Category: Exhibitions

Rebecca Carlsson
Original paper on Museum Next

We are living in a technology-driven age, and the right digital medium can help museums stay in the loop.

Museums face a lot of competition for people’s attention nowadays, making the challenge of maintaining and increasing visitor numbers all the more difficult. Technology is everything a museum should be: entertaining, educational, and engaging. It is also a powerful storytelling tool, creating new worlds and showing new perspectives with a single click of a button.
Of course, storytelling is at the heart of the museum experience as well. They showcase the story of civilisations: of art, music, history, literature and science, using thematic organisation, audio guides, videos, and varied cultural perspectives to enrich the experience for visitors. But interactive digital technology often goes much further, being adaptive to the individual and much more interactive. So what can museums do to compete?
Well, as the old saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them.
Increasingly, museums are looking to technology to transform the visitor experience from that of a passive observer to that of an active participant. For one, augmented reality (AR) can make a walk through a museum much more personal and varied, allowing the visitor to interact with museums in a greater number of ways. Some would even argue that such an immersive approach enables appreciation for an exhibition on a deeper level.

David Whitemyer (Luci Creative)
Original paper on Museum Next

Museum exhibits can be pricey. Whether it’s a permanent installation or a travelling exhibition, myriad influences can affect the cost. Image acquisition, AV hardware, shipping, materials, and more, can quickly throw a conservative project budget way off track, unless these aspects are carefully considered during the design process. 
Current estimates for the cost of museum exhibits are around $75 to more than $800 per square foot. This ridiculously wide range is due to a number of factors that differ from project to project, but which clearly make exhibit budget planning difficult, uncertain, and frightening. Whether your institution is flush with cash or on a shoestring budget, here are five proven methods for keeping your exhibition project costs in check:

1. Have a Contingency
2. Reduce the Scope of Work
3. Involve Fabricators Early
4. Communicate Honestly
5. Avoid the Bandwagon

Have a Contingency
A contingency is money set aside, to be used for increases in market costs or unforeseen items and services. For an exhibit project, it’s wise to have both a design contingency and a fabrication contingency. The design contingency can help fund great ideas that are born during the creative process, which might be financially more ambitious than the original program. A fabrication contingency will cover unpredictable costs related to things like travel, shipping and materials.

Reduce the Scope of Work
As the saying goes, “You can have anything, but you can’t have everything.” One of the fastest ways to get your exhibit costs in-line with your budget is to trim some of the fat. This could include implementing strategies such as reducing the project’s square footage or decreasing the number of trips or meetings.

Involve Fabricators Early
Whether you’ve hired a design-build firm or a sole exhibit design specialist, it helps to bring in a fabricator during the creative process. An exhibit fabricator can assess the physical design – from as early as the concept phase – to provide accurate cost estimates, material and finish suggestions, and coordinate ongoing museum architecture or general contracting work.

Communicate Honestly
This is a two-way street. Exhibit designers owe it to their museum clients to be frank if the project expectations and brainstorming ideas outweigh the project budget. Likewise, if during the creative process a designer is recommending solutions or technologies beyond your comfortable reach.  If this happens then you need to speakup, put on the brakes, and reevaluate what your budget can afford.

Avoid the Bandwagon
It’s easy to get caught up in high-tech trends, and to assume that your visitors expect theatrical immersion, multi user interactive tables, mobile apps, and AR or VR experiences. Although these things can enhance a museum exhibition and provide unique content delivery, they may not be realistic within a conservative project budget. Consider these costs at the beginning of the project and involve a media developer in the conversation so that s/he can share ideas and provide alternatives that fit within your budget.
It’s likely that following just one of these five strategies will help to keep your exhibit project on budget, but you may need to meld a few of them. Working with your partners, the project budget should be discussed and re-assessed from day one – from the kickoff meeting through to the project’s grand opening. Everyone must be aware of the budget, so that the entire team can be responsible for keeping it in check.

Jamie Taylor curates, project manages and produces copy for museums and cultural organisations. He helps museums to tell stories about history, science, art and engineering. From diesel locomotives to dolls house furniture, he turns stories into a meaningful experience that connects museums with their audience.

Devon Turner
Original paper on Museum Next >

We’re aiming to cleanse the internet of cringe-worthy content. Help us spread the word about museum marketing mistakes to avoid so we can forever eliminate cut-off content and hours spent on admin.
Marketing is about appealing to the masses. From inaccessible web practice, to trashing good content, read all about what you shouldn’t do, to learn about what you should.

1. Speaking to one audience
2. Missing out on a blog (example with the Australian National Maritim Museum)
3. One-use content
4. Being hard to reach
5. Not sizing graphics
6. Not joining in festivals and events
7. Not using a Social Media Management Tool
8. Forgetting about print materials
9. Failing to promote your shop
10. Not being fully accessible