Hi Carrie,
You might want to check with Gale Famisan Robertson at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. They opened a new space similar to what you are planning (but focused on natural history, not art) called Q?rius (pronounced "curious") - I believe they take school groups but it's also open to the public, so you could check with her on how they handle the crowds. I worked with them to develop activities for a summer camp they held in the space, so feel free to use my name if you contact her.
Good luck!
Best -
Claudia
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Claudia Ocello
President & CEO
Museum Partners Consulting
Morristown NJ
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-15-2015 02:23 PM
From: Carrie Atkins Maras
Subject: open studio space and school groups
Hello everyone!
We are planning for a new space at the Cincinnati Art Museum, and looking for some help developing guidelines for it...
The space will be open to our general visitors during regular museum hours, and will include various changing interactives as well as ongoing, free, drop in art making. Right now we are unsure of how we want to deal with groups of students ...do we allow them in this space to participate in the fun? Will that make the space too busy for our general guests, or unmanageable for our single staff person (for that space, at least)? Do we allow one group of 10 or so in at a time? Schedule those groups for a specific time slots?
If you have a similar space, how do you deal with these issues?
We are really hoping for feedback so we can get a sense of how to move forward in our planning, so please respond with your thoughts, I'd love to hear from you!
Thanks so much!
Carrie
Carrie Atkins Maras
Associate Director for Community Engagement
Cincinnati Art Museum
carrie.maras@cincyart.org
(513) 639.2342
cell: 513.675.7772