The ACM Trends Reports team has continued to study the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s museums. To understand the situation, we conducted two surveys, the first in May 2020, and the second from September 24 to October 18, 2020. Overall, 96 US-based children’s museums participated in the survey.
In the fall 2020 survey, 81 museums reported starting new collaborations or expanding existing collaborations since the beginning of the pandemic, while 15 museums reported no new or expanded collaborations. Those with collaborations started an average of two or three collaborative activities during the pandemic. This Trends Report focuses on collaborations with social and health services organizations, including food banks, shelters, blood banks, and community health clinics. This is the first of three Trends Reports that tell the story of how children’s museums have undertaken collaborative work during a time of crisis.
The Museums in a Pandemic series of Trends Reports illustrates the ways children’s museums have adapted to the evolving national and local situations surrounding the pandemic. This series is also part of Museums Mobilize, an initiative of the Association of Children’s Museums that documents COVID-specific responses and innovations by children’s museums. While many children’s museums’ buildings have been closed to the public and they have faced unprecedented operational challenges throughout the pandemic, institutions around the world are offering critical programs in service to children and families.
We asked museums about whether they had expanded existing collaborations or initiated new collaborations with different types of organizations during the pandemic. Out of 96 museums, 59 museums (61%) reported collaborations with social and health services organizations, such as food banks, homeless shelters, blood banks, community health clinics, and hospitals. We also asked participants about the goals for their expanded or new collaborations. Partnerships around social and health services most likely focused
Figure 1. Goal of children’s museums’ collaborations with social and health service organizations.
on the goal of sharing resources and information (Figure 1).
This was followed by the goal of developing content and programming, with cross-institution promotion and outreach coming in third. COVID planning was not a top priority for this type of collaboration. Fundraising was the lowest priority for museums in terms of their collaborations with social and health organizations.
What follows are short accounts from four children’s museums about specific collaborations they developed with other organizations centered on providing social and health services to their communities.
Above & Beyond Children’s Museum, located in Sheboygan, WI, is collaborating with Mental Health of America-Sheboygan County and YMCA of Sheboygan County on a mental health initiative called Play is Healing that uses play as a powerful healing agent. This is a three- phase program that spans a full year. Each phase centers on mental health and wellness through virtual and take- and-make options. Participants who sign up receive a link to participate in the sessions. Activities for the first phase of this collaboration include a Mindful Recess. These 20- minute virtual sessions are offered as mindful and playful breaks for elementary school students and their families.
The second phase of the collaboration features an initiative called POP up in the Parks! In this phase, the partners are providing outdoor programming in parks and outdoor venues throughout Sheboygan County, including at a local YMCA and two botanical gardens. This programming provides opportunities for children and families to participate in play, games, movement, and exercise. The partners are planning a third phase, slated to take place in 2021, which will offer indoor programs at the museum and the YMCA. The proposed programming will involve various exhibits and take place in different locations throughout both facilities. The intended age range for the program is 2 to10 years old, and parents, families, and younger and older children are all welcome to join as well. The goal of this collaboration is to provide space for communities, families, and caregivers to reconnect through play as a way to heal the trauma brought on by isolation during the pandemic.
Commenting on the importance of mental health programming, leaders from the museum noted that “We strive to be collaborative and respond to our community’s needs in creative, innovative ways. Carving out a focus on mental health in youth is part of our strategic plan and sets us up to continue expanding on this programmatic initiative moving forward.”
In addition, the museum offered community activity packages in partnership with Boys & Girls Club of Sheboygan County, Mental Health of America-Sheboygan County, and Nourish Farms during summer 2020. These packages provided 2,003 families with kits containing 5 to 9 different activities from collaborating organizations throughout the county. Each package included STEM, art- making, healthy nutrition, and mindfulness activities, as well as games to play.
The Children’s Museum of Greater Fall River, located in Fall River, MA, is collaborating with multiple partners: Fall River Public Schools, Department of Children and Family Services (DCF), and Bristol Community College. Their programming is focused on early childhood and is funded partially with a state grant. Specific partnership programming includes the Service Learning with Early Childhood Students initiative, which pairs college students studying early childhood with children ages 2 to 10 on STEAM projects. Students spend 10 hours each semester on a STEAM activity. The list of activities includes Sink and Float, an activity that incorporates the museum’s water room, and opportunities to mix colors based on the book Mouse Paint by Ellen Walsh. There are also opportunities for participants to make homemade play dough and slime. This program was put on hold in fall 2020, when Bristol College was remote due to COVID-19. However, the museum expects to resume the program in fall 2021.
The museum partners with DCF to host supervised visits for families that need support through weekly visits from case workers. Specifically, social service agencies use the museum space primarily for play with mentors and caseworkers. This offers children a more stimulating play area during social services meetings. The museum also offers private space for meetings. Before the onset of the COVID pandemic, the museum collaborated with Fall River Public Schools on a weekly Play and Learn Preschool Program and hosted a Welcome To K. Night for the public schools every summer. The Play and Learn program was suspended due to COVID-19.
Commenting on the benefits of these programs for members of the community, museum leadership remarked that they are “very proud of our reach in the community in 8 short years of being opened with a small staff.”
Bucks County Children’s Museum, located in New Hope, PA, is collaborating with United Way of Bucks County. The collaboration, dubbed PECO STEAM Kits for Kids, is funded by PECO, a Philadelphia-area utility company. Additional support comes from Weis Markets, Books in Homes USA, and United Way of Bucks County. The program provides low-income families with preschool STEAM activity kits that they can enjoy at home.
The partners collaborate on preparing, assembling, and distributing the kits. United Way of Bucks County develops an annual preschool STEAM guide filled with family-friendly educational activities for young learners. United Way provides Bucks County Children’s Museum with the list of materials needed for each kit. Once the museum secures the materials and assembles the kits, United Way distributes them to preschool programs, parenting programs, and local hunger relief sites. To date, more than 1,000 kits have been distributed. By June 2021, 250 more kits will be distributed.
According to Buck County Children’s Museum leadership, partnerships increase the museum’s capacity to serve all members of their community. “We are grateful that we can promote lifelong learning and make a deep impact despite our temporary closure due to the pandemic. Collaboration makes it possible for the museum to reach local kids experiencing the greatest need at a challenging time.”
Pretend City Children’s Museum, located in Irvine, CA, offers several programs to support its community. In partnership with First Five Orange County, Early Childhood OC, Children’s Home Society, and The Boys and Girls Club of Orange County, the museum served as a distribution site for personal equipment and cleaning supplies to childcare providers. This program benefits licensed daycares and preschools in Orange County that serve essential workers and first responders. The supplies were packaged at the museum and were distributed to over 550 preschools and daycare centers each month during the COVID pandemic.
The museum has two other programs that are offered via its Play at Home initiative. This initiative includes Play at Home Virtual Programming and Play at Home Guides. The Play at Home Virtual Programming releases content weekly through Facebook Live that features materials for children and their families. The Play at Home Guides are designed to help families bring Pretend City exhibits into their homes. The guides offer resources for discussing different developmental milestones for each age group. Each guide includes activities that are themed to Pretend City exhibits to foster child development.
This content is also provided on the museum’s website and Facebook page. The program targets children ages 0 to 8 and their families. The second program, Parenting Under Quarantine: Winter Webinar Series, offers biweekly parenting webinars that cover topics in parenting and offer other forms of support. Winter topics focused on race and diversity, screen time, and mental health. The webinars have featured guest speakers from various local agencies and colleges. This content is viewed by parents and caregivers in Orange County, as well as across the US. The program also provides access to free developmental screening tools online. This tool is vital for parents to understand their child’s development, especially during this turbulent time.
Commenting on the benefits of the programming for the community, museum leadership said, “We are fortunate to have such great community partners that help us to provide services to our community. Our goal is to become a HUB for all early learning in the county, bringing together early childhood education and health experts.”
Children’s museums have a natural compatibility with organizations and agencies that serve the social and health needs of their communities. After all, children’s museums are social services for young people and their families. The variety of collaborations featured in this Trends Report demonstrate the diverse approaches that museums can take in this type of partnership, all of which support critical aspects of childhood development and families’ health. These stories also highlight the resources that museums can gain access to when they collaborate with social and health service organizations, including experts on topics important to families and volunteers with broad reach in their communities.
Overall, 96 museums responded to at least part of the fall 2020 survey. A subset of museums that indicated they had new or expanded partnerships received an additional set of questions that asked for more information about collaborations focused on providing social and health services that they formed or expanded during the pandemic. Some of the data used in this report came from an online survey that ACM sent to US-based children’s museums.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been incredibly difficult for children and families. Whether caregivers are essential workers, working from home, or stay-at-home care providers, they have needed to navigate childcare and online or hybrid schooling in the midst of the extreme stress and isolation of the past year. In many ways, this year has exposed the failings of our social safety net—and many children’s museums have found ways to provide support and fill the gaps. On April 6, the Association of Children’s Museums held “Museums Mobilize to Support Parents and Caregivers,” a webinar looking at three museum-community partnerships in this parent support space.
This webinar was the second in ACM’s Museums Mobilize webinar series, following “Museums Mobilize to Combat Food Insecurity during COVID-19.” ACM launched Museums Mobilize last year to show how children’s museums around the world are supporting children and families during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While 70 percent of ACM’s member museums are currently open to visitors, this number is a high point over the past year. However, children’s museums’ work has always gone beyond their physical venues. All children’s museums function in four ways, which ACM defines as the Four Dimensions of Children’s Museums: as local destinations, educational laboratories, community resources, and advocates for children. During the pandemic, when most children’s museums couldn’t fulfill this local destination role, they were able to innovate and expand across the other three dimensions.
One trend that has emerged from the Museums Mobilize initiative’s documentation is programming to support parents and caregivers, especially as it relates to the stresses they’ve endured during the pandemic, as explored in “Museums Mobilize to Support Parents and Caregivers.” ACM Executive Director Laura Huerta Migus began the webinar with an introduction of the Museums Mobilize initiative, and how it builds from ACM’s Four Dimensions of Children’s Museums. The speakers then engaged in a fireside chat about their work in support of parents and caregivers.
Leslie Perovich, Chief Operating Officer of Pretend City Children’s Museum and Tiffany Alva, Director of Partnerships and Government Affairs at First 5 Orange County, discussed their organizations’ partnership to offer free development screenings to all young children in Orange County, California. Developmental screenings assess children’s social-emotional wellbeing, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The partnership has extended into information-sharing and support.
Julia Bland, CEO of Louisiana Children’s Museum and Past President of the ACM board of directors, and Dr. Angie Breidenstine, a psychologist with the Tulane Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, talked about their In Dialogue video chat series, which demystifies mental health issues for caregivers and their children. Launched in March 2020, the series has covered critical topics facing families over the past year.
Alix Tonsgard, Early Learning Specialist at DuPage Children’s Museum, discussed DuPage Children’s Museum’s Partners in Play program, formed in partnership with Jump Start, to support caregivers. Funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), Partners in Play had hosted two in-person sessions before the pandemic hit. They quickly pivoted their program to continue to engage families, many of whom had no other supports in those first few months off the pandemic. (Read more about Partners in Play in “Building Relationships through a Pandemic.”)
Together, all participants discussed the needs they identified in parents and caregivers that inspired them to start their programs, and why they chose to collaborate with like-minded organizations.
The next Museums Mobilize webinar will take place on May 6 at 2:00 p.m. ET, focusing on how children’s museums are supporting children with special needs during the pandemic. This fireside chat-style discussion will feature leaders from Pretend City Children’s Museum, Louisiana Children’s Museum, and DuPage Children’s Museum, along with community partners.
As the world looks to reopening, it’s clear the pandemic will have consequences on museum operations for years to come. ACM’s Museums Mobilize initiative highlights the need to invest in children’s museums as community responders. Learn more about the efforts of children’s museums worldwide the hashtag #MuseumsMobilize and by viewing the Museums Mobilize dashboard with key stats on ACM’s website.
The Associations of Children’s Museums (ACM) champions children’s museums worldwide. Follow ACM on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
By March 19, 2020, all children’s museums in the U.S. had closed their doors to the public in response to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past year, children’s museums have innovated and transformed, creating new programs to support their communities and fill critical needs all while facing unprecedented operational crisis. Through our Museums Mobilize initiative, the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) is documenting these programs in service to children and families. We currently count 167 programs from 78 children’s museums in 34 states and four countries.
Immediately following their initial physical closures in March 2020, children’s museums began pivoting to serve their communities in new ways, and more than 70 percent of ACM’s museum membership offered virtual programming by June 2020. Children’s museums have pursued other innovative strategies, such as partnerships with schools and activity kits to help close the digital divide. At the same time, the pandemic has had a major effect on children’s museum operations, resulting in lost revenue and reductions in staffing. In summer 2020, 75 percent of children’s museums reported only 28% of the attendance they received during the same period in 2019. A survey from the American Alliance of Museums found that individual museums lost on average $850,000 as a result of the pandemic.
One emerging trend seen through Museums Mobilize is museum programming to combat food insecurity. In the first-ever Museums Mobilize webinar on March 4, 2021, speakers from three children’s museums shared how their efforts to combat food insecurity intersect with their institutional missions. In the words of Steve Long, president of the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton, NY, “if children are hungry, how can they play?”
ACM Executive Director Laura Huerta Migus started the webinar with an introduction of the Museums Mobilize initiative, and how it builds from ACM’s Four Dimensions of Children’s Museums document, which states that all children’s museums—regardless of size—function as local destinations (featuring designed spaces such as exhibits), educational laboratories (via programming), and act as community resources and advocates for children.
Long shared the story of CMEE’s Food 2 Play food pantry, launched during the pandemic to serve children and families in their community. (Learn more through his recent Hand to Hand article, “Food Pantry Fulfills a Need and Opens a World of Possibilities.”)
Cindy DeFrances, executive director of Lynn Meadows Discovery Center (Gulfport, MS) discussed the museum’s partnership with a local food bank to distribute Discovery at Home Kits, take-home educational activity kits.
Lara Litchfield-Kimber, executive director of the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum, discussed how the museum’s local farmer’s market has been a lifeline during the pandemic, providing a source of healthy, locally-sourced food in the midst of a food desert.
Watch the recording here!
The next Museums Mobilize webinar will take place on April 6 at 2:00 p.m. ET, focusing on how children’s museums are offering resources to support parents and caregivers during the pandemic. This fireside chat-style discussion will feature leaders from Pretend City Children’s Museum, Louisiana Children’s Museum, and DuPage Children’s Museum, along with community partners. Register here.
As the world looks to reopening, it’s clear the pandemic will have consequences on museum operations for years to come. ACM’s Museums Mobilize initiative highlights the need to invest in children’s museums as community responders. Learn more about the efforts of children’s museums worldwide the hashtag #MuseumsMobilize and by viewing the Museums Mobilize dashboard with key stats at ChildrensMuseums.org/Museums-Mobilize.
The Associations of Children’s Museums (ACM) champions children’s museums worldwide. Follow ACM on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Photo courtesy of Children’s Museum of the East End.
The latest issue of Hand to Hand, “Forged in Fire: New Models” is now available! Read each article here on the ACM blog. ACM members can find the full issue PDF in the Online Member Resources Library.
This issue of Hand to Hand shares stories from sixteen museums that have transformed their “temporary” pandemic responses into permanent changes, innovating new ways to deliver their missions and serve their communities.
Many of these stories build upon ACM’s Museums Mobilize initiative to highlight the ways children’s museums are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some changes involve totally new ideas. Others emerged as museums modified and accelerated existing programs or processes, or arose from ideas “on the shelf.” Read the issue to explore new models for museum finances, partnerships, workplace environments, and more.
Read the issue!
Food Pantry Fulfills a Need and Opens a World of Possibilities
Steve Long, Children’s Museum of the East End
New model: Transforming the role and identity of the children’s museum in the community by operating a food pantry.
Doubling Down on DEI
Dianne Krizan, Minnesota Children’s Museum
New model: Building upon existing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts to deepen DEI in the long run.
Learning through and about Social Media
PAPALOTE Staff
New model: Optimizing social media to become present in visitors’ daily lives.
Taking Science Learning to New Places and People
Neil H. Gordon, The Discovery Museum
New model: Launching Virtual Traveling Science Workshops to significantly grow potential audiences.
Supporting Children’s Learning When and How They Need it
Patti Reiss, Mississippi Children’s Museum
New model: Increasing flexibility in supporting families, from camps to virtual learning to childcare.
Look and Listen: Taking a Chance on New Partnerships
Brian King, Betty Brinn Children’s Museum
New model: Pursuing innovation with an entrepreneurial approach to new partnerships.
Expanding the Earned Income Menu: Camps, Seasonal Fun, Family Play
Beth Fitzgerald, The Magic House, St. Louis Children’s Museum
New model: Strengthening earned income base by expanding indoor/outdoor programming and offering private playtimes.
Programs Multiply As Reach Expands
Joe Cox, Museum of Discovery and Science
New model: Innovating virtual programming to achieve their mission of connecting people to inspiring science.
Building a Bigger Purpose
Kerry Falwell, Explorations V Children’s Museum
New model: Forming new guiding principles and a new mission statement to serve as new institutional lighthouse.
Welcoming the Neighbors
Carol Tang, PhD, Children’s Creativity Museum
New model: Rebuilding strong foundations by returning the museum’s focus to local neighborhood audiences.
The Future of Membership Programs
Q&A with Jane Greenthal, Harvard Business School Association of Northern California Community Partners
New model: Exploring opportunities provided by non-traditional membership models in the years to come.
Cross-Institutional Study of Virtual Programming: What Do Parents Want Now?
Scott Burg & Claire Quimby, Rockman et al
New model: Supporting effective virtual programming with actionable audience data.
An Ongoing Journey of Healing
Julia Bland, Louisiana Children’s Museum
New model: Increasing focus on providing mental health support to children and families.
The Future of Work: Putting Pivots into Practice and Examining How We Support Staff
Kyrstin Hill, Creative Discovery Museum
New model: Offering equitable and flexible work options for staff with young children.
Museum Guild 2021
Tara MacDougall, Discovery Center at Murfree Spring
New model: Creating a Museum Guild 2021 to increase participation and diversity among visitors and donors.
Why Do We Need All This Office Space Now?
Collette Michaud, Children’s Museum of Sonoma County
New model: Reorganizing office space based on flexible new work patterns.
Hand to Hand is the quarterly publication of the Associations of Children’s Museums (ACM). ACM champions children’s museums worldwide. Follow ACM on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
| This post was originally published as ACM Trends Report 4.7, the seventh report in the fourth volume of ACM Trends Reports, produced in partnership between ACM and Knology. |
Since spring 2020, the ACM Trends Reports team has studied the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s museums. The results illustrate the ways children’s museums have adapted to financial challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this Trends Report, the seventh in this volume, covers the variety of multifaceted approaches to finding funding sources that museums have adopted as the pandemic has continued, and their success with these methods.
Overall, 96 US-based children’s museums participated in the fall 2020 survey. The data showed that most institutions that applied for funding from federal financial relief programs were successful, and that these funds covered some portion of their expenses. Children’s museums also explored other avenues for raising funds, including from private sources – foundations, corporations, and individual donors. We found that private funders are key to bridging funding gaps in the field. Children’s museums also adopted entrepreneurial strategies, such as renting out facilities for community programming including public health events and voter registrations.
The financial impacts of the pandemic on the museum field are likely to persist for some time. However, the findings in this report show that children’s museums are increasingly resourceful as they seek stability in lean times.
In spring 2020, children’s museums were in the early stages of navigating the financial strain caused by the pandemic. At that time, the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), established by the CARES Act, was in the process of distributing funds to museums and other types of businesses. As we reported in ACM Trends Report #4.2, small museums were most likely to be able to use relief funds to cover the bulk of their expenses, while medium museums were the least likely to have enough relief funds to offset their expenses. A little less than half of large museums used relief funds to cover expenses.
A second round of stimulus funding, planned for spring 2021, brings potential opportunities for new funding from the federal government. The museum community is currently awaiting guidance on accessing these opportunities. Although government funding has helped support children’s museums during the pandemic, there are still gaps. Donations from corporations, private foundations, and individuals are helping to pick up the slack. Evidence from both surveys suggests that in 2020, children’s museums pursued these other funding avenues, with mixed results. By the fall, museums had gained more clarity about their financial picture, though the funding climate remains uncertain. Also, museums took a multifaceted approach to fundraising, with institutions reporting they pursued an average of four sources for pandemic relief funding (including federal funds). This report presents data from 96 museums that participated in the survey, representing all sizes unless noted otherwise.
Most institutions had success with government funding. The most reliable sources for support included PPP, state and local governments, Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), and State Councils. Some agencies and programs have remained less lucrative for museums. Relatively few museums applied to grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Of those that applied, less than a quarter received grants. Of the two museums that applied for the Federal Reserve’s Main Street Nonprofit Loans, only one received support.
Children’s museums reported receiving between a total of $17,500 and $3.7 million from government agencies. To date, the average total amount of government funds to museums participating in the survey was $205,000.
In spring 2020, museums reported having success with private funders, which increased through fall 2020. Out of 96 museums, 77 approached private funders since the beginning of the pandemic and all but two have received support of some kind. Museums approached different types of private funders – foundations, corporations, and individual donors (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. New and existing private funders approached by children’s museums.
They most often appealed to funders they had previously existing relationships with, and half approached new private funders as well. Seeking new private funders did not significantly increase the amount that children’s museums raised overall. Our survey did not specifically ask for breakdown of funding by new and existing private funders, nor how many appeals for funding each museum made within these categories.
All museums which sought private funding reached out to at least one category – corporate, foundation, or individual – of existing funders. Out of 77 museums, 56 also sought private funding from at least one new source.
These efforts have been worth it. Across the children’s museum field, private funders have provided 25% of reported COVID-19 financial relief. For individual institutions, funding amounts ranged widely, from $600 to $1.5 million. To date, the average amount museums reported receiving from private funders was $50,000, which may include support from multiple private sources for some institutions.
Museums tried a host of strategies to gain financial stability, in addition to securing funding from government and private sources. The field is still trying to understand what works, and we are gaining a clearer picture of the opportunities available for children’s museums.
Of the respondents, 80 museums described additional fundraising strategies, which included some typical efforts and re-imagined approaches to conventional museum fundraising. About half of these institutions hosted fundraisers or campaigns. These activities included online and email campaigns, a virtual gala, as well as campaigns focusing on raising capital and supporting relief. A third of museums revised existing funds.
The museum field has long reflected on the value of partnerships. In the pandemic, this topic continues to be important. As children’s museums have experimented with opening their doors to in-person visits or investing in virtual services for their communities, some have also offered their spaces for alternative purposes. These activities primarily consist of programs with community or service organizations, local governments, and schools. Community programs hosted in museum facilities covered range of local needs and services, such as blood drives, English classes for adults, meetings of service or volunteering clubs, local Boys & Girls Clubs, parent support groups, support activities for adults with dementia, health-focused activities, and voter registration. For schools, museums provided space and other resources for virtual schooling pods, learning assistance programs, camps, e-learning, tutoring, labs, and classrooms sites themselves. Out of 95 museums, 17 said they generated revenue through hosting activities in their facilities. All who obtained income reported partnerships with schools, and some also reported collaborations with other organizations or local governments.
Partnerships appear to be associated with funding. There is a moderate correlation between the number of partners that museums mentioned and the different types of new private funders they petitioned. Museums that did not approach new private funders had an average of two partners, whereas those making requests to new funders had double the number of partners. Although we do not know if partnerships made funders more likely to offer support, we know that private funders are an increasingly important source of financial support for the field.
Children’s museums continue to make strides in funding, but there are still challenges. Below, we summarized trends we observed in common financial measures.
Total Income – Based on data from 59 museums for the period of March through August 2020, three-quarters of institutions were operating at less than 59% of their 2019 income level.
Total Expenses – Based on information for 59 museums for the period of March through August 2020, three-quarters of institutions’ expenses were at least 65% of their 2019 expenses, or higher.
Income to Expense Ratio – Based on data from 60 institutions, three-quarters of museums had an income to expenses ratio lower than 87% from March to August 2020. So, for every dollar that these museums spent, they earned 86 cents or less in 2020. By comparison, three-quarters of museums made more than 92 cents for every dollar they spent in the same period of 2019. This means that additional expenditures in 2020 on items like Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) are even more of a stretch for many museums.
The American Alliance of Museums conducted a survey of the museum field in October 2020, which provides additional context. On average, responding museums lost $850,000 as a result of the pandemic. On average, they anticipated losing about 35% of their budgeted operating incomes in 2020, and 28% of their normal operating income in 2021 (AAM & Wilkening Consulting, 2020).
The pandemic and its resulting financial uncertainty have proven to be a challenge for museums everywhere. But data from the first nine months of this new climate shows that children’s museums are capable of adapting their fundraising to rise to the occasion. Museums have successfully gained financial relief from a variety of governmental sources. Where government grants and earned income have fallen short, institutions have increasingly filled the gaps with funding from private donors, corporations, and foundations.
It is clear that diversifying funding sources continues to be an important strategy. The more types of funders an institution approaches, the more likely they are to gain support from different sources, and the more financially stable the museum will be. This idea has long been a part of nonprofit financing, and the pandemic has underscored the importance of a diversified approach. But many museums lack the capacity to pursue a wider pool of funders. This is where partnerships can play an important role. Developing partnerships requires an ongoing investment of time. But they also help organizations pool resources including network connections, staff capacity, and fundraising skills.
When making funding appeals – whether independently or in partnership – children’s museums should consider the value they bring to their community. If a children’s museum were to disappear, what vital services would the community lose? Leaders can reflect on the services their institution uniquely provides. Equally important are the ways that children’s museums complement other community organizations.
Data for this report was collected by an online survey that ACM distributed through an email invitation to children’s museums in the US. The survey was open between September 24 and October 18, 2020. Overall, 96 museums responded to at least part of the survey, and not all museums answered every question in the survey. Researchers kept all responses that met a minimum threshold of questions answered. All participating museums are US-based ACM member institutions, representing 40% of membership. These museums represent all size categories, though only 7 Small museums participated.
Researchers conducted qualitative and quantitative analysis on the survey data. A researcher reviewed open-ended responses from the survey and coded themes in an iterative process to summarize information on partnerships with non-museum organizations. The initial coding process produced a large number of codes, and subsequent coding led to aggregated and more meaningful themes. Responses were consistent across size categories, unless otherwise noted.
AAM & Wilkening Consulting. (2020). National Snapshot of COVID-19 Impact on United States Museums: October 15-18. Retrieved from: https://www.aam-us.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/AAMCOVID-19SnapshotSurvey-1.pdf
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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.
| This post was originally published as ACM Trends Report 4.6, the sixth report in the fourth volume of ACM Trends Reports, produced in partnership between ACM and Knology. |
The ACM Trends Reports team has continued to study the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s museums. We have now conducted two surveys, with the first in May 2020. The second survey was offered to US museums from September 24 to October 18, 2020. The results illustrate the ways children’s museums have adapted to the evolving national and local situations surrounding the pandemic, and likely other current events. This report focuses on the new and modified ways museums are engaging with their audiences, whether in-person or virtual.
Overall, 96 US-based children’s museums participated in the survey. The data shows about half have opened their doors to in-person visitors, and many have continued to prioritize online exhibits, programming, and other virtual content. The financial costs of reopening have been complex, as institutions adopt increased safety practices and products, as well as maneuver through reduced occupancy rates and attendance. On the whole, the museum field is still in an upheaval, which makes trends difficult to identify. But there are also clear signs that museums are finding their footing, whether they are opening their doors for in-person visits or focusing on virtual experiences. This report is the sixth in an ACM Trends series exploring the early impacts of COVID-19 on the field. ACM Trends Report #4.5 provided a snapshot of results from the fall 2020 survey. Future reports will examine personnel, collaborations, and funding.
Many children’s museums reopened their doors to audiences for some type of in-person visit experience between mid-May and early fall of 2020. Of 83 museums that responded to the question Is your museum currently open to visitors?, 48 were open. Of those, most had reopened during the summer months. Four had to reclose for short periods ranging from three to fifteen days.
Reasons for reclosure were personnel or visitors testing positive for the virus, city-wide closures, and financial reasons. Of the 35 that have remained closed for in- person visits since the beginning of the pandemic, 14 have reopening dates scheduled for late 2020 or in 2021.
Children’s museums have always been dedicated to visitor safety. Institutions that reopened for in-person visits have continued to champion this priority. They have met this goal in a range of ways, guided by a mix of municipal mandates, public health protocols, and guidelines set by their own leadership. There were no differences according to museum size in safety practices. Of the 48 museums open to in-person visitors, 46 museums provided information about safety practices for visitors in the survey. Nearly all require or provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for in-person visits, including masks, face shields, and gloves. Nearly three- quarters of museums provide cleaning materials for visitors’ use, such as sanitization stations, as well as disinfectant wipes and floor mats. About half of museums undertake industrial cleaning, including closing off areas to do deep cleaning, using electrostatic cleaners and UV light cleaning wands, and taking extra precautions with high- touch exhibit materials like interactive features. Two- thirds of museums conduct health checks with visitors that feature temperature readings and questionnaires. Less than half have reduced cash transactions.
Museums that are open for in-person visits also limit contact among visitors to increase safety. Nearly all institutions are operating with reduced capacity. They have experimented with techniques that encourage or force social distancing, such as one-way throughput and allowing only one visiting group per exhibit at a time. Over half of participating institutions have installed physical barriers in places where people congregate for extended periods, such as ticket booths.
With all of these changes to the visit experience, communications are a critical area of safety practice. About a quarter of museums described their efforts to effectively present safety information in signage and guide visitors through new procedures. Many museums have posted this information on their websites. Several also published extensive details of reopening plans, such as Glazer Children’s Museum in Tampa, Florida. Museums have also paid attention to safety procedures for personnel, such as trainings and management updates. We will describe staff- focused safety practices in a later Trends Report.
In response to continuously evolving health regulations, museums, like other public institutions, have had to manage patrons within reduced maximum occupancy levels. At the time of this survey, museums that reported being open to visitors said they were permitted to have an average of one third of their standard indoor and outdoor occupancy levels. These levels may be influenced by size and geographic region, but we do not yet have enough data to understand these factors.
Before the pandemic, some museums used vendors and systems to manage visitor flow and ticket purchases. Since fewer people can visit at one time, these products might be more useful than ever. Two-thirds of institutions currently open to visitors have been relying on event management and point-of-sale products to manage ticket reservations and visitor flow. Museums most commonly use Altru by Blackbaud and Versai Museum Management, although a variety of other programs are in use too. Fees and pricing for these products vary, with some charging based on size and usage. Some charge several hundred dollars each month, while others require a one-time fee of several thousand dollars.
Members have long been an important part of museums’ audiences and operations. In the beginning of the pandemic, children’s museums reported making accommodations for their members. Membership extensions continued to be the most popular approach in fall 2020, with half of museums providing this option. A fifth of museums offered members free or reduced-price access to content or members-only hours.
Some museums reported that members are making requests as well. Of 45 museums that provided information on this topic, a third said audiences requested a refund of their memberships. A quarter reported audiences requested membership extensions. Less common audience requests include a membership freeze, renewal discounts, and free or reduced-price access to content or members-only hours.
Of the 48 museums with facilities open to visitors, 36 provided monthly attendance data for 2019 and 2020. For June, July, and August of 2020, three-quarters of those institutions were below 28% of their 2019 attendance. According to ACM and museum leaders, attendance fluctuated over these three months based on several factors, including regional variation in positive virus test rates, ongoing efforts to navigate regulations, and communities’ unique safety needs.
Museums have continued to ramp up their online presence through social media, websites, and online programming and exhibits. These efforts are helping institutions sustain and build their relationships with audiences. But understanding these relationships requires nuanced techniques that differ than those used for in-person visit measurements. Nearly two-thirds of children’s museums are tracking general website usage and social media engagement, using built-in or add-on analytical tools. Far fewer museums reported tracking attendance for online programming and virtual exhibits, whether free or fee-based. We will work with leaders to determine the best ways to measure online engagement so we can present comparable data in the future.
Museums’ investment in safety for visitors and personnel has a financial cost. As described above, museums have purchased a wide range of products or services. Spending appears to differ dramatically as a result, with museums reporting anywhere from $1,000 to $700,000 in re- opening expenses. Table 1 presents the average costs, as well as the proportion spent on reopening compared to overall expenses for March through August, 2020.
Table 1. Re-opening costs for March – August 2020, according to size.
| Size | Number of Museums | Average cost of reopening to date | Average proportion of overall expenses |
| Small | 3* | $6,432 | — |
| Medium | 18 | $11,733 | 3% |
| Large | 17 | $56,193 | 1.7% |
Note. n = 38 *
We cannot draw conclusions with data from only three museums, but we include this detail to inform early impressions and encourage ongoing participation in ACM Trends surveys.
There’s more to the story of reopening costs. Before the pandemic, more than a third of children’s museums’ income consisted of earned income, which included revenue from admissions, memberships, food service, gift shop, and special events (Fraser et al., 2018). While we have not yet collected financial data on every aspect of audiences’ experiences in 2020, we know that ticket purchases have decreased, memberships are shifting, and food service has likely changed. We’ll explore the details of the financial picture in a future Trends Report.
Children’s museums have started to experiment with reopening their doors and continue to produce virtual offerings. For those that are currently open for in-person visits or plan to open soon, investments in public health and safety procedures have reshaped play activities to limit social interaction. While these interactions are an important part of public learning, separation also illustrates the value of sharing, turn-taking, and public safety practices to protect others. All of these lessons can contribute to child development. Museums can emphasize these learning outcomes in communications to help families appreciate their potential value and learn ways to navigate this new normal.
At this writing, even with promising vaccines in the pipeline, it is fair to assume that museums may not return to former in-person attendance capacity until summer 2021 at the earliest. This reality – and the need to manage members’ expectations for extended membership renewal – suggest that investing in virtual or distant relationship development will be essential to maintaining goodwill and nurturing families both during and after the pandemic.
Families with children under five, who have lived with limited social contact for more than eight months, will arrive with distinct social skills and expectations as the country moves beyond the pandemic. Children’s museums can reinvent their services in ways that prioritize the needs of this group. In-person visitors will likely be thinking more about safety, security, and sanitation than they have in the past. Institutions can use these topics as access points to provide resources on caregiving and child development before, during, and after visits. This approach can also help maintain member and public support of museums through ongoing uncertainty and lockdowns.
Data for this report was collected by an online survey that ACM distributed through an email invitation to children’s museums in the US. The survey was open between September 24 and October 18, 2020. Overall, 96 museums responded to at least part of the survey, and not all museums answered every question in the survey. Researchers kept all responses that met a minimum threshold of questions answered. All participating museums are US-based ACM member institutions, representing 40% of membership. These museums represent all size categories, though only 7 Small museums participated.
Researchers conducted qualitative and quantitative analysis on the survey data. A researcher reviewed open- ended responses from the survey and coded themes in an iterative process to summarize information on safety activities and requests that museums have received from their members. The initial coding process produced a large number of codes, and subsequent coding led to aggregated and more meaningful themes. Researchers also calculated average (mean) occupancy levels and reopening costs, as well as proportions for other topics. Responses were consistent across size categories, unless otherwise noted.
ACM provided a sample of reopening plans and safety procedures that had been published on organizations’ websites. They also offered observations based on museum leaders’ input during ACM Leadership Calls.
Fraser, J., Flinner, K., Voiklis, J., & Rank, S. (2018). Where’s the Money Coming from? Children’s Museums’ Operating Budgets in 2016. ACM Trends 1(11). Knology & Association of Children’s Museums.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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.
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.
| This post was originally published as ACM Trends Report 4.5, the fifth report in the fourth volume of ACM Trends Reports, produced in partnership between ACM and Knology. |
We have conducted two surveys since May 2020 to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting children’s museums. The most recent survey of ACM member institutions took place from September 24 to October 18, 2020. Overall, 96 US-based children’s museums were represented in the survey. Below are initial findings; future reports will provide more detail.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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.
The latest issue of Hand to Hand, “COVID-19: Stories from the Field” is now available! You can read individual articles here on the ACM blog. ACM members can also find the full issue PDF in the Hand to Hand Community on ACM Groupsite.
With articles written primarily in June and July of this year, this issue of Hand to Hand captures a critical moment in time as the children’s museum field began adjusting to a post-COVID reality. It shares perspectives from all levels of children’s museum staff as well as museums of all sizes and emerging museums. Read “COVID-19: Stories from the Field.”
Read the issue!
COVID-19: Stories from the Field
Children’s Museums Surviving the Pandemic: Insights from Three Leaders
Interviewer: Peter Olson, Region 5 Children’s Museum
Peter Olson interviewed Stephanie Hill Wilchfort of Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Tanya Durand of Greentrike, and Tammie Kahn of Children’s Museum Houston, about their museums’ strategies for surviving closure, preparing to reopen, and reimagining missions and adapted operations.
After I Hung Up…
What are your thoughts after the Zoom call ends and the virtual hangout disperses? Read short reflections on the first few months of the pandemic from Suzanne LeBlanc, Long Island Children’s Museum; Traci Buckner, Akron Children’s Museum; Sunnee O’Rork, i.d.e.a. Museum; Carol Scott, Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert; Charlie Walter, Mayborn Museum Complex; Roxane Hill, Wonderscope Children’s Museum; Deb Gilpin, Madison Children’s Museum; Beth Ann Balalaos, Long Island Children’s Museum; and Hannah Hausman, Santa Fe Children’s Museum.
Nothing Yet to Close: Emerging Museums Pause and Regroup
Tres Ross, Children’s Museum of the Mid-Ohio Valley; Audie Dennis, Creative Learning Alliance; Corrie Holloway, Glacier Children’s Museum; Dr. Kirsti Abbott, The University of New England Boilerhouse Discovery Space; Michael Shanklin, kidSTREAM, Ventura County’s Children’s Museum
Leaders from five emerging museums discuss how their organizations are responding to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, from altering timelines and fundraising sources, to planning with new best practices in mind.
Building Relationships through a Pandemic
Alix Tonsgard and Laura Diaz, DuPage Children’s Museum
DuPage Children’s Museum staff share how they adapted their Partners in Play program serving caregivers with young children in the wake of COVID-19. While originally planned as a series of monthly in-person sessions at the museum, the program pivoted to physically-distanced support, using texting as an accessible entry point.
The National Struggle with Unknowingness: Thoughts from a Facilities Director on Reopening
Luke Schultz, Madison Children’s Museum
The facilities director of Madison Children’s Museum shares insights into the museum’s decision to not yet pursue reopening, with a focus on practices related to the physical plants, operations, and facilities side of museums.
Working from Home for a Museum with No Visitors: Front-Line Staff Stories
Mary Maher, Hand to Hand
This piece shares the perspective of front-line and visitor-facing staff at DISCOVERY Children’s Museum in Las Vegas, NV, after the museum closed its doors to visitors.
This post was originally published as ACM Trends Report 4.4, the fourth report in the fourth volume of ACM Trends Reports, produced in partnership between ACM and Knology. Read other reports in this series: ACM Trends Report 4.1, “Snapshots of Impact,” ACM Trends Report 4.2, “Financial Impacts by Mid-May 2020,” and ACM Trends Report 4.3, “Workforce Impacts.”
The ACM Trends Reports team is exploring the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s museums. By mid-May, museums experimented with strategies and methods for connecting with two groups of stakeholders: audiences and institutional partners. This report describes the outcomes for museums’ work with their members and visitors, as well as new and existing institutional collaborators.
The data is based on responses to a survey conducted in mid-May 2020. Overall, 109 US-based children’s museums and 6 non-US museums were represented in the survey responses. The survey data shows that children’s museums were assessing ways to support their audiences as they: planned to reopen facilities to visitors, produced high quality programming for both members and general audiences, and communicated with these groups. At the same time, half of participating museums also tried to find support for their own institution by developing new or enhancing existing partnerships.
This report is the fourth in an ACM Trends series exploring the early impacts of COVID-19 on the field. ACM Trends Report #4.1 provided a quick snapshot of the early impacts, Trends Report #4.2 described financial impacts, and Trends Report #4.3 explored impacts on the museum workforce. We will continue to monitor the pandemic’s impacts on the field.
By mid-May, children’s museums worked hard to engage two main groups outside of their personnel: their audiences and other organizations.
As of mid-May, children’s museums were testing multiple strategies to serve their audiences, while navigating staffing and financial impacts of the pandemic. These strategies focused on general reopening plans, members, and online offerings.
In the survey, 39% of museums reported a planned date for re-opening their buildings to visitors. Of these, most planned to reopen in summer 2020, and only one planned to reopen in 2021. Museum leaders considered a variety of tactics for operations during reopening, which included timed ticketing, member-only and member-first openings, and augmented safety procedures. However, at this point, most institutions were still in early stages of preparing for reopening and could not yet identify a date. Some directors participating in ACM Leadership Calls asserted that just because state regulations signaled they could reopen, it did not mean they should do so.
Museum leaders identified a range of factors that influenced plans for reopening their facilities to the public. Some cited uncertainty about finances and their capacity to meet cleaning and safety protocols. At this time, museum leaders reported seeing inconsistent guidelines from governing bodies or a lack of official instruction for reopening children’s museums. Some museums surveyed audiences to understand their concerns and interests related to reopening.
By mid-May, most children’s museums were adapting membership policies and plans. Nearly all participating museums (93%) extended renewal dates for memberships. A quarter of museums also expanded the benefits offered for members, such as access to exclusive content and priority admission upon re-opening. Five museums reported providing full or partial refunds for membership dues – of these, an average of 8% of dues were refunded by each institution. Two Large museums donated memberships to essential workers for every new membership purchased.
At the same time, museums invested heavily in providing online content for both members and general audiences. In a review of children’s museums’ websites, we found that 101 out of 109 participating institutions presented online activities on their websites and social media platforms. Two types of programming stood out: over two-thirds of participating children’s museums offered online programs focusing on STEAM, as well as arts and crafts. Just under half of the institutions provided Story Time activities. Other less common programs featured animals or nature, music, and movement or exercise.
All participating institutions offered information on online programming through their websites. Almost all (98%) provided details on their Facebook pages, about 70% presented information on Instagram and Twitter, and about 40% shared on YouTube. Resources were typically presented as either online web resources, downloadable content, or recorded programming. Fourteen of the participating museums offered live virtual programming through Facebook Live, Instagram, Periscope, and YouTube.
Communications
Children’s museums used a variety of communication channels to connect with their members and general audiences. These channels were similar across the two groups, with some small differences that likely depended on typical ways that museums interact with these groups. For members, nearly all museums used email. About three-quarters made social media announcements, and more than half posted announcements on their websites. Meanwhile, for communications with general audiences, museums mostly relied on social media and website announcements, followed by email.
Children’s museums invested in new or updated institutional collaborations to navigate the pandemic. Just over half of participating museums (n = 57) reported establishing new or expanding existing collaborations. Of these, half of the museums partnered on the local level.
Far fewer were state-level or nationally focused, and many didn’t specify the scale of their collaborations.
Museum leaders developed new collaborations or adapted existing ones with the ultimate goal of supporting the institutions as they navigated the crisis. They used several different strategies to accomplish this goal. About a third of participating museums, across all size categories, pursued partnerships to share resources and information, including general best practices, planning, and funding. A quarter of museums focused collaborations on planning specifically related to the pandemic, particularly facility reopening procedures. Another quarter collaborated with goals related to content development, including designing curriculum and program implementation. Other less common objectives included cross-promotions and outreach, advocacy and work around local issues, and collaborative fundraising.
Most frequently, museums of all sizes collaborated with other museums in their cities and towns. They also partnered with other types of organizations, like economic development agencies, local attractions, and other non-profits. Less common collaborations were with schools or education departments, as well as local governments.
During a mass crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be tempting to narrow an institution’s focus on the “basics” that might seem more easily manageable. However, the definition of children’s museums’ basic services needs to be reexamined. Moreover, the “who” involved in these services should be considered as well.
Museums do not need to weather the pandemic alone. Research across many sectors shows that collaboration strengthens partner organizations and benefits their audiences. As museum leaders examine new ways to pursue their mission of supporting children and families, they should consider themselves as part of the ecosystem of services that meet community needs. This ecosystem will function better when the various parts are coordinating their actions and supporting each other’s work.
The pandemic will continue to unfold, and effects will ripple across the world for years to come. During this process, each community’s needs will evolve.
This crisis has underscored the need for children’s museums to think of themselves as closely linked to other children’s services and programs. Attending to community needs and aspirations can be a shared effort with, for example, schools and other social services groups. Programming can be designed as a complement or extension of offerings that others are providing in their communities. Leaders can ask: What are children’s museums suited to address that schools might struggle to provide? What other new roles might children’s museums fill during this crisis and beyond? Who is in need of support that can be met by the resources of a children’s museum? To answer these questions and more, museum leaders can join or create a collaborative working group to analyze gaps and opportunities in local public education systems and community services. This work not only enhances services for children and families across the community, but also reduces overlap in different organizations’ work.
In a similar vein, this crisis can help children’s museums identify new partnerships with organizations that have historically gone their own way. Public libraries and soup kitchens in particular might be effective partners for museums to pursue their mission of supporting children and families. These partnerships can also help museums make strong appeals to funders.
When museums are able to invest in partnerships, consider how to approach communications with new and existing audiences. It may be that social media, email, and website announcements don’t work well for new audiences, particularly if they lack consistent access to internet. Collaborations may also be a good opportunity for sharing communication responsibilities across organizations. Partners may have different communication strengths and preferences, which museums can tap into as they offer their own preferred methods.
Data for this report was collected by an online survey distributed by ACM through an email invitation to children’s museums worldwide. The survey was open between May 7 and 18, 2020. Overall, 109 US-based children’s museums and 6 non-US museums contributed to the dataset. All participating US museums were currently ACM member institutions, representing 36% of membership. Participating museums were roughly representative of all size categories.
The information about types of online programming was collected in a manual review of websites and social media for the children’s museums that participated in the survey. ACM staff coded the types of programs based on common themes and refined the themes into meaningful categories. ACM staff also provided information about museum leaders’ considerations related to reopening facilities to the public.
Figure 1 shows average responses to questions about methods used to communicate with members and visitors. Responses were consistent across size categories, unless otherwise noted.
A researcher reviewed open-ended responses from the survey and coded themes in an iterative process to summarize information on partnerships. The initial coding process produced a large number of codes, and subsequent coding led to aggregated and more meaningful themes.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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.
This post was originally published as ACM Trends Report 4.3, the third report in the fourth volume of ACM Trends Reports, produced in partnership between ACM and Knology. Read other reports in this series: ACM Trends Report 4.1, “Snapshots of Impact,” ACM Trends Report 4.2, “Financial Impacts by Mid-May 2020,” and ACM Trends Report 4.4, “Impacts for Audiences and Partners.”
The ACM Trends Reports team is exploring the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s museums. By mid-May, many museums had adjusted aspects of their staffing to navigate the early implications of the unfolding situation. This report describes effects related to full-time and part-time staff, as well as volunteers, and implications for the children’s museums workforce.
The data comes from responses to a special survey conducted in mid-May 2020. Overall, 109 US-based children’s museums and 6 non-US museums were represented in the survey responses. We found that, at that point, most full- time employees had either no change to their employment or reduced hours, whereas most part-time employees were laid off or furloughed. Museums communicated in different ways and to varying extents with volunteers and staff that had been laid off or furloughed. The findings offer opportunities for children’s museums to reflect on staffing decisions, as well as their communication styles and goals.
This report is the third in Volume 4 of the ACM Trends Report series, which studies the early impacts of COVID-19 on the field. ACM Trends Report #4.1 provided a quick snapshot of the early impacts, and Trends Report #4.2 described financial impacts. Trends Report #4.4 will explore early impacts on visitors, members, and partners. We will continue to monitor the pandemic’s impacts on the field over time.
The children’s museums’ workforce is critical to the operation of institutions and the success of the field. We explored this idea in ACM Trends Report #1.10, which showed that, on average in 2016, 76% of children’s museum personnel consisted of volunteers, 16% were part-time staff, and 8% were full-time staff. On average, each of these groups devote different amounts of time to working at children’s museums, with full-time staff contributing the highest number of hours. The following findings focus on US museums unless otherwise noted.
The May 2020 survey showed that children’s museums made staffing adjustments in response to the pandemic, which affected workers in different ways. Figure 1 shows that, on average, full-time employees were the least likely to be dramatically affected by staffing changes, with over two-thirds having hours reduced or no changes to their employment. However, about 80% of part-time staff were furloughed or laid off. Overall, 36% of participating children’s museums laid off or furloughed staff. By comparison, 44% of museums of all types said they laid off or furloughed staff in a June survey (AAM, 2020).
The actions taken by children’s museums varied greatly, with some laying off or furloughing almost all their staff while others made few changes. The averages were generally consistent across size categories, though Small museums were the least likely to cut full-time staff. When we compare the financial impacts described in ACM Trends Report #4.2 to staffing impacts, there is no reliable relationship between relief funding received or the size of the museum to the proportion of staff laid off or furloughed. This suggests that the decision to change staffing appears to depend on the conditions surrounding each museum.
Two factors may have influenced these conditions. First, the Small Business Administration was in the process of disbursing Paycheck Protection Program funds around the time of this survey. (ACM Trends Report #4.2 showed that these funds were the most commonly received among children’s museums.) Museums that had recently received relief funds may not have made rehiring decisions by the time of the survey. Second, some leaders reported in ACM Leadership Calls that they made decisions about layoffs and furloughs based on whether they anticipated their part-time staff would receive unemployment benefits; in these cases, museums tried to prioritize their full-time staff as they planned how to use relief funding.
Staffing and operations decisions today seem to match historical patterns in museum hiring, and may have lasting negative impacts for children’s museums and the broader museum field. Media reports suggest that museum layoffs and furloughs are most likely to first affect lower paid floor or frontline staff, including visitor services workers and educators. These positions also tend to be filled by museums’ most racially and ethnically diverse professionals. Widescale layoffs of these individuals may affect perceptions of a museum’s concern for staff, as well as affect the field’s ability to attract talent in the future.
As the shape of day-to-day business has evolved, most participating children’s museums (n = 80) reported experimenting with reassigning personnel to new roles and duties by mid-May. As museums reopen throughout the summer, these reassignments are evolving and will be reported on in future reports.
For half of respondents, the majority of these reassignments focused on two connected responsibilities. First, staff reassigned to programming have produced and delivered new learning and experiential content, including videos. Second, reassigned personnel have also focused on creating online content for websites and social media.
The next most common duty for reassigned personnel was operations, though it was far less common than programming and online content. Staff reassigned to operations worked on fundraising, accounting, general administration, and management.
Some children’s museums – primarily Medium and Large organizations (n = 5 and 13, respectively) – looked outside of their staff to contract services for their institution and personnel. The most common reason for these services was to obtain legal advice. Other services were related to human resources, as well as physical and mental health services. Museums outside of the US also reported using these contract services.
Many museums kept lines of communication open with laid off and furloughed staff as well as volunteers. Of the 75 institutions that laid off or furloughed staff, 59 institutions explained the goal of their ongoing communications with personnel. About half of these museums, across all sizes, used communications to provide general museum updates, which focused on the institution’s status, leaders’ decision-making, reopening plans, and funding status. A third indicated their goal was
to discuss future staffing plans, including updates on when they plan to rehire or revise staffing structures. Roughly a fourth said their goal was to sustain engagement with staff, using check-ins to convey both the museum’s interest in their return to work, and the value of personnel to the museum. Three museums, one in each size category, indicated that they sought to provide emotional support to laid off and furloughed staff in their communications.
When communicating with volunteers, the most common goals were to continue engagement and provide updates about the museum.
We also asked museums about the communication methods they use and how often; this information adds nuance to the reasons for communication decisions.
Figure 2 shows the ways that children’s museums communicated with personnel whose work had been substantially altered by mid-May, particularly staff who were laid off or furloughed as well as volunteers.
Of the 75 institutions that laid off or furloughed staff, 65 were communicating with those individuals. The most common method of communication, for two-thirds of museums, was to use personal email accounts and about half through text messages. To a lesser extent, they also used telephone and video calls.
Participating museums communicated less with volunteers. Only 54 of the 109 participating museums indicated that they communicated with volunteers at all. Telephone calls and personal emails were used by half of the 54 museums that responded, with the third most popular method being the use of institutional email accounts. At the time of the survey, nine institutions had no contact of any type with personnel whose work had been impacted by the pandemic.
Decisions about personnel may be among the most important and complex issues that children’s museums navigate during the pandemic. The early data from May 2020 show there are opportunities for supporting staff and volunteers in ways that benefit both museums and workers throughout the crisis.
The survey data suggest many museums may be missing a chance to engage their volunteers, a group that makes up the largest portion of personnel at children’s museums. There may be tasks that volunteers can do at home, particularly in support of the personnel who have been reassigned to producing programming and online content. Even if volunteers cannot be engaged in the work of the museum right now, regular communications can help reinforce their value to the organization. By mid-May, most of children’s museums’ full-time staff were employed, even though some had reduced hours. Part-time staff, however, were much more widely affected by layoffs and furloughs. There is potential for these changes to undermine museums’ efforts to work towards diversity and inclusion in their workforce. As leaders weigh future personnel changes, they should consider how to proactively address and support groups disproportionately impacted by the pandemic as part of their efforts to meet the needs of their communities.
These early data suggest that museum leadership should carefully consider how to use workforce communications strategies to lay the foundation for recovery. Supportive messaging with museums’ community of staff and volunteers can not only deliver on their mission, but also strengthen equity throughout the pandemic.
Data for this report was collected by an online survey distributed by ACM through an email invitation to children’s museums worldwide. The survey was open between May 7 and 18, 2020. Overall, 109 US-based children’s museums and 6 non-US museums contributed to the dataset. All participating US museums were currently ACM member institutions, representing 36% of membership. Participating museums were roughly representative of all size types.
Figures 1 and 2 show average responses to questions about status of staff, and methods used to communicate with staff and volunteers. Responses were consistent across size categories, unless otherwise noted. For Figure 1, we asked museums about the proportions of staff that had been furloughed, laid off, reduced hours, and kept at their normal hours. Proportions were required to sum to 100%.
A researcher reviewed open-ended responses from the survey and coded themes in an iterative process to summarize data on reassigned duties, roles, and services, as well as goals of communications with cut staff and volunteers. The initial coding process produced a large number of codes, and subsequent coding led to aggregated and more meaningful themes.
American Alliance of Museums. (2020). A Snapshot of US Museums’ Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. https://www.aam- us.org/2020/07/22/a-snapshot-of-us-museums-response-to-the-covid-19- pandemic/
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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.
This post was written in collaboration with the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) and is cross posted on the ASTC blog.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on children’s museums, science and technology centers and museums, natural history museums, and museums with hands-on exhibits. Our field is beginning to get a sense of what the coming months and years will bring as the severe impacts of the pandemic continue beyond what was originally anticipated. In addition, much of the immediate federal relief—which has been a lifeline for many institutions—is coming to an end, even though a return to normal operations is a long way off.
ACM, along with other national museums associations such as the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC), the Association of Science Museum Directors (ASMD), and the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), continues to tell the story of the pandemic’s impact on our members across the country. Your institution can play an important role by showing elected officials how these national issues are affecting their districts and their voters.
We encourage you to invite your Members of Congress for a virtual or in-person visit this August, so that they can hear your story and see how you continue to serve your community. You’ll be joining hundreds of other museums who participate in #InviteCongress—a national field-wide effort led by AAM and supported by a number of other national museum associations—to encourage and empower museums of all types and sizes to invite legislators to visit museums across the U.S.
During August, Congress is expected to be on recess for much of the month, meaning that your Representative and Senators are likely to be in their home districts:
Visits by Members of Congress and their staff can be done virtually or, where it is prudent to do so, in person. AAM has prepared step-by-step guidance on how to draft and manage an invitation, design an itinerary, and prepare for the visit. Get your invitation out soon, as Members’ calendars may fill up quickly!
While the majority of institutions in our community do not receive regular or substantial federal funding, many did receive lifeline support from federal COVID-19 relief programs like the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). However, those museums that received PPP loans have generally already exhausted those limited-time funds. Some museums, such as government- and university-affiliated museums, needed PPP funding, but were not eligible because their parent organizations were too large.
Through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) all received funding to distribute via grants to museums, but these funding programs were small in scope.
Without additional substantial support from the federal government, our community remains at risk for permanent closures.
Congress is expected to negotiate and pass another COVID-19 relief bill before the August recess. While ACM and other national museums associations have requested that Congress include a number of provisions to benefit our community, including museum-specific relief, expansion and extension of PPP, and more, it is unknown whether they will be included in this next bill.
As future relief legislation is being considered, we need to be certain that it benefits all museums. There are also opportunities for Congress to provide support through the normal budgeting process for fiscal year (FY) 2021, which will begin on October 1, 2020.
While attention has been focused on COVID-19 relief, several key federal agencies can still support the museum field through their regular annual budget allocations or through additional stimulus funding. These include the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA), NASA, the National Institutes for Health (NIH), the Department of Education, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
Congress has yet to decide on FY 2021 funding levels, so for those institutions that regularly receive funding from these agencies, showing Members of Congress the impact and importance of federal funding will help keep our community’s needs front of mind as they move through the FY 2021 appropriations process.
ACM is a part of a broader coalition of museum associations advocating for Congress to create a $6 billion relief fund for museums. The coalition continues to work with other national nonprofit organizations to advocate for continued emergency relief funding, such as extending and expanding PPP, providing access to low-cost loans for midsize and large nonprofits that have not been able to access federal relief funding, and enacting and expanding grant and funding programs that help nonprofits retain employees, scale service delivery, and create new jobs. Learn more about past advocacy actions on ACM’s COVID-19 Advocacy webpage.
The Associations of Children’s Museums (ACM) champions children’s museums worldwide. Follow ACM on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. With its members and partners, the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) works towards a vision of increased understanding of—and engagement with—science and technology among all people. Follow ASTC on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
This post was originally published as ACM Trends Report 4.2, the second report in the fourth volume of ACM Trends Reports, produced in partnership between ACM and Knology. Read other reports in this series: ACM Trends Report 4.1, “Snapshots of Impact,” ACM Trends Report 4.3, “Workforce Impacts,” and ACM Trends Report 4.4, “Impacts for Audiences and Partners.”
In March 2020, it became clear that the COVID-19 pandemic would have a deep and lasting impact on the museum field. The ACM Trends Reports team investigated the effects on children’s museums with a special survey in mid-May 2020. Overall, 109 US-based children’s museums and six non-US museums were represented in the survey responses.
The data provides a snapshot of the field in the early stages of navigating financial sustainability in the face of a global crisis. We compared the COVID- 19 survey data to information we’ve collected in the past about museum size – specifically, 2016 institutional data adjusted for inflation. This Trends Report can inform the steps that museum leaders take as the effects of the pandemic continue to ripple across systems and people that make up the field. In particular, this information can help leaders advocate for support from funders and policymakers. Future reports in this volume will examine other topics, such as staffing and engagement with audiences.
This Trends Report shows that relief funding through the US Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was an essential support tool for children’s museums early in the pandemic. Overall, PPP and other relief funds helped cover the majority of Small museums’ general expenses. Medium museums, on the other hand, were able to cover a much smaller portion of their overall expenses with relief funds, and will require other sources of funding. Large museums did somewhat better than Medium institutions but still need additional support, with reported funding covering about half of overall expenses.
Overall, museums most commonly applied for and received funds from the Paycheck Protection Program. Of the 109 children’s museums participating in the survey, 101 requested PPP funding and 95 received it. At the time of the survey, this funding program was designed to keep employees on the payroll for eight weeks, and could be used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities. Another program of the US Small Business Administration, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, provided loans and advances to 22 participating children’s museums, out of 39 that requested these funds. There have been reports of delays in processing EIDL applications, which may explain the gap between requested and awarded funds.
Private foundations proved to be a substantial source of relief funding for children’s museums. Half of the participating museums (n = 55) applied to private foundations for funds, and 34 received support. Three children’s museums outside of the US reported applying for and receiving funding from private sources.
About one-third of participating children’s museums applied for funding from state arts and humanities councils, which received funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities through the CARES Act. At the time of the survey, many of these grants had not yet been awarded.
Participating museums also reported experimenting with other forms of financial relief fundraising. These strategies appeared to vary across size categories. Medium and
Large museums most commonly sought donations through appeals to corporate funders, members, boards, and other sources. These institutions also described creating fundraising events and activities like galas and fund drives, as well as online campaigns. Some institutions, primarily Medium museums, also tried to generate revenue through selling products (e.g., online gift shops). Small museums tried to raise money through donations and revising their existing funds. Medium and Large museums revised existing funds as well, which included accelerating annual gifts, reallocating funds, and tapping into reserve funds. Seventeen museums, across all sizes, reported doing Giving Tuesday Now campaigns. Two museums indicated they were using their physical space to generate supplemental revenue. As some museums tried to raise funds, others engaged in fiscally conservative strategies such as postponing capital projects and cutting non-essential spending. Some reorganized staffing, which we’ll examine in a future ACM Trends Report.
Of the 109 surveyed museums, only one Large museum received financial support from insurance, under a disaster relief policy.
Museum size predicted the amount of funding received, as well as the proportion of expenses covered by that funding. Relief funds appeared to be commensurate with the size of participating children’s museums, with Small museums receiving the smallest amounts, and so on.
However, there’s a different story when we compare the amount of relief funds to the proportion of expenses that those funds could potentially cover.
According to Table 1, Small museums were most likely to have a majority of their expenses offset by relief funds.
Medium museums had the lowest rate of offsetting expenses with relief funds, with only 36% of quarterly overall expenses covered. Large museums did somewhat better, with 45% of their quarterly general expenses offset by relief funds.
We assessed how relief funding for the children’s museums field compared to national statistics for the leisure industry. As of the time of the survey in May 2020, PPP funding was the most commonly received financial relief. At that point in time, the Small Business Administration had provided a total of $7.6B to the arts, entertainment, and recreation industry, of which museums are a part (Small Business Administration, 2020). The average institution in this industry received $73,100 in PPP loans. Children’s museums participating in the survey had received a comparable amount, with an average of $78,750 in PPP relief funds.
As the pandemic continues to shift the landscape, children’s museums will need to fundraise and experiment with new funding sources. Two federal sources were generally supportive to the field – PPP and EIDL – and private funds provided a substantial amount of support as of mid-May. We anticipate that other sources will prove useful to children’s museums as we continue to monitor financial impacts of the pandemic.
Some museums have been successful with attempts to increase revenue through selling products, using their facilities for novel purposes, and collaborations. These approaches may become more important as time goes on, and institutions might consider new ways of meeting their stakeholders’ needs. While this work may not always build revenue, it will support children’s museums’ missions of service to their communities and may help them make the case for new funding from other sources.
Leaders should take their institution’s size into account when they consider how and where to fundraise. Medium and Large museums can appeal to funders by highlighting the lack of coverage for expenses in early rounds of funding.
Data for this report was collected by an online survey distributed by ACM through an email invitation to children’s museums worldwide. The survey was open between May 7 and 18, 2020. Overall, 109 US-based children’s museums and six non-US museums contributed to the dataset. All participating US museums were currently ACM member institutions, representing 36% of membership.
Our analysis used the size categories of Small, Medium, Large, which were originally presented in ACM Trends Reports #1.1 and #1.7. We use these categories to frame our analysis for many reports in the ACM Trends series because institutional size predicts a range of outcomes for children’s museums. Participating museums in the May 2020 survey were roughly representative of the size categories.
The survey asked about a range of relief funding sources that children’s museums had pursued. Figure 1 presents the current results for those sources that had disbursed funds at the time of the survey. We will continue to track this information over time.
For the information about experimenting with funding, a researcher reviewed open-ended responses from the survey and coded themes in an iterative process to summarize the data. The initial coding process produced a large number of codes, and subsequent coding led to aggregated and more meaningful themes related to new approaches to fundraising.
For Table 1, we combined all types of funding, even though some funds had restrictions on how they could be used. The survey did not seek detail on restrictions, so a combined approach provided a general sense of the funding received, compared to the expenses that could be offset. Median quarterly expenses for each museum size were taken from 2016 ACM data and adjusted for inflation.
U.S. Small Business Administration. (2020). Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Report: Approvals through 5/30/2020. U.S. Small Business Administration. https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-06/PPP_Report_200530-508.pdf
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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.
Children’s museums’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic was swift and responsible: to close their doors as soon as the threat posed to public health became clear. By March 19, all U.S. children’s museums and most around the world closed the doors to their physical facilities for the health and wellbeing of their visitors and staff. But their work did not stop. Indeed, children’s museums—known for their dedication to materials-based, hands-on learning and exploration—pivoted to provide these experiences in new and innovative ways.
More than one hundred days since the closing of the field’s physical facilities, policymakers are establishing reopening plans for a variety of public facilities. How children’s museums are considered in these plans varies widely across jurisdictions. In some, they are included in early phases of reopening, and in others, they’re very last. This variation and lack of clarity in local mandates has created an ambiguous and difficult operational landscape for children’s museums to chart out viable strategies for delivering on their missions to engage children and families in child-centered learning experiences.
Every children’s museum draws from professional practice, core values, and operational assets to define its own destiny in the face of the ongoing catastrophe of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether that means working toward a physical reopening of their facilities for visitors, or committing to an extended physical closure, children’s museums are making informed decisions to ensure their own survival and, most importantly, to continue to serve their communities across the Four Dimensions of Children’s Museum Operations.
As every children’s museum makes its own decision to work toward physical reopening, or commits to an extended physical closure, it faces unique challenges depending on its location, government mandates, and operational history. Even still, children’s museums around the world are united in their commitment to the safety of children, and our shared vision of a world that honors all children and respects the diverse ways in which they learn and develop.
Help your local children’s museum continue to play its vital role in your community as an educational laboratory, community resource, and advocate by pledging your support today.
This document shares strategies that children’s museums are pursuing, not only to survive, but to continue to fulfill their missions in support of children and families. It provides field-wide messaging for children’s museums’ communications with the public and stakeholders. Questions? We’re here to help. Contact ACM@ChildrensMuseums.org.
The Associations of Children’s Museums (ACM) champions children’s museums worldwide. Follow ACM on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
This post was produced in collaboration with the Association of Science and Technology Centers.
Museums across the country are navigating a critical moment: the urgent need to challenge systemic racism in our communities and institutions alongside the interconnected effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic stress. To effectively respond to the public health crisis and to transform into actively antiracist organizations, museums must lead with equity-centered work.
CCLI (Cultural Competence Learning Institute) has developed a free, four-part series to provide resources and concrete steps for museums to activate diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI) efforts within their institutions and in their roles as trusted community hubs. Each of the four webinars in the series will cover the process of transforming intention to action, from equity and inclusion statements and hiring practices to community engagement and supporting DEAI committees.
Each 60-minute webinar will feature speakers from across the museum community, a short presentation of data from CCLI’s forthcoming National Landscape Study, and Q&A session for participants to share their challenges and experiences.
Participants are welcome to join individually, or with a team of colleagues. Each webinar will offer a deep dive into the topic to deliver concrete, actionable steps and resources toward organizational development. Register for one webinar or the whole series!
CCLI (Cultural Competence Learning Institute) is a partnership among Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose, the Association of Science and Technology Centers, the Association of Children’s Museums, and the Garibay Group. CCLI helps museum leaders catalyze diversity and inclusion efforts in their institutions.
In light of the extraordinary circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest issue of Hand to Hand, “Tightening Up: Streamlining Museum Operations,” will be published online rather than printed. You can read the issue in full here on the ACM blog, and also find the PDF in ACM’s Online Member Resources Library.
When this issue was originally scheduled last year, it was planned to focus on how children’s museums could maximize core operations, examine existing structures and practices, and fine-tune operations to be prepared to withstand “economic fluctuations and other curveballs.”
No one could have predicted the curveball of COVID-19. While most articles in this issue were written in early 2020, before the pandemic reached its peak, all have been updated to acknowledge our current challenges. The next issue of Hand to Hand, scheduled for August 2020, will focus entirely on the children’s museum field’s response to COVID-19.
We are currently evaluating future topics beyond this summer, as well as distribution models to ensure all ACM members have access to Hand to Hand.
Read the issue!
A Note from the Editor
An introduction to the issue from Mary Maher, editor of Hand to Hand.
Thriving (in a Downturn)
Charlie Trautmann, Sciencenter
Consider three keys to success for museums looking to increase their strength and capacity: building community value, managing finances wisely, and practicing appropriate governance.
From Protests to Virus: Operational Changes with an Eye on Survival
Serena Fan, Hong Kong Children’s Discovery Museum
Learn how the Hong Kong Children’s Discovery Museum has adapted to the back-to-back challenges of ongoing protests and COVID-19 across staffing, scheduling, cleaning, and more.
Navigating with Knowledge: Using Data Strategically to Maximize Impacts and Benefits
John W. Jacobsen with Laura Roberts, David Ellis, George Hein, and Lynn Baum
The authors of the recently-completed Assessing Museum Impact (AMI) Research Project discuss the importance of using data to get where you want to go.
AMI: What We Learned about Data—Collecting It, Analyzing It, Using It
Q&A with Jane Bard, Children’s Museum of New Hampshire
Hear from the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire, one of six museums that participated in the Assessing Museum Impact Research Project, about how their lessons learned to build a more sustainable operation.
Positioning for Growth: Thanksgiving Point Restructures to Ensure Long-Term Sustainability
Stephen Ashton, PhD, Gary Hyatt, Lorie Millward, and Mike Washburn, Thanksgiving Point
Since opening in 1996, Thanksgiving Point, a museum complex in Lehi, Utah, has restructured for sustainability, unifying its different venues under a united leadership structure.
What We Learned from 2008:
Reflections from two museums that weathered the 2008 recession
Operating in Five Locations Since Opening in 2006 Has Taught Us Flexibility
Lisa Van Deman and Melanie Hatz Levinson, Kidzu Children’s Museum
Museum leaders reflect on the many changes Kidzu Children’s Museum in Chapel Hill, North Carolina has undergone since first opening in 2006.
Contingency Planning, Multiple Budget Scenarios, and Creative Operating Models: Then, Now, and Always
Patty Belmonte, Hands On Children’s Museum
Hear how Hands On Children’s Museum in Olympia, Washington, leveraged in-kind donations to move to a new location in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis.
The Associations of Children’s Museums (ACM) champions children’s museums worldwide. Follow ACM on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
This post was originally published as ACM Trends Report 4.1, the first report in the fourth volume of ACM Trends Reports, produced in partnership between ACM and Knology. Read other reports in this series: ACM Trends Report 4.2, “Financial Impacts by Mid-May 2020,” ACM Trends Report 4.3, “Workforce Impacts,” and ACM Trends Report 4.4, “Impacts for Audiences and Partners.”
To understand how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the children’s museum field, we surveyed ACM member institutions from May 7 to 18, 2020 about their experiences. Overall, 109 US-based children’s museums and 6 non-US museums were represented in the responses. Here are several initial findings; future reports will provide more detail.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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.
This post was first sent to the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) membership as a Letter to the Field on June 1, 2020.
Children’s museums were born of the education reform movement in the early 1900s as a way to support children’s learning through play. Since then, children’s museums have remained focused on how to support children, guided by the tenets in the United Nation’s Declaration of the Rights of the Child, which state that children have the right to “develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually, and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity.”
We mourn the death of George Floyd. We mourn that America is built upon systems that oppress Black people and people of color. We mourn the violent protests that occur after peaceful protests go unheard and unrecognized. We mourn the repetition of this cycle over decades and centuries. We hope that this is a time for lasting and meaningful change.
Children’s museums have a responsibility to the children and families in their communities. This time is an upsetting one, and children feel this keenly. Over the past few days, many children’s museums have shared statements responding to ongoing protests throughout the United States, often including thoughtful resources for caregivers to talk about race and racism with their children. We are collecting these statements and sharing them on the ACM blog, which we will update as needed.
Children’s museums also have a responsibility to their employees to operate in equitable and anti-racist ways. At ACM, we have incorporated operational changes to help interrupt unconscious bias in our workplace. For example, when we hire, we publish a salary range, and also require salary ranges in the ACM Classifieds section of our website. Our family leave policies provide equal paid leave time for all employees, no matter their gender, who are new parents or caretakers for family members. We explicitly prioritize diversity in the recruitment of members to our Board of Directors, committees, task forces, and speakers in all of our programs. We recognize there is still more we can do, and we encourage you to take this time to inventory and assess your museum’s operational practices.
This moment comes at a time of transition for children’s museums. We encourage you to look at your internal practices, both to celebrate existing practices and establish new ones during this time of rebuilding. The Cultural Competence Learning Institute (CCLI)’s recent webinar, Reopening with Equity in Mind, may serve as a starting point for these conversations. You can find helpful resources and discussions on ACM Groupsite, as well as through the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture’s new online portal, Talking About Race.
Finally, we want to encourage you to consider the digital experiences you share with your community, particularly this week. These experiences are an opportunity to address race and systemic racism head-on in appropriate ways. Story time can feature books that address race and racism in age-appropriate ways. Parent resources can focus on talking to children about race and racism. Look to your peers for examples of content that your museum can share.
In ACM’s Strategic Roadmap, we affirm our belief that pursuing equity and inclusion is a best practice that reflects a commitment to serving all children and families and advancing the growth of our field. For more than a hundred years, children’s museums have spoken up about the needs of children—all children. Together, we envision a world that honors all children and respects the diverse ways in which they learn and develop. To create that world, right now, our children and their families need the spaces we create to model empathy and boldly stand for healing and justice.
Laura Huerta Migus is Executive Director of the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM). Follow ACM on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
This post was produced in collaboration with the Association of Science and Technology Centers.
In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, museums—like so many other institutions and sectors—are being asked to reimagine themselves: Will hands-on exhibits ever be the same? When and how can we reopen safely for our staff and our visitors? In the face of these existential questions, how can we keep equity front and center?
On May 19, the Cultural Competence Learning Institute (CCLI) hosted a webinar about the opportunities for culturally relevant practice for museums during this time of crisis. During the webinar:
Resources
Cultural Competence Learning Institute (CCLI) is a partnership between the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose, the Association of Science and Technology Centers, the Association of Children’s Museums, and the Garibay Group.
The Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) held a series of three hour-long CEO Calls, sponsored by Blackbaud, on March 24, 25, and 26, 2020. These calls provided a space for ACM to connect with children’s museum executive leadership—and for leaders to connect with each other—in the aftermath of mass closures in our field due to COVID-19.
ACM research shows that all U.S. children’s museums, and most around the world, are currently closed. We started each call with a short update from ACM on U.S. federal advocacy efforts to support museums and nonprofits. For up-to-date information about ACM’s advocacy work, and current relief opportunities available to children’s museums, see ACM’s website.
The majority of each call was spent around CEO discussion of two broad topics: museum staffing and operations decisions in the coming weeks, as well as efforts to virtually engage with audiences. A through line throughout these conversations was the challenges children’s museums will face—and what our field may look like—when they are able to reopen.
When making staffing decisions, CEOs took into account their museum’s reserves, insurance, relief opportunities, and unemployment options (which vary state by state). All children’s museums are nonprofits, and most are lean organizations with limited reserves that rely on admissions to cover operational costs. Based on an analysis of the 34 museums that shared information about their staffing decisions during these calls, 32 percent reported furloughing staff and 26 percent reported laying off staff.
Some CEOs were advised to lay off workers so they could collect unemployment, rather than slowly reduce their hours over time. Museums also considered staffing decisions with their museum’s business interruption insurance in mind. (See CEO discussion on business interruption insurance on Groupsite here).
CEOs shared their staffing plans over the next few months. These staffing plans fell into a few broad categories:
CEOs suggested additional strategies to mitigate costs, such as letting full-time staff use all vacation and sick leave and freezing 403B contributions.
Furloughs and layoffs were the most common options for reducing payrolls. CEOs discussed the many considerations that went into their decisions to furlough or layoff staff.
CEOs also discussed their communications with major funders over the past few weeks.
CEOs also discussed the work their museums are doing to bring the museum experience online, with virtual activities, often retaining staff to create this virtual programming. Content is often designed to keep the museum’s community engaged. It focuses on repurposed museum activities families can do at home, such as experiments, physical activities, storytimes, and more. (ACM is tracking these virtual activities—see our ongoing list here).
CEOs shared other virtual content ideas.
CEOs shared positive results so far.
CEOs noted a need for support around a few areas related to virtual activities, as well as posed questions for consideration.
As most virtual activities are offered free of charge, CEOs discussed different creative money-makers they can explore related to their current efforts.
CEOs also discussed some of their museum’s offline activities.
ACM will draw from the conversations of the first CEO Calls as we continue to identify opportunities for museum leaders, and all children’s museum professionals, to convene and share knowledge. Stay tuned for more information!
The Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) champions children’s museums worldwide. Follow ACM on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Are you a children’s museum with online programming? Contact Alison.Howard@ChildrensMuseums.org. Follow and share museums’ virtual activities with the hashtag #ChildrensMuseumsatHome.
Check out our updated COVID-19 Resources on the ACM website (Updated March 26, 2020) .
In recognition of the global response to the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) recommends the following actions to children’s museums to guide their rapid response to this developing situation.
Your museum has strong existing practices around cleaning and safety protocols, as well as other procedures that keep your museum in top shape during cold and flu season. Given the public response and concern around COVID-19, we encourage our members to review their existing practices, as well as consider potential new processes to help your institution remain responsive as public spaces—and public resources.
These recommendations are not intended to provide a definitive answer for your museum, but can be used as a starting point for discussion at your museum’s leadership or board level.
See the Safety & Risk Management section of ACM’s Online Member Resource Library for examples of cleaning and safety protocols.
These recommendations draw from best practices for all communicable diseases. As local destinations, children’s museums are well versed in many of these practices and protocols. Part of what makes COVID-19 scary is that it’s new—but our field has tested practices that work to keep kids safe while playfully learning. By reviewing and updating our existing practices, and leveraging our roles as trusted resources, children’s museums can remain responsive in service to our communities.
These resources will be updated as new information becomes available.
ACM Groupsite is the Association of Children’s Museums’ central hub online. It’s a space where children’s museums professionals can ask for advice, share ideas, and access resources on our discussion boards. Log in or create an account.
Discussion Posts on ACM Groupsite
Resources in the Online Member Resource Library
World Health Organization: https://www.who.int/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/
Environmental Protection Agency:
Directory of Local Health Departments (U.S.): https://www.naccho.org/membership/lhd-directory
The Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) champions children’s museums worldwide. Follow ACM on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The following post appears in the latest issue of Hand to Hand, ACM’s quarterly journal.
By Rebecca Shulman Herz and Kristin Vannatta
About a year ago, I spoke to Janice O’Donnell, former director of Providence Children’s Museum, about training floor staff. Janice shared an experience she had at the InterActivity conference years ago: during a rare moment of quiet on a bus to an evening event, Janice shouted, “Floor staff!” All of a sudden the bus was abuzz, everyone talking about the challenges of hiring, working with, and retaining the team of part-time, entry-level staff who may be the only museum staff members most visitors ever meet.
What can a children’s museum do in order to have floor staff who are knowledgeable, engaged, and invested in the museum? For years I thought of this as a retention challenge: When you find wonderful staff, and their jobs are part-time and underpaid, how do you retain them for more than a year? But now I think of this as a cultural question. How do you create a museum culture in which these valuable staff members are engaged and invested? When there is turnover, how can new staff members quickly become a part of this culture?
Kevin Kruse, founder & CEO of LEADx, an online learning platform that provides free leadership development, has noted that employee engagement is not synonymous with happiness or satisfaction. Rather, it is “the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals. This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company. They don’t work just for a paycheck, or just for the next promotion, but work on behalf of the organization’s goals.” According to Kruse, engagement is driven by strong communication, opportunities for job growth, recognition, and trust.
When we think about bringing on new staff, we often focus on training: what do they need to know to do their job? In part this is practical—staff need training in order to have the necessary tools and knowledge to admit visitors to the museum, clean toys and exhibits, or sell memberships. It is also efficient, and most museums have developed formal or informal training modules that can be easily repeated when new staff come on board.
While cleaning is critical, it does not lead to an emotional commitment to the museum. It is not why we do what we do. Megan Dickerson, senior manager of exhibitions at the New Children’s Museum, describes the dichotomy between training staff to clean and engaging staff in the museum’s mission as “efficiency vs value.” We often prioritize teaching staff practical skills, like cleaning and resetting, because we know how to do this efficiently. Engaging families in playful learning is of critical value, but we cannot necessarily train efficiently for this. Engagement is individual and emotional; it is not essential for staff to operate the museum at its most basic level, but it is essential in creating a museum that offers visitors and the community a wonderful experience and true value. How do we deeply engage part-time floor staff in our missions, in the importance of the work we—and they—do?
There are as many ways to engage staff as there are organizations. The Peoria Play-House Children’s Museum went through three phases in its experience pursuing staff engagement. The first phase was a grant-driven experiment limited to one of our exhibits; the second was an expansion to all staff. The third, which we are still in the middle of, is an exploration of how far can we push it: what can an engaged floor staff contribute to the museum’s programming and exhibits, and how collaborative can we truly be?
In 2017, the PlayHouse was awarded an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to improve Real Tools, our makerspace. We worked with our evaluation partner, the University of Illinois, to think about what visitors were learning. Time and time again, we returned to the importance of staff in the space, both as facilitators and as experts in the visitor experience. With this in mind, Adrienne Huffman, the PlayHouse’s education coordinator, held monthly meetings during which staff visited children’s makerspaces around the region, read articles, discussed successes and challenges, and identified prototype solutions to these challenges, all rooted in staff experience and informed by readings. Rather than telling staff how to do their jobs, Adrienne developed a space in which staff told us and each other how to do their jobs and improve the exhibit.
On the one hand, this sounds obvious. On the other, most of us know firsthand this is not how many organizations work, or how entry-level part-time staff are often treated. It captures three of the four drivers of engagement Kruse identifies: strong communication (bolstered by monthly meetings), recognition (asking staff to share best practices, and acknowledging they are experts in their work), and trust (allowing staff to drive changes in the Real Tools exhibit).
The results of these monthly meetings exceeded expectations. Because staff were able to prototype different solutions quickly, this exhibit continues to change and improve. Visitors comment on how much they enjoy some of the new solutions, including, for example, information posted on the walls, changes to exhibit signage, and the transformation of individual work stations into a collaborative work table.
Staff began to take ownership of the space in new ways. One staff member, Haley, noted that children often looked at the finished projects on the walls, and wanted to copy what other children had done. She decided to experiment with what we hung on the walls, taking down the finished projects and replacing them with materials samples that could inspire kids. Haley described this as akin to looking at clouds and seeing forms—what can a piece of foam become? An egg carton? Collectively, staff also designed a new drop-in maker program offered monthly on a weekend morning, each dedicated to a specific tool or practice. The first three focused on bookmaking, embroidery, and wood burning.
These weekly meetings were successful in truly engaging Real Tools staff, and improving their work with visitors. It did not stop staff from leaving. We still had staff who graduated, or were hired for full time jobs elsewhere, or moved away. But when new staff join the Real Tools team, they are quickly engaged in the mission of the museum, the seriousness of the work, and the importance of their own voices in making this work better.
| APPROACHES TO PLAY FACILITATION • Playwork: “At its most basic level, playwork is about removing barriers to play, and enriching the play environment… The role of the playworker is to create flexible environments which are substantially adaptable or controllable by the children…” • Theatrical Improvisation: “The improvisational mindset is rooted in an open and flexible attitude, based on a set of fundamental principles that are learned through engaging in improvisational games and activities.” • Kaboom / Imagination Playground: Kaboom believes that “The well-being of our communities starts with the well-being of our kids. Kids who live in low-income communities face many structural obstacles to play, such as a lack of safe play spaces or any place to play at all. We want to make it as easy as possible for all kids to learn, explore, grow and just be kids.” Play facilitators do work such as staging materials in fun ways, observing children, building relationships, promoting fair and caring behavior, and encouraging teamwork. • Play Therapy: “Play therapy differs from regular play in that the therapist uses play to help children address and resolve their own problems. Through play therapy, children learn to communicate with others, express feelings, modify behavior, develop problem solving skills, and learn a variety of ways of relating to others.” () • Montessori Education: “The art of engaging children is at the heart of the Montessori class- room. Capturing interest is the key to motivating further exploration, practice, and mastery…. Adults are tasked with the responsibility of maintaining an enriched environment always prepared for the children’s work.” • Reggio Emilia Education: “The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education views young children as individuals who are curious about their world and have the powerful potential to learn from all that surrounds them…. Reggio teachers employ strategies such as exposing children to a wide variety of educational opportunities that encourage self-expression, communication, logical thinking, and problem-solving.” |
Inspired by the impact of the Real Tools monthly meetings, and supported by PNC Grow Up Great funding, we began to use monthly all-staff meetings to explore play facilitation. Previously, PlayHouse job descriptions classified “playologists” (our term for floor staff) as staff who engage children and families in play, along with straightening, cleaning, and troubleshooting exhibit and visitor problems. However, discussions about play facilitation were not a regular part of our dialogue with floor staff. During training and supervision, the emphasis was on efficiency rather than value, cleaning and resetting rather than learning through play. In the fall of 2018, we launched a meeting series on play facilitation, led by the museum’s education manager, Courtney Baxter. Staff were trained in reflective practice, and encouraged to experiment. They were given free rein to try things that failed, and share these failures, along with their successes.
During 2018 and 2019, we dedicated seven two-hour meetings to different approaches to play, and the role of adults in children’s play. We learned about playwork from the New Children’s Museum, theatrical improvisation from The Engaged Educator, play therapy, Montessori education, Reggio Emilia education, and Kaboom’s approach to working with Imagination Playground. (See above sidebar.) At the beginning of each meeting, staff shared the successes and failures they experienced when experimenting with these new methods. After each presentation, the group brainstormed ways in which these new ideas might apply in our context. For example, staff found the improvisational approach of “yes and…” to be a good tool for building on a child’s creative imaginings. They also valued the play therapy idea of not correcting a child, but rather entering their world. Other approaches were more difficult to relate to daily interactions in the museum, but inspired staff to think about staffing patterns and possibilities in new ways. For example, the Imagination Playground presentation was inspiring, but our playologists were unsure about how to incorporate these methods in the current way we use this interactive block set at street festivals. Perhaps there are other ways we can staff or present Imagination Playground?
This series has helped staff to think about play and play facilitation. Perhaps even more importantly, it has sent a clear message that all staff are empowered to offer visitors the best experience possible at the PlayHouse. This has led to unexpected results. Floor staff have taken responsibility for creating grassroots programming, including staff and visitor dress-up days and storytimes. And staff have created solutions to real problems, such as setting up a scavenger hunt of objects hidden near the entrance in order to keep kids occupied while parents pay or fill out a membership form.
Further, the dialogues that happen during these staff meetings have helped managerial staff get to know part-time, front-of-house staff better. We are learning about their individual strengths and interests, which allows us to find ways to leverage individual talents and passions for the benefit of the museum. This is good for the PlayHouse, but also key to staff engagement: allowing staff to use their personal skills deepens their emotional and intellectual connection to the museum. We can rarely offer promotions in our small museum, but we can work with individuals to tweak roles in ways that are beneficial for everyone.
The PlayHouse now has a new structure for all-staff meetings: they are monthly, collaborative dialogues. Of course, sometimes we share information about upcoming exhibits or programs, or conduct safety-related trainings. But we also use these meetings for discussions such as, are the props currently out on the floor working, or should we rethink some of them? If we are able to grow our volunteer program, how do we balance offering volunteers engaging tasks working directly with visitors, while still respecting the interests and abilities of the floor staff who want to engage visitors in educational activities? What are ideas related to programs for next year?
We are finding that by opening up discussion and asking for feedback we can expand the work we do. For example, while planning an event called Enchanted PlayHouse, one floor-staff member decided we needed an area that looked like a pirate ship. So she enlisted her husband to build a pirate ship with her. Visitors loved it.
Not surprisingly, we have unleashed a host of new challenges through this approach. One of the most critical is communication. When staff decide they want to do something—for example, a themed dress-up week—management staff need to know about the event, have the opportunity to voice any concerns, help promote it, and be able to answer questions about it. We used to worry that front-of-house staff were not getting all the information they needed; now we need to address this in the other direction as well.
Another challenge is capturing the results of staff experimentation. We know from discussions during staff meetings that staff are indeed experimenting and finding new ways to interact with visitors on the floor. How do we capture this information, and learn collectively from what has worked and what has failed?
Perhaps the biggest challenge is financial cost. With the new structure of our all-staff meetings, we have committed to gathering and paying part-time staff for two or more hours every month to engage in discussions that, in other museums, are the job of full-time or back-of-house staff. We are always looking for ways to cut expenses, and to many this might seem like an unnecessary one. However, the positive impact on our staff, and then on our visitors, is apparent. And we believe that, in the long run, the cost of an unengaged staff is much higher.
Despite the challenges of continued turnover, communication, or financial strains, a staff that is committed to the museum leads to improved experience for everyone involved. When management demonstrates that all staff are valued and essential to the success of an organization, and that each person has the autonomy to influence that success, we create a culture of fulfillment and engagement. We strongly believe that engaging all staff creates a vibrant and visible culture of valuing individuals that is palpable to visitors. Our mission is to help children become explorers and creators of the world. We engage our staff in this work by empowering them to be explorers and creators of the warm and captivating environment of the PlayHouse.
Rebecca Shulman Herz has served as the director of the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum since 2015. Previously, she spent fifteen years in art museum education at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Noguchi Museum, both in New York City. Kristin Vannatta was the operations manager of the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum from 2015 until August 2019. Previously, she worked for six years as the volunteer coordinator and operations manager for the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust in Chicago, Illinois.
To read other articles in the “HR” issue of Hand to Hand, subscribe today. ACM members also receive both digital and printed complimentary copies of Hand to Hand. ACM members can access their copies through the Online Member Resource Library available in the Hand to Hand Community on ACM Groupsite.
The children’s museum field has a long history of stepping up to support their communities in times of need. We’re heartened by the strength of California children’s museums as they offer children and families a retreat for playful learning to families affected by widespread fires in the state.
The Children’s Museum of Sonoma County in Santa Rosa, California, has dealt with the devastating impact of both fires and a flood in its community over the past three years. Throughout these challenges, the museum has pursued its mission to inspire curiosity and creativity through joyful, transformative experiences.
Even though the museum was closed temporarily due to nearby evacuations, they still put their community first by developing a resource list, as well as compiling a list of museums throughout California that are offering free or reduced admission to families affected by the Kincade fire.
In recognition of the effects fires have on the communities it serves, the Children’s Museum of Sonoma County has compiled a list of helpful resources for children and families coping with trauma. The museum provides this list as a reference tool and does not endorse or claim to have personal knowledge of the abilities of those listed.
The Children’s Museum of Sonoma County is updating this list in real time as it receives confirmation of museums offering free admission. This list may not include all museums offering free admission; list is current as of October 30, 2019.
Thank you to the following California museums for supporting our community:
These resources first appeared on the Children’s Museum of Sonoma County’s website.
The Children’s Museum of Sonoma County in Santa Rosa, California, provides hands-on, interactive exhibits and activities in a safe environment that are custom designed for families with children aged ten years old and younger. Follow the Children’s Museum of Sonoma County on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) champions children’s museums worldwide. Follow ACM on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
On September 20, in support of youth voices and in recognition of the challenges our society faces, ACM shared the ACM Climate Crisis and Resiliency Task Force Statement, with a preliminary draft action plan. This statement is the latest in a suite of work from the ACM Board of Directors’ Climate Crisis and Resiliency Task Force, first launched in February 2019.
As a next step, ACM hosted a leadership call on October 10 to engage children’s museum staff from across ACM’s membership in discussing how our field can mobilize around the climate crisis.
To start the call, we considered the question of “Why us, why now?” As ACM Executive Director Laura Huerta Migus explained, our conversations are grounded in ACM’s Strategic Roadmap, anchored by our vision of a world that honors all children and respects the diverse ways in which they learn and develop. Climate is a global issue affecting the lives of the children we serve, and the operations of our member institutions. In fact, ACM has been called to respond to concrete examples of climate crises, as seen through the mobilization of the ACM Disaster Relief Fund in recent years.
Next, we polled the participants on the call, asking them, “What is the most top of mind issue around climate and resilience for your museum?” Respondents overwhelmingly answered, “How to increase public awareness/education on climate change.”
These results highlighted another motivator to initiate the Climate Change Task Force: the growing youth movement around the climate crisis, including the recent Global Youth Climate Strikes. Brenda Baker, Vice President – Initiatives of the ACM Board of Directors, noted the importance of lifting youth voices as an association dedicated to children’s museums. She advocated that our field consider how to amplify youth voices, and rethink the ways we position ourselves in our communities as a result.
As a way of illustrating the ways museums are already taking action on the climate crisis, several members of the ACM Board Task Force presented the work their museums are currently doing.
Brenda Baker shared Madison Children’s Museum’s two new exhibits, Forces of Nature (about alternative energy) and My Planet, My Future (about reinforcing environmental stewardship), the latest in twenty-five years of environmental work from the museum.
Joe Cox from the Museum of Discovery and Science noted that his museum frames its work by asking, “What are the skills we can give children so they can thrive in a new world?” This attitude is seen in projects such as Aptitude, a workforce development program that encouraged students to develop an app on Climate Change and Coral Reefs.
Lara Litchfield Kimber described how Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum is building in climate education into the museum’s ongoing expansion project. The forthcoming Mid-Hudson Science Center will have a dedicated gallery to climate science and clean energy.
Tifferney White described a large suite of climate science work done at Discovery Place Science, including the Explore More Life exhibition dedicated to biodiversity and sustainability. The new Discovery Place Nature will also be organized with the big idea of moving people from reflection to transformation around climate.
Next, Laura asked the Task Force to weigh in on an important question: how can our field handle the challenges of addressing the climate crisis? Brenda noted that we need to act more quickly and more boldly, and that our field must work to share resources. Joe added, “There’s so much to learn and so much to do, we need to work together to have solid solutions.” Lara and Tifferney both noted the issue of urgency, acknowledging the challenges of conveying a state of urgency. Both Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum and Discovery Place are using growth projects as an opportunity to spark these conversations at the community level.
Next, Brenda shared the Task Force’s ACM Climate Crisis and Resiliency Task Force Statement and Action Plan in more detail. In the preliminary action plan, the Task Force identified five “areas of influence” where children’s museums are poised to create change: Programmatic Experiences, Alliances and Advocacy, Documentation and Research, Outreach, and Association Infrastructure. The first two areas, Programmatic Experiences and Alliances and Advocacy, provide opportunities for ACM member engagement around creating collective action and elevating youth voice. Documentation and Research outlines what the field has already done, what we’re doing currently, and future best practices and actions. Outreach is about understanding larger trends within both the museum and sustainability fields. Association Infrastructure looks at how ACM can update its operations to proactively respond to climate change.
Following the action plan, webinar participants engaged in a lively discussion, guided by two sets of questions:
Over the next six months, the Task Force will continue to grapple with these questions, in collaboration with engaged ACM members, to expand upon this preliminary action plan. Ultimately, a final draft will be presented to the children’s museum field during ACM’s upcoming conference, InterActivity 2020: PLAY The Long Game, in St. Louis from May 5-8.
Click here to watch a recording of the presentation, and here to download the slides. Interested in joining the conversation? Join the ACM Climate Crisis Community on ACM Groupsite.
The Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) champions children’s museums worldwide. Follow ACM on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
The following post appears in the latest issue of Hand to Hand, ACM’s quarterly journal.
By Sharon Vegh Williams, PhD
The North Country Children’s Museum is located in Potsdam, New York, a remote, rural, low-income community in the northern corner of the state. The North Country Region is near the Canadian border, north of the Adirondack Mountains. The county is the largest by square mile in the state and the most sparsely populated. We’re seven hours from New York City and five hours from Buffalo. All of Upstate New York is downstate for us. There is a palpable remoteness to the region, with miles of flat farmland, rivers, and woodlands. One of our fastest growing communities is the Amish, as farmland is inexpensive and not amenable to large-scale farming. Adding to the geographic isolation, the North Country has long cold winters and very little access to cultural or educational enrichment for families. Although institutions such as Clarkson University and SUNY Potsdam in Potsdam and St. Lawrence University and SUNY Canton in our neighboring town, Canton, are a defining feature of the region, university resources are not always easily accessible to the greater community. To address the cultural and educational gap for families, a group of local educators, university faculty, and parents began discussing the idea of a children’s museum in early 2012. That summer, leveraging university resources, we launched our first Museum Without Walls traveling exhibit. For the next six years, the museum trailer with pop-up interactive exhibits and programs traveled weekly to small town festivals, bookstores, bakeries, schools, camps, and community centers.
As co-founder of the North Country Children’s Museum, the seed for the museum germinated eight years before that first traveling exhibit, when my eldest son was two years old and we were living on the Navajo Nation in Shiprock, New Mexico. The closest city was Durango, Colorado, where my family had joined a small children’s museum. At the time, the Durango Children’s Museum was on the second floor of a downtown storefront. The creative spirit behind this small institution was inspiring. The exhibits were community-made and low-key, but truly engaging and innovative. Visits were worth the hour-and-a-half drive, especially with the limited family destination options in our rural New Mexico town.
While we were new members of this small museum, I had years of experience as a museum educator and classroom teacher. I had worked at the Boston Children’s Museum for five years before going back to school for a master’s degree program in education and creative arts at Lesley University. I went on to teach elementary school for over a decade, in low-income, diverse public schools in urban and suburban Boston and later on the Navajo Nation. My time as a classroom teacher taught me how to engage learners. And teaching in diverse communities that had historically been disenfranchised from schooling challenged me to develop curriculum and a learning environment that was intrinsically interesting and motivating for kids. At times, that required working around restrictive public school standards. As an educator and parent, I have always been interested in how informal and interactive education can provide rich and powerful learning experiences for children.
As my family had plans to relocate to northern New York, I realized I could contribute by helping to bring a small town children’s museum to my new community. From the inception of the idea in 2004, to the opening of museum doors fourteen years later, I traveled widely with my family, visiting every interactive museum along the way, collecting ideas. When my family arrived in Potsdam in 2008, I was ready to get started on the museum. However, I soon realized it was too big an undertaking to do on my own. My friend and neighbor, April Vasher-Dean, director of The Art Museum at SUNY Potsdam, was ready to embark on this journey with me. April had twenty-five years of experience in art museums, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art in Indiana. Because we both had museum backgrounds, we came to the project with a shared vision. This team effort was critical, as our community had no idea where we were headed. Many people envisioned a basement playroom, while April and I saw the Smithsonian. We had a lot of work to do educating the public about children’s museums, what they are, and why they matter.
We also had a lot of naysayers. Many did not believe we could find the funding or the audience in our remote, rural region to start or sustain such an institution. My guiding words of wisdom came U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis’ quote, “Most of the things worth doing in the world were declared impossible before they were done.” And my silent sentiment was, “Get out of my way, I have a museum to build!” To say I was on fire with our mission would have been putting it mildly.
While April and I had worked in museums for years, we had never started one. We connected with the Association of Children’s Museums and worked our way through their publication Collective Vision: Starting and Sustaining a Children’s Museum. Following the guidance in the book, we created a traveling “museum without walls” to build an audience. April and I also traveled together to Boston and New York City to meet with children’s museum professionals in both large and small institutions. Back home, we gathered a group of educators, scientists, engineers, artists, musicians, accountants, lawyers, business owners, general contractors, and parents to contribute their expertise and form a nonprofit board. We are fortunate to live in an area with a wealth of skilled professionals, including university faculty eager to volunteer their time, energy, and resources. Clarkson University Business School faculty and students conducted a feasibility study, which gave us the confidence to move forward with fundraising and program development. While our museum without walls traveled the region, bringing sophisticated, state-of-the-art exhibits and programs to rural communities, we got to work on a capital campaign.
The end game was always a permanent location for the museum, though we had no idea of either scope or scale when we started. Neither April nor I had any idea how to raise money. And as it turned out, no one else on the board did either. Fortunately, through a shop owner in town, I heard about someone living temporarily in the area who had just completed a multimillion-dollar capital campaign for the Young At Art Museum in Davie, Florida. This was an amazing stroke of luck, since most people in the North Country had no idea what a children’s museum was, let alone had worked for one. We brought Melissa Wagner on board to steer us in the right direction. For me, she was a mentor and teacher for the two years she lived here. I learned about government funding, foundations, in-kind donations, and how to write grants. I learned how to reach out to businesses, universities, and individuals for support. We put together marketing materials and packets to reach potential donors. We formed a founder’s circle and created a series of high-end cocktail parties that showcased our programming, bringing some black-tie to a distinctly flannel-and-Carhartt community. We raised the bar and exceeded expectations both in the events and in our institutional vision. Navigating our rural, high-poverty region without deep pockets, we left no stone unturned. Six years later, we had raised over one million dollars, purchased and renovated a long-vacant historic downtown building, and hired professional exhibit designer Wayne LeBar to collaborate with teams of local content specialists.
When our permanent location opened in 2018, the exhibit concepts, developed by the board and local content experts in a variety of fields, had been in the works for years. Many exhibit prototypes had been tested and modified through our museum without walls. Since most of our visitors are local, membership is our bread and butter. Our exhibits needed to engage families who were going to come weekly; each exhibit component needed to be endlessly compelling. Not everything brought to the table passed that test. For example, the designers suggested a sugar shack as part of our maple tree exhibit, but there wasn’t enough activity involved to keep visitors engaged. There was also a proposal for local maker video interactive, which I didn’t feel would be varied enough to keep repeat visitors interested. My twenty-five years as an educator gave me a fine-tuned sense of what to keep and what to weed out.
Ultimately, our exhibits built on the strengths and supported the needs of our rural, low-income community. We highlighted local farmers in our Natural Foods Grocery store exhibit, celebrated our maple traditions in a digital tree interactive, and explored the science of hydroelectric power though the Adirondack Waterplay exhibit. We collaborated with university faculty to create our STEAM Power exhibit, and designed our sensory Playspace for our youngest visitors. We filled 3,500 square feet of exhibit space with bright, open, beautifully crafted exhibits that tell the story of our community. We also collaborated with a local farming museum and skilled trades high school to restore a historic tractor for outdoor play that complements our building, a renovated barn and livery circa 1840. In an economically depressed county where one-third of families with children live below the poverty line, we brought a sense of pride and celebration of our community assets.
We also added a program room, drawing from the university community to hire an amazing staff of skilled science and arts educators. The North Country Children’s Museum now offers STEAM workshops throughout the week, free for visitors and members. We are working to bring more cultural knowledge into the mix, meeting with community members and farmers to explore ways in which we can bring agriculture more explicitly into our programming.
We believe that giving children opportunities to explore mathematics, engineering, language, and the arts in playful ways nurtures the creative problem solvers our world so desperately needs. Our mission is to provide children, regardless of socioeconomic background, with the space to try on the role of scientist, engineer, and artist. In the media, we often hear outside experts weigh in on the economic and social challenges facing rural America. However, those without a deep understanding and compassion for these struggles will never fully address them. To solve the issues that confront humanity and the planet, from income inequality to racism to climate change, we need to provide all children—urban, suburban, small town, and rural—with resources and intellectual tools. Our museum’s role is to create an environment, in rural northern New York, where children can grow to become active and engaged problem-solvers in much the same way as children from relatively resource-rich urban areas can. The world needs their voices, insights and creativity.
As the only children’s museum within a two-hour radius, we have become a much-needed resource. Our community has responded with 600 member families, 15,000 visitors, and 75 school groups in our first ten months of operations. To ensure we are serving all members of our community, we offer $25 annual memberships to families with children eligible for free or reduced school lunches. These costs are offset by donations from the local hospital, banks, and individual families who can donate a “giving membership” to a local family in need. With limited funding allocated to rural public schools, the museum has become a supportive learning resource for the region.
Started six years ago on a shoestring budget, the North Country Children’s Museum raised over $1,000,000, purchased and renovated an historic building, and created a state-of-the-art interactive museum, despite the challenges of raising capital in a low-income area. In other words, the community believed in our mission and viability. In our first ten months, we have fully maximized and practically outgrown our space. Fortunately, we have a second floor with an additional 3,500 square feet in which to expand. Plans are in the works to double the museum’s exhibit and program capacity by renovating the unused part of the building within the next few years. We hope to create a dairy farm and an Amish home exhibit in collaboration with those communities.
As passionate as we are about promoting our educational mission, we are ultimately a community museum. And the community takes ownership of the space. The other day, I noticed a group of parents from very different socioeconomic, cultural, racial, religious, and linguistic backgrounds gathering and chatting before our drop-in early childhood STEAM program. These families had formed real connections and friendships through our weekly programing—connections that lived beyond the walls of the institution. In such politically and culturally divisive times, before the museum opened, many of these parents in this small, remote community would not have had another space to reach across perceived barriers. As this part of the country evolves along with the rest of the world, the true mission of the museum will unfold in its own way, and North Country Children’s Museum will be here to usher that future in.
Sharon Vegh Williams, PhD, is the co-founder and executive director of the North Country Children’s Museum in Potsdam, New York. She teaches courses in museum studies and multicultural education at St. Lawrence University. Her book, Native Cultural Competency in Mainstream Schooling, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2018.
To read other articles in the “The Big Role of Children’s Museums in Small Communities” issue of Hand to Hand, subscribe today. ACM members also receive both digital and printed complimentary copies of Hand to Hand. ACM members can access their copies through the Online Member Resource Library. Contact Membership@ChildrensMuseums.org to gain access if needed
By Jenni Martin
Children’s museums, because of our unique focus on audience rather than content, are often at the forefront of innovative museum practice around diversity, equity, access, and inclusion (DEAI). Our roots are deeply embedded in our communities, and our institutional goals focus on reflecting those communities in exhibits, programs, events and audience. As a field, children’s museums are often more willing than other museums to try new approaches for ensuring we are serving the unique needs of our individual communities.
With the understanding that it’s never been more important to understand DEAI practices in the museums, CCLI is launching a groundbreaking, industry-wide study this September focused solely on these practices in museums: The National Landscape Study: DEAI Practices in Museums.
Through a carefully vetted survey instrument, this study will:
The survey will engage museums of every discipline, size, and region, to paint a picture of the entire museum sector—making it important for as many museums as possible to participate. We know that the children’s museums excel in reaching diverse audiences in creative and successful ways. However, we have not always focused on documenting these innovative practices. This survey is our opportunity as a field to have our voices heard and our strategies documented in the greater museum field.
A report of the findings will be released in the spring of 2020. The results will benefit museum leaders with important insights into where their organization is relative to the field, relevant data for decision-making and strategic planning, and information that will support staff development.
| ABOUT CCLI The survey is sponsored by CCLI (Cultural Competence Learning Institute), a process and set of resources designed to help museums increase their organizational capacity around diversity, inclusion, and culture. CCLI is a partnership between ACM, Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose, the Association of Science-Technology Centers, and Garibay Group. As a yearlong professional development institute, CCLI helps museum leaders catalyze diversity and inclusion efforts in their institutions. Recently awarded a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, CCLI has expanded its focus and invested in long-term sustainability to develop, track, promote, and recognize DEAI efforts within individual institutions andthe field at large. The upcoming survey is one component of CCLI’s National Leadership Grant. Said Stephanie Ratcliffe, executive director of The Wild Center in upstate New York, about her museum’s participation in CCLI’s yearlong institute: “The CCLI program supported our efforts to construct a series of professional development activities to fundamentally change how we approach diversity broadly and the tools to move staff through an effective learning process. Our efforts were just the beginning of an organization-wide shift that continues today.“ CCLI has already reached more than twenty-five museums, including children’s museums, science centers, nature centers, zoos and aquariums, and natural history museums, and seventy-five individual participants. Applications for CCLI’s next cohort will be accepted until November 19, 2019. Find more information here: https://community.astc.org/ccli/home |
The National Landscape Study: DEAI Practices in Museums is launching today, Thursday, September 5. Primary contacts at ACM member museums (typically the museum’s CEO or Executive Director) will have received an email from Garibay Group with a unique survey link. Different people at your organization will likely contribute to completing the survey, so, in addition to the Survey Monkey format, a printable Google format will also be included.
It is so critical that children’s museums of every size and region be represented. The more diverse the input, the more useful the results will be for the field and for your organization. Look for this email (or ask your CEO about it) to ensure your organization’s data is included.
Jenni Martin is CCLI Project Director and Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose.
The following post appears in the January 2019 issue of Hand to Hand, ACM’s quarterly journal.
By Ruth G. Shelly
Museums that run preschools or elementary schools often have more than just physical walls separating these operations. Museums and schools have vastly different schedules, revenue streams, licensing requirements, and staffing issues. Often the school is seen as a “program of” the umbrella museum operation. But what if the organization’s learning approach were the umbrella—and the museum, school, and professional development initiatives were all considered laboratories for developing and disseminating that learning approach? Portland Children’s Museum is moving in that direction.
For children’s museums considering a preschool and/or elementary school, here are some of our lessons learned.
Portland Children’s Museum was founded in 1946 as a program of Portland Parks and Recreation. Its first home was an 1861 mansion, followed by a 1918 nurses’ dormitory, which the museum quickly outgrew. In 2001, Rotary Club of Portland raised $10 million to move the museum to the former home of Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, a mid-century brick building left empty when OMSI relocated to a much larger facility.
Although the old science center was far from glamorous, the children’s museum felt it had landed in paradise—with far more room, generous parking, and the verdant surroundings of Washington Park. The museum separated from Portland Parks and became its own private nonprofit. Parks remained the museum’s landlord as owner of the building—offering a generous thirty-year lease for $10, baseline utilities, and modest capital repairs.
In the same period as the museum’s 2001 move, two other events converged: Oregon passed legislation allowing the formation of charter schools, and educator Judy Graves returned from a trip to the preschools of Reggio Emilia in Italy, determined to start her own school inspired by the Reggio approach. All she needed was space, of which the children’s museum suddenly had an abundance. Judy and museum director Verne Stanford collaborated to co-locate the children’s museum and new charter school, both based on playful learning. Opal School opened its doors to its first class of students in September 2001 as a museum program.
Thus Portland Children’s Museum and Opal School “fell into place” under the unexpected constellation of real estate, Oregon law, and an inspiring trip to Italy. This fortunate coincidence sparked the children’s museum/school relationship that has evolved, somewhat through trial and error, over the past seventeen years. We now run a tuition-based, private beginning school for thirty-seven preschoolers, and a public charter elementary school for eighty-eight students grades K-5. We have recently seen our inaugural students graduate from college.
A children’s museum considering a school today has the benefit of learning from the experience of organizations like Portland Children’s Museum and Opal School. Is the intent of a new school mission-driven, or is it the prospect of an additional revenue stream? If the latter, think carefully, because there may be bumps in the road ahead.
While on the surface, a children’s museum and preschool or elementary school seem like a natural fit, there are significant cultural and operational differences that can be mitigated with careful planning. Advance agreements can help alleviate tension later on. Consider:
The above list gives pause, and it should. However, the partnership of students learning in a museum environment, and contributing back to improve that environment, is a great return on investment.
At Portland Children’s Museum, students in Opal School have become active collaborators. We find no better place to engage children’s creativity and spread their ideas than in our museum exhibits. After all, the most effective children’s exhibits are informed by children themselves. Our exhibit designers work with classroom teachers so that concept exploration becomes a class project incorporated into the curriculum.
For example, in creating The Market, our students dreamed of illustrating the relationship between land and food. The result includes a grape arbor, apple tree, beehive, and chicken coop, which students drew out as a full-size floor plan in our exhibits staging area.
To develop our forthcoming water exhibit, Drip City, we collaborated with Opal School students as well as museum visitors, students at the nearby Native Montessori Preschool at the Faubion School Early Learning Center, and other diverse community members. Opal School students explored the concept of watershed, took a field trip to the source of Portland’s water, and diagrammed their understanding in drawings that will become part of the final exhibit.
While Opal students do not regularly visit the museum every school day, many of them stay after school to play. Each student’s family can sign up for a play pass, free with enrollment, that allows them to play after school with their caregiver as long as they want, and to come on weekends and holidays free.
Portland Children’s Museum and Opal School’s relationship began as convenient co-location, supported by a common commitment to learning through play. Over time, it has matured into a unified learning philosophy called Playful Inquiry, based on five principles:
We now consider the museum, Opal School, and our professional development offerings as laboratories for developing and disseminating this learning approach. We employ Playful Inquiry for informal learning with families in the museum, formal learning with students in the school, and professional learning with adult audiences through consultation, workshops, retreats, and symposiums. Topics offered to adult audiences include Equity and Access through Story, Supporting Social and Emotional Intelligence, and Constructing Collaborative and Courageous Learning Communities (For a complete list of offerings, see here.) In the process, literal and figurative walls are becoming more porous. In contrast to seeing ourselves as united under one physical roof, we see ourselves united in practicing and experimenting with the same learning approach, just in different settings with different audiences.
To be sure, it’s a work in progress. Even after seventeen years, or perhaps because of that long history, there are ongoing challenges to resolve. For example, as the organization grows and space becomes more precious, which program (museum, school, or professional development) takes priority? However, whether staff members work in the museum, the school, professional development, or core mission support, we remember we all use the same learning approach to work with each other. By nurturing empathy for different perspectives, seeking connections in our work, sharing stories of success and failure, remaining curious about potential solutions, and exploring playfully together, we employ our learning approach to blur the boundaries between museum and school, which are united in a singular mission:
To develop innovative problem-solvers through playful learning experiences that strengthen relationships between children and their world.
Ruth Shelly has served as the executive director of Portland Children’s Museum and its associated Opal School and Museum Center for Learning in Portland, Oregon, since 2013. Prior to this Shelly was the executive director of the Madison Children’s Museum in Wisconsin.
To read other articles in the “Museum Schools + Preschools” issue of Hand to Hand, subscribe today. ACM members also receive both digital and printed complimentary copies of Hand to Hand. ACM members can access their copies through the Online Member Resource Library–contact Membership@ChildrensMuseums.org to gain access.
Led by the Association of Children’s Museums and the University of Washington’s Museology Graduate Program, the Children’s Museum Research Network (CMRN) formed in 2015 with funding from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services. For the past year, CMRN has contributed an article to each issue of Hand to Hand to disseminate their findings with the field. The following article was shared in the Summer/Fall 2017 issue, “History & Culture Summit.” Stay tuned to the blog for more articles from CMRN!
By Kari Ross Nelson and Alix Tonsgard
In the previous issue of Hand to Hand, Suzy Letourneau and Nicole Rivera described the Children’s Museum Research Network’s (CMRN) study of how children’s museums conceptualize play and its role in their missions. This study showed that while children’s museums strongly value play as important to their missions and as a mechanism for learning, few defined play or how it leads to learning in a formal way within their institutions. Sharing these findings at InterActivity 2017 in Pasadena, California, sparked discussion about defining play and how a definition might impact our work.
The purpose of this article is to explore the practical application of a clearly-stated and understood definition of play. To this end, we spoke with staff from two children’s museums that have their own definitions of play to see how this plays out on a day-to-day, practical level: Barbara Hahn, vice president of development at Minnesota Children’s Museum (MCM), and Jessica Neuwirth, exhibit developer at Providence Children’s Museum.
Both Minnesota Children’s Museum and Providence Children’s Museum built their definitions from studying the research on play. Importantly, each museums qualifies its definition of play with specific adjectives that distinguish it from other types of play, place it in a position of respect, and convey the importance of play as related to learning. Providence specifies “free play”; MCM calls it “powerful play.”
As Hahn says, “You can ‘play’ soccer or you can ‘play’ a video game—both are very achievement-oriented. Our term, ‘powerful play,’ refers to play that is captivating and fun, active and challenging, and self-directed and open-ended. In action, that means children are having a good time, showing interest, moving and thinking, and exploring freely—choosing what they want to do and how to do it. Crafting this definition was a necessary exercise to get clear on what we’re all about, what we’re proposing, and how it’s valuable to children.”
That clarity works on multiple levels for the museums, both internally and externally. Within the museums, the definitions of play provide filters and focus—criteria against which they can evaluate everything they do. Their definitions of play are front and center in the design of museum experiences. For example, Providence’s “free play” definition describes play as freely-chosen, personally-directed, intrinsically-motivated, and involving active engagement. Neuwirth compares program and exhibit design concepts against these standards throughout the exhibit or program development process. Can a child immediately figure out what an exhibit is about and jump into it without adult intervention and without signage? Is the play personally directed? Is the child actively engaged, or is an educator teaching something while the child sits and passively receives information? Realistically, not every component will meet every criterion for every child, but across the museum, they can all be experienced.
A well-articulated definition of play also helps communicate the institution’s deeply held values to new staff. “When we have interdepartmental meetings about developing new programs, new exhibits, or other integrated projects, the definition is central to talking about what these new initiatives will look like,” says Neuwirth. “This helps to get everyone on the same page.”
Neuwirth points out that with small budgets and limited resources, practitioners need to be able to direct themselves and their museum in the most effective way and use what they have well. “Our definition (of play) deploys our resources well, all in the name of a big idea.”
Because Providence’s definition of play centers the child as director of their own play, self-motivated and active as well, Neuwirth believes that “our exhibits are designed to have multiple entry-points, many ways to proceed with playing, and no set outcome. This allows all users to follow their own interests, work at levels that feel appropriate to them, and define their own outcomes. Our exhibits tend to be more process-oriented, and less about teaching specific content.”
Definitions of play further serve an important role in communicating outside the museums. Not everyone understands or shares the passion for the power of play. MCM describes what goes on in their museum as “Powerful Play.” According to Hahn, the use of the word “powerful” serves to “call attention to play and gives it the respect it deserves and doesn’t always get.” Not only is this an important distinction to communicate to funders and media, but also caregivers. By placing special emphasis on communicating their definition of play with parenting adults, MCM shares tools and language for thinking about the different types and values of play.
Both Hahn and Neuwirth see benefits to an institution-specific definition of play, without feeling that a definition limits what they do. “When we’re designing exhibits or programs, as museum staff, we want to be able to speak from one place,” says Neuwirth, “and that’s what this definition is about. We’re not telling people what they have to believe, we’re saying this is what we do here and what why we do it.”
A field-wide, shared definition of play may not be reasonable, considering the variety of community-specific children’s museums responding to different audiences and needs. Some worry that a definition of play could stifle creativity, which is contrary to the essence of play. In some circles, the word “play” itself implies the trivial, unimportant, or superficial, and is avoided. Nevertheless, the two museums mentioned here demonstrate that having a clear definition of play, on an institutional level, can strengthen a museum’s work and facilitate communication around play to stakeholders. In turn, as more children’s museums establish clear definitions, their work can contribute to the broader, field-wide understanding of play as it relates to learning in all children’s museums.
| DuPage Digs Deeper An agreed-upon definition of play may also carry an impact beyond the field of children’s museums. Two studies completed by CMRN inspired the development of a study at DuPage Children’s Museum called Parental Perceptions of Play and Learning. Focus groups and surveys were used to gain an understanding of parents’ beliefs about play and learning. Of particular interest in this process were the focus group discussions about the tensions and pressures experienced by both adults and children as a result of academic and social stressors—a tension widely experienced by early childhood educators as well. In the current climate of our education system, the association of the word play with “fun” seems to devalue its power to support learning and development. With work underway on behalf of CMRN as well as within institutions such as Providence Children’s Museum, Minnesota Children’s Museum, and DuPage Children, which are conducting research and positioning themselves as champions for play, there may be potential to stimulate a broader level of conversation and action, both within the children’s museum field and beyond. |
Kari Ross Nelson is research and evaluation associate at Thanksgiving Point Institute. Alix Tonsgard is early learning specialist at DuPage Children’s Museum.
The recent partial federal government shutdown was the longest in U.S. history, with 800,000 federal employees furloughed or working without pay. Many ACM members around the country offered discounted and free admission to families affected by the shutdown. This list has been updated as of 11:00 a.m. EST on February 1, 2019.
Alabama
EarlyWorks Children’s Museum (Huntsville, AL) – more info here.
Alaska
Fairbanks Children’s Museum (Fairbanks, AK) – more info here.
Arizona
Children’s Museum of Phoenix (Phoenix, AZ) – more info here.
California
Bay Area Discovery Museum (Sausalito, CA) – more info here. Says the museum, “We recognize that many furloughed employees are still impacted by the shutdown as they wait for back pay, and so are continuing to offer free admission.”
Habitot Children’s Museum (Berkeley, CA) – more info here.
The Lawrence Hall of Science (Berkeley, CA) – more info here.
The New Children’s Museum (San Diego, CA) offered free admission on January 12-13, 2019.
Paso Robles Children’s Museum (Paso Robles, CA) – more info here.
Colorado
WOW! Children’s Museum (Lafayette, CO) – more info here.
Connecticut
Stepping Stones Museum for Children (Norwalk, CT) is hosting a free event for impacted federal workers and their families, including free admission and pizza, on January 30, 2019. More info here.
Florida
Glazer Children’s Museum (Tampa, FL) – more info here.
MOSI (Tampa, FL) – more info here.
Museum of Discovery and Science (Fort Lauderdale, FL) – from the museum: “The Museum of Discovery and Science will offer free admission to furloughed federal workers for the duration of the shutdown. Government employees must present a valid government I.D. at the box office. Admission is good for a total of 2 family members. Admission is for exhibits only.”
Illinois
Children’s Discovery Museum (Normal, IL) will offer free admission from January 26-27, 2019. More info here.
The Children’s Museum in Oak Lawn (Oak Lawn, IL) – $3 admission through February 1, more info here.
Edwardsville Children’s Museum (Edwardsville, IL) – more info here.
Kohl Children’s Museum (Glenview, IL) – more info here.
Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum (Peoria, IL) – from the museum: “The Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum and the Owens Recreation Center invite Federal Employees impacted by the budget shutdown, along with members of their immediate families, to visit the museum and ice rink without paid admission for the duration of the government shutdown.” Said Director Rebecca Shulman Herz, “We recognize that many families in Peoria are impacted by the Federal Government shut down. We are pleased to offer opportunities for free family fun and learning during this difficult time.”
Indiana
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis (Indianapolis, IN) – through March 10, more info here.
Terre Haute Children’s Museum (Terre Haute, IN) – more info here.
Kansas
The Kansas Children’s Discovery Center (Topeka, KS) – through January 31, more info here.
Wonderscope Children’s Museum of Kansas City (Shawnee, KS) will offer free admission on January 26-27. More info here.
Louisiana
Louisiana Children’s Museum (New Orleans, LA) – more info here.
Maine
Children’s Discovery Museum (Augusta, ME) – more info here.
Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine (Portland, ME) – more info here.
Coastal Children’s Museum (Rockland, ME) – from the museum: “All federal employees and their immediate families are welcome to explore the Museum and leave their stress and worry behind, if only for a few fun-filled hours. A current government ID is all that is required at the front desk for free admission.”
Maryland
KID Museum (Bethesda, MD) – more info here.
Massachusetts
Boston Children’s Museum (Boston, MA) – more info here.
Cape Cod Children’s Museum (Mashpee, MA) – more info here.
The Children’s Museum of Greater Fall River (Fall River, MA)
Discovery Museum (Acton, MA) – more info here.
EcoTarium (Worcester, MA) – more info here.
Minnesota
Duluth Children’s Museum (Duluth, MN) – more info here.
Minnesota Children’s Museum (St. Paul, MN) – more info here.
Montana
Children’s Museum of Bozeman (Bozeman, MT) – more info here.
New Hampshire
Cheshire Children’s Museum (Keene, NH) – more info here.
Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (Dover, NH) – more info here.
New York
The Children’s Museum at Saratoga (Saratoga Springs, NY) – more info here.
The Children’s Museum of the Arts (New York, NY) – more info here.
Children’s Museum of the East End (Bridgehampton, NY) – more info here.
Long Island Children’s Museum (Garden City, NY) – through January 31, more info here. Said President Suzanne LeBlanc, “Long Island Children’s Museum is designed to be a place of respite where adults and children can escape everyday concerns, as they learn and play together. We know that many families in our community are facing financial hardships as paychecks are missed, and are grappling with childcare issues. We want to support these families and show our appreciation for the important work that they do for all of us.”
Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum (Poughkeepsie, NY) has been hosting “Pizza and Play” events for furloughed workers. Said Executive Director Lara Litchfield-Kimber, “When we first conceived the idea of hosting our Pizza and Play nights for furloughed workers, we wanted to provide an evening of normalcy for those federal employees impacted by the partial government shutdown.” More info here.
Sciencenter (Ithaca, NY) – $1 admission, more info here.
Staten Island Children’s Museum (Staten Island, NY) – more info here.
North Carolina
Discovery Place Kids – Huntersville (Huntersville, NC), Discovery Place Kids – Rockingham (Rockingham, NC), Discovery Place Nature (Charlotte, NC), and Discovery Place Science (Charlotte, NC) – more info here.
Ohio
COSI (Columbus, OH) – more info here.
Oregon
Portland Children’s Museum (Portland, OR) – through January 31, more info here. Said Executive Director Ruth Shelly, “The partial government shutdown has put an exceptional strain on families with young children. We at Portland Children’s Museum would like to offer a little respite from that stress by offering a free opportunity to come play and learn together.”
Pennsylvania
Bucks County Children’s Museum (New Hope, PA) – more info here.
South Carolina
Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry (Charleston, SC) – more info here.
The Sandbox: An Interactive Children’s Museum (Hilton Head Island, SC) – more info here.
South Dakota
Children’s Museum of South Dakota (Brookings, SD) – $1 admission, more info here.
Texas
Children’s Museum of Brownsville (Brownsville, TX) – more info here. Said Executive Director Felipe Peña III, “We understand that there has been a lot of uncertainty for a lot of these families as of late. Because of that, we’re extending this offer to all affected federal employees in hope that perhaps a day spent with family at the museum can provide at least a little ease and peace of mind.”
Children’s Museum of Houston (Houston, TX) and Fort Bend Children’s Discovery Center (Sugar Land, TX) – more info here.
Thinkery (Austin, TX) – more info here. Said Thinkery CEO Patricia Young Brown, “Maintaining affordable access for everyone is a top priority for Thinkery. We know the shutdown is putting a financial and emotional strain on workers and their families all over Central Texas. We hope that opening our doors to them until the shutdown ends creates an opportunity for those families to set aside those worries for a while and spend time playing and learning together.”
Tennessee
Creative Discovery Museum (Chattanooga, TN) – more info here. Said Executive Director Henry Schulson, “Creative Discovery Museum is committed to being accessible to all children and families. When situations arise that are difficult for families in our community, we do what we can to support them during that time.”
The Muse Knoxville (Knoxville, TN) – more info here.
Utah
Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum (Salt Lake City, UT) – more info here.
Virginia
Children’s Museum of Richmond – including all locations: Children’s Museum Downtown (Richmond, VA), Children’s Museum Short Pump (Richmond, VA), Children’s Museum Chesterfield (Midlothian, VA), and Children’s Museum Fredericksburg (Fredricksburg, VA), more info here.
Children’s Science Center (Fairfax, VA) – more info here.
Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum (Winchester, VA) offered half price admission for federal workers and their families.
Washington
KidsQuest Children’s Museum (Bellevue, WA) – more info here.
West Virginia
Spark! Imagination and Science Center (Morgantown, WV) – from the museum: “The free admission offer is good for up to four people per federal employee from Friday, January 25, until the end of the partial government shutdown. Any federal employee currently not being paid because of the government shutdown (both furloughed, and those required to work without a paycheck) are eligible for this discount. To take advantage of this offer, guests must provide any form of federal employee ID.”
Wisconsin
Betty Brinn Children’s Museum (Milwaukee, WI) – more info here.
Madison Children’s Museum (Madison, WI) – $1 admission, more info here. Said President and CEO Deb Gilpin, “We want to do our part to make the museum accessible to these families during a stressful time. We know we can be a haven for families. If parents are now home with the kids unexpectedly and money is tight, we hope this helps them get out of the house to enjoy a day at the museum.”
Wyoming
Jackson Hole Children’s Museum (Jackson, WY)
Children’s museums have a long history of stepping up to support their communities in times of need. For families dealing with the stress of the shutdown, they offer a retreat for playful learning.
If we have missed your museum in our roundup in error, please do not hesitate to get in touch! And if you’re a federal employee looking to visit one of these museums, please call the museum ahead of time for more complete information.
The Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) champions children’s museums worldwide. Follow ACM on Twitter and Facebook.
Led by the Association of Children’s Museums and the University of Washington’s Museology Graduate Program, the Children’s Museum Research Network (CMRN) formed in 2015 with funding from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services. For the past year, CMRN has contributed an article to each issue of Hand to Hand to disseminate their findings with the field. The following article was shared in the Spring 2017 issue, “Children’s Museums Go Outside.” Stay tuned to the blog for more articles from CMRN!
By Nicole R. Rivera, Ed.D. and Susan M. Letourneau, Ph.D.
Background:
For the past two years, the Children’s Museum Research Network (CMRN) has been examining how children’s museums define their learning value. CMRN consists of leadership from ACM and the University of Washington’s Museology Graduate Program, and a first cohort of ten children’s museums. In the network’s first study, the group analyzed learning frameworks from five network institutions and conducted interviews with senior staff. These conversations revealed three key issues that museums grappled with in their frameworks: the learning approaches they use, the learning outcomes they might measure, and the role of play in their missions and practices. Of these three issues, play stood out as a critical topic for further study. Although it is a defining characteristic of children’s museum experiences, even the small group of museums within CMRN took very different positions on play—it was central for some but peripheral for others. Based on this initial observation, CMRN wanted to survey a larger sample of museums to look for field-wide trends. The research question for this study was: How do children’s museums conceptualize play and its role in their missions?
Methods:
CMRN members interviewed senior staff at forty-nine children’s museums in the United States. Participating museums varied in geographical region, size, and location (urban, suburban, rural), and the overall sample was representative of ACM’s membership. Staff who took part in the study oversaw the design or implementation of learning experiences at their institutions (including senior education/exhibit staff and executive directors). In order to gain an institutional perspective, interview questions focused on the role of play in each museum’s mission, the ways that museums defined or talked about play in internal conversations and documents, and their institutional perspectives on the connection between play and learning (see inset). After completing the interviews, the network reviewed the transcripts to identify themes in participants’ responses.
Results:
The majority of participants in the study said that play was vital to their mission. The word “play” appeared in the mission statements of 57 percent of the museums, and in 14 percent of other statements (e.g., value statements). Another 31 percent of participants stated that play was implied by other words like “discovery,” “fun,” or “imagination.” When asked to describe the role of play in their missions, interviewees offered a range of perspectives (Figure 1): Some described their museum’s philosophy about play as an avenue for learning and socioemotional development, others described institutional cultures that valued play or created space for children to play, and others described their efforts to raise awareness about play’s importance.
See Figure 1: Role of play in mission
Despite the importance of play to their missions, only 29 percent of participants said their museum had a definition of play they used internally; this definition was written down in just 10 percent of the sample. However, interviewees said their museums had strong beliefs about play that were not necessarily codified in a formal document. When giving more detail about how they talked about play in internal discussions (Figure 2), many said that staff at their institutions tended to describe play as a mechanism for learning (e.g., “children learn about the world through play”), while others said their conversations centered on characteristics or types of play that happen at the museum (e.g., pretend play, open-ended experiences), or the design and educational practices they use to encourage play (e.g., facilitation, hands-on exhibits).
When describing the relationship between play and learning from their institution’s perspective (Figure 3), most said their institutions believed play was a process through which learning happens, while a smaller number said play was a learning process but also a valuable outcome in itself, or that playing and learning were equivalent or inseparable. Participants also described a variety of benefits of play, including cognitive, social, and emotional skills and outcomes.
See Figure 2: Nature of definition of play, whether written or not, and Figure 3: Relationship between play and learning
Implications:
This study showed that the children’s museums represented strongly value play as important to their missions, and consider play to be a mechanism for learning and a way of supporting multiple facets of children’s development. This view closely aligns with existing research on play and its value. Nevertheless, children’s museums seldom defined play or how it leads to learning in a formal way within their institutions.
The network conducted this field-wide study not only to document the breadth of views on play within children’s museums, but also to tap into ongoing discussion about this topic to move the field forward. The Association of Children’s Museums states that “children’s museums are places where children learn through play and exploration in environments designed just for them” (“About Children’s Museums”)—in other words, that play is central to the learning value of children’s museums. This study speaks to the need for museums to articulate how they believe play experiences contribute to different forms of learning and discuss the specific aspects of play they emphasize. Such conversations would help children’s museums argue for their unique learning value and advocate more effectively for the value of play in the communities they serve.
The questions posed in this set of interviews could provide a useful starting point for these types of discussions. For the individuals who participated in this study, reflecting on their institutions’ perspectives prompted concrete action in the following months. The network sent a follow-up survey to participants approximately six months after they had completed the interview to inquire about any activities or conversations that were prompted by the interview. In this follow-up, a majority of participants (57 percent) reported speaking with a coworker about play and their museum, and 58 percent reported taking additional action to seek information or reflect on institutional practices related to play.
CMRN’s goal is to foster the field’s capacity for research. An important part of research is the dialogue that emerges as result of the process. Just as the research process stimulated conversation and further action for many participants, all children’s museums can also benefit from starting similar conversations in their own institutions.
| Sample interview questions from the CMRN study
• Is play in your museum’s mission statement? What is the role of play in your museum’s mission? |
Nicole R. Rivera, Ed.D., assistant professor of psychology at North Central College, participates in the Children’s Museum Research Network as the DuPage Children’s Museum’s Academic Research and Evaluation Partner.
Susan M. Letourneau, Ph.D., research associate at the New York Hall of Science, studies family interactions and learning through play in museum settings, and previously held a collaborative research and evaluation position with Providence Children’s Museum and Brown University.
To read other articles in Hand to Hand, subscribe today. ACM members also receive both digital and printed complimentary copies of Hand to Hand.
