6 Data-Tested Approaches to Building New Audiences
It’s safe to say that most museums would like new visitors. Visitors actualize museums’ missions, give them vibrancy as places of insight and connection, and contribute to their financial welfare. Even for museums that receive plenty of …
What It Means to Be a University Museum in the Twenty-First Century
These days, when I stop by the café at the Chazen Museum of Art, I often find myself in conversation with my University of Wisconsin–Madison colleagues—students, staff, and professors from across the campus. I know that these informal …
Museum Pricing for Affordability and Profit
What does it cost to buy an airline ticket, book a rideshare service, or make a hotel reservation? Nowadays the answer to that question may vary minute-to-minute, as companies use data analysis and clever algorithms to calibrate their …
Transforming Data into Stories with the Annual Survey of Museum-Goers
Who visits our museums? What are their motivations, and what do they expect from the experience? Alternatively, who is not visiting, and why not? These are critical questions for the future of individual museums, and for the entire field. …
The Fixer Upper Effect: Waco museums enjoy the ride (and try to learn the deeper meaning)
It’s Monday, November 5, at 1:01 pm. I’m headed to a meeting in downtown Waco, Texas. As I drive by The Silos, a retail space developed by Fixer Upper stars Chip and Joanna Gaines, I am amazed to see the crowds standing in line to get in. …
Say Cheese! 3 Ways Museums Can Compete with Instagrammable Pop-Ups
This article is loosely based on a session panel that I facilitated at the 2018 New England Museum Association (NEMA) conference titled, “Let Me Take a Selfie: The Power of Photo Ops and ‘Instagrammable’ Moments in Museums.” Panelists …
Back For More: Attracting Repeat Visitors to Single-Focus Museums
This article originally appeared in the March/April 2013 edition of Museum magazine. In 1955, the 68-year-old socialite and philanthropist Marjorie Merriweather Post bought a 36-room Georgian-style mansion on a 25-acre estate in the …
