4 Resources for Building Stronger and More Resilient Museums

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

I was extremely fortunate to recently discuss the topic of building stronger and more resilient museums with Laura Huerta Migus, the Executive Director of the Association of Children's Museums, as part of the Museum FAQ video series.

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."

Please view our full video conversation embedded below or on the POW! YouTube channel or via museumfaq.com






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 Upstream here.

(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!



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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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Three Places Sharing Difficult Histories in Montgomery Alabama

Last week I visited Montgomery Alabama for the first time.

I was there as a member of The Museum Group (TMG)  as we held our fall 2018 business meetings there.

As part of our experiences in Montgomery, TMG was fortunate to visit three important cultural institutions, the Civil Rights Memorial Center, associated with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and two more recently opened sites associated with the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and The Legacy Museum.

Visiting those three places still has me thinking about the difficult histories in the United States involving race, slavery, discrimination, and justice, so I wanted to share my experiences and still-evolving impressions here.




THE CIVIL RIGHTS MEMORIAL CENTER

The Civil Rights Memorial Center is a modest space associated with the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society.  The Memorial Center itself is associated with Maya Lin's monument to commemorate people who were killed during the civil rights movement (pictured below.)

While many people think of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement as something from the past, it is clear that SPLC's message in the Memorial Center is that the work of fighting hate and bigotry continues to this day and involves every one of us.

To that end, the exhibits and experiences inside the Memorial Center not only share information about the people featured on Lin's monumental sculpture outside but also present modern stories and images such as those of Heather Heyer, the young woman killed during the Charlottesville protests. The information here is sobering and thought-provoking.  

The final experience inside SPLC's Memorial Center is a large Wall of Tolerance, an interactive video wall that lets you insert your own name as a record of visitors who have pledged to take a stand against hate, injustice, and intolerance.

I found that adding my own name was a hopeful, and purposeful, way to conclude my experiences at the Civil Rights Memorial Center.

THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE

The Memorial is a six-acre outdoor site that forces visitors to confront the ugly legacy of racial terror lynchings in the United States between 1877 and 1950.  Hundreds of six-foot-tall metal boxes formed of Corten steel produces a rusted, weathered surface that evoked images of blood (and wear) in my mind.

The experience is a deliberately narrative one that leads you on a winding path through the six acres of the Memorial.  The experience starts with a statue of enslaved people bound in chains, perhaps at a slave auction.  This powerful image is followed by a winding pathway lined with benches as well as signs on the interior of the walls surrounding the site that provide both historical context and evocative quotes.  The design of the entire space acknowledges the need to occasionally stop to rest and process.

As you move closer to the sets of human-sized boxes, they are resting on the ground so that you can read the names of counties across the United States where documented lynchings occurred and the names and dates of the people killed in those places. The sheer number of names and boxes is daunting.

As one moves through the memorial, different sets of boxes from all the different counties continue to lift off the ground until the final set you encounter is hanging above you, evocative of lynched bodies, with the names and information punched into each box now nearly impossible to read.

The overall effect of the Memorial, for me at least, was strangely quiet and contemplative despite the histories represented there.

The encounter with the hanging memorial elements ends in an area where duplicate copies of each box are placed lying down in long horizontal rows.  (Pictured at the top of this post.)  My understanding is that the Equal Justice Initiative wants to offer each of those duplicate boxes to every individual county so that appropriate memorials can be constructed at the sites of past racial terror lynchings using the corten steel boxes that originated in Montgomery.

The message I took away from the Memorial was one of truth and reconciliation, and the acknowledgment that we as citizens of the United States will never truly reconcile with our difficult histories unless we face the truths of our collective past.




THE LEGACY MUSEUM

Visitors are not allowed to take pictures inside EJI's Legacy Museum, so I will just share a few high-level thoughts about my experiences. The Legacy Museum clearly stands in association with The National Memorial for Peace and Justice but focuses more on the current social justice work of the Equal Justice Initiative, and the idea that slavery did not "end" in the United States but merely "evolved."

The emotional experiences of The Legacy Museum start immediately as you are informed that you are standing at the site of a former slave "warehouse" where enslaved people were held before they were bought and sold at auction.  Just steps away from the entry desk, video presentations are illustrating the pain of family separation of enslaved people and the pivotal role that Montgomery played in the slave trade.

As you move further into the Museum, dense text displays were interspersed by compelling short video presentations (I was especially taken by those featuring the illustration and animation work of artist Molly Crabapple) effectively illustrating the modern concerns of the Equal Justice Initiative --ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.

As with the two other Montgomery sites, my experiences inside The Legacy Museum were quiet, yet compelling. 



CLOSING THOUGHTS

I found it interesting that two social justice organizations deliberately chose the approaches of museums and memorials to amplify their messages.  Ironically, given the difficult histories that each of the sites shares, I have no doubt that, especially after the relatively recent openings of The Legacy Museum and The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, that many more people will visit Montgomery.  Based on my own experiences, I would certainly recommend a visit to Montgomery to anyone.

As a side note, I couldn't help but notice the guards and metal detectors at the entrance of each site, and we were informed that both EJI and SPLC require security around their buildings and facilities 24/7.  Clearly, not everyone in and around Montgomery is happy to be reminded of the histories shown inside these important institutions.

Despite this, I can't help but be both hopeful and humbled by the work these institutions and their sponsoring organizations do every day.  On the last day of The Museum Group meetings, we were honored to have Bryan Stevenson, one of the co-founders of the Equal Justice Initiative, speak with us. I couldn't help be struck by his grace and purpose. One thing he said that I continue to think about is:

“My work with the poor and the incarcerated has persuaded me that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice.” 

Please visit the websites of the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Equal Justice Initiative to learn more about these organizations and how you can support their important work.

I'd also encourage you to read Bryan Stevenson's book, Just Mercy.

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Writing and Responding to RFPs: The Dance Everyone Can Do Better

The following summary captures the discussion at the recent Conversation hosted by The Museum Group (TMG) during the American Alliance of Museums conference held in Atlanta.  This post was jointly prepared by Carol Bossert, Paul Orselli and Barbara Punt to appear on their respective blogs.  A briefer summary will appear on the TMG web site.

The Museum Group, a collective of independent museum professionals, has a history of bringing together small groups of people at conventions such as the American Alliance of Museums, to talk about topics important to the museum field. Carol Bossert, a member of TMG and host of Museum Life proposed a discussion about the RFP process, a process used extensively over the past ten years to select almost every type of outside contractor from an exhibit fabricator to master planner and campaign consultant.  She was joined by Independent Museum Professionals, Barbara Punt and Paul Orselli, to frame the ongoing conversation.


Bring together any group of consultants and specialty providers within the museum industry and the conversation eventually turns to the ways in which this process is poorly implemented from organizations that give respondents less than ten days to respond to the RFP, sometimes over Thanksgiving or New Year’s, to organizations that neglect to notify respondents after the selection has been made, or require respondents to submit fully developed design solutions and then ask the winning group to use a competitor’s idea.  But the greater concern is what the effect this process has on creativity, collegiality and the ultimate products the museum produces.

The goal of the TMG conversation was to move beyond whining to clarify the issues and think about solutions.  In fact, “no whining” was a stated rule at the outset. Nevertheless, the conversation was lively and thoughtful, and all participants—thirty in all—shared information.

The RFP process, whereby a museum issues a request for a proposal from a company or individual to perform a certain task such as designing an exhibition or developing a multi-media program, has a patina of fairness:  everyone receives the same information and has the same time frame to present themselves.  Boards and donors appreciate a transparent, documented approach to decision-making, especially when large sums of money are involved.  Unfortunately, a poorly crafted RFP, one that does not clearly express what the organization is looking for, or a process that is handled badly, can tarnish an institution’s reputation, lead to poor decisions and undercut trust—even from the company that won the job!

So, no whining.  Here are some key points that emerged from the discussion in Atlanta:


Be kind.  Everyone understands that this process involves competition.  A museum makes a selection.  There will be a winner and there will be losers.  But just because the selection process is competitive, does not mean that it should be stripped of civility and the niceties of human discourse.  This means that the museum needs to treat everyone involved with respect:  answer questions, keep to the stated deadlines for making decisions, and keep individual responses confidential.  At best, contact the firms that did not win the competition and tell them why.  Many RFPs provide a point system for selection.  There is no reason why the scoring cannot be shared with all respondents.  Also, appreciate the time it takes for a company or individual to put together their response.


Do your homework.  While there are no current standards for soliciting and managing RFPs for the museum industry as there are for architects, engineers and construction contractors, there are some good resources.  The National Association for Museum Exhibitions (NAME) devoted an entire issue of the Exhibitionist, entitled “The RFP Process,” published in Spring 2007. http://name-aam.org/resources/exhibitionist/back-issues-and-online-archive.  (The articles from the issue are available for free online along with templates relevant to the RFP process.) Talk to other museums and organizations whose work you admire. Get recommendations.  Limit the number of companies or individuals you solicit.  The broader the solicitation, the less likely the museum will receive useful responses which respond to their particular needs.


Know how to evaluate the proposals.  Slick proposals and jazzy power points are nice, but which firm knows what to do when the budget starts to creep up or the timeline expands?  What happens when there are bumps in the road?  Will you trust that group over the long haul?  Will you enjoy being with that individual or team for long periods of time?  If the museum says that it is looking for a creative team, then how will they know when they see one?  What is the criteria for creative?


Reconsider the RFP process as the only way to select the individual or company.  The museum business is a people business.  It is a creative business.  The RFP process does not reflect this.  Do not use the RFP process to solidify thinking.  If you don’t know what you want—and many clients don’t, especially at the beginning of a project—the RFP process will not clarify it for you.  Spend your time talking with people:  other museums, companies and individuals whose work you admire.  It can be better to hire someone on a limited basis to help you figure out what you want.

 
Know the lingo.  There are RFPs, RFQs and bids.  They are all different, and they all should have different purposes.

 
Vocabulary says a lot.  The word “vendor” automatically creates a divide between the museum and its consultants and specialty provider.  We are as committed to museum best practice as museums staff and board members.  We attend conferences, read articles and work hard to improve our practice.  Many of us have worked in museums.  We have areas of expertise that compliment and augment the museum’s resources.  It takes both of us.  We are partners, not vendors.  Similarly, calling RFPs contracts and[P1] /or throwing in a lot of punitive contract language creates an adversarial relationship from the start that is bound to end badly.


So how can we address these issues?

 
Standards. The museum industry seems to be the only industry without industrial standards and code of ethics that covers the solicitation and selection process.  As more museums look to outside companies and individuals for specialized expertise, there is greater need for standards.


Data. We need to analyze good projects and find out what made them successful, not just on opening day, but beyond.  We tend to focus on the horror stories, but what about the projects where despite the inevitable bumps in the road, the team worked well together and was proud of the product?

 
Communication.  We need to have more conversations among museums and providers.  We need to work toward partnership.


Feel free to contact any of the folks below to follow up on this discussion.

Punt Consulting Group
We manage projects of all sizes to ensure they are completed on time and on budget. Our holistic and proactive approach takes into account the totality of your vision, not just elements of architecture or construction.

Contact Barbara at Barbara@puntconsulting.com or call her at (310) 937-3366.


Carol Bossert Services
We help organizations think through, shape and document the ideas and stories that form the foundation for remarkable exhibitions. We bring a systematic and deliberate approach to content research, development and label writing.

Contact Carol at carol.bossert@verizon.net or call her at (301) 208-0303.


And you can always contact POW! and Paul Orselli at info@orselli.net or (516) 238-2797.


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Rogue Sessions and Conversations: Thoughts on AAM 2015 in Atlanta

I always have conflicted feelings about attending the AAM (American Alliance of Museums) Conference.  In many ways, the event is too big and unwieldy, and filled with annoying logistical hassles. (This year was no exception!)  On the other hand, there are opportunities for meaty and interesting conversations with fellow museum professionals --- most of which happen outside the confines of formal conference sessions.

This year in Atlanta, the "outside the session" construct was taken to the extreme with a number of well-publicized "rogue" (not officially on the AAM program) sessions taking place at different venues during the conference.

As you might expect for someone like me, the rogue sessions and outside-the-session-box conversations form most of my impressions of this year's conference.

One rogue session I did not attend in person, but kept track of via the lively Twitter feed, was the one about "Museum Labor" put on by the Museum Workers Speak group.  Certainly the issues revolving around museum worker's pay and treatment are essential, if uncomfortable at times, conversations to have.  Hooray for MWS for holding this important rogue session!  You can check out a "Storify" recap of the topics and conversations by clicking here.

The Museum Group (TMG) has had a longer tradition of hosting off-site "conversations" during the AAM Conference.  This year TMG presented a full roster of conversations, and I was pleased to be part of one entitled, "Writing and Responding to RFPs: The Dance Everyone Can Do Better" hosted by Carol Bossert, with Barbara Punt as my conversational partner.

I'll be writing a more extensive blog post soon, in collaboration with several TMG members, on this conversation and the topic of changing the (horribly broken) RFP process, but for now I'll say that we would all be better off if we could strive for ways to make the RFP process both kinder AND smarter.

I also took part in an impromptu session sparked by Jamie Glavic of Museum Minute with museum bloggers and museum social media folks during the conference, and I came away feeling more than ever that blogs and other social media outlets are the connective tissue that supports important conversations outside conference time.

Paul Martin from the Science Museum of Minnesota and Polly McKenna-Cress from the University of the Arts co-hosted an "Exhibits Roundtable" session which proved to be both eclectic and spirited. I hope Paul and Polly will publish a re-cap of the conversations, but things I'll be thinking about more include: how to use (Big) Data to tell important stories and leverage emotions inside museum exhibitions, and why museums should piss people off more! (For example, many Science Museums have "No Guns Allowed" signs on their doors, so why not also have signs saying "For the safety of all our visitors, only those who have been vaccinated will be admitted.")

Lastly, all the "rogue" conversations during AAM helped me continue my thinking about shifting the standard conversation about museums and their institutional mindset away from "For Profit" vs. "Not For Profit" to "For Profit" vs. "For Purpose."  It might provide a way to move away from relying only on metrics like visitor attendance numbers as the primary way of measuring museum success.

Hmmm ... perhaps "For Profit" vs. "For Purpose" is a rogue conversation that we can kick off right now in the "Comments" section below!



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