Big Museum Energy (on a Small Museum Budget)

If museums had a red carpet season, we'd be in the middle of it.

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art just opened its doors in Los Angeles. It has more than 100,000 square feet of galleries, continuous film screenings, a free research library, a destination restaurant, and a new 13-acre park. 

And if that isn't enough architectural spectacle for one year, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is scheduled to open in December. That's a 320,000-square-foot Frank Gehry building first announced in 2006.

It's fun to watch these mega-openings unfold, the way it's fun to watch a Hollywood blockbuster premiere. But most of us don't work at museums with a Jedi-sized endowment. We work at children's museums, science centers, and local history sites

So what can the rest of us actually learn from the big guys? And what should we cheerfully ignore?

Borrow this: a big idea you can say in one sentence

Say what you want about the Lucas Museum, but its concept is crystal clear. It's about the tradition of telling stories through images, from cave paintings to comics to cinema to murals. You can explain it at a cocktail party in ten seconds.

Can you do that with your museum? With your current exhibition? If your "big idea" needs three paragraphs and a flowchart, visitors will feel that fuzziness long before they read a label. Clarity is free.

Borrow this: treat the outside like the front porch

Notice that the Lucas opening isn't just about the building. That 13-acre park, with public green space for South Los Angeles, outdoor sculpture, and gathering areas, is a big part of the story.

You don't need 13 acres. But you probably have a sidewalk, a lawn, a parking lot, or a fence line that currently says absolutely nothing to passersby. A bench with a question on it, a sculptural sign, or a chalk-art wall can make a museum visit start before people walk through the door. 

Borrow this: make the opening an ongoing event, not just a ribbon cutting

Big museums understand that an opening is a story in itself, with a before, a during, and an after. Small museums often pour everything into the exhibit and then announce it with a press release and a sheet cake.

Try a sneak-peek night for members, a "help us finish the exhibit" community day, or a behind-the-scenes post series on social media while you build. The anticipation is part of the experience, and it costs you a bit of time and enthusiasm.

Skip this: the starchitect

A signature building is a wonderful thing if someone else is paying for it. For the rest of us, remember that visitors don't remember floor tiles and finishes. They remember the moment their kid figured something out, or the object that stopped them in their tracks. Spend your money where people's hands and eyes actually go.

Skip this: tech for the sake of tech

When budgets are big, you might be tempted to fill every wall with screens. When budgets are small, there's a temptation to feel inferior because you can't. Don't. Plenty of trend reports this year will tell you about immersive installations running from half a million to five million dollars, plus ongoing maintenance. A well-designed hands-on interactive made of simple materials and good thinking will outlast most of them. 

Small museums have superpowers too

Here's what mega-openings can't buy: nimbleness. 

A small museum can try a new idea next Tuesday. It can change a label because a visitor pointed out a better way to say something. It can know its regulars by name.

That matters, because attendance is getting harder for many of us. One recent AAM-cited analysis projects that children's museums will be 8.4% below 2019 attendance levels this year, and science centers 6.2% below. That's exactly the incentive to be scrappier and more visible right now.

So enjoy the red carpet photos from Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi. Then go look at your own front door, your own big idea, and your own next opening, and ask what "big institution energy" would look like at your museum.

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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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