Innovation Lab for Museums

The Latino New South Project will begin to construct a "learning network" that brings together history museums in the southeastern U.S. Long known for its white and black racial landscape, Charlotte, N.C., is now multiethnic and multicultural. Since 1990, the city‘s Latino population has increased from barely 1% of total population to over 11% in 2010. "Immigrant integration"―full and meaningful inclusion in community life―is a major nationwide challenge that is especially keen in the South. The Levine Museum will use its skilled staff, experienced board and active community partners to begin forging links with museums in Atlanta and Birmingham. The aim is for Latino communities to become full partners with museums in the work of community-building.

Youth Arts: Present/Future will establish a new approach and pathway for youth education, one which goes beyond merely making art to enable young people to become "creative thinkers" and "social changemakers." It will explore unique youth talents, or "superpowers," which allow artists to think creatively; a professional artist residency model for youth; a restructuring of the community service component in youth programs; integration of new technologies, gaming, and other inspirations from fields outside of the arts; fitting successful elements of adult engagement into youth programs; and kinesthetic exercises to enhance concentration. By dramatically rethinking its youth curriculum, YBCA seeks to establish itself as one of the most adventurous and experimental museum youth arts programs in the country, one which could be replicated, in whole or in part, by other institutions.

Shifts in popular culture challenge museums today to move from a position of "museum as expert" to one of "museum as learning partner." Art museums, in particular, are struggling with moving beyond bursts of participatory acts, to an institutional goal of engagement that values visitor participation as an essential part of the museum experience. The challenge is to create an overall experience that combines online and on-site engagement―that closes the loop when visitors communicate, and extends the conversation. The voice of the museum has traditionally been a singular one―that of the expert curator. For visitors to feel deeply connected to the institution, the Nelson-Atkins believes they need to see themselves here: in the voices of the non-expert enthusiast. The Museum's ambition is that its learning in this area will translate broadly to a field struggling with these issues.

Madison Children's Museum has always been a museum built by, for, and about children. Unlike most children's museums, at MCM children are routinely and actively involved in all aspects of exhibit development: as researchers, designers, content experts, prototype testers, makers and occasionally builders. This commitment to featuring children as the authors of the museum content has produced deeply immersive learning opportunities and award‑winning exhibits and programs that resonate more powerfully with the museum's young audience. After all, who better to create exhibits that really work for children than children themselves? KidShare: Collecting, Presenting, and Preserving Children's Culture and Creativity will conduct local research by children and collecting their stories of culture in oral, written and graphic formats; present children's creative research and expressions to the general public; and preserve these primary source materials for future generations.

The traditional model for translating individual museum participation to financial benefit is the membership program. With incentives like free admission year-­round, discounts in museum stores, and other perks, museums convince individual patrons that membership is a smart investment, in addition to providing members with the emotional added value of supporting a worthy institution. Around this concept of membership, the museum field has built software systems and staff organizational charts. This deeply ingrained system works well for traditional members, people who are 50+ years old and are seasoned museum‑goers. This model, however, does not sync with changing behaviors by museum participants, who are younger, more mobile and new to museums. Unpacking Museum Membership: A new model for participation will work with colleagues from other museums, the performing arts, and the community arts fields to test business models that will lead to a new model for financial participation in museums. The Museum will research existing models, from retail to on‑line and social media to other nonprofit work, models that could have applications for cultural nonprofits. The implications of such work could be sector‑wide, and have widespread applications in technology, market research, organizational structure, and public programming models.

Historic house museums constitute one of the largest segments of museums in the United States. Over the last decade, the National Trust for Historic Preservation convened two conferences on the stewardship and sustainability of these institutions. The recommendations from both conferences urged the National Trust to fully embrace its role as a leader in developing new models for house museums within its own collection of 29 historic sites. In late 2011, the National Trust adopted a new strategic plan and one of its primary goals is "Re-imagining Historic Sitesʺ that is to be implemented by ʺmoving the portfolio of Trust-owned sites to higher levels of programmatic quality, structural integrity, and financial sustainability."

Within this broader emphasis on historic sites, the "Re‑imagining Historic House Museumsʺ project seeks to innovate the house museum model at National Trust Historic Sites by developing experiences that are still about what is core in a museum―memory―but that engage the public in dynamic new ways, ensuring both the intellectual and financial sustainability of the entire site. ʺRe-imagining Historic House Museums" embodies a fundamental institutional shift for the National Trust. By abandoning traditional house museum precepts (static objects, contrived period rooms, guided tours), our objective is to create house museums that inform, illuminate, and inspire. The re‑imagined house museum will utilize architecture, collections and landscape to tell a broader range of stories that reflect the diversity of American history. It will anchor and guide new development and uses throughout the site.