Celebrate Independents Day and IMPs!

No, that's not a misspelling in the title.

Even though today is Independence Day in the United States, there are thousands of independent museum professionals (IMPs!) who can provide fresh new ideas, as well as valuable exhibit fabrication and/or design skills for your museum.

So why not seek out a local IMP to brainstorm ways to work together on your next project?

You'll be expanding your list of community resources and doing your part to help support the economy as well.

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Museums Worth A Special Trip: Summer Vacation Edition

Since we've entered the summer travel season here in the U.S., I thought I'd point out a few "Museums Worth A Special Trip."

This time around, here are three suggestions that combine fun, science, and the Great Outdoors:

1) Montshire Museum of Science The Montshire is one of those "gems" that everyone who visits considers their own little secret. In addition to creative and unique interactive exhibits, Montshire's building is surrounded by 110 acres of woodland and nature trails along the Connecticut River.

2) The New York Hall of Science. In addition to the hands-on exhibits inside, the NY Hall offers some wonderful outdoor activities as well. Joining the outdoor Science Playground this summer is Rocket Park Mini Golf. With two real NASA rockets looming in the background, Rocket Park Mini Golf reveals that the same laws of motion and gravity that guide the path of a spaceship control the motion of golf balls here on Earth. Playing off the retro styling of the 1960's (evoking the Hall's roots as part of the 1964 World's Fair) the nine-hole miniature golf course is gigantic fun!

3) Chanticleer Garden While not technically a museum, this charming "pleasure garden" just outside Philadelphia is filled with whimsical touches including a carved stone living room set (pictured above) and interesting pathways, bridges, and artworks that both complement and highlight the surrounding landscape and plants. Every single member of my in-house testing team wants to go back for another visit!

Have your own summer suggestions for Museums Worth A Special Trip? Let us know in the Comments Section below. Happy Trails!

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Electronic RFPs, Please.

I recently completed an RFP that requested six paper copies in addition to a digital version of the proposal. Why not just skip the multiple paper copies and eliminate the rigamarole involved with collating and FedExing and just accept electronically submitted PDFs?

It seems to me there are only two arguments against this modest proposal:

1) "Making people go through the process of preparing multiple paper copies of PDFs shows that they are serious about submitting." The previous statement is actually a paraphrase from a museum person, made when I suggested that electronic/PDF responses be allowed. I don't think I could summarize how mindless much of the PDF process is better than that.

2) PDFs of finished submissions with graphics and images will be too large to easily send electronically. Well that's a bogus excuse, and here's why: YouSendIt.

YouSendIt is a service that lets you easily transmit large files (up to 100 MB, using the free version) without any FTP hassles or email bouncebacks.

Even though a standard of Electronic RFPs might not happen anytime soon, you can put YouSendIt to good use in your own workstream today.

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Exhibit Design Resource: TheGameStore.com

For a recent exhibit project, I needed to prototype a set of "spinners" (the rotating arrow devices found in a million board games.) I could have mickey moused something out of laminated cardstock or Sintra, but instead I ordered a set of DIY plastic spinner arrows from TheGameStore.com.

Why buy something (albeit a cheap something) instead of just mocking it up with duct tape and string? Two reasons: 1) I wasn't going to be around to "babysit" the temporary prototype to make "wear and tear" repairs on the fly for the client, and 2) The pieces I bought from the "Game Parts" section of GameStore's website can ultimately be used in the final version of the exhibit component. I love making good stuff cheap!

Have fun nosing around The GameStore.com website. I'm sure tucked in amongst the dice, timers, and spinners you'll find something useful for your next project!


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Exhibit Design Resource: Nature Rocks

Richard Louv, the author of Last Child in the Woods, contends that many kids have "nature-deficit disorder." That is, aside from the pallor created by too many rounds of Wii, or surfing the Web, children (and adults!) often lose touch with nature, due to lack of access, or lack of interest.

Many museums, like the "worth a special trip" institutions the Montshire Museum of Science and ECHO Science Center (both coincidentally in Vermont --- must be something in the water...) help visitors appreciate the local environs and encourage people to enjoy and appreciate the outside as well as the inside.

But what do you do if your museum is in a more urban setting, or you just need some fresh ideas for nature/outdoor programming at your institution?

Fortunately, The Nature Conservancy and REI have teamed up with the Children & Nature Network to create Nature Rocks --- a website chock-full of ideas, maps, and activities geared towards empowering families to enjoy nature. One of my favorite features is the Google Maps mash-up that lets you find natural places and facilities to explore.

So what are you waiting for? Take a break from that darn computer and go explore the outdoors outside your door!

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Museums In The Middle

I'm worried about museums. Specifically "museums in the middle."

As will come as no news flash to intrepid ExhibiTricks readers, the wretched economy is playing havoc with the museum biz (and all the adjunct players like designers, fabricators, architects, etc. who work with museums.) Just the other day, Design Craftsmen announced they were closing up shop after 40 years.

But this posting is about "museums in the middle" as in middle of the bell curve.

Not BIG museums like those that form The Smithsonian, or MOMA --- these battleships will keep moving in the same direction even if you cut their engines tomorrow. To borrow a phrase, these iconic institutions are simply "too big to fail."

Nor am I concerned about many smaller museums, the ones that didn't overbuild, the quirky little gems that bask in the love of their respective communities --- they've always lived by their wits, rather than endowments or visitor attendance projections, and will continue to do so, even if their forms and formats change somewhat.

No, I'm worried about the mass of mid-sized, perfectly nice, but not exceptional, museums who bought into the notions that the only way to get better was to grow bigger, or to jump onto the traveling exhibits treadmill to boost visitation statistics. When the donor and governmental money was freer-flowing it seemed like every building expansion, or every dodgy ploy to boost attendance, was a smart bet.

But now in the midst of this recession/depression/whatever these notions have become largely unsustainable --- and thus comes the reduction in staff, the reduction in hours, the reduction in, let's be honest, quality and service to the public.

So what happens now? What's the best way to use this time to rethink and reshape our current museums? I'm worried that many museums --- traditionally risk-averse, will just shrink their operational footprint and wait until things "get better."

Rather than just waiting, how can we thoughtfully, and boldly, use this time to make things better now?

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