My "Museum FAQ" video series, started as a bit of a pandemic project, but now consists of nearly 60 (and counting!) freely available videos that cover a wide range of topics from Museum Management to Exhibit Design to Science Communication.
The topics covered, and tips and techniques shared, are truly “evergreen” in the sense that they will (hopefully!) still provide interesting and useful information for years to come.
While I continue to record new Museum FAQ videos, three conversations, in particular, stand out for me.
Christian Greer, President & CEO of the Michigan Science Center, brought forward a thoughtful (and timely!) discussion about managing in times of transition. I was struck by how eloquently Christian shared tactics for balancing the foundation of Mission with the flexibility and creativity needed for turbulent times.
On a completely different topic, Amparo Leyman Pino shared successful ways she has used language as an interpretive tool in museums. Amparo moved beyond the more familiar multilingual labels to the ideas of blended language and language-neutral environments.
Lastly, exhibit designer Margaret Middleton shared fun and informative ways to think about creating more inclusive museums by walking us through how to plan for better infant care and feeding areas as a model for the process.
I hope you’ll click on over to the POW! YouTube channel to view some Museum FAQ videos for yourself – and, better yet, please let me know if there are new topics that we could have a Museum FAQ conversation about together to share with our museum colleagues on YouTube!
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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The latest episode features a lively conversation with Kathy McLean about "next" practices for museums instead of "best" practices. You can get a sense of how the conversation was framed by looking at the graphic at the top of this post. Kathy and I touched on ways that museum workers and the communities they engage with can help redefine the values, roles, processes, and relationships of museums.
One of my favorite things that Kathy said during our chat was, "if you are really trying to do something new and different, why do you need to see an existing "best" practice from another museum?' We discussed (and linked to) some great projects as part of our video, like the storefront theater events in Miami and The Mile Long Opera in NYC.
And when you click over to the POW! YouTube channel, hit that big red SUBSCRIBE button so you don't miss any of the new Museum FAQ videos coming up!
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"
How Can We Build Stronger and More Resilient Museums?
I'm sure that's a question that many people who work in museums, and many people who love and visit museums, have been pondering. Me too! So I thought I would share four resources -- different positive jumping-off points to consider when thinking about the future of museums and other essential cultural institutions.
1) A Museum FAQ video conversation with Laura Huerta Migus
Among the many powerful takeaways from our conversation were Laura's closing thoughts:
"I would ask people to not plan for what it looked like before but to take this as a real opportunity to reinvent yourself especially around being essential. We’ve talked about museum experiences bringing joy and being restorative but we have a moment to really articulate and prove how we are of service and how we are healing environments and the places that we really occupy in society.
And if we embrace that then we have an opportunity to come out of this so much stronger -- and not only as individual institutions but as a field. I think that's the challenge that I am holding to get myself through these weeks and that I see the leadership in our field really holding onto as well."
2) Good examples of "Museums Stepping Up" from The Museum Group's email newsletter
I really like the idea of holding up positive examples of museum decisions made during difficult times, rather than the constant "drumbeat of doom" regarding layoffs and furloughs.
In that spirit, The Museum Group's most recent email newsletter offers up a compendium of museums and museum workers responding in thoughtful and creative ways to the challenges presented by COVID-19. Like this museum shop in the UK selling groceries for their neighborhood, or Empathetic Museum publishing "How to Be An Empathetic Museum in this Troubled Time."
Definitely click here for a look at all the great examples in the free newsletter, and consider subscribing for a Museums Step Up "Part Two" in just a couple of weeks.
3) The book "Upstream" by Dan Heath
NY Times bestselling author Dan Heath has written (or co-authored with his brother Chip) a number of interesting business and strategy books. His latest offering, entitled Upstream is predicated on the notion that there are proven ways, grounded in both research and practical application, to "solve problems before they happen."
If ever there was a book for its time, it is Upstream. (The title comes from a story about two men walking near a river. Suddenly they see a young child struggling in the water calling out for help. One of the men swims into the river and rescues the drowning child. A few minutes later they see and hear another child in the river, and the other man dives in to save that child. The same man immediately starts running away upstream. His companion shouts, "Where are you going?" The other man yells over his back, "I'm going to stop the idiot who keeps throwing kids into the river!"
Heath divides his chapters into the barriers to upstream thinking, questions for upstream leaders, and practical ways to apply upstream thinking to your own life. I found the ideas in this book especially useful during the current crisis. You can find a free set of resources related to Upstreamhere.
(You can also purchase Upstream on Amazon, or other online booksellers.)
4) Museum Archipelago Podcast on "The Future of Hands-On Museum Exhibits"
I was happy to be interviewed by Ian Elsner for his Museum Archipelago blog on the future of hands-on exhibits.
I'll let you enjoy the full podcast yourself, but among the topics we discussed were how to use the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to lose lazy design tropes that promote empty interaction (like flip labels!) and to be mindful of the perceptions that visitors will rightly have about interactive experiences when museums begin to re-open.
I hope you find these resources thought-provoking AND hopeful as you make your way through the pandemic and its aftermath. In the spirit of positivity and collegiality, I've decided to give away two copies of Dan Heath's new book, Upstream, to two lucky ExhibiTricks readers! Simply send me an email with the message, "I want to win Upstream!" before April 30th for a chance to win. I'll randomly choose two winners during the beginning of May. Good Luck!
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"
Now that COVID-19 has turned almost every museum worker into a telecommuter, I have an idea for something that could build a resource for colleagues around the world.
Let's use our "work from home" time into creating a set of Museum FAQ videos to share with each other.
A little background -- last year I started a short-video series called Museum FAQ to provide answers to frequently asked questions I often received from clients, peers, and Emerging Museum Professionals (EMPs).
Now that so many of us are working from home wouldn't it be great to create a "reference library" of free videos on museum/exhibit/design questions like, "What makes a great museum label?" or "How can I shift static content into interactive exhibit activities?" or "What's a simple unguided Maker Space activity?" You get the idea.
I'm happy to set up times to plan and record simple Zoom conversations between myself and museum colleagues to create new Museum FAQ videos to share freely on YouTube.
If that sounds like something you'd like to be part of, please email me at info@orselli.net so we can get started!
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"
Over the years, clients and colleagues have been asking Paul Orselli and POW! many "Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ) about museum exhibit development and design, as well as other aspects of the museum business ranging from “What makes a great exhibit label?” to “What should I look for in a museum consultant?” We started the Museum FAQ video series to answer just those sorts of questions in a fun and informative way.
We’ve just started the library of Museum FAQ videos, so bookmark the Museum FAQ webpage and come back often to view new videos!
Do you have your own Museum FAQ that you would like Paul to answer, or do you have a suggestion for a new Museum FAQ video? Just send Paul an email at paul@orselli.net with your questions or requests and you might see your own Museum FAQ featured in a new video soon!
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 is an instigator, in the best sense of that word. He likes to mix up interesting people, ideas, and materials to make both individual museum exhibits and entire museums with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.)
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