, and 220,000 people view its traveling exhibitions each year.
Museum 2.0
AUGUST 25, 2016
They wanted to help museums and galleries across the UK make significant, sustained changes in the ways they engage community partners and visitors as participants in their work. The result, Our Museum , is an extraordinary funding program with a focus on community participation. In its first five years, Our Museum yielded real change at twelve diverse UK organizations. You could spend a day getting lost in the meaty, thoughtful writing and videos on the Our Museum site.
Beneblog: Technology Meets Society
MARCH 23, 2008
I wanted to put in a plug for the Tech Museum Awards. Here's the blurb from the nice people at the Tech Museum: Nomination Deadline: March 24, 2008 Nominations are being accepted for the 2008 Tech Museum Awards, an international Awards Program that honors innovators from around the world who are applying technology to benefit humanity. We've been a Laureate twice (for Bookshare.org and Martus) in the past, and it's a great honor and a great event.
Museum 2.0
MARCH 19, 2014
Here are a few of the hashtags I''ve seen applied to photographs of museum objects on Instagram lately: #heytherebigfella #biggysmallistheillest #forbrightfuture #myfavorite #instagood #bestday #withmyhomies #whatever #learnedfromthebest #revolutionary #nowicandie These tags all do a great job capturing the magic of exploring a museum. They position museums as social starting points, experiences worth sharing, braggable moments.
Museum 2.0
MAY 21, 2014
I''ve now been the executive director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History for three years. We talk a lot at our museum about empowering our visitors, collaborators, interns, and staff by making space for them to shine. A donor walked into the museum a few weeks ago, someone who supported me from day one, and she asked me, "why is this lobby still so cold and uninviting?" We''re investing a lot in a public plaza project outside of the museum.
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. How can you take something as substantial and precious as a museum and add a pop up twist? We have created a free and downloadable pop up museum organizer’s kit.
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. Now, a year later, I've seen the beginnings of how that question has borne out at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH) , as well as hearing from folks around the museum industry about the interplay of exhibitions and events at their own institutions.
Museum 2.0
MARCH 6, 2013
I write this piece in good faith about the organizations I know best: museums. The vast majority of American museums are institutions of white privilege. The popular reference point for what a museum is--a temple for contemplation--is based on a Euro-centric set of myths and implies a white set of behaviors. Three quick lenses on Whiteness and privilege in museums: Whiteness is in the language we use to describe the objects that we show and the programs we produce.
Museum 2.0
SEPTEMBER 26, 2012
Writing my masters thesis for Gothenburg University’s International Museum Studies program while also working four days a week as the Director of Community Programs at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History this spring was certainly a challenge but also an incredible opportunity. I chose to focus my thesis on Community and Civic Engagement in Museum Programs. This can be accomplished through a variety of feedback methods conducted both inside and outside the museum.
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