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  • 1.  Museums that Phased Out Popular Programs?

    Posted 08-25-2018 03:38 PM

    I'm proposing a session for New Orleans on museums that chose to phase out popular programs.  I'm trying to get someone from the Walker to talk about the end of their popular cat video event.  We just ended a popular Bastille Day event after 24 years.   Ideas for other museums who ended popular programs?

     

    _____________________________

     

    S e a n   K e l l e y             

    Senior Vice President, 

          Director of Interpretation

     

    Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site

    2027 Fairmount Avenue

    Philadelphia, PA 19130

     

    Phone:  (215) 236-5111  x213

                                                  

    id:<a href=image001.jpg@01D2CA74.E76F8BF0">

     

    Above: Felix, whose face may not be shown by PA Policy,

    filmed at SCI-Graterford for Prisons Today.

               

     

       

    AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, Baltimore, May 16-19, 2024, click to learn more


  • 2.  RE: Museums that Phased Out Popular Programs?

    Posted 08-27-2018 09:13 AM
    I saw Adam Lerner speak at the National Arts Marketing Project Conference in 2016. Wow. He talked about a satellite program of the Denver Contemporary Museum of Art called "Tag Team Lectures" that really took off. The decision was made to cancel it after several cycles, because it ceased to be innovative. That point struck a chord with me, although I make no programming decisions. I can say from a marketing perspective it does become harder year over year to "sell" show business as usual.  

    I work with the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University. For 13 years, the museum held an annual birthday party in October. Attendance was tremendously high in the early years, and for the last 2-3 years of the program, attendance went flat. The decision was made to cancel the birthday party and work with a teen council to produce a teen exhibition. The idea was quality experience versus quantity. That program went through a couple cycles but proved difficult for staff to maintain and whether or not as a university art museum it aligned with the mission. We then experienced fast turnover in our education department. The program is back with a new name but the same concept. 

    I hope this is helpful.

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    Charlotte Hendrix
    Communications and Marketing Specialist
    Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University
    Auburn AL
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  • 3.  RE: Museums that Phased Out Popular Programs?

    Posted 08-27-2018 11:30 AM
    Hi
    That is an interesting topic. What direction are you thinking about in terms of the panel? What are the impacts or the opportunities that ending a popular program provide?

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    Sandra Bonnici
    Associate Director of Education, Diversity and Inclusion
    Madison Children's Museum
    Madison WI
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    Original Message
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  • 4.  RE: Museums that Phased Out Popular Programs?

    Posted 08-28-2018 10:35 AM
    Edited by Doneeca Thurston 08-28-2018 10:36 AM
    Hey there! I actually phased out a popular program at my museum last/this year. I joined PEM in 2014 and redesigned their popular third Thursday program, PEM/PM. After three years of managing the program (which began in 2011), I/we made the decision to try something new. The program was great, had a strong local showing, but 6-9pm on the third Thursday just wasn't reaching the newer audiences I/we wanted to see. My budget was also largely spent on keeping the doors open, lights on and galleries staffed, leaving little money to play with when it came to programming the actual series.

    So this year we announced that we were going to offer four late-nite experiences, not a series (we're trying to get away from that mindset too), that were exclusively 18+ on a Friday or Saturday night. The first after-hours experience was back in February, we had over 800 people in attendance (we usually averaged around 500 for a PEM/PM), extremely diverse (age, ethnicity, gender, location), and everyone had an amazing time. My supervisor said she felt like she was one of the oldest people in the room, and she's not old by any means. Our second after-hours experience was in July. We brought back our extremely successful block party event from last year (about 1,000 guests) and we had over 4,000 people come out. It was incredible!

    This transition hasn't been without its issues, but I think has been worth while. I'm seeing more and more new faces with each event that we do, and I can see that these programs are challenging the types of experiences the museum can offer and the types of experiences people can have in our museum.

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    Doneeca Thurston
    Creative Engagement Producer
    Peabody Essex Museum
    Salem, MA
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  • 5.  RE: Museums that Phased Out Popular Programs?

    Posted 08-29-2018 06:03 PM
    We recently transitioned from a popular holiday retail event to a more mission focused holiday season at our historic estate. The reasons were numerous (risks to collection / ROI / needing to be closed for extended prep & recovery time / holding Inventory year-round / mission alignment / specific market audience / event was at capacity and sold out to new audiences / etc.) but we made it through the first year (they say the hardest?) and are prepping for installation of year two beginning in late October. We would have a variety of departmental perspectives to share on a topic like this one.  

    We are also taking a popular flower show offline in 2019 for a variety of reasons. Again, it has been very popular with its specific audience but not always with our changing and evolving audience. Again, we would have a variety of perspectives to share on this event as well. 


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    Julie Bly DeVere
    Head Curator & Collection Manager
    Filoli: Historic House & Garden
    A Site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation
    Woodside CA
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  • 6.  RE: Museums that Phased Out Popular Programs?

    Posted 08-30-2018 08:37 AM
    Hi there,

    I don't know whether you're focusing on a specific geographic region or museum type or size, but here's an example from my former employer, the Roswell Museum and Art Center. They phased out its popular Art Block Party after about 10 years or so. Taking place in Octobr, this was a day-long outdoor event with multiple art-making stations, live music, and other activities. The reasons for ending it were similar to other responses, mainly that visitors loved it but museum staff felt it was no longer innovative. They've begun implementing other initiatives in place of the party, including after-hours programming, but the main event is an art and science festival happening this fall. This event was developed with input from area teachers, and has a STEAM emphasis in order to accommodate school curricula needs. I wasn't involved in its planning but I know the museum received a grant to help put this together, with the catalyst being the recent renovation of our planetarium.

    Anyway, if you're interested in talking to the Roswell folks about it, you can contact either their Curator of Education, Amanda Nicholson, or Director, Caroline Brooks.

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    Sara Woodbury
    PhD student
    College of William and Mary
    Williamsburg, VA
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