Getting People INSIDE Museums When It's Gorgeous OUTSIDE

It's the height of summer, and you know the drill: the sun is out, the humidity is (mostly) tolerable, and every single person in your community has decided that today is the day to hit the beach, the lake, the pool, the trail, or basically anywhere that isn't your museum.

If I had a nickel for every summer weekend I thought, "Why would anyone go inside right now?"  I'd have a lot of nickels, and probably a sunburn to match.

But here's the thing: "nice weather" isn't actually the enemy of museum attendance. Boring programming is the enemy of museum attendance. Nice weather just makes boring programming failures more visible, because suddenly people have somewhere else (somewhere free, somewhere with a breeze) to be instead.

So the question isn't "how do we compete with the beach?" You can't. Don't try. The real question is:

What can only happen inside your walls (or just outside them) that people can't get anywhere else?

Let's dig into a few approaches, with some real-world examples.

1. Stop fighting the outdoors — Annex it!

One of the smartest moves I keep seeing is museums refusing to treat "inside" and "outside" as a hard boundary. The Eric Carle Museum in Massachusetts hosts "Sunset Thursdays" all summer, featuring late hours, live jazz, picnicking on the museum grounds, and food trucks. All with the galleries just steps away for whenever people are ready to wander in. Nobody has to choose between "outside fun" and "museum visit." The museum grounds become the outside fun, and the collection is right there as a bonus.

You don't need a blockbuster traveling exhibition to pull this off. You need a lawn, some chairs, a local musician, and permission to stay open later than usual. The "innovation" here isn't technological, it's logistical and hospitality-focused. Low cost, high payoff.

2. Give the grown-ups a reason to show up without the kids

A huge chunk of "why would I go to a museum in summer" resistance comes from adults who mentally filed museums under "field trip" or "thing I do with my kids." 

The After Dark/After Hours model exists specifically to break that association, and it's everywhere right now:

• The Exploratorium's After Dark series in San Francisco mixes cocktails and playful science and art programming for adults only.

• MIT Museum's After Dark leans into its research culture -- actual MIT scientists showing off current research, plus a DJ and a cash bar.

• Fernbank After Dark in Atlanta bills itself as "date night, friend night, and 'why haven't we done this before?' night" — which might be my favorite tagline in this whole roundup.

Notice what all of these have in common: they're not really about the exhibits changing. They're about permission and framing changing. Same building, same collection, completely different invitation. That's a cheap lever to pull if you've got the staffing bandwidth for evening hours.

3. Make "hands-on" mean something outdoors, too.

Boston Children's Museum runs outdoor pop-up exhibits built entirely around messy natural materials like mud, pinecones, and stones. No screens, no batteries, nothing that needs an IT ticket when it breaks. Just kids being gloriously, appropriately filthy in a controlled way. It's about as "down and dirty" as an exhibit gets, and it turns "but it's so nice out" into an argument for visiting rather than against it.

4. Lean into what only you can offer

The New York State Museum runs free weekday summer programming built around its own collection strengths, explicitly pitched as a way to beat the heat. That's smart framing: you're not competing with the beach, you're offering cool, calm, air-conditioned learning and fun.

This is where I'd push back gently on the instinct to just throw more tech at the "summer slump" problem. The museums having real success this summer aren't doing it with elaborate digital installations — they're doing it with live music, food trucks, docents, and content only they can provide because it lives in their collection or their expertise. Nobody's beating the beach with a touchscreen.

So what does this mean for your museum?

You probably don't need a $50,000 outdoor exhibit fabrication budget or a full liquor license overnight (though hey, if you've got one, use it). What you likely already have:

- A patch of grass or a plaza you could borrow for an evening

- Staff or community members who play music, tell stories, or lead a craft

- A collection with at least one thing that's genuinely fascinating after dark, after hours, or with a drink in hand

- A "why would anyone come inside today" skeptic on staff. 

(That person is your best editor.)

Start there. Pick one Thursday and see who shows up!

Has your museum tried an after-hours or "beat the heat" program this summer? 

What worked, or what totally flopped?  Drop a comment below!

Don't miss out on any ExhibiTricks posts! It's easy to get updates via email or your favorite news reader. Just click the "Sign up for Free ExhibiTricks Blog Updates" link on the upper right side of the blog.

Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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What Fireworks Can Teach Museums About Celebrating (America's 250th Edition!)

This summer, millions of people will stand outside, crane their necks, and go "oooooh" in unison at exploding balls of colored fire.

No labels. No touchscreens. No 400-word interpretive panels explaining the chemistry of strontium salts.

Just wonder, shared in public, with strangers.

As museums in the United States mark America's 250th birthday this weekend, it seems like the perfect moment to ask: what can fireworks teach us about designing celebrations and exhibits that people actually remember?

1. Fireworks are about pacing.

A good fireworks show doesn't fire everything at once. It builds. A few teasers, some quiet moments, a mid-show surprise, and then the finale that makes the car ride home worth it. Compare that to the anniversary exhibition that dumps 250 years of history onto the walls in a single, undifferentiated wash of artifacts and text. Visitors, like fireworks audiences, need rhythm: moments of intensity followed by moments to breathe (and to turn to the person next to them and say, "Did you SEE that?").

2. Fireworks are gloriously low-resolution.

Nobody complains that fireworks aren't in 4K. The "technology" is centuries old, and yet it reliably outperforms every LED wall and projection-mapped spectacle I've ever stood in front of. Production values don't create wonder — surprise, scale, and shared experience do. Before your museum drops six figures on an immersive installation, ask whether a simpler, more human-scaled experience might land harder.

3. Fireworks are a communal experience by design.

You can watch a fireworks video on your phone, but nobody does, because that's not the point. The point is being there, together, on a blanket, with kids running around and someone's uncle narrating every shell. The best anniversary programming works the same way. Don't just mount an exhibit about 1776 — create reasons for neighbors to gather, argue, celebrate, and add their own stories to the mix. A birthday party where the guests just observe isn't much of a party.

4. Anniversaries are prompts, not endpoints.

The most interesting Semiquincentennial projects I've seen ask forward-facing questions: What do we want the next 250 years to look like? What does founding-era language about liberty and self-governance mean on your block, in 2026? Those questions belong in science centers, children's museums, and art museums just as much as in history museums. Every institution has a stake in what comes next.

5. The finale isn't the whole show.

July 4, 2026 will come and go in a burst of light and a haze of smoke. But the neighbors you stood next to are still your neighbors on July 5th. Museums that use this anniversary to build lasting relationships with communities, schools, and local storytellers will still be reaping the benefits when the 251st rolls around and nobody's writing grant guidelines about it anymore.

So this weekend, when you're standing under the fireworks, do a little professional observation (we can't help ourselves, can we?). Watch how a centuries-old, decidedly analog experience holds a crowd of all ages in genuine, phone-lowering wonder.

Then ask yourself: how do we bottle that and set it off inside our museums for the next 250 years?

Happy 250th, everybody! Ooooh. Ahhhh.

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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A Leaf, a Blade, and a Whole Lot of Patience.

I'm always on the lookout for folks who turn the "ordinary" into something that stops you in your tracks. 

Which is exactly why I want to introduce ExhibiTricks readers to Lito, a Japanese artist who does something deceptively simple: he cuts intricate scenes into single fallen leaves.

Yes, just a leaf. No paper, no canvas, no do-overs. Lito works in the Japanese tradition of kirie, or "cut picture," but instead of paper, he uses leaves. Lito started applying these techniques to leaves back in 2020, partly as a way to channel and focus the energy that comes with his ADHD. He'd never formally studied art or design; instead, his ideas come from childhood memories, family dinners, things he sees on TV, and ordinary daily life turned into "another world."

Each piece is cut from a single leaf, and Lito deliberately leaves the leaf's midrib intact in every cutout (a small, consistent gesture of respect toward his material). That's good design thinking right there; a signature constraint that becomes part of the story, not just a technical limitation.

If "tiny, ephemeral, single-object art" makes you wonder how on earth you build a whole museum around it, check out the LITO LEAF ART MUSEUM in Fukushima, a dedicated home for his work that's become a pilgrimage site for fans. As an exhibit designer, I'm fascinated by the challenge: how do you give scale, pacing, and context to art objects you can practically hold on one fingertip?

Lito also posts new work regularly on Instagram: @lito_leafart. It's a genuinely lovely feed to scroll through.  Lito's IG feed is also where many of his audience first found him, leading to exhibitions across Japan and the publication of books of his work.

Lito's story is a nice reminder that you don't need elaborate materials or formal training to build a devoted audience. You need a distinctive point of view and a willingness to share your process where people already are (hello, social media). Museums and exhibit developers, take note.

Don't miss out on any ExhibiTricks posts! It's easy to get updates via email or your favorite news reader. Just click the "Sign up for Free ExhibiTricks Blog Updates" link on the upper right side of the blog.

Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

If you enjoy the blog, you can help keep it free to read and free from ads by supporting ExhibiTricks through our PayPal "Tip Jar"

The World's Biggest Fans Are In Your City. Are They In Your Museum?

It's mid-June 2026 in New York City. The Knicks are in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999, and fans are buying tickets to away games in San Antonio just to follow the team. The MTA has swapped out its subway globe lights for basketball-shaped ones. 

And oh, by the way, the FIFA World Cup just kicked off, with MetLife Stadium hosting eight matches, including the Final. Five official fan zones, one in each borough, are packed with visitors from every corner of the planet.

In other words, New York City is currently the global epicenter of sports fandom.

So here's my question for every museum professional in the region: "Where are all those fans?"

I've asked some version of this question before. Most recently, about Super Bowl Sunday, when I pointed out that game day is a great time to visit your local museum because it will be "even quieter than usual." The joke lands because it's true, and it shouldn't be.

The difference between a sports fan and a casual museum visitor isn't curiosity or intelligence. It's investment. Fans wear the gear. They know the stats. They travel to road games. They feel something when their team wins or loses. Passion isn't a personality type; it's something that gets cultivated through repeated, meaningful experiences that reward engagement.

Some museums are actually getting this right. Right now, the American Museum of Natural History has launched "World Cup, World Cultures," featuring match-watch parties in its galleries, an all-ages Goal Zone soccer play space, and a Global Sports Pavilion. The Intrepid Museum is running free watch parties for more than 50 World Cup matches on the pier. 

These aren't gimmicks. They're a playbook.

The AMNH didn't suddenly stop being a natural history museum by putting up a big screen for Brazil vs. Morocco. What they did was remove the activation energy barrier — that invisible wall that keeps people who aren't "museum people" from walking through the door in the first place. They said: the thing you already care about? It lives here too.

The Knicks marketing team understands something that many museum marketers still don't: you can convert a bandwagon fan into a real one, but you have to catch them while they're excited. Right now, there are people in New York wearing Jalen Brunson jerseys who have never been to a game before. Some of them will become Knicks fans for life. The question is whether anyone is offering them an equivalent on-ramp into your institution.

What would that look like? Here are a few things to chew on:

The story IS the exhibit. Millions of World Cup visitors will be in New York through July 19. Most of them love history, culture, and spectacle. They didn't come to Manhattan to stare at a wall panel with 8-point type. Give them something they can feel, touch, cheer about.

Fan-worthy requires a lower barrier to entry, not a higher one. The Knicks don't make you pass a quiz before you can root for them. Your admissions procedure, your signage, your hours — do they say "welcome" or "here are the rules"?

Repeat visits are what turn visitors into fans.  Sports teams don't try to make every game the same experience. Neither should you. What brings someone back to your museum a second time, a third time, until one day they're the person telling strangers on the subway how great your place is?

The World Cup Final is at MetLife on July 19. The city will be electric between now and then. Millions of visitors, billions of eyeballs, and a huge percentage of them are people who have never set foot in your museum.

That's not a threat. That's an opportunity.

GO MUSEUMS! (And, yes — go KNICKS!)

What are you doing at your museum to tap into the World Cup energy? And are there other sports-fan-to-museum-fan conversion stories you've seen work? Share your ideas in the COMMENTS section below!

Don't miss out on any ExhibiTricks posts! It's easy to get updates via email or your favorite news reader. Just click the "Sign up for Free ExhibiTricks Blog Updates" link on the upper right side of the blog.

Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

If you enjoy the blog, you can help keep it free to read and free from ads by supporting ExhibiTricks through our PayPal "Tip Jar"

Have You Met Chloe?

By now, you may have stumbled across "Chloe VS History" in your social media feed or on YouTube.

If not, go take a look. I'll wait.

Chloe is an AI-generated avatar who "travels" through history, hanging out in pre-revolutionary Paris, dodging the eruption of Pompeii, and sneaking into the first-class section on the Titanic. She's got the vibe of a travel influencer: casual, enthusiastic, and a little amazed by everything. 

The YouTube channel has racked up hundreds of thousands of subscribers and millions of views, and the videos are genuinely watchable.

The person behind Chloe is Jonathan Laramie, who also runs Majestic Studios, a history channel that hit 14 million views in 90 days using AI to bring historical scenes to life. In a recent interview, Laramie, who has no background in filmmaking, talks candidly about what separates his work from the tsunami of AI garbage: trust and accuracy in sources, genuine creative investment, and a consistent storytelling voice. 

Now, before you roll your eyes and mutter something about "AI slop," I think there's something genuinely worth paying attention to here, particularly for those of us who work in history museums.

The secret sauce isn't really the AI visuals (though they're impressive). It's the perspective. Chloe works because she positions herself as a curious visitor to history, not a lecturer about it. She's learning alongside you. She reacts. She wanders. She asks the dumb-but-honest questions non-historians would ask if they felt comfortable doing so.

Sound familiar? It should. That's good interpretive design. (It's also worth noting that Laramie comes from the customer service space.)

So here's the question worth asking: what would it look like if YOUR museum used AI-generated media—not to replace human storytelling, but to model the kind of curious, visitor-centered engagement you want to spark?  A short "first visit to a Colonial kitchen" clip to play at a program intro, or an AI character who "experiences" your exhibit for the first time and invites visitors to do the same?

The AI technology is accessible. The approach is already working at scale since the Chloe Channel was built by just one guy with no film training and a lot of curiosity. 

The only thing missing is history institutions willing to experiment thoughtfully with accurate content, genuine curiosity, and real visitors in mind.

Chloe currently doesn't have all those advantages, but history museums do!

Don't miss out on any ExhibiTricks posts! It's easy to get updates via email or your favorite news reader. Just click the "Sign up for Free ExhibiTricks Blog Updates" link on the upper right side of the blog.

Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

If you enjoy the blog, you can help keep it free to read and free from ads by supporting ExhibiTricks through our PayPal "Tip Jar"

FREE Museum Exhibit Design Resources

Who doesn't like free stuff?  Here are links to some great FREE exhibit design resources from the POW! website:

The Great Big Exhibit Resource List

A constantly updated compendium of resources for museum design and exhibit fabrication (including websites and contact information.) Need to find fake food, giant sequins, or adaptive devices? Check out the GBER List!  And contact me if you have a resource you think should be added to the list.

The Exhibit Cheapbooks

The idea for the Exhibit Cheapbooks started during sessions at the annual Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) Conference. The purpose was to share "cheap" exhibit ideas and create a written record of how to replicate these simple and successful exhibit components.

The four Exhibit Cheapbooks have always celebrated museums' "sharing" nature. Inside each volume, you will find varied exhibit ideas from museum colleagues around the world. Sincere thanks to everyone who has shared their ideas and expertise! Special thanks to ASTC for allowing all the Exhibit Cheapbooks material to be shared freely online.

Museum FAQ Videos

Check out these interesting and informative video conversations with museum professionals from around the world.  Topics run the gamut from museum management, community engagement, digital exhibits, and more!  Click the link above for the video gallery, or go directly to the POW! YouTube site.

You can also find downloadable exhibit articles and other museum exhibit design resources by clicking over to the main resource page on the POW! website.

Do you have some other great resources to share?  Tell us about them in the COMMENTS Section below!

Don't miss out on any ExhibiTricks posts! It's easy to get updates via email or your favorite news reader. Just click the "Sign up for Free ExhibiTricks Blog Updates" link on the upper right side of the blog.

Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

If you enjoy the blog, you can help keep it free to read and free from ads by supporting ExhibiTricks through our PayPal "Tip Jar"