All Episodes
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 in total
Story-Based Design, with Alan Reed
Can a building tell a story?How do you design a glass wall to be ... mist? What if architecture, landscape, and exhibitions were all thought of as one thing? What chan...
Designing with Animals, with Jacqueline Bershad
How would you design an exhibit — if an animal’s life depended on it?What is the number one reason people come to the National Aquarium? When should you take ego out o...
Making a Memorial Museum, with Alice Greenwald
How do you make an institution that's both a museum and a memorial — at the same time?How are exhibitions like theater? Is a museum a group experience, or a personal o...
A New Community for the Exhibition Field, with Cybelle Jones, Steven Rosen, and George Mayer
Is there an organization for the exhibition field? A new initiative is picking up steam. The exhibition community in the US, some say, has recently gone from having “n...
The Client Side of Major Projects, with Amy Weisser
“The client’s role is not to solve the problem — it’s to state the problem.”What’s the client’s perspective in major cultural projects? What are “client user groups?” ...
Scrappy PR for Museums, with Sarah Maiellano
Can you get big press with a small budget? (Hint: Yes.) For museums, small firms, and independent consultants, this episode is packed with literally dozens of ideas fr...
Six Keys for Unlocking Your Most Playful, Creative Work, with Jonathan Goldstein and Kyle Talbott
Have we lost a sense of playfulness in our work … and could we get it back?In museums for children, why does “analog usually beat digital?” What’s a “climbing structur...
The Money Pie Chart, with Amy Kaufman
How do new museums make money — really?In this episode, we lift the veil on new museum projects and money. What is “the peril of the bicycle wheel”? Is it bad to rely ...
Circus Lessons for Museum Professionals, with Jennifer Lemmer Posey
What’s the role of wonder in experience design? What can the circus teach us to make our exhibitions better? (Spoiler alert: a lot.) Could being “with it and for it” b...
Beyond “Exit Through the Gift Shop”, with David Franke
Do museum stores actually make any money? What are they really for? Can a store act like an exhibition? What does “cap rate” mean? How big should a museum store be? Wh...
An Economic Planner's Advice to Museums, with James Stevens
Why is economic planning so vital to any new museum project?What happens if you don’t do it? What is “dark tourism”? Why do economists think about audiences? Can a mus...
A Guitar That Teaches Civil Rights, with Michele Y. Smith
What is the “humanities gap” — and why is it a huge opportunity for museums?Why can’t everybody be a philanthropist for the day? What does “cultural literacy” mean, an...
The Questions You Have to Ask Before the Project, with Carolynne Harris (Remastered April 2024)
We might think a design concept is the first step — but it’s not. What do you need to ask yourself, before you even start? What does your community want from your new ...
Rethinking Climate Control in Museums, with Roger Chang
Why is “70/50” the gold standard? Should it be? Who decided? Does every gallery really need to be 70 degrees, plus/minus two? Does every storage space really need to b...
Embracing Chaos, with Jon Maass
What if chaos in cultural projects is something to embrace, not fear? Can chaos theory give us new insights about how to manage complex work? Are we advocates for the ...
The New Louis Armstrong Center, with Regina Bain and Sara Caples
What’s the secret to success, when a project lasts years longer than planned? What keeps us going when our work takes more time? How does the subject matter of a proje...
Flourishing in Museums (New Book), with Dr. Kiersten F. Latham and Professor Brenda Cowan
What is a “growth mindset” — and why is it more important than ever for our industry?What happens when we combine museology with the fast-growing field of positive psy...
The Real Bilbao Effect, with Andy Klemmer
Can an eye-catching museum revitalize a city? The answer might surprise you. Getting the right designer is vital. If you don’t like a painting you can put it away, but...
Raising the Voices of People of Color in Museums and Exhibitions, with Sierra Van Ryck deGroot and Jinelle Thompson
How can we raise the voices of people of color in museums and exhibitions — and what stands in the way?What is Museum Hue? What constitutes a sustainable museum job, a...
The Near Future of Experience Design, with Neil Redding
What do technologies like the Apple Vision Pro mean for exhibitions and experiences? For people who create cultural destinations, the pace of technology has now become...
Assembling a Collaborative Project Team, with Beth Van Why
Great projects happen because of great teams. But how do you build that team in the first place?Who should a museum hire first, to start a major project? How do you de...
5 Secrets of Digital Experience Design, with Patrick Snee
How can we make digital experiences work for all visitors — whether kids or grandparents? Hint: it has to do with recognizing “diverse digital literacies.” When should...
Start With "Who's It For?", with Liza Rawson
What’s the very first question we should ask — before we start our projects? Should we start designing … by designing? How do we make sure we understand our audience, ...
Museum Research: Big Data Meets Thick Data, with Elena Kazlas and Adaheid Mestad
Cultural projects should be data-driven — but which *kind* of data?What’s the difference between the “big data” we all know — and “thick data”? Which is more important...
How to Build a Museum, with David Greenbaum, FAIA
What if there were just five important things to remember when you build a museum? What if the most important one of them all — had nothing to do with architecture? W...
Experiential Tech Insights, with Will Bullins
What’s the #1 thing to know about experiential technology? How long do LED walls last? (The answer will surprise you.) Is a project done when it opens, or are growing...
"Rapid Experience Design", with Clare Brown
What if there were a better way? Are the normal exhibition planning and design methods actually way too risky — and is there a way to “de-risk” them? Are our concepts ...
DEAI: Meeting ADA Standards Isn’t Enough, with Beth Ziebarth & Jan Majewski
What’s the A in DEAI, and why are the ADA guidelines not enough anymore? What’s intersectionality? What’s a “user expert”? If ADA isn’t our goal, what comes after? Thi...
"Decolonizing Design: A Cultural Justice Guidebook", with Dr. Dori Tunstall
How can exhibition teams help to decolonize design? What are the pitfalls cultural organizations should watch out for in their DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) i...
The Visitor Engagement Lifecycle, with Samir Bitar
What if the best way to market an exhibition — wasn't marketing?What do we need to do better to help visitors find us in the first place? When they do, how do we engag...