Back to the future?: A refresher course in the basics of exhibit development could save your museum's next project

Photo by Brian Forrest of MOCA, via LA Times
 Culture Monster  blog

Continuing the tradition of putting in my two cents about the latest happenings in the museum world, I offer a few observations on the enormous mural gaffe committed by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles late last week. For those of you unfamiliar with MOCA LA's blunder, here is a brief synopsis.

MOCA commissioned an Italian street artist named Blu to paint a mural on the external wall of their Geffen Contemporary building as part of a larger street art exhibition set to open next April. The museum's Director, Jeffrey Deitch (who comes from the art gallery world, but has no real museum experience), signed off on the project and left town for an international art fair in Miami. Blu proceeded to paint giant rows of military-style coffins draped in dollar bills, an obvious commentary on the war and capitalism. Upon Deitch's return, Blu's mural was determined to be "inappropriate" and was completely whitewashed. Now, some are crying censorship since MOCA sits adjacent to a monument honoring Japanese-American soldiers and near a Veterans Affairs building.

One cannot help but wonder at what point things went wrong in planning this project. Was anyone asking good questions? In addition to writing this blog, I teach in the Museum Studies department at Walsh University, and it occurs to me that if MOCA had followed a few basic rules of exhibit development they might have avoided this entire mess. Let us lay out a couple of key issues to discuss before planning and mounting your next exhibition.

1. Be sure you know exactly what you are exhibiting. This is as true with artists as it is with artifacts. Many  are culturally significant, others are worthless imitations. Some objects and subjects are provocative, while others are openly offensive. Some things are worth saying, showing, installing, and risking, while others are just a public relations nightmare not worth the effort. Unfortunately, in MOCA's case it seems no one did enough homework to be sure where on the avant-garde spectrum their new mural would fall. Oops.

2. Know thine audience. Remember, your core constituency may be different from your general audience. For example, your programs may cater to connoisseurs of high art, hipsters, and artists, but if your museum resides in a neighborhood frequented by active military service men and women, veterans, their families, as well as others working closely with them, and you are planning an outdoor mural, these folks are members of your audience as well. Consider carefully the message you will convey, and of course it is not only what you say, but how you say it that matters in the end.

3. Make sure you have a clear contract. If your contract is vague on several points, do not be surprised  when the exhibition you envisioned is not the one you end up mounting. Institutions lending artifacts or traveling exhibits may be free to pull high profile artifacts from the show without warning, and artists may assume they have a blank canvas and a blank check unless your contract clearly states otherwise.

4. Collaboration builds community. Some museums do a great job of reaching out to neighboring organizations and the surrounding community, others seem to think they bring something so special to the neighborhood that they do not need local input. I have no idea how often MOCA LA collaborates with its neighbors, but I know that asking the community for ideas about a mural specifically mounted as part of a project meant to inject street art into the community makes a lot of sense. Obviously, there was a disconnect with the community somewhere in this initiative.

Jessica shows off the exhibit design concept board, which
highlights the ways she plans to engage her audience. 

Each of these four concepts was integral to the Exhibition Development and Design course I taught this past semester. My students learned that serving your mission, audience, and community at-large are keys to a successful exhibition. Whether you are a small historical society, or an eminent art museum, the basic tenets apply. If museums strive for more than just headlines and shock-value, if they want to be valued, respected, and relevant, then projects and programs need to be carefully conceived and even more carefully carried out.

As museum professionals, we are responsible for the future legacy of our organizations. In a political environment where the application of public funding must be justified and measured against a greater economic good, we must balance risk and reward with an eye towards that shared future. Going back to school on some basic program development guidelines seems like a simple way to keep chaos at bay, and ensure that our impact is both memorable and positive.

MOCA's unfortunate mural episode serves as a cautionary tale for all museums. What on the surface looks innovative and engaging, may end up doing more harm than good if best practices and important details are overlooked. Be sure your team has covered all the bases before the paintbrush hits the wall.

Here is a link to the LA TImes' story on MOCA's mural blunder.
Museum of Contemporary Art commissions, then paints over, artwork - latimes.com

Need some tips for embracing social media? Check out Jeff Guin's blog

Last Friday night I attended the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinee's Dinner in Canton, Ohio, and as it turned out, one of the guests at our table was a woman who serves as the volunteer director of a nonprofit that teaches traffic safety to children. We talked at length about her organization, entirely run by volunteers, and their desire to embrace the wave of new media to better promote ongoing programming and reach an ever-changing audience of parents and their young children. She had already reached out to a local college for an intern to help them handle day-to-day posting beginning this fall. We discussed the merits of this initial set-up, along with some pitfalls to avoid, and by the end of our conversation she seemed encouraged by the potential of developing a well-conceived social media plan, and ready to embark on that task.

Launching a social media initiative can be as nerve-wracking as any other new and unfamiliar program undertaken by a lean organization of well-meaning, but unconfident staff. This particular nonprofit leader had done her homework and needed only a few pointers to reassure her that she and her organization were on the right track. Regardless of whether your staff are full-time professionals, or part-time volunteers, the proper amount of preliminary planning will make a huge difference in the roll-out of your social media campaign. So, where to begin?

Several months ago Jeff Guin tackled this very issue in his blog for Voices of the Past Heritage Media, specifically addressing the needs of heritage organizations. Jeff's post from March 31, 2010, Social Media Planning for Heritage Organizations: Differentiating Goals, Objectives & Tactics, is an excellent primer for those who are considering swimming in the social media pool. If your organization has yet to undertake the seemingly daunting task of developing a social media plan, or you have tried social media, but are frustrated by the difficult task of measuring your success, check out Jeff's article for a common sense approach to planning the application of 21st century media in your PR portfolio.

What is your museum giving up for Lent?

Yesterday began the Christian season of Lent, the six weeks leading up to Easter. For Christians, Lent is a time of introspection, resolution, and moderation-- a time for positive change. Traditionally, it has also been a time when believers give up some comfortable indulgence, at least until the Easter Bunny arrives.

Here's an idea, what if instead of giving up your morning Starbucks, or late-night sweets, you pledged to help your museum give up some of its comfortably self-indulgent practices over the next six weeks?

My list of five habits your museum could lose for Lent:

1. Starting new initiatives or designing programs without first checking in with the museum's strategic plan. Instead, be sure that your efforts will not only support your mission, but also make progress toward meeting specific objectives.
2. Ignoring popular cultural trends/events that could otherwise build valuable connections for your visitors. For example, with two weeks of Olympic competition taking place, geography, science, math, weather, history, and cultures could easily be highlighted and give your content a contemporary spin.
3. Not recycling in your cafe. I continue to be amazed by the number of museums where recycling receptacles are not provided for guests in the cafe. Let us be leaders in doing the right thing for our planet.
4. Giving today's students the same tour you have given for the last 15 to 20 years. Most of us are only too happy to point out the differences between the youth of today and the childhood we knew ourselves. If kids are so different today, why are many museums still dragging students through the same tired school tour that was already old when I took it twenty-some years ago?
5. Forgetting the little things families need for a successful museum visit. As we move toward spring break and the increase in family visitors it always brings, take a spin through your museum and make sure that the galleries, cafe, and restrooms are prepared to make families welcome and comfortable during their stay. See my post "Is your museum family-friendly? Really??" for details on how to maximize your impact with minimum effort.

With just a few changes over the next 6 weeks your museum can head into spring with a fresh sense of commitment to serving your audience with authentic experiences and attention to detail. So, what are you giving up for Lent?

Image: No Cupcakes magnet from Zazzle.com

Museums making progress for the sake of progress, at what cost?

An old building was torn down on Monday behind the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It was a carriage house-- a relatively old, late Victorian building, designed and commissioned by the Museum's namesake, the significance of which had been widely debated. Suffice it to say, the Museum owned the building and wished to tear it down to clear the way for a new addition designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano.

An article in the Boston Globe gives the account of the eventual demolition and comments posted by readers allude to the disagreement over the Museum's decision to raze the old structure to begin anew.

Gardner Museum tears down carriage house at heart of dispute - The Boston Globe

Photo above: The carriage house demolished by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (David L. Ryan/ Globe Staff)

(Posted using ShareThis)

As I am unfamiliar with the specific motivating factors on both sides of the argument in this particular case, I'll set aside my own opinion on the demolition of the Gardner carriage house, but the incident does beg the question, when are we seeking progress for progress' sake alone? How do we effectively weigh the future cost of today's decision to sacrifice something old, to bring about something new? As museums, when are we truly improving our visitor experience, and when are we simply refreshing it? And, if all we need, or desire, is refreshment, do we really need to destroy what is old, or can we effectively repurpose it?

I am sure that in their due diligence process the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum wrestled with all of these questions and more, but how did they know when they had arrived at the right answer? In destroying an edifice conceived by their founder as part of her original museum vision, how did the Gardner Museum leadership balance their founding principles and core mission with their own vision for the museum in the 21st Century and beyond? We all hope that egos, deep pockets, and other traditional sources of power and influence will not weigh heavily upon our decision-making process, but living in the real world we have seen these forces at work in conference rooms, cocktail parties, and board meetings. Who you know and what you can bring in still makes a difference. Even when the strategic plan is specific, collaborative, and comprehensive there seems to always be enough room for individual interpretations and personal visions.

Working in the museum field for these last 13 years, I have been involved in strategic planning on staff at several institutions, and as a collaborator or facilitator at several more. In each process the details are different, but the aim is the same: let's define who we are, why we are relevant, and how we can do what we do better in the future. Along the way, some ideas are set aside as impractical, some goals are determined to be unattainable, and some buildings are marked for demolition. In my opinion, the process is most authentic and "refreshing" when there are no sacred cows, when everything is on the table and all ideas are considered and debated upon their own merits. I assume that this is what happened in Boston, and eventually the Museum decided that the carriage house needed to go to make room for a new space that will better serve their mission and long-term goals.

As guardians of the public trust, museums need to be very open with their staff internally and with their external constituents, sharing, explaining, substantiating, and even reconsidering the goals and initiatives that drive their biggest and most controversial decisions. Ultimately, the final plan and directives will, and should, still come from museum leadership, but I believe the most inclusive process would have the best end result.

The Cleveland Museum of Art exemplified this open approach in 2004-05 as they prepared to embark on their massive $300 million renovation. The Museum did an excellent job of including its members and other visitors in the planning phase, encouraging public input and gaining their trust. Some decisions were initially unpopular (like enclosing the courtyard and cutting down the towering old trees), but through open dialogue many Clevelanders were persuaded that the Museum had a clear, relevant, and important vision for itself, which the renovation design would effectively carry out.

It is a reality that in every business, even in nonprofits and museums seeking to serve the greater good, people in leadership positions must make tough calls and some people on the outside will be unhappy with those decisions. Certainly, there are angry and disappointed people in Boston this week, but could the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum have avoided the current PR quagmire with some open dialogue and public briefing sessions? Perhaps. We will never know for sure, but the rest of us can learn how not to knock down an old building from their experience. May our renovations be guided as much by reflection, as ambition, and let us all be as eager to build consensus as we are to build a new wing.

If a museum program falls in the woods...

I snapped this picture yesterday as I was picking up dinner at my favorite Chinese restaurant. The store next door had these two signs in the front window, and it struck me as a little bit funny. Here is a great free service being offered to the public-- free hearing tests, but perhaps in a place not many people would expect to find that service-- at an optical center.

How often do we, in the museum world do the very same thing? How many times have you developed a great program designed to meet a specific and important need in your community, only to find that it was underutilized, and more often than not, ultimately set aside in favor of some more popular program?

Perhaps we are a bit like Shoregate Optical here. Our hearts are in the right place, but we are not seen by our target audience as the logical place to look for the programs or services they need. So, this begs the obvious question that so many museums I know are struggling with, "How do we get our community to see us as a resource, not simply a destination?" How do we let the public beyond our own members, in on the wealth of educational programs and services we provide day in and day out? After all, even the very best, grant-funded, well-staffed, strategic-planned program is only as good as the impact it has in the hearts, minds and lives of its participants. How do we reach the masses to let them know what we offer and moreover, how do we remain relevant in this age of virtual experience?

I am not sure that anyone has a silver bullet answer to all of these difficult questions, but I can offer my own simple, if somewhat obvious, suggestion. You must find your audience and then go to them. I am not a big believer in the "if-you-build-it-they-will-come" theory. Maybe it works for baseball ghosts, but if you would like to reach actual people, I believe you must reach out to them where they are. Senior centers, libraries, churches, and the YMCA all frequently host guest speakers for their special programs, offering potential opportunities to connect with new segments of the community you are attempting to serve. Don't just leave a stack of flyers on a desk somewhere either. Make a personal connection to your audience by meeting them on their turf and telling them yourself why they should come to your museum.

Perhaps you are already reaching out to folks at the places I just mentioned, and instead you say you want more people between the ages of 18 and 28 to take an interest in your museum and ultimately visit? OK, does your museum have a Facebook page? Are you on Twitter? Do you post a blog chronicling your latest programs, collections, exhibits, and other news? If not, did you know that you can do all of these things for free and reach millions of tech-savvy folks young and old who troll the internet looking for little nuggets of news just like yours?

One of the toughest things for any of us to do is to look at ourselves through someone else's eyes. However, if we are going to spend valuable time, energy, and funds producing a new program or exhibit, perhaps the most important thing we can do is take a good a look at what we are planning and determine whether or not we might be offering free hearing exams at a vision center. If so, but it seems justifiable to meet a community need with the program, exhibit, or service you are planning to provide, then decide how you will get the word out to those who could benefit most. After all, if a museum program is planned and no one hears about it, does actually make an impact?