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How do you create a team with a shared vision? Interview with Amy Hayes
Amy Hayes is the women’s softball coach at Bradley University, where she has lead her team to two championships in the last seven years. Her student-athletes have been recognized for every Bradley...
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How do you celebrate the program and not the check?
I often think about how goals are, or should be, powerful guides in museum work, in particular in program design and refinement. But lately I have been thinking differently about goals, and about how...
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Adults are Learners, Too
This guest post is by Jackie Delamatre, who also wrote the post “But will YOU be here?” for Museum Questions in January 2015. Jackie Delamatre is a museum educator. She teaches all ages (from babies to...
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What does good staff training look like?
At the PlayHouse, we brought on two new managers this week. These managers are responsible for supervising front line, daily operations – things like opening and closing registers, making sure the...
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When are education materials good marketing materials?
Two museums are planning a joint marketing campaign around the theme of “exploration.” Both museums promote exploration as part of their mission; one has an upcoming exhibit on the theme of space...
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What data do we use to define success?
On Tuesday we are hosting a cocktail party for major donors – people who, over the 15 years of building the PlayHouse, have donated $5000 or more. The goal of this event is to thank them for what they...
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What is the relationship between “community need” and museums?
In December, I asked readers “What are your museum questions?” One colleague, Andrea Jones, emailed me to say that she has been thinking about questions around “community need.” That email grew into an...
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How can museums share progressive ideas with culturally conservative visitors?
This past week I attended a lecture by Professor John Jost of NYU on the psychology of political orientation. His presentation led me to wonder about museums and the psychology of cultural liberalism...
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What is the role of museums in educational change?
Notebooks distributed at InterActivity 2016 Last week I attended “InterActivity,” the annual conference of the Association of Children’s Museum (ACM). This was my first ACM conference, and I learned...
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How does information help museums build capacity? Interview with Eileen Setti
A few weeks ago, I heard Eileen Setti speak on the topic of capacity building. I was struck by her emphasis on information, and began to wonder about what information we are bringing into museums,...
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What did I learn in my first year?
The Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum turned one year old last week. Amidst the birthday celebrations and thank you emails, I have been reflecting on the question: What did I learn from my first year...
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Exhibition Review: What Works, and Why?
Last week, I flew to New York City and went on a museum-visiting spree. I visited seven museums over four days, immersing myself in art, taking notes and thinking about new ideas, meeting with...
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How can museums contribute to dialogue about social justice when we are...
At the PlayHouse last weekend we celebrated Eid-al-Fitr — the Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan — as part of our Celebrate Peoria series. One visitor approached the manager on duty that day,...
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What are your best maker-based activities?
Like many children’s museums, the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum has a “maker” exhibit, where children can use tools (hammers, saws, drills, glue guns, etc) to make things. As I watch the Peoria...
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What if our school programs didn’t align with curriculum standards?
This guest post is by Claudia Ocello, President & CEO of Museum Partners Consulting, LLC. Claudia has over 25 years’ experience in museums working on exhibitions, education programs, accessibility...
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How can a children’s museum impact parenting?
This guest post is adapted from a conversation with Kristin Vannatta, Operations Manager at the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum. A few weeks ago Kristin told me, “Working at the PlayHouse has...
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How do you get the word out?
This week, I am thinking about marketing museum programs. Museums generally have a variety of programs to market, often to a range of audiences. And our success varies: At the PlayHouse we have some...
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What is an “Interpreter in Residence?” Interview with Michael Christiano
Michael Christiano is the Interim Senior Director of Museum Programs at the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago. In this role he develops strategies and programs that reflect on the nature...
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What is Museum Disruption?
This post is the result of a conversation with Ethan Angelica from Museum Hack, who is a Tour Guide & also responsible for VIP Partnerships. Ethan Angelica, Tour Guide at Museum Hack [HD] from...
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What responsibility do museums have for shaping the public’s relationship...
In March I had a conversation with an insightful colleague, Amy Boyle, an educator at the Guggenheim Museum. Amy suggested that open-ended interpretation might be problematic in a climate in which...
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