Crafting Your Museum’s Purpose Together

For years we’ve talked in the field about the need for relevance, for meaning, for service. With Covid shutdowns, we began to panic, understandably, about survival. And with George Floyd’s murder and all that it has revealed, we recognize calls for radical reimagining: we see an opportunity to not only make our places incrementally better, but to leapfrog to their full potential.

If you’re clear about your museum’s purpose, and that purpose is relevant and meaningful to the communities you serve, congratulations! You’re more likely to have vigorous support within your community and to be able to convince foundations and government agencies to fund your operations. You are also a rarity: most museums lack clarity of purpose.

If you’re in a museum and your purpose is not clear, or it’s clear but it’s not meaningful beyond your walls, this is for you.

For years, I have helped place-based and culturally-specific museums focus their purpose. These processes can be intensive, so I can only manage about four a year. I’ve asked myself, how can I serve more places that desperately need it? I think the answer is in community: let’s do it together.

Thus: I am structuring the curriculum and will facilitate four workshops in which we - you, me, and your cohort of other participants - will explore these core foundations:

What is your purpose?
Who are you for?
What are you about?

You will wrestle and play with iterations of possibilities, resulting in ideas that you can apply to keep your doors open.

You will learn tools that you can bring to your team so that you can continue to serve.

You will build relationships that will give you and your institution strength in the years to come.

You will get out of this what you put in. There will be homework, starting even before the first session. And there will be the option of an ongoing discussion forum. Take advantage of them.
This series focuses deeper than tactical solutions to your museum's issues. The first step in problem-solving is identifying the parameters. This series is about identifying the parameters of why your institution should exist. From that foundation you can see new opportunities and plan solutions with clear focus.
If you are an independent consultant in the museum realm, come on in. Take from this freely and use it however you wish. Please raise any suggestions or critiques openly with the group so we can all grow together. Be prepared with a single museum in mind in order to practice.
My expertise is with natural history and historical/cultural museums. I think this has application with children's, art, and science museums as well. Let's see.
This model starts from interpretation - the stories we represent and the majority of our public face. It doesn't start with business model or brand. Being clear about your purpose is the first step to addressing those other necessary aspects of museum operations.
There is a lot of radical reimagining going on right now. Different conversations, different ideas. Lots of good coming out of a lot of pain. Engage with as much of it as you can and share it to the group. These sessions are a way of structuring the conversation and making sense of it. And maybe even creating new ideas to take back into the wider conversations.

Hi. I’m Steve Boyd-Smith. I’ve been in the exhibit field for 30 years, both inside museums and serving them as an outside exhibit developer, interpretive planner, strategic planner, and project manager. I help new and existing museums define an interpretive purpose, an audience statement, and a central Big Idea to frame the interpretation. I help them identify challenges and resources they may not have known they had. And I’ve used that to help them frame their public-facing programs and exhibits.

Recently, this has included:

Alabama African American Civil Rights Heritage Sites Consortium (Exhibit Concepts)
Poindexter Village Museum and Cultural Learning Center (Interpretive Plan)
Ligonier Valley Historical Society (Interpretive Plan)
Experience Akwesasne (Tourism Interpretive Plan)

I believe in the importance of recognizing our history, that places hold power, and that museums - and the processes of creation in them - can help heal. I also recognize that museums, including ones I have worked in, have often been more of the problem than the solution. Let's change that.

I lead the interpretation team at a small, vibrant, place-based planning company. I am creating this program on my own because I am energized by developing the sessions and having these conversations.

Check out my infrequent ramblings on Twitter, my bonafides on LinkedIn, and some portfolio over at itellstories.net.

Want to chat before you commit? Schedule a time to talk here.

Crafting Your Museum's Purpose, Together

I'm sorry that we don't have any more room for participants at this time. If you'd like me to add you to a waitlist or to notify you about potential future programs, just email me directly from here. Or click the link below to schedule a conversation with me. I'd love to hear from you.

Why Does Your Museum Exist?

Let's Do It Together

You Should Know:

Who Am I?