By David Mimeles
You’ve already got an amazing program in place. Your community shows up in force to learn and have fun. Even better, parents and children alike love to attend your programming!
As a professional, though, you know that no matter how successful your program is, it’s useful to periodically take a step back and look for places where your program can improve performance.
In this blog post, we’ll address these common pain points for children’s museum programming teams:
For each of these questions, we’ll provide some administrative tips to consider. Read on and ensure that your innovative and popular programs run even more smoothly!
Though there’s not exactly a downside to putting on popular programming, popularity often leads to issues with capacity.
Even outdoor programs without enforced fire codes have to consider the logistics of too many people — especially children — trying to participate at the same time.
If your free programs are so popular that they’re consistently over capacity, you’ll need to revisit your ticketing policies.
There are two conventional solutions for the capacity problem:
Instead of choosing between these two undesirable options, try a third. Require visitors to register online or stop by the museum to reserve their free ticket in advance. Then, ask them to check in a certain amount of time before the program or forfeit their seat for day-of arrivals.
With this solution, you can keep the cost of your popular programming free while also limiting capacity. A first-come, first-serve system is fair, and a system that allows for last-minute flexibility will ensure that all seats are filled even if someone who reserved a ticket doesn’t show up.
Coordinating this kind of ticketing solution is possible without specialized software, but the right museum software solution will take the administrative burden off your team. Let the software do the routine work, and leave your team free for the more important or creative aspects of your programming.
Membership programs and museum programming have a truly reciprocal relationship. Amazing programs can incentivize participants to join your membership program, and members will turn out in force for great programs.
To grow both your membership program and museum programming at the same time, take advantage of opportunities to integrate the two.
The most effective integration techniques center around exclusive member benefits, a cornerstone of a strong member engagement strategy as well as a great program marketing opportunity.
Consider offering the following low- or no-cost benefits to members who participate in your programs:
You can also host member-only programs or member-only hours for your longer programs!
These members-only program benefits can increase member participation in programming as well as program participant enrollment in your membership program.
Members are more likely to attend events that offer them special benefits, and participant who experience those benefits firsthand are more likely to join the membership program than casual museum visitors. It’s a win-win situation!
You know how important it is to keep admission lines short and fast, especially when a majority of your visitors are families with small children.
For everyday admissions, the best way to keep lines moving is to use mobile ticket scanning devices for linebusting.
On your busiest days, you can also use mobile devices to set up ad hoc ticketing or membership sales. Just make sure you’re able to scan mobile tickets and mobile membership cards so visitors can use their ticket or member benefits right away after they purchase them.
Of course, to take full advantage of mobile linebusting across your museum, you’ll need a mobile system that can integrate with your reservations records and event management software.
When it comes to group reservations, such as field trips and birthday parties, you need a ticketing solution that can compress admission for an entire group into one barcode or QR code.
The last thing you want to do is scan individual tickets for every student on a school bus. Your visitors don’t want to wait around either — they want to head straight to the exhibits or the party room. When you can scan one ticket for the entire group, everyone can get right to their field trip or party experience.
You should look for a solution that’s also flexible enough to invoice for the number of visitors who actually arrive for the program if it’s a different number than the initial reservation.
When you integrate these ticketing and check-in strategies, you’re sure to get those lines moving quickly!
Speaking of group reservations, many museums use an online reservation process that’s nothing more than a form to fill out with their contact information and dates they want to reserve for the program they want.
This system can quickly turn inefficient on the administrative side. Your team will end up having to call a parent or teacher to tell them that they can’t come because the time slot they requested was already reserved.
The solution is to invest in an online reservations calendar that can accept reservations 24/7 and automatically block out slots that have been claimed. Even if your staff has to manually approve the request later, at least your visitors know that the time they’re signing up for is available.
Make sure your online calendar can also:
That last feature is particularly important for your museum to consider. If you offer priority registration for your members, you don’t force them to call your office for you to manually override your reservations calendar every time they want to redeem that benefit.
Instead, make sure you implement a reservations calendar that makes member benefits so seamless that your members won’t think twice about returning when the time comes to send out membership renewal letters.
The best museum programs have sustainability and flexibility built into them. Just because a program works well once doesn’t mean it will be as successful the next month, season, or year. Continuous improvement is a hallmark of successful and sustainable museum programming.
Incorporate sustainability and continuous improvement into your programming by soliciting a wide range of feedback. Continuous innovation supported by decisions based on real feedback make great museum programming sustainable.
You’ll get the best feedback on your program surveys if you consider:
You don’t have to send the same survey to every participant. You might find it more useful to send short surveys to most of your program participants and staff and offer more comprehensive surveys to a smaller segment.
Longer surveys can be sent to people who are most likely to spend time on them, such as members, frequent program participants, donors and other constituents who are more deeply involved with your museum.
Survey feedback helps ensure that your museum programs are sustainable by keeping them relevant. Your programs can also be used to promote overall sustainability by increasing participation and building stronger bonds with your members and visitors. For example, you can consider:
No matter how popular your programs are, they’re not guaranteed to be popular forever. Emphasizing sustainability can help ensure your long-term success!
As you continue creating incredible programs at your museum, these strategies can help ease your administrative burden and ensure that your program deliver the best experience for your participants.
And if you’re looking for a museum software solution to help make these strategies possible, head over to Double the Donation’s reviews of top museum software to get you started down the right path.
David Mimeles is vice president of sales and marketing at Doubleknot, an integrated online, on-site, and mobile solutions provider for nonprofits. Check out Doubleknot’s ultimate guide to museum software.
by Isabel Diez
How do you design a museum that seeks to sustain peace in a city once described as the most dangerous place in the world? When Sietecolores was entrusted such a task, the only answer we found was to involve the community throughout the entire development process—and beyond.
From 2008 to 2012, Ciudad Juárez was considered the most dangerous place, not only in Mexico, but the world. This home to 1.3 million people was consumed with violence and crime, resulting in a huge social crisis that rapidly hit rock bottom. When local leaders came together to create an action plan for rescuing the city, a museum quickly became part of the conversation.
The idea of creating a permanent interactive learning space had been in the mind of locals since 2004, when the city of Chihuahua, near Juárez, hosted Papalote Móvil, a traveling museum created by Papalote Museo del Niño, with huge success. In 2009, a group of business leaders approached Sietecolores—our team of museum developers, initially created within Papalote—to design a space where children and their families could learn and heal. Because the museum would be key for sustaining peace in the soon-to-be transformed city, placing the project in the scope of peace education, which seeks nonviolent resolution of conflict and the transformation of social structures that perpetuate any type of injustice, was important.
Despite the evident complexities of the situation, Sietecolores was up for the titanic challenge. Where to begin, though? We knew that peace cannot be externally enforced—at least not if we wanted long-lasting results—but can only be achieved from within. With this in mind, we were guided by the idea of participatory museums. Nina Simon, author of The Participatory Museum, defines these institutions as places “where visitors can create, share, and connect with each other around content.” Visitors actively construct meaning, curate content, share ideas, and discuss issues. In consequence, our team introduced strategies for including Juárez’s citizens in the design process, such as holding interviews and focus groups, visiting indigenous communities, and inviting local artists, from potters and weavers to comic-book creators, to participate in specific projects.
In 2013, Rodadora Espacio Interactivo opened with the motto: “Celebra la vida” (“Celebrate life”). Its key role in the peacebuilding efforts of Juárez has been undeniable, proven by its sustained growth and success throughout its four years in operation. So, what exactly makes a peacebuilding, participatory museum tick? Sietecolores has identified three fundamentals to the culture and work of Rodadora:
Putting the community at the center means listening to diverse perspectives, intentionally seeking participation of all groups, and giving voice to those who have been excluded—something essential for battling structural violence. But, when fear has taken over people for a long period of time, many important topics remain unspoken or become taboo. Museums can find creative mechanisms for visitors to feel safe enough to end that silence.
The alebrije sculpture at Rodadora
At Rodadora, one such strategy is the popular “nightmare-eating monster,” a giant alebrije—that is, a colorful Mexican folk art sculpture of an imaginary creature. Children and caregivers write down their worst nightmares, which disappear by “feeding” them to the monster. Sietecolores adapted this idea from Papalote, but Rodadora has taken it to a whole new level: it not only serves as a mechanism for visitors to externalize their fears, but also as a way for the museum to identify their needs. Education Director Mónica Félix explains how, throughout the years, it is clear how children’s fears have changed: four years ago, common nightmares included violence, death, or kidnapping, now children write about the dark or scary cartoon characters. The reality is different for adults, who will need more time to heal their scars. But visitors’ answers are a constant source of inspiration for new programs and initiatives. For example, Rodadora decided to produce a play for adults every November addressing the theme of death.
Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung suggests that igniting dialogue is the bedrock of all nonviolent conflict resolution. This became a priority and a guiding design principle when we realized the community needed new ways to communicate. But how do you get visitors to share and discuss ideas when they are not accustomed to doing so? Begin with the simplest and subtlest of initiatives.
Sietecolores helped Rodadora start a program called Libro Viajero (Traveling Book). The museum “abandoned” copies of a book throughout the space for people to find and start reading. When staff discovered a copy with an underlined passage and comments on the margins, they decided to leave writing tools along with the books. This became a powerful way for visitors to start dialogue with each other, the museum, and the authors.
If we understand peace as the presence of justice, it’s not only a goal, but also an ongoing process and effort. Rodadora is always finding ways for visitors to get actively involved in the same spirit that originated the museum.
For instance, Sietecolores invited a local collective of urban artists to paint a mural for the museum before opening day. Rodadora also recently created a space called “Urban Art Garden,” which contains three more murals painted by local artists in collaboration with the Juárez community. The museum has also planned workshops and programs in the garden throughout the rest of the year.
Museums can become catalysts of social transformation—as Sietecolores has seen again and again in the more than a dozen learning spaces we have designed over the years. By taking a community-centered, dialogue-based, and action-focused approach, we created a participatory museum that continues to instill Juárez citizens with a sense of possibility, a desire for change, a promise of hope. After all, as writer Vaclav Havel said, “it is hope, above all, that gives us strength to live and to continually try new things, even in conditions that seem hopeless.”
Isabel Diez is a researcher at Sietecolores Ideas Interactivas, a museum and exhibit design firm based in Mexico City. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Pedagogy by Universidad Panamericana and a Master’s in Education (Arts in Education Program) by Harvard University. isabel.diez@sietecolores.mx / www.sietecolores.mx/en/
The following post is condensed from an interview appearing in the latest issue of Hand to Hand, ACM’s quarterly journal. The interview was conducted by Mary Maher, editor of Hand to Hand.
In 2006, Richard Louv delivered a keynote address at InterActivity held that year in Boston. He had recently published what would become a landmark book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder. In the years since, this award-winning journalist, commentator and activist has authored eight more books, including The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age, and most recently Vitamin N: The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life: 500 Ways to Enrich Your Family’s Health & Happiness. His books, translated into thirteen languages and published in seventeen countries, have helped launch an international movement to connect children and their families to nature, which is the focus of an organization which he co-founded and for which he serves as chairman emeritus, Children & Nature Network.
Louv graciously took a break from working on his newest book, which is focused on the evolving relationship between humans and other animals, to respond to questions from the children’s museum field, one of many that have been deeply influenced by his work.
Mary Maher: In the eleven years since you delivered the keynote address at InterActivity 2006 in Boston, your message of getting kids back outside and involved with nature has spread within our field—and around the world. Has this message changed or been refined over the years?
Richard Louv: Since 2006, I’ve tried to place more emphasis on how we envision the future—long-term. Conservation is no longer enough. To improve our psychological and physical health, our sense of pleasure and happiness, and our ability to learn, we have to transform our cities, yards, homes, and workplaces into incubators of biodiversity.
We’re at a crucial point in what I call the “new nature movement.” Awareness has grown, but we need to move into an action mode, both at the family and community levels. My new book, Vitamin N, offers suggestions on how to do this that can be adapted by children’s museums. The Children & Nature Network, a nonprofit organization that grew out of Last Child in the Woods, currently has a partnership with the National League of Cities (representing 19,000 mayors and other municipal leaders in the U.S.) to urge mayors to improve opportunities for children and families to connect to nature in urban areas.
Children’s museums can join this effort (and many already have) by offering parallel opportunities, such as those now created in the green schoolyards movement—places where kids play in plant-filled natural settings. Children’s museums can play a larger role in creating bioregional awareness, directly helping families make real changes in their homes and neighborhood environments. For example, they can send children and parents home with native plants or seeds to help rebuild urban biodiversity, as well as promote nature-based play at home and in the community.
MM: Your book Vitamin N contains more than 500 activities to get kids and families more involved with nature. What are some of your favorite activities that are most effective at increasing that link to nature?
RL: It’s hard to choose, but here are three:
MM: In the eleven-plus years of your work on nature education, what are some unexpected outcomes or results?
RL: I’ve learned to my surprise that this is an intrinsically hopeful issue. The concern about connecting children to nature transcends political and religious barriers, and brings people together. It not only helps people look at education, healthcare, and urban design and architecture differently, but it may also help conservationists take the next step in the evolution of environmentalism.
In “Imagine a Newer World,” an essay adapted from The Nature Principle, I paint a modest portrait of what I hope that that world will be like.
MM: What role do you see children’s museums playing in better connecting their community’s children with nature?
RL: The seeds of the future are planted in our homes and neighborhoods, but also in a community’s businesses and institutions. Schools, museums, zoos, service organizations, churches, and more are the connectors of community. I am delighted to hear that more than fifty children’s museums around the U.S. are in the process of developing outdoor exhibits and play areas, some of which are written about in this issue.
Read the full interview here. To read other articles in the “Children’s Museums Go Outside” issue of Hand to Hand, subscribe today. ACM members also receive both digital and printed complimentary copies of Hand to Hand.
This post first appeared on the International Science Center & Science Museum Day Blog on October 3, 2017. The post is shared in partnership with Eco Boys and Girls.
By Sophia Collas and Maria Snyder
Eco Boys and Girls joins with the Association of Science-Technology Centers to celebrate the 2017 International Science Center and Science Museum Day (ISCSMD 2017) on November 10. As a children’s media company reaching young children across the globe with educational programming focused on early science, sustainable development, and respect for diversity through pluralism, being among leaders in science education and innovation is an exciting opportunity to learn from other dedicated professionals in this field.
Eco Boys and Girls has made it their mission to deliver high-quality early learning in the areas where it is needed most for the future generation to succeed in our ever-connected, globalized world. Promoting early science, sustainable development, and pluralism are the Eco Boys and Girls’ main focus across all of their programming. To achieve this, the organization delivers research-based curricula, media assets and materials, and hands-on activities. Driven by five charismatic and colorful characters—the Eco Boys and Girls—children are engaged in playful educational experiences through which they learn about their surroundings, taking care of the planet and each other.
Eco Boys and Girls has ongoing programming with the Association of Children’s Museums, based in Washington, D.C., which engages pre- and primary-school age children in activity-based and self-driven learning about the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through this program, and in celebration of ISCSMD, young children are asked to think critically and curiously about the world around them and the role they play in making a positive difference.
With the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire, U.S., the Eco Boys and Girls Science Bites! Program leads children through science experiments that teach them about Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM), and are joining ISCSMD 2017 with their programming at CMNH. Celebrating this important event, Eco Boys and Girls joins with other implementing organizations to share best practices and opportunities for collaborations with teachers committed to bringing innovative and forward-thinking education to young people around the world.
Eco Boys and Girls’ successes are in large part due to the high-quality materials and designs that capture children’s attention, but also because programs are designed to stimulate children in a number of ways. The engagement of children in practical, educational activities across their familiar environments—home, school and community—means that important and lasting effects will take hold. It is through the Eco Boys and Girls’ approach of child-friendly and relevant learning experiences that early childhood education can include science, sustainable development, and pluralism to prepare the youngest age group for the 21st Century.
Sophia Collas is Eco Boys and Girls’ Director of International Education, specializing in early childhood development. She also teaches professional development in international contexts. Maria Snyder, Founder and CEO of Eco Boys and Girls, is an artist, activist, and social entrepreneur creating brands that combine social ethics and economic purpose.
Several ACM members in the Gulf Coast region of Texas were directly impacted by Hurricane Harvey this past week. We’re happy to report that many of these museums are already open and providing a safe and fun place for families to play in this difficult time.
On Tuesday, August 29, ACM established the ACM Harvey Relief Fund to support the staff and families of our members affected by the storm. ACM will match the first $5,000, and the fund will remain open for donations through September 30. To date, we’ve received more than $2,500 in donations!
Thank you to all who have donated and spread the word about the Fund, including Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum, the American Alliance of Museums, WOW! Children’s Museum, The Empathetic Museum, Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum, and the Children’s Museum of Brownsville.
We’re inspired by the words of Saleem Hue Penny, Associate Vice President of Community and Educational Partnerships at Chicago Children’s Museum: “in these moments reminded we are a ‘community,’ not merely an ‘association.’”
donated to @childmuseums #HarveyRelief https://t.co/Scy1GbsL11
in these moments reminded we are a “community”, not merely an “association” https://t.co/hljATv1qPK— Saleem Hue Penny (@huedotart) August 30, 2017
We’re heartened by the strength of our Texas museums, and by how our membership is coming together in support and solidarity. Thank you all for being a part of our community!
The Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) champions children’s museums worldwide. Follow ACM on Twitter and Facebook.
By Felipe Peña III
The role of a children’s museum is to provide a safe and fun place for families to play, learn, and enjoy time together. As executive director of the Children’s Museum of Brownsville, I am reminded of this every day. But what happens when new people arrive in your town? How does your local community respond to these different people? What is the role a museum plays in how it responds?
Immigration has always been an issue in America. As a child in Texas, I remember hearing about raids and the act of rounding up people, and seeing this on Spanish television. I remember hearing stories in my own community of people using scare tactics against those of their own culture. Someone would shout “LA MIGRA” (immigration) among a group of Hispanic immigrants without papers and everyone would scatter. As the experience of immigration in the U.S. continues to change, my perspective continues to change, and with the new administration even more so.
This spring, through ACM’s 90 Days of Action campaign, I had the opportunity to share my museum’s experience serving immigrant children from Central and South America with my colleagues in the children’s museum field. My community is located in the southernmost tip of Texas, a flat land covered in palm trees. Our metro has more than 3 million people, but it’s separated into two countries by the Rio Grande river—and a border fence divided so irrationally it leaves areas of “no man’s land” between the U.S. and Mexico.
Because of my museum’s location, we often host unaccompanied children living in immigrant detention centers. Over the past two years, we’ve seen an increase in these visits, which aren’t planned by the museum. We follow the rules set by the detention centers, including the use of security guards.
By the time these children reach our community, they have been through an unimaginable journey. Some have been trafficked and others, transported through stressful and crowded circumstances on LA BESTIA (“the beast”), a train that travels from Central America through the interior of Mexico. They have been cared for by strangers or taken advantage of by those with ill intentions. Most, if not all, are running from persecution by gangs and the lack of stability where they live.
When they are picked up at the border they are taken to detention centers in the Rio Grande Valley. They are kept in simple yet prison-like living conditions. They are clothed and fed but this is not a home: it is a holding facility. These processing centers are focused on either finding relatives of the unaccompanied minors in the U.S. or returning them to their homes in their respective countries. Those with neither option are placed in the foster care system.
To many, their experiences aren’t just sad, but unimaginable. My staff and I have many discussions about how, in responding to these situations over and over, we become numb. While we don’t feel shock any more, we never hesitate to talk to these children when they visit our museum, and show them the best time they could possibly have. We remind them, even if for only an hour, that they are children. It’s important to remember that children’s museums are here to make this very simple thing possible—honoring childhood. This can be the experience of a lifetime for children whether they visit us once or as a routine part of every week.
Sometimes these tragic events and migration stories have tough beginnings that lead to fruitful lives. Rossy Evelin Lima, a speaker at TEDx McAllen in 2015, inspired me by sharing her journey as immigrant determined to succeed. Rossy’s family immigrated to the U.S. looking for opportunity when she was 13. Later she graduated from the University of Texas – Pan American. Today, she’s an international award winning poet and linguist. She was a featured poet in the Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum in 2015. This is just one story, one instance of success. There are countless more.
So, even though we might feel pain at hearing the stories immigrant children and families experience we must remember to always be hopeful. By celebrating childhood every day at children’s museums, we provide a reassurance that better days are ahead.
Felipe Peña III is executive director of the Children’s Museum of Brownsville. Follow the museum on Instagram and Facebook.
