What I Learned in Philadelphia

So I am back from a week in Philadelphia, attending both the Association of Children’s Museums and the American Association of Museums annual meetings.  Here are some things I observed/learned/thought about:

 

• Children’s museums do a great job encouraging children to play.  Which got me thinking.  Why can’t museums be places that encourage adults (and kids) to play?  Where else is play encouraged for adults?  How would more play benefit adults?
• Objects are important.  We know that (most museums are in the objects business, after all).  But I was thrilled to hear Lou Casagrande (Boston Children’s Museums) talk about how important those objects are to young children. . . . and about how children’s museums should utilize local objects in their museums more often.  Our research echoes Lou’s comments . . . . and we would love to see more local history museums partnering with children’s museums to get more young children exposed to those collections.
• Next time you need to move a large object on top of a small car, ask an exhibit designer to help:

• In our session on Museums in 2034, Gail Lord asked a fantastic question about how important experts (e.g., the curator) are if the public contributes the content?  I think savvy curators will recognize this as a mechanism to increase knowledge and build relevance . . . and I think the experts who lead the discussion and invite contributions will garner even more respect both in and out of the field.
• The blue whale at the American Museum of Natural History has a Twitter feed, and I understand that no one knows who is responsible.  Just that it is not an employee.  Maybe it is the whale after all.    Check it out:  http://twitter.com/NatHistoryWhale.
• When forecasting the future, museum folks often have some rather interesting predictions.  Most creative?  A tossup between opening Hooters branches in children’s museums and the NRA underwriting outdoor history museums.  Hmmm . . . . we’ll see about that.

 

We’ll come back to all of these (and point you in the right direction to find out more about the other future forecasts) via the blog over the next few months.

And if you attended either conference, we would love to hear what you learned or were mind-boggled by.  Share your thoughts by clicking on "comments" below.  (If you are reading this from your e-mail subscription to the blog, please go to our blog's website to add a comment.)

-Susie

Comments

[Paul O.]

That is the resourceful Clifford Wagner tightening up the packing straps of the exhibit component on top of his car.

[Susie Wilkening, Reach Advisors]

I knew you were in the car, but not who was tightening the straps!

[Jenny Rosenzweig, West Kortright Centre]

I just opened a twitter account to follow the blue whale. I love it!

[Lindsey Baker]

I had no idea the blue whale twitter was not a staff person. That is amazing. Talk about feeling invested and creating your own story.

Good to see you at AAM, even if it was for 2 minutes.

[Steve Friesen]

I had the following thought as a result of the "Museums in 2034" session. As I think about 2034 I believe that museums will be offering social networking as one of their vital services. Museums are great places to meet face to face and have shared experiences. They also can provide "real" content and context for social networking on the internet. What we need to do is create more opportunities for social networking to occur in the museum setting. That means starting with that as an objective for programs and exhibits rather than setting some sort of didactic and often boring educational goal. Create exhibits and programs specifically aimed at providing a context for social interaction. We already provide that social interaction at private exhibit openings, receptions (look at what we did every night during the AAM conference), special evening programs (Night at the Museum) and singles nights. Now we need to extend that opportunity in a more conscious and directed way to all visitors and to new audiences. For example, move away from school programs and associated hands-on exhibits toward exhibits, events and activities aimed specifically at family groups. Rather than several hundred school kids bouncing off of hands-on stations like so many pinballs, you end up with parents, grandparents and children interacting with each other as well as with the exhibits or activities. Create exhibit chatrooms where food and drinks are served and people are encouraged to discuss a particularly provocative artifact. A couple of us at the Philadelphia Museum of Art reception sat around a table with our drinks and discussed what one friend called the Picasso "porno" in the Cezanne exhibit. It was a very interesting discussion. I'll stop now since this is becoming more than a comment, but you get the picture.

[Susie Wilkening, Reach Advisors]

Hi Steve - Great comments. And I love where you are taking your ideas. Building off of these thoughts:

*one of the best examples of easy "social networking" I have seen recently was at the Detroit Institute of Art - the table. It is a simple white table with a projector beaming a film directly down on it. Placed in the porcelain/silver gallery of European Decorative Arts, you can sit down at "your" place setting and be served an extravagant 18th-century meal. Matt Sikora at DIA tells me that since people are "served" different things, it sparks conversation between strangers as they ask each other "what are you eating?" And it brings a bunch of dishes to life (which this decorative arts junkie loves).

*I love the idea of exhibit chatrooms with food and drink (and, one presumes, seating). Nina Simon has a slightly different take on this in her post about why your museum needs a bar, http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2007/12/why-your-museum-needs-bar.html.

But overall I agree that "real" content will be an increasingly important draw for visitors to museums. And that digitization only makes the authentic more desirable to see and experience. But that is another post!

Thanks for your thoughts.