Forum One

JUNE 6, 2024

Think like a musician Those who have played music in a band or orchestra or sang in a choir understand the profound impact of an engaged and participatory audience. Assessing the access to assets early on in the project helped us understand the focus for creating new illustrations and animations later on.

Design 51

Design Create Music Storytelling 51

Museum 2.0

MAY 22, 2012

Imagine you've just been tasked with developing an innovative, future-thinking national museum for your country's history. Blueprint is the story of a group of people who tried to create a Dutch Museum of National History (INNL). The root of my frustration with the book is not that the project never came to fruition.

Museum 36

Museum History Netherlands Create 36

Museum 2.0

MARCH 4, 2015

This week marks five years since the book The Participatory Museum was first released. I thought the pinnacle of participatory practice was an exhibit that could inspire collective visitor action without facilitation. Over the past four years, I''ve been running a small regional art and history museum in Santa Cruz, CA.

Participatory 20

Participatory Museum Empowerment Facilitation 20

Museum 2.0

MARCH 29, 2011

Last month, I learned about a fabulous, simple participatory experiment called “Case by Case” at the San Diego Museum of Natural History that uses visitor feedback to develop more effective object labels. I hope you are as inspired as I am by this project! Our problem is this.

San Diego 55

San Diego History Museum Participatory 55

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 4, 2010

I want to share a few fabulous evaluation and research studies that have greatly informed my work (and specifically, the development of The Participatory Museum , which is going to the printer this weekend). A paper on "Evaluating participatory, deliberative, and co-operative ways of working," put out by the InterAct group in England.

Participatory 20

Participatory Evaluation Project Report 20

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

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 whole process of being interviewed for the story made me question the stories we tell and words we use to describe participatory work. What is the metaphor for participatory arts?

Journal 54

Journal Participatory Museum Community 54

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 13, 2011

The best participatory projects are useful. The participatory activity in question is part of the new Unfinished Business gallery, a room in which the museum engages with a contemporary issue related to the passion and work of Jane Addams and the historic Hull-House activist residents. Yes, this activity is political.

Participatory 44

Participatory Museum Action Experiment 44

Museum 2.0

JULY 23, 2014

The Silk Mill is part of the Derby Museums , a public institution of art, history, and natural history. In the fall of 2013, they launched Re:Make , an ambitious project to redevelop the museum, live, on the floor, with a mix of staff, guest artists, and community members. Or factory life in the 1700s. It''s serious.

Museum 53

Museum Product Participatory Community 53

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

Our museum in Santa Cruz has been slammed by those who believe participatory experiences have gone too far. We always knew that the inclusion of participatory and community-centered practices in arts institutions was controversial. To me, the backlash against participatory and community-centered experiences is not surprising.

Participatory 53

Participatory Museum Arts History 53

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

There are many different forms of engagement with many different outcomes depending on your goals, your project, or your institution." Inspired by Stacy, I wanted to share some of the work we are doing at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History to clarify what we mean by engagement. But just naming it encourages us to talk about it.

Goal 48

Goal Museum Evaluation History 48

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

MAY 7, 2010

Nina has written a fantastic book engagement called The Participatory Museum. Imagine sitting around a conference table planning an upcoming project that involves user-generated content. A third argues that the project won’t be truly participatory unless users get to define what content is sought in the first place.

Model 98

Model Active Activism Activities 98

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 25, 2018

For the past five years, each summer, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History has hosted MuseumCamp. Come share your projects, challenges, questions, wild successes and epic failures with creative changemakers from around the world. Develop compelling, powerful participatory offers and promises for your prospective partners.

Community 31

Community Participatory Museum Registration 31

Museum 2.0

JULY 11, 2012

I get excited about a lot of things in my work at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. That's how I felt when artist Ze Frank got in touch to talk about a potential museum exhibition to explore a physical site/substantiation for his current online video project, A Show (s ee minute 2:20, above).

Museum 45

Museum Participatory Artist History 45

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 Vietnam 45

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

SEPTEMBER 26, 2012

Visitors bond and bridge through participatory experiences at MAH. To apply the results of my analysis to produce a community-driven program design specifically for implementation at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (the MAH). You can download and read the full version of my thesis here.

Museum 49

Museum Program Participatory Community 49

Museum 2.0

MAY 10, 2011

It's my second week as the Executive Director at The Museum of Art & History in Santa Cruz, CA, and boy is my everything tired. I'm also making the 2011-2012 budget, getting to know our terrific staff and volunteers, and starting up a few small participatory projects to launch us into being a more community-driven institution.

Museum 53

Museum History Participatory Arts 53

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 8, 2014

At any given time, we are on a hunter/gatherer mission for an upcoming project at our museum. Last summer it was beach chairs for a history exhibit. But on another level, the wishlist is the most participatory part of the newsletter. It''s the wishlist. Right now, we''re looking for wood chips for a creature-making workshop.

Newsletter 35

Newsletter Museum Participatory History 35

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 19, 2014

His project, Is It Necessary? Do I worry that a visitor might see what''s happening in Rocky Lewycky''s project at my museum and be confused about our museum''s approach to protecting artwork? I''ve seen participatory artworks that lay untouched by visitors because the invitation to participate is not explicit enough.

Museum 50

Museum Arts Artist Participatory 50

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 2, 2013

Every Saturday, the curatorial team at Elsewhere , a living museum in downtown Greensboro, NC, reviews the project proposals of its artists-in-residence. Proposals involve sculpture, performance, participatory-projects, videos, and installation that use and respond to the museum’s collection.

Artist 49

Artist Museum Proposal Participatory 49

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 9, 2010

Recently, I was giving a presentation about participatory techniques at an art museum, when a staff member raised her hand and asked, "Did you have to look really hard to find examples from art museums? History Museums OPPORTUNITIES - History museums are in many ways the best-suited for visitor participation.

Museum 29

Museum Difference Participatory History 29

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 23, 2018

Two years ago, our team at the MAH embarked on our most challenging co-creation project ever. This project wove together many different participatory threads. This project wove together many different participatory threads. This project deepened our commitment to creating platforms that empower partners.

Issue 45

Issue Childhood Community Create 45

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

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

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 Vietnam 49

Museum 2.0

APRIL 10, 2013

The weather is hopefully the least of the reasons you should want to come work with us here at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. These are unpaid, part-time internships in which you will make a significant contribution to our work, and at the same time, learn a heck of a lot about participatory design and community engagement.

San Francisco 23

San Francisco Participatory Artist Museum 23

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 11, 2015

INTERNSHIPS If you want to join us in Santa Cruz for more professional learning, consider an internship at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. We''re offering internships this summer in: Participatory Exhibition Design. Help take the participatory elements of this permanent gallery to the finish line. Community Programs.

Participatory 20

Participatory Museum Community History 20

Museum 2.0

MARCH 5, 2014

Consider three very different talkbacks in the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History''s fall exhibition, Santa Cruz is in the Heart: cocktail napkins, rear view mirrors, and refrigerator certificates. A good measurement doesn''t need to exhaustively answer every single question about a project. Also, a sidenote.

Test 43

Test Museum Participatory History 43

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

It's a working document, and we mean to put it to work planning new projects with our partners. Here's the short version (read the whole thing here ): The Museum of Art & History is committed to creating exhibitions that inspire our diverse audiences to engage deeply with contemporary art and Santa Cruz County history.

Museum 38

Museum Artist Participatory History 38

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 24, 2012

To that end, our exhibitions are full of participatory elements. What started as a fun personal project for her will hopefully become part of our permanent history gallery--a space we are trying to make more interactive over the coming years. Visitors can comment on how we can improve or what they would like to see.

Platform 41

Platform Open Museum Participatory 41

Museum 2.0

MARCH 10, 2010

This is the first of a four-part series on the behind-the-scenes experience of writing The Participatory Museum. Overview: Stages of Development and Participation Types The Participatory Museum was written over a 15 month period that began in December of 2008. Next week, part 2 will focus on participants' experiences.

Participatory 21

Participatory Museum Statistics Process 21

Museum 2.0

APRIL 24, 2012

Participatory history programming. Over the past year, we've found it fairly easy to invent and sustain participatory art and craft projects. We're having a harder time doing the same with history, especially when it comes to drop-in or single-night activities. Ethics of civic action.

Conversation 43

Conversation Participatory Museum Minneapolis 43

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 14, 2009

For this reason, I spoke specifically about how to make dream projects possible at real institutions. Pick apart your mission statement, and look for the words and phrases you can connect your project to. What new projects might allow you to better reflect those aspirations? Or you can read this condensed version of the talk.

Project 22

Project Museum Teen North Carolina 22

Museum 2.0

APRIL 11, 2012

Once there was a project to design a national history museum in the Netherlands. The team developed some highly innovative digital projects and approaches to history. Three years later, at the end of 2011, the project was canceled. The book was released just four months after the project was officially canceled.

Museum 34

Museum North America Netherlands History 34

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 30, 2013

We have witnessed and experienced incredible moments of transformation: homeless people and history buffs working together on historic restoration, graffiti artists and knitters collaborating on new artistic projects, visitors from different backgrounds making collages, or sculptures, or dance performances together.

Measure 47

Measure Arts People Museum 47

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 15, 2012

We've gotten a little more organized at The Museum of Art & History , and we've now released opportunities for summer internships. These are unpaid part-time and full-time opportunities to help design public programs, develop new uses for the museum, perform visitor research, and pursue unusual projects.

Museum 34

Museum Participatory Arts Attitude 34

Museum 2.0

JULY 23, 2013

We are hiring for a School Programs Coordinator to wrangle the 3,500+ students and their teachers who come to the museum every year for a tour and hands-on experience in our art and history exhibitions. We are transforming our history gallery to be a more dynamic platform for civic engagement.

Program 39

Program Museum Work History 39