Exhibitions

Designing for Engagement: Five Steps for Co-Creating Exhibits and Programs with Your Communities

By Bryan Markovitz and Isabel Singer

Museums are changing how they interact with the communities they serve, adopting practices that are more inclusive and engaging for all. One of the practices they are increasingly turning to is co-creation: forming an equal partnership …
Microclimates: A Greener Future for Collection Care

By Joyce Lee & Kelly Krish

There are many options available for museums to address climate action and become more sustainable, but recent work at two institutions has highlighted the value in one particular method: creating “microclimates” which confine …
The Peabody Essex Museum’s Climate + Environment Initiative Seeks to Create a Different Climate Future

By Jane Winchell

As the director of an interactive art and nature space, I’ve included climate change as a topic in many shows and programs over the years. But until recently, I had convinced myself that focusing an entire exhibition on climate change …
PIVOT: When the Exhibit Title Sets the Tone

By Elizabeth Quinn MacMillan & Amy Cao

The Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College had just installed its latest exhibit, PIVOT: Skateboard Deck Art, when the pandemic hit in March 2020. Over the next year, the exhibit’s title took on new meaning, as “pivoting” became …
Building Emotional Intelligence Through Play

By Anne Fullenkamp

An exhibition at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh uses the movie Inside Out to teach children about thei…
Empathy Check (and why it’s not a cliché)

By Victoria Edwards

An exhibition on African American women’s hair became a space for the African diasporic perspective to be seen, heard, valued, and better …
The Secrets of Emotion

By Pablo P. L. Tinio

Psychological science offers myriad opportunities for measuring emotional responses to the museum …
Invitation to Introspection

By Heike Winterheld and Josh Gutwill

The Exploratorium’s free, outdoor exhibition helped people understand the factors that contribute to both compassion and po…
Excite, Build, Consider: A Structure for Open and Honest Feedback in Project Development

By Joey Scott and Bonnie Benham

One challenge we’ve all probably faced in collaborative program and exhibit development/design is creating a space for open and honest feedback. We know candid feedback is crucial for aligning the outcome of a project with its stated goals …
How the Delaware Art Museum is Centering Community Voices in Interpretive Planning

By Amelia Wiggins

In 2018, the Delaware Art Museum (DelArt) began a radically inclusive approach to reinstallation planning, integrating community voices at every stage through focus groups, iterative prototyping, and community-created content. But before …