Las Vegas Museum Tour

By: Jim Tharp and Jim Lindheim

Outside the Neon Museum in Las Vegas perches the gigantic Silver Slipper that once adorned the Silver Slipper Casino.  The story goes that Howard Hughes, having purchased the Desert Inn so that the owners wouldn’t throw him out, decided to also purchase the Silver Slipper Casino across the street so that he could remove the spinning silver slipper from his bedroom window view.   Now the Museum has lovingly restored it to working glory in the middle of Las Vegas Boulevard.  Howard is probably shaking in his Kleenex boxes at the idea that the slipper eluded his power.

We’re seeing this historic relic thanks to the tour package we purchased at the Wanda Chin Fund auction at the WMA Annual Meeting in Palm Springs.   The tour includes, as you would expect, hotels and some very fine restaurants.  But it is also making us do a very un-Las Vegas thing in America’s gaudy playground – go to museums!

As the Museum’s Cerese Hill, our personal tour guide, explained, “Las Vegas never would have happened if it hadn’t been for the mob.” To see the collection of the Neon Museum, you need to take a guided tour of the vast display of discarded signage that is piled up – with love – in an outdoor space.  This vast collection of artifacts reveals an art form unique to both a moment in time and to Las Vegas.  And as the tour unfolds, you also learn the history of the rise and fall of motels, hotels, casinos and other businesses in the turbulent economic maelstrom of Las Vegas’ evolution.

The other side of that economic history is told in the Mob Museum, a story of organized crime and corruption. The Mob Museum is housed, ironically, in the old Federal building in downtown Vegas, a building where several of the Vegas mobsters were ultimately put on trial.  The exhibit weaves several stories together – the national story of the emergence of organized crime in the 20^th century, how various criminal factions built Las Vegas and controlled it up until the 1970’s and 80’s, and how law enforcement heroes finally created the tools to  clean up the town.

Through photos, films, interactive displays, and artifacts the Mob Museum introduces you to the world of criminality  in a non-sensationalist, almost non-judgmental way.  But the tentacles went deep and far.  We learn that Meyer Lansky, one of the most notorious gangsters, received a Presidential Medal of Honor from Harry Truman for his heroic work keeping the docks open during World War II.  We see pictures of Hollywood’s greatest – even Ronald Reagan – hobnobbing with the mob.

And only a short distance away from this display of corrupted human ingenuity is the wonderfully innovative Springs Preserve collection of outdoor and indoor exhibits that bring science to life.   Standing on the grounds of the original springs that made Las Vegas possible, the Preserve explains hydrology, geology, desert botany and biology through everything from interactive displays to walks through a beautifully designed and labeled native garden.

Water is, inevitably, an underlying theme of the collection, with many exhibits teaching the criticality of water conservation and sustainable practices.   There is also a fabulous exhibit on flash flooding where, after being duly educated and warned, a roaring cascade of water comes down at you and, happily, runs under your feet.

Dawn Barraclough of the Museum told us that some 30,000 school children visit the 180 acre facility each year, learning about the fragility of their natural world, which is otherwise so obscured in the bustle of Las Vegas.

After our five day visit, I can confidently promise WMA members that our 2014 Meeting in Las Vegas is going to surprise you with a variety of experiences that go way beyond our typical assumptions of what the city has to offer.   The Museums we visited in Las Vegas – and some of the others the city has to offer, like the Atomic Testing Museum – are a testament to a city whose history and environment is unlike any other in the world.

Applied Anthropologist at WMA 2012

By: Ashley Meredith – Doctoral Student, University of South Florida

The opportunity to attend the Western Museum Association meetings could not have been possible without the assistance of the WMA Board and Wanda Chin Scholarship they provided to me for the 75th Annual Meeting! The WMA stands out as one of the most committed organizations to professional development and collaboration between young researchers and museum practitioners that I have experienced. I give a big Thank You to the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and residents of Palm Springs for welcoming us to their wonderfully sunny Palm Springs!

The 75th WMA Annual Meeting marks my first attendance to a conference on museums; I was impressed with how well everyone communicated and encouraged not just networking but meeting and knowing each other! It was a pleasurable experience–the people, the location and the weather combined made the experience complete.

Concentrating in cultural anthropology and people in the Pacific, focusing on the anthropology of museums and heritage tourism, it is important to become familiar with the construction of museum exhibits, the discipline of museum studies and those who work with museums. As an applied anthropologist, I’m honored. Attending the WMA Annual Meeting provided a plethora of opportunities for me to represent the University of South Florida (USF) and to personally interact with museum practitioners. Through this experience, I learned a variety of their creative skills and had the unique opportunity to communicate with them about their ideas towards sustainable relationships between museums and the people represented in them. This conference exposed me to current research on museums, exhibitions, and curatorial responsibilities and will inform me to better address the challenges confronting contemporary museums and sustainable tourism. Upon my return to USF, I shared this new information with my department and certification program in museum studies to promote the scholarship associated with museums. My institution will benefit by connecting with the west coast and diversifying its collaborative research opportunities.

During the conference, I participated in a session to which Tarisi Sorovi-Vunidilo invited me and two students, Marion Cadora and Brinker Ferguson, through our mutual colleague Dr. Stacy Kamehiro (a professor in the Visual Studies program at the University of California in Santa Cruz). This presentation was a result of a course I enrolled in at the University of South Forida (USF) with Jane Simon, the museum curator at USFs Contemporary Art Museum (CAM), and my Master’s fieldwork on perceptions of Hawaiianness by residents of Hawai’i Island in 2009.

In my session, I met four wonderful women in research! Their research in the Pacific was unlike any I have seen before attending this conference. Brinker Ferguson spoke on innovative ideas of digital repatriation and its associated issues. Marion Cadora discussed Papua New Guinea and Tarisi Sorovi-Vunidilo discussed the activities of the Pacific Islands Museum Association (PIMA) and PIMA’s collaboration with Pacific Arts Association (PAA). Having this session on Monday facilitated meeting researchers in the Pacific fluidly.

After a day of presentation, Marion Cadora, Brinker Ferguson, Tarisi and her husband, and I shared dinner together in Palm Springs where we learned of Tarisi’s work in the Pacific! It was this set of conversations that led four of us to visit Joshua Tree National Park at sunrise just before the next sessions began on Tuesday at 9am in Palm Springs!

 

 

 

 

On Tuesday, Marion Cadora and I attended Tarisi’s roundtable discussion on museums in the Pacific. In this round table, I met Karen Kosasa who spoke extensively with me about the relationship between tourism and museums. The conference represented a unique opportunity to remain informed on the latest theories and methods in museum studies. Moreover, because other disciplines are represented besides anthropology, the WMA conference was a prime opportunity to meet Academy members who share similar interests and brainstorm about exciting new research avenues.

My main goal for attending the WMA conference was to present the results of my on-going research in museum, tourism and cultural anthropology in Hawaiʼi. This was first time Iʼve found a museum session I could attend that was totally devoted the Pacific and in ways my research focused and it was graduate student panel on museums in the Pacific. As I embark on my dissertation research, this conference connected me with many people working with the Pacific.

The meeting has been the catalyst for several innovative interdisciplinary project ideas as the conference was also a great resource to pursue collaborations. Overall, attending the conference was a great complement to academic journals as a way to stay current with research in sociocultural anthropology, to create contacts with colleagues from all around the world, and possibly to develop new partnerships with different institutions and/or disciplines.

 

Ashley Meredith, a doctoral student from the Department of Applied Anthropology at the University of South Florida and participant in the museum studies certification program, specializes in sociocultural research in the Pacific (Hawai’i), Europe, and Central America. She focuses on host-guest perceptions of local culture, the role of museums and policies in shaping those perceptions, issues associated with cultural heritage resource management and organizations involved in governing the identification and treatment of heritage resources such as UNESCO.

2012 Redd Award Recipient: Exhibition Overview

By: Elizabeth Sutton

Through the Looking Glass: Obsidian Travel and Trade in the Great Basin, Recipient of the 2012 Charles Redd Center for Western Studies Award for Exhibition Excellence

The Utah State University Museum of Anthropology was honored at this year’s Western Museums Association Annual Meeting in Palm Springs as the recipient of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies Award for Exhibition Excellence. The award was presented in recognition of the museum’s exhibit, Through the Looking Glass: Obsidian Travel and Trade in the Great Basin. This award is particularly meaningful to the USU Museum of Anthropology as we are a small teaching museum and committed to offering free admission and programming to the community.

The exhibit, Through the Looking Glass: Obsidian Travel and Trade in the Great Basin, at the Utah State University Museum of Anthropology.

Fifty years ago, our museum was unofficially founded in the basement of the Old Main building at Utah State University, as anthropology faculty began displaying archaeological artifacts and ethnographic items in cases in the hallway. Very much a labor of love by the anthropology faculty, the museum evolved over the years and was granted exhibition and curation space by the university, which was then filled with collections obtained by faculty during their course of their research and by select donations from community members. Currently, the Museum of Anthropology employs one full time Deputy Director who teaches courses in museum studies and anthropology, and oversees approximately thirty part time students each semester with program design and management, exhibition design and evaluation, and curation. The museum serves not only the students, faculty, and staff of Utah State University, but also the 100,000 residents of Cache Valley in Northern Utah. Our popular Saturdays at the Museum of Anthropology, funded by an IMLS Museums for America grant, provides free cultural programming almost every Saturday throughout the year. Students majoring in Anthropology and enrolled in USU’s interdisciplinary certificate in Museum Studies design each Saturday’s program around a theme, and engage audiences in hands-on activities and presentations by local scholars, artists, and experts.

As a university museum, we often struggle with the task of interpreting current scholarly research in relevant and engaging ways for our patrons. Interpreting academic journal articles for the general public is clearly not easy, but when it is successful, it has the power to bring the community together to appreciate and enthusiastically support academic pursuits and initiatives at the university.  In the fall of 2010, former Museum of Anthropology curator, Monique Pomerleau, and a group of anthropology and museum studies students began to plan the Through the Looking Glass exhibit as a vehicle to garner support for archaeological research conducted by Utah State University faculty. Everyone knows that archaeologists like to study rocks, but though this exhibit we hoped to educate people as to WHY archaeologists spend so much time with rocks. Using case studies of current archaeological research, the Through the Looking Glass exhibit explores the science and technology of obsidian studies, what obsidian was used for in the past, and how archaeologists use data from obsidian studies to reconstruct the behavior and movements of ancient peoples as they moved across the vast landscape of the Great Basin.

Under the mentorship of Ms. Pomerleau, students researched current articles on obsidian studies, wrote exhibit text, and agreed on the design of the exhibit. The success of our museum projects always relies on the collaboration of students, staff, faculty, and the community. A community member hand-built the base of the main exhibit structure and students spent hours sanding down the extremely treacherous edges of obsidian cobbles so that patrons would not be inadvertently injured.  Maps and other visuals were prepared in the Utah State University Spatial Data Collection Analysis and Visualization Lab as a joint project between museum and Geospatial lab staff and students.

Anthropology student Sarah Mooso carefully polishes obsidian cobbles for the exhibit.

Through the Looking Glass: Obsidian Travel and Trade in the Great Basin opened on January 22, 2011 with much fanfare. Community support was high and patrons turned out to see the new exhibit and enjoy flint knapping demonstrations highlighting the obsidian tool manufacturing process. Community feedback from the opening and subsequent exhibit tours has been extremely positive. The new exhibit is located next to our permanent exhibits on Ancient Life in the Great Basin which is frequently visited during school group tours. Local teachers consistently relate that they believe the Through the Looking Glass exhibit is a wonderful addition to our museum, and a needed contrast to the permanent cultural history exhibits. After learning about the history of human occupation of the Great Basin, students acquire knowledge as to specific methods professors at the university currently employ to continue to make discoveries as to how people lived in the region in the past.

A flint knapping demonstration during the exhibit opening engages audiences and illustrates the obsidian tool manufacturing process.

The Utah State University Museum of Anthropology is grateful to the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies Award for granting us this award for exhibition excellence. This recognition is especially meaningful to our museum because we are committed to providing our students with professional skills and confidence in their ability to successfully compete in the museum employment market after graduation.

 

Elizabeth Sutton received her B.A. in Art History from the University of California, Los Angeles and her M.A. in Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is currently a Ph.D candidate in Anthropology at UCSB where she specializes in household archaeology. With over 12 years of experience in education and 7 years of museum experience, Elizabeth has trained countless students and volunteers in curation and museum management and held curatorial positions with the John Cooper Archaeology and Paleontology Center at Cal State Fullerton, the National Park Service, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, and the UCSB Repository for Archaeological and Ethnographic Collections. She currently serves as deputy director/curator of the Utah State University Museum of Anthropology where she also teaches courses in anthropology and museum studies and directs the interdisciplinary certificate program in museum studies for both undergraduate and graduate students.

Thinking Outside the Box

By: Brooke Devenney

This year’s Western Museums Association Annual Meeting in Palm Springs was an insightful and interesting experience for someone like myself just starting out in their museum career. The theme I took from this year’s Annual Meeting and conference was the idea of “thinking outside the box,” both literally and figuratively. Two of the sessions I attended demonstrated this idea most effectively. The first was “Whats Now/What’s Next 2012: Showcasing the New and Notable of the West’s Most Innovative Projects and Programs” led by Robert Checchi, Senior Designer at the J. Paul Getty Museum. The second focused on two local projects that I am familiar with and that literally think outside the box with their innovative use of architecture through a combination of preservation and restoration. This session was “Creating Cultural Resources: Restoring and Rehabilitating Modern Buildings,” moderated by Sidney Williams, Curator of Architecture and Design at the Palm Springs Art Museum.

As you can see, both of these sessions focus on interesting and groundbreaking projects executed in Southern California, but through the course of conference I was amazed at the range of great projects and exhibitions being created at museums and universities from Alaska to Utah. I would like to start with the first session I attended at the conference and the one that really created excitement for the rest of the conference. During “What’s Now/What’s Next” Robert Checchi presented a view of museum exhibition display and educational interaction that was completely new to me. He demonstrated recently developed and interesting ways that technology can be integrated into a visitor’s interaction with the artwork.

In the Getty Museum’s current exhibition, The Life of Art: Context, Collecting, and Display Robert has created an interactive component to deconstruct the featured artworks using iPads as part of the exhibition. On the iPads is a hands-on program that the museum has created internally to help decode the different elements of artworks selected from the museum’s permanent collection. The Getty features the interactive program on their website so you can try it out for yourself. As the viewer learns more about different elements of the featured work the discreet parts literally come alive, revealing their full color. According to Robert, and I agree, not only does this encourage the viewer to learn about the different aspects of a complicated work of art, it also encourages the viewer to look at the real artwork on display. Other projects at various museums in the session featured different ways that technology can be used to give people a point of access to varying types of museum collections.

The second session I would like to cite is “close to my heart” because I have worked with Curator Sidney Williams, along with architect Leo Marmol, on one of the featured projects in “Creating Cultural Resources.” Both projects in this session, the Palm Springs Art Museum’s new Architecture and Design Center, Edwards Harris Pavilion and the Annenberg Estate, Center and Gardens at Sunnylands, are examples of Modern architectural buildings that have been restored, rehabilitated, and adapted to new uses. During the past year I have worked with Sidney on the museum’s Architecture and Design Center, Edwards Harris Pavilion, the site of the former Santa Fe Federal Savings and Loan bank in Palm Springs.

The museum acquired the building with the intention of rehabilitating it to be used as an architecture and design center. The Palm Springs Art Museum’s webpage about the project has further details and great Julius Shulman images of the original building. Through this project the museum has the opportunity to work with Marmol Radziner Architects who designate a whole portion of their architectural work to restoration, including sites like the Kaufmann house  by Richard Neutra in Palm Springs. During the session Leo Marmol spoke about the need for old buildings, like the Architecture and Design Center, to be rehabilitated and adapted to new use, not only to preserve the historical value of their Modern heritage, but also in considering a more sustainable approach to building. The museum is also excited to set a new precedent by housing an architecture and design center in a museum that is itself a Class 1 historic site. The museum feels that this is a new and different way about thinking about museum expansion as well, since the Architecture and Design Center is also a part of the museum’s permanent collection, itself a work of art.

Through these two sessions I was able to obtain a new outlook on the way museums can interact with the public and “think outside the box” for their programming. In “What’s Now/What’s Next” the new idea was the exploration of new ways of using technology to engage the viewer in a work of art. In “Creating Cultural Resources” I learned even more about how museums can “think outside the box” about the role of their institution in relationship to it’s own architecture, rehabilitation, and sustainability.

Brooke Devenney grew up in La Quinta, California and graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2008 with a dual Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Studio Art. Upon graduation Brooke took a position as Special Events Coordinator at the Palm Springs Art Museum, and for the past three years has held the concurrent positions as Architecture and Design Council Coordinator, Photography Collection Council Coordinator, and Collectors Forum Administrator. These positions have given her first-hand experiences with architecture, photography and Contemporary art while working with the Senior Curator and Curator of Architecture and Design. She currently works at the Palm Springs Art Museum as Curatorial Administrator while obtaining her Master of Arts in Art History at the University of California, Riverside.

Photo credits:

Mounts attributed to Wolfgang Howzer
Porcelain: Japanese, about 1650; Mounts: English, about 1670 Hard-paste porcelain, underglaze blue decoration; gilt metal mounts Collection J. Paul Getty Museum

Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center, Edwards Harris Pavilion. Rendering by Marmol Radziner Architects.

 

Pacific Islands Museum Association’s Secretary-General at WMA 2012

By: Tarisi Vunidilo – Secretary-General, PIMA

WARM PACIFIC GREETINGS!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Western Museum Association (WMA) Board for providing me with a scholarship that enabled me to be in Palm Springs from October 21st to the 24^th  to attend the 2012 WMA Meeting. Without your kind assistance I would not have been able to attend this very important gathering.

 

I personally believe in the importance of having the Pacific Island Association (PIMA) and the Pacific Arts Association (PAA) part of a very comprehensive yet educational WMA 2012 program.

I acknowledge the important work many museums under the WMA that manages rich Pacific collections. I firmly believe PIMA and PAA’s involvement will open up many research and exhibition opportunities in the future.

As PIMA Secretary-General, I am honored to be in the 2011 and the 2012 Program Committee. The benefit of which I believe is the inclusion of Pacific related topics and presentation in the program.

This year, I was being recognized as a WMA member, program committee member and presenter (as seen in the picture here with fellow committee member Deidre).

SESSIONS AND PARTICIPATION

As a committee member for 2011 and 2012, I am honored to critique and present other proposals to the committee for their final decision for inclusion in the final program. This year, in January I was not able to attend one of the first program committee meetings however I requested my colleague and friend Mr. Tevita Moce (pictured below) who lives in Palm Springs to attend the program meeting in Palm Springs on my behalf. This was well received and Mr Moce was also able to widen his own professional network with those that attended. Here is a picture of Mr. Moce and I at our 2012 Pacific Navigation Session.

SESSION 1: MONDAY OCTOBER 22, 2012

TITTLE: SHARING OUR PACIFIC CULTURES- A PIMA AND PAA COLLABORATION

The aim of this session is to support and enable young researchers studying Pacific collections or Pacific contemporary art to share their work during the WMA meeting. The other outcome is encourage collaboration between the two internationally known organizations of PIMA and PAA. Both organizations have the Pacific art deeply embedded in their mission and vision statement. Having a session like this at the WMA is very appropriate as many museums in the USA have Pacific artifacts in their collections. This year, we had three graduate students who presented in this order of appearance:

1. Ashley Meredith (University of South Florida)
2. Meredith Ferguson (University of California, Santa Cruz)
3. Marion Cadora (University of Hawaii)

All their presentations were well received and there are potential that further discussions will be made between these presenters and some members of the audience who interacted with them during and after their presentation.

SESSION 2: MONDAY OCTOBER 22, 2012

TITLE: MUSEUM ASSOCIATIONS EXCHANGE – STATEWIDE CONCERNS AND RESPONSES

Celeste DeWald  (pictured below standing with me to my right) who represented the California Association of Museums chaired this session. The line up of presenters represented associations from Alaska, to Hawaii mainland USA to the Pacific. I was honored to speak in this session and the topic that I spoke on was Pacific Museums and Capacity Building: Issues and Opportunities. We were only given five minutes to speak on our topics, and I talked about the concern PIMA has which is to include and involve young people in the organization and move PIMA forward.

SESSION 3: TUESDAY OCTOBER 23, 2012

POOLSIDE FROM 12.30PM

TOPIC:  Pacific Stories from Pacific Museums

This was an informal session where tables were set and conference participants choose which table they want to go to. I had a full table and most of those who attended this session are now in contact with me for future  Pacific collections projects, which is rather exciting for PIMA and the Pacific communities both in the Pacific and those who are part of the diaspora.

SESSION 4:  WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 24, 2012

TOPIC: PACIFIC NAVIGATION: OUR OCEAN, OUR HISTORY, OUR LIVES

Presenters in this session were Tom Cashman and Tevita Moce (see page 2 for picture) and I chaired this session replacing So’ona’alofa Sina Malietoa, a PIMA Board member from Samoa who was not able to attend. Marcellin Abong from Vanuatu and Anthony Ramirez from Guam, both PIMA Board members were not able to attend and present their papers at this session due to unavailability of funds. However I was able to present navigational projects from Samoa, Vanuatu and Guam, combining the work that was going to be presented by these speakers. This presentation generated a lot of discussions after the session ended, and we as a group have submitted a follow up session in Salt Lake City in October 2013.

SIGHTSEEING OPPORTUNITIES

Apart from the formal WMA sessions, I was also able to visit the Joshua Tree National Park, which made me learn and appreciate the geology and the beautiful environment of Palm Springs, as well as the indigenous story of the place. My deep gratitude to Marion Cadora and Ashley Meredith for inviting my husband and I to join them on this special visit (see picture below).

Overall, my presence and participation at the WMA 2012 would not have taken place without the support of the Wanda Chin Award. I learnt so much form the sessions I attended and also from the resources that I was able to acquire during the 4 days I was in Palm Springs. I have seen my understanding and appreciation of museum work has blossomed and has given me a fresh outlook on what I would like to do in the future.

To conclude, on behalf of the PIMA Board and its members a big THANK YOU to the WMA Board for the Wanda Chin Award to enable me to not only attend this years’ WMA but to proactively lead these sessions I outlined earlier. Moreso, my attendance and participation has truly enhance my professional museum network with many others  I met who attended this auspicious occasion!

MALO! FA’FETAI! MAHALO! VINAKA VAKALEVU! MALO AUPITO! THANK YOU!

WMA 2012: Presentation and Session Summary for Gearing Up for New Audiences: Preparing Your Site, Staff, and Volunteers for K-2 Field Trips

Session

Gearing Up for New Audiences: Preparing Your Site, Staff, and Volunteers for K-2 Field Trips

Moderator

Clayton Drescher, Education Manager, Petersen Automotive Museum

Presenters

Jennifer Simpson, School & Tour Services Coordinator, Petersen Automotive Museum Lorianne Salazar, Children & Family Programs Coordinator, Petersen Automotive Museum
Grace Tran, Kindergarten/First Grade Teacher, Aspire Titan Academy Anneli Aurelio, Museum Teacher, The Autry National Center

Description

Engaging young students, kindergarten through early elementary, in a history museum environment can be challenging and some museums choose to focus their field trip programs on older students. However, there is a demand for off-campus cultural enrichment from K-2 teachers and the use of interactive, hands-on, and standards-based programs have been proven effective in providing rewarding museum experiences for young learners. Panelists from the Petersen Automotive Museum, the Autry National Center, and teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District will present the case for K-2 standards-based, interpretive field trips and dialogue with the audience about the challenges and benefits of these programs.

Summary from Session Moderator

As attendees entered the session room, they were invited to write down their earliest museum field trip memory.  Ages and experiences varied, but the take-home point was that many of us remember our first museum experiences.  Early museum experiences influence later museum visiting habits, so, as educators, we want to ensure our youngest visitors have a positive, enriching experience.

Jennifer Simpson and Lorianne Salazar from the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California spoke about the development process of their new K-2 tour and activity program.  Inspired by a need expressed from their audience of teachers and young learners, staff designed and tested a new condensed, age-appropriate tour on how the widespread adoption of the automobile changed how people lived, worked, and played in Los Angeles.  Staff also added a creative art activity which reinforced the ideas and concepts learned on the tour.  Volunteer docent buy-in has been a challenge though the response from teachers and students has been very positive and slight updates are continuously made based on practical considerations and audience feedback.

Anneli Aurelio from the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, California presented the perspective of a museum with a long-running program for young learners.  The earliest Autry programs focused on K-2 learners were actually begun by a volunteer docent at the Autry in the late 80s after she saw current programming not sufficiently meeting the needs of this audience.  Today, young learner programs are developed and taught by a mix of volunteers and staff, depending on the type of program. These programs focus on interacting with real objects relevant to the stories of the American West, using physical movement, and connecting history and culture with students’ everyday lives.

Common challenges between both institutions include determining an appropriate length for each program, keeping sufficient staff and volunteers trained, and maneuvering groups in the galleries during public hours.

Museums should not create programs in a bubble and teacher input is integral to ensuring the final form of a school tour program is beneficial to our target audience—the students.  Grace Tran of Aspire Public Schools in Huntington Park, California shared the perspective of a K-2 teacher preparing their administrators, parents, and students for a field trip.  Key points include clearly identifying which curriculum standards your museum program meets and communicating well with teachers both during the tour planning process and even at educator-focused museum events (teacher previews, open houses, etc).  Different teachers use different kinds of resources from a museum, but having a variety of lesson plans, text, images, and activities to choose from can only help.

After the panelists presented their information, they asked a series of questions of the audience to determine how many museums represented offered specifically targeted K-2 programs and whether they were staff- or volunteer-led.  Participants then asked questions of the panel and each other about facilitating volunteer buy-in, developing communication strategies with teachers, and program evaluation methods.

Presentation

Gearing Up for New Audiences from West Muse

WMA 2012: Presentation for Much More Than a Gift Shop: Vital Tips, Tools & Resources for Museum Retail

Session

Much More Than a Gift Shop: Vital Tips, Tools & Resources for Museum Retail

Moderator

Miriam Works, Principal, Works Consulting

Presenters

Stuart Hata, Director of Retail Operations, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Jim DeMersman, Executive Director, Museum on Main
Carrie Santell, Assistant Store Manager, USS Hornet Museum

Description

It is our contention that Museum Stores are much more than gift stores – we are “Museum Stores” – unique educational and earned income resources for our institutions. Using the Best Practices or “knowledge standards” of the Museum Store Association (MSA), we aim to introduce the WMA audience charged with operating a museum store or retail counter to a number of key resources, tools, and benchmarks for the greater management of their (potentially) revenue generating museum store site.

Presentation

Much More Than a Gift Shop: Vital Tips, Tools & Resources for Museum Retail from West Muse