Museum Magazine

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Solving the Engagement Puzzle: A Museum Escape Room Event Captivates All Ages

By Kate Higbee

On a typical day at Chicago’s Griffin Museum of Science and Industry (MSI), visitors move through exhibits with a destination in mind—a favorite artifact, a hands-on activity, or the temporary exhibition that got them in the door. But on …
No Yelling in the Museum: Balancing Security with Visitor Experience

By Colleen Higginbotham

When asked why they don’t visit museums, many people point to a previous negative experience, often involving an interaction with staff enforcing museum rules. I have observed museum personnel enforce rules by snapping their fingers, …
Innovating for Impact: How Digital Tools Can Transform Engagement

By Marsha L. Semmel and Greg Stevens

Museums of all types are investing in digital technologies to expand access, deepen engagement, strengthen operations, and reach audiences beyond their walls. For Jewish museums, these efforts carry additional urgency. Digital tools can …
Normalizing Diverse Ways of Thinking: Museum Experiences for All Learners

By Susan Letourneau, Wendy Martin and Sam Tumolo

Museums hope to attract and support people who learn in many different ways, including those who are neurodivergent learners. But most museum activities aren’t designed with these potential participants in mind. What if they were? The …
Visitor Services as Strategy: The Institution-Wide Benefits of Welcoming

By Debbie Queen

Most museum professionals can tell you exactly where visitor services sits on the organizational chart. Usually somewhere near the front entrance. Often operational. Sometimes overlooked. But after more than 20 years working across …
Designing for Discovery: A New Renovation Doubles Down on Engagement, Belonging, and Accessibility

By Anna Alger

Today, walking into the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, located in Northeast Ohio, feels markedly different than it did just a few years ago. The galleries are brighter. The spaces feel more open. Visitors encounter educators leading …
From the President: Experience is Everything

By Marilyn Jackson

As a museum marketing professional, I learned early on that the most effective way to attract an audience is to convey the experience a museum offers. But that experience is about more than what visitors get to “see and do.” It’s also …
Point of View: The Tour Guide at the Front Desk

By Jeremy Kreusch

At the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, visitor services and interpretation share staff to provide free museum tours. At the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), select entry-level staff from our Audience Experience division, …
When Museum Social Media Works: Joining the Cultural Conversation

By Haydn Corrodus

Spend enough time with arts marketers and cultural leadership teams, and you’ll hear the same question again and again: Is social media still worth it? Whether it’s fluctuating organic reach, ever-changing algorithms, or the understandable …
Reputation on Display: Eight Simple Rules for Public Relations

By Steve Lott

I’m guessing you’ve felt it too: museums are more visible, more scrutinized, and more politicized than ever. That scrutiny doesn’t always land where we’d like it to. It can jump from an exhibition to an institution, from an object to an …