Nathan,
I will reply to your question and hope this is useful.
So, I am curious to know-do others perceive this same issue?
I have not considered it a "trap" as much as an issue of individual creativity. I look to other museums for ideas, but often get them at conferences or walking in the woods.
Does your museum fall into this same trap?
I am of the mindset that small museums need to experiment with programming to find what works best. In some cases, adapting a program that is successful at another museum works, but not there are no guarantees. A couple of years ago, I found a "breakfast with dinosaurs" at the Carnegie Museum. We have fossils, no dinosaurs, but access to live raptors. We did a "breakfast with the raptors" program. It was marginally successful. My 'Family Paleontology Camp' is a one-of-a-kind program, and I regularly get participants from coast to coast. Finding a niche requires a thorough knowledge of where your museum connects with public interest. That means research and experimentation.
How do you decide which programs to keep or dump?
Marginally successful = not worth repeating year after year. We will repeat an event because of variables like media response (sometimes they will promote an event, sometimes they won't). A popular event or program will be repeated until it is not longer popular. We annually review programs to determine what we will repeat. In our case, the Dept. of Natural Resources event calendar has to be prepared 6 months before the new year. In many cases, that is before the current year's event has occurred.
Does your museum have any sacred cow programs that can't be challenged, no matter how much they are floundering?
Yes. Public hikes. As a state park we are more-or-less mandated to offer hikes between Memorial and Labor Day weekends. Often hikes have an attendance of zero. But we persevere and offer 'roving' times when volunteers or staff just go outside and interact with visitors.
Why is that so?
Hikes are a core service for all state parks. Museums have have core services like docent-guided tours. In our case, the decision is out of our control. Museums don't have that issue unless it is an immutable core mission.
How and how often to you inventory and evaluate programs for success?
Constantly. Staff that coordinate events and programs look at attendance numbers versus mitigating factors (weather, traffic problems to get to our site, success of media releases, etc.) We meet annually to review all programs and meet after a special event to discuss what worked and what didn't (and why).
Do you coordinate with other local museums to assure that you are not only not duplicating programs, but actually working together to create complimentary programs?
Yes. We have a local 'Cultural Consortium' consisting of some 80 organizations (non-profit, for-profit, government, you name it) in partnership with local school SYSTEMS (at the administrative level). We focus on collaboration, not competition. For over 30 years is has worked wonderfully in the Louisville, KY area. There have been many unique out-of-the-box collaborations between organizations that have benefited school groups in particular. Duplication isn't necessarily bad if your museum's mission is different from another one. Settings are unique and what works 'okay' at one location may be 'phenomenal' at another.
Are you aware of communities of museums working together to create intentionally complimentary programs, or identifying markets together?
See note above. I am working to develop a regional marketing program where visitors interested in fossils can work from a list of parks and museums to see what is available in the region. Wineries and distilleries have been doing this successfully for years. Why not museums?
Creativity is the first step in developing truly
new programs. It is impossible to be innovative without it. Getting to know what motivates visitors to visit a museum is fundamental. Talk to them. Ask questions. A great topic!!!
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Alan Goldstein
Interpretive Naturalist
Falls of The Ohio State Park Interpretive Center
Clarksville IN
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-30-2015 04:52 PM
From: Nathan Richie
Subject: Exploring Small Museum Inferiority Complex
Docent program. Field trip. Curriculum. Classroom outreach. Object trunks. Teacher trainings. Lectures. Summer camps. Scavenger hunts. Happy hours. Festivals.
Have you ever noticed that most museums offer nearly identical education programs? Why is that? Is there a law that states that, in order to maintain its Museum License, each organization regardless of size and scope must offer a prescribed menu of programs?
I am trying to explore a mindset that I have started referring to as "small museum inferiority complex." It's a state of mind that seems to reflect an ingrained idea that, in order to be regarded as a "true" museum that the institution must offer a core of staple programs. It's a type of mania that continues to add new programs, targeting different audiences, in a desperate attempt to remain relevant. Yet, for all that comes in, little if anything is cut loose. The end result is that quality of the programming is uneven at best or evenly mediocre at worst. It assumes that museums must be all things to all people.
The negative effects of SMIC are exacerbated when museums spend little time working with one another to find out if and when they are duplicating services. In some instances, multiple museums are offering nearly identical programs for the same audience in the same market. E.g. Colorado History + 4 th Grade Social Studies Students + Gold Rush Lesson = Discovery Trunk Filled with Mining Crap. (Simply use same formula and replace variables with your region's claim to fame).
And, to be fair, this inferiority complex is not endemic to small museums only-it can also afflict larger institutions who feel somehow beholden to maintain a certain core of programming.
So, I am curious to know-do others perceive this same issue?
Does your museum fall into this same trap?
How do you decide which programs to keep or dump?
Does your museum have any sacred cow programs that can't be challenged, no matter how much they are floundering? Why is that so?
How and how often to you inventory and evaluate programs for success?
Do you coordinate with other local museums to assure that you are not only not duplicating programs, but actually working together to create complimentary programs?
Are you aware of communities of museums working together to create intentionally complimentary programs, or identifying markets together?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. You can respond to the group or send me a private email at nrichie@goldenhistory.org.
Sincerely,
Nathan Richie
Director
Golden History Museums
923 10th St.
Golden, CO 80401
303.278.3557 (Main)
303.277.8712 (Direct)
GoldenHistory.org