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I am beginning to wonder if this is the beginning of the end for museums as public civil society organizations and museum workers. As I watch the news every night, it seems that the last thing anyone would want to do is to hire museum staff at this time. Those museum workers still employed are now doing the work of two to three former …
A diagram of the overall museum planning process from start to finish. The diagram shows the process of starting a museum from the initial concept to museum opening day as a process diagram.
Includes free downloadable PDF.
Museums have an active and important role to play in a more hopeful future. Together, museums and communities can work to counteract climate change, to train and prepare people for the new nature of work, and to be places of ethical and philosophical responsibility, building souls for our new future.
In the past, we could estimate costs on a low-cost basis and then build museum business models to have operational costs and unearned income create a museum business plan.
The equations are no longer so simple. As an example, basing costs on non-union labor and minimum wage without benefits could be rejected by communities as not aligning with their personal values.
To capture new audiences and expend the primary mission of museums as places of personal meaning, community impact and civil society, we must relinquish part of our authority and learn new digital skills.
The future of museums in understanding and aligning with influencer culture and reaching larger numbers of people that show impact to policymakers.
With museums reopening we have a window of time to change museums, but we must move quickly and with new attitudes.
About once a week I receive two types of emails; “I am interested in opening a museum” and “Do you have any suggestions for museum funding?”.
Below are the resources that I usually share with the senders of the emails.
Introduction I am working on the final edits of the Designing Museum Experiences manuscript. One of the most difficult numbers is the impact of COVID-19. As of today, more than 10,000 museums worldwide may close permanently.. Impact Worldwide In 2020, UNESCO estimated that there are 95,000 museums worldwide, and predicts 10% permanently close (9,500 museums worldwide close permanently). “The study reveals that …
An “Open Letter” regarding how to remake museums for a post-COVID-19 world.
Online Museum:
“a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.“
– International Council of Museums ICOM, Museum definition, adopted by the 22nd General Assembly in Vienna, Austria, on 24 August 2007