The latest issue of ACM’s quarterly journal, Hand to Hand, “Exhibit Planning in 2020: Thinking Now about Where We Hope to Be in the Future” is now available! Read each article on the ACM blog. ACM members can find the full issue PDF in the Hand to Hand Community on ACM Groupsite.

Every aspect of children’s museum operations has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This issue takes a closer look at how leaders and innovators in the field are planning for an uncertain future as they develop joyful, playful, and interactive museum exhibits.

Read the issue!

Exhibit Planning in 2020: Thinking Now about Where We Hope to Be in the Future

Creating a World beyond This One
Megan Dickerson, with Panca, The New Children’s Museum
In conversation with Megan Dickerson, the visual artist Panca talks about her upcoming exhibit at The New Children’s Museum, El Más Allá, touching on everything from creative work as medicine to whether a giant slide can transform how we see the world.

A Novel Approach to Exhibit Interactives amid the Pandemic
Melissa Pederson and Stephanie Eddleman, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
Exhibit developers at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis examine how the museum is approaching the challenge of adapting exhibit interactives for a post-COVID world.

Creating the ‘Wow-Aha!’ Exhibit: An Interview with Paul Orselli, POW!
Interviewer: Mary Maher, Hand to Hand
Paul Orselli shares what led him to a career in museums, how exhibits have changed in the past five years, and why falling in love with what you’re working on is key to creating a great exhibit.

Two Museums and a Design Firm: Thinking about How We Design Exhibits Now
Developed by Kate Marciniec, Boston Children’s Museum, with Karima Grant, ImagiNation Afrika; Maeryta Medrano, AIA, Gyroscope Inc.; Stephen Wisniewski, PhD, Flint Children’s Museum
Three museum colleagues assess how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced their design and development practices, including new challenges and strategies that have emerged.

Back to Basics: Shutdown Offers Time for Exhibit Upgrades and Reaffirmation
Beth Whisman, Children’s Discovery Museum
With their doors still closed to visitors due to state-level restrictions, Children’s Discovery Museum is working behind-the-scenes to repair and update exhibits as well as plan for the future.

Staying Out Front (While Behind-the-Scenes Exhibit Work Goes on)
Sharon Vegh Williams, North Country Children’s Museum
During the museum’s closure to visitors, North Country Children’s Museum pivoted their focus to online, lending, and outdoor programming to continue serving their audiences.

Climate Action Heroes: New Museum Uses Small Exhibit to Create Broad Digital Experiences
Langley Lease, National Children’s Museum
Open for just eighteen days before the museum was forced to close to the public due to COVID-19, National Children’s Museum leveraged their Climate Action Heroes exhibit to generate online programming that helps fulfill their mission.

Exhibit Fabrication and Installation Challenges during COVID
Cathlin Bradley, Kubik Maltbie, Inc.
This piece takes a look at how the COVID-19 pandemic affects exhibit planning, prototyping and testing, available materials, installation labor, and more.

What’s Different about This Picture: Laying the (New) Groundwork for Design
Alissa Rupp, FAIA, Frame | Integrative Design Strategies
By designing for the future, museums can hold resilience as a core value that sustainably guides everything the organization does.

The Associations of Children’s Museums (ACM) champions children’s museums worldwide. Follow ACM on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Knology produces practical social science for a better world. Follow Knology on Twitter.