Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 1, 2012

Last week, Douglas McLellan of artsJournal ran a multi-vocal forum on the relationship between arts organizations and audiences, asking: In this age of self expression and information overload, do our artists and arts organizations need to lead more or learn to follow their communities more? Here are three of my favorites.

Arts 45

Arts Museum Artist Tucson 45

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

I was talking this week with Mark Allen, the founder of Machine Project (an alternative arts space in LA), about different models for community engagement in cultural institutions. For example, consider two independent arts organizations in Los Angeles -- Machine Project and The Public School.

Voice 42

Voice Museum Denver Participatory 42

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

I''m glad to see coverage about art museums involving visitors in exhibitions. There are many curator and museum director voices in the article, but not a single quote from a visitor who engaged in one of these community projects. The metaphor for traditional art museums is the temple. Projects participatory museum'

Journal 54

Journal Community Museum Participatory 54

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

FEBRUARY 24, 2009

I remember in 2005 the Global Voices Summit used IRC as a backchannel -- no so much for people in the room, but for remote participation. How can we use them as a test of how things are going at the conference? How can we play further with the distance between those up there - on the podium and those in the audience?

Conference 69

Conference Reflection Resource Tips 69

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 26, 2012

Visitors bond and bridge through participatory experiences at MAH. There were times when coordinating a fire art festival while researching social capital theory made me want to burn my computer. I learn a ton from her every day and wanted to share her thinking--and her graduate thesis--with you.

Museum 49

Museum Program Community Participatory 49

Museum 2.0

MARCH 17, 2010

This is the second in a four-part series about writing The Participatory Museum. Several hundred people contributed their opinions, stories, suggestions, and edits to The Participatory Museum as it was written. Several said things like, "I was curious to see how this kind of participatory, collaborative approach would work in practice."

Participatory 32

Participatory Museum Process Experiment 32

Museum 2.0

APRIL 7, 2009

Which of these descriptions exemplifies participatory museum practice? But the difference between the two examples teases out a problem in differentiating "participatory design" from "design for participation." In the first case, you are making the design process participatory. In the second, you make the product participatory.

Participatory 27

Participatory Design Difference Museum 27

NTEN

NOVEMBER 4, 2014

As we try to raise support for 2015, we wanted to share the impact of your donation from last year, from the voices of our scholarship recipients. Today, we want to introduce you to Leah Horn , Director of Marketing and Communications at the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF). What is your organization''s mission?

Donation 64

Donation Impact Share NTEN 64

Museum 2.0

APRIL 25, 2011

I've seen this line of questioning almost completely disappear in the past two years due to many research studies and reports on the value and rise of participation, but in 2006-7, social media and participatory culture was still seen as nascent (and possibly a passing fad). In 2008, the conversation started shifting to "how" and "what."

Question 49

Question Participatory Museum Evaluation 49

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

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. 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.

Museum 45

Museum Question Participatory Evaluation 45

Museum 2.0

APRIL 19, 2010

Last week, Dr. Louise Govier posed this provocative question in an excellent paper on co-creation in the arts: Leaders in co-creation? Why and how museums could develop their co-creative practice with the public, building on ideas from the performing arts and other non-museum organisations (free to download).

Arts 22

Arts Museum Participatory Lesson 22

Museum 2.0

JUNE 29, 2011

As a researcher and activist for participation, I've sometimes downplayed the value of this charm because it seems like arsenal for professionals who claim participatory projects are frivolous. "Be My goal is to eventually be surrounded by the voices of our visitors--funny, sweet, demanding--so they can inspire me all day long.

Museum 47

Museum Participatory Comment Professional 47

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

The Leading Change Summit was more intimate (several hundred people), participatory and interactive, intense, and stimulating. I designed this exercise after a delightful experience visiting the Barnes Foundation Museum where the art work is hung on the wall in a way to facilitate pattern recognition and learning about art concepts.

Reflection 127

Reflection NTEN Change Facilitation 127

The Modern Nonprofit

MAY 1, 2024

Well-planned events enable nonprofits, community groups, businesses and government agencies to showcase AAPI arts, food, performances, and more. The Art of Celebration: Showcasing AAPI Cultural Richness Incorporating cultural performances and art displays is a great way to bring the essence of AAPI heritage to life at your event.

Celebrate 59

Celebrate Education Fundraising Culture 59

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.

Community 43

Community Reflection Online Museum 43

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 15, 2014

Schools and other arts organizations are rising to the challenge. Artists and arts organizations are contributing their spaces and their creative energies. And pop culture icons, from basketball players to rock stars , are making highly visible commentary with their clothes and voices. What should be our role(s)? inclusion'

Museum 52

Museum Blogger Cleveland Culture 52

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 23, 2014

They were “preaching the museum gospel” in NYC via alternative tours at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. We interacted with the art and with each other through dynamic photo challenges, kinesthetic activities, and conversations. I imagine that there are a lot more presumed barriers to break down at an art museum than a science museum.

Museum 55

Museum Interview Interaction Arts 55

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

It is always challenge to use participatory techniques when your participants are not native English speakers and you don’t speak the language. I thought I’d share a few quick insights and tips that I learned for others who may be preparing for doing tech training internationally and want to use participatory techniques.

Facilitation 50

Facilitation Train Training International 50

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 25, 2016

Most participatory projects were short-term, siloed innovations, not institutional transformations. Interestingly--for good and ill--this transformative funding program coincided with a national funding crisis in the arts in the UK. Bernadette Peters' provocative 2011 report, Whose Cake is it Anyway? didn't mince words. and realistic.

Museum 20

Museum Participatory Resource Place 20

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

What does the word "participatory" mean to you? The various definitions of participatory projects can lead to confusion and misunderstandings. Participation in science research is a good basis on which to develop a framework for participatory models because it is based on a consistent scientific process with many steps.

Public 36

Public Research Participatory Lesson 36

Museum 2.0

MARCH 27, 2009

This week, the Denver Art Museum (DAM) opened a new temporary exhibition called The Psychedelic Experience , featuring rock posters from San Francisco in the heyday of Bill Graham and electric kool-aid. It’s a thrilling challenge to the traditional form of art museum exhibit design, and better yet, visitors like it.

Museum 21

Museum Denver Arts Participatory 21

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 5, 2008

I was captivated by Chris Alexander 's story about participatory online/onsite efforts at the San Jose Museum of Art (SJMA). The comments, which were previously unmoderated, suddenly were overloaded with opportunists who wanted their voice to be heard on the YouTube homepage.

Case Study 20

Case Study Participatory Studies Museum 20

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 7, 2010

I also learned that the best money in museums for someone who's starting out is in art modeling. After a long day running around a science center, I would show up at the Worcester Art Museum in the evening and make $20 just to stand around and listen to a painting instructor talk about art. I hope this is helpful for someone.

Museum 52

Museum Ideas Job Project 52

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 8, 2008

In these conversations, people often say, "don't expert voices matter?" It lets you be the only expert with a voice. Single voices represented on single labels is not scalable. Ideas participatory museum usercontent. If the museum isn't in control, how can it thrive? We have to change the framing of this conversation.

Authoring 42

Authoring Platform Museum Content 42

Everyaction

OCTOBER 5, 2016

The Digital Media and Learning Conference is meant to be an inclusive, international and annual gathering of scholars and practitioners in the field, focused on fostering interdisciplinary and participatory dialogue and linking theory, empirical study, policy, and practice. National Arts Marketing Project Conference. 11/10/2016.

Conference 111

Conference Calendar Nonprofit DC 111

Museum 2.0

MARCH 15, 2010

It's not the extent to which they are participatory. In some cases, that's based on subject matter, as at the Museum of Jurassic Technology or the American Visionary Art Museum. Small museums, which are most likely to cultivate local, distinctive voice and approaches, often have an inferiority complex.

Museum 41

Museum Support St. Louis Children 41

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

APRIL 21, 2015

As the book points out, while fast, frequent, and informal makes it all sound easy, there is an art to it. Sharing has to help spread authenticity, emotion, and point of view. Participatory engagement invites people to answer a particular question or comment on a post. This means sharing stories and visuals.

Digital 50

Digital Strategy Chapter Advice 50

Bloomerang

MAY 21, 2021

The kind of strategic planning processes that I lead are inclusive and participatory which means that the group is consulted, the vision of the group, the energy, we kind of tap into the energy, vision, knowledge, experience of the people who will be doing the work in order to make plans. Where are we not putting our energy? ” Okay.

Video 127

Video Nonprofit Question Process 127

Museum 2.0

MARCH 6, 2019

This week, I've had multiple conversations with colleagues in the arts, symphonies, and urban planning about the fear professionals have about "losing control" when opening up new opportunities for people to participate. While I originally wrote this post to advocate for more participatory practice (i.e. Content expertise matters.

Authoring 44

Authoring Share Museum Content 44

Museum 2.0

JULY 18, 2017

This month, we opened a new exhibition at the MAH, Lost Childhoods: Voices of Santa Cruz County Foster Youth and Foster Youth Museum (brief video clip from opening night here ). it uses art, history, artifacts, and storytelling to illuminate a big human story and an urgent social issue.

Action 44

Action Childhood Info Artist 44

Non Profit Quarterly

FEBRUARY 17, 2025

We dont have digital data for a lot of human intelligence, because people werent valuing the people who produce those books, or the people who produce that art. We call this coproduction, or participatory designits the idea that the people whom youre presumably affecting with the use of this technology should be part of the process.

Reflection 69

Reflection Model Technology Train 69

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 9, 2017

Hosted by a sound art collective, Ultra-red, the 2015 event promised "to investigate listening as a political activity and to interrogate the stakes of participation in neoliberalism." When should you turn down the invitation to share your voice? There are many ways for voices to get chopped and twisted.

Museum 20

Museum Participatory Voice Press 20

Museum 2.0

JULY 27, 2009

I’ve long admired Improv Everywhere , the NYC-based participatory public art group. For about half an hour, hundreds of people play together, silently, as directed by disembodied voices inside their headphones. The voice tells you what to do –stand up, shake hands, play Twister, make silly shapes—and you do it.

Instructional 21

Instructional Instruction Experiment Nicaragua 21

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 6, 2019

I spent 2007-2011 traveling the world, doing participatory projects and consulting gigs, and writing my first book. You gave me support as I struggled to lead a museum through a participatory rebirth. In 2015, as I was writing my second book, The Art of Relevance, my grip on that magic feather loosened. I love the Museum 2.0

Museum 27

Museum Reflection Participatory Attitude 27

Museum 2.0

JUNE 2, 2010

This session was participatory in several ways, including interactive music-making machines in the audience and half the time reserved for Q&A. A few things I learned from the presentations and discussion: Dan shared a useful 4-step mental model for the progression of how institutions move towards participatory engagement.

Slides 22

Slides Museum Participatory San Jose 22

Museum 2.0

JULY 20, 2016

One hundred years ago, John Cotton Dana, founder of the Newark Museum and godfather of modern museums, famously said: “A great department store, easily reached, open at all hours, is more like a good museum of art than any of the museums we have yet established." That work showed in the human voices and stories throughout the museum.

Museum 20

Museum Audience Arts Music 20

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 25, 2009

One of the things that makes the visitor stories contributed in the Denver Art Museum's Side Trip exhibition so compelling and on-topic is a design approach that elevates visitors' responses to comparable footing with the predesigned content. Tags: Talking to Strangers design participatory museum usercontent interactives.

Goal 31

Goal Difference Design Platform 31