Rethinking Community Advisory Boards: The Story Of C3

What's the best way to get formal input from diverse community members? I've been curious about this question for a long time. Whi...

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Will They Play In Pyongyang? Culture, Geography, And Participation

The objections started in Texas. During a workshop on museum visitor participation, someone spoke up and objected: "this might work i...

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Quick Hit: Three Blogs To Expand Your Arts Nonprofit Universe

It's that time of year. Scrambling at work, socializing afterwards... which, if you are a torn extro/introvert like me, can involve a l...

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Joint Statement From Museum Bloggers And Colleagues On Ferguson And Related Events

When basketball players are offering more cogent commentary on racial issues than cultural institutions, you know we have a cultural relev...

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How Museum Hack Transforms Museum Tours: Interview With Dustin Growick

A new company in New York, Museum Hack , is reinventing the museum tour from the outside in. They give high-energy, interactive tours of t...

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What You Lose When You Become Embedded, And A Moment Of Mourning For Blog Conversations

In the community engagement universe, there's a high premium on arts organizations becoming "embedded" in their communities....

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What I Learned About Strangers From Jane Jacobs On My Winter Vacation

Yes, I was that woman on the beach with a library book about urban planning. And loved it. One of my vacation goals was to think big pic...

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Is There A Formula For Free Admission?

philosophical rationale is simple : if we are really a community institution, an institution for and with the public, we should be free. ...

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Join Us At Museumcamp 2015 To Explore Making Space For Self And Others

illustration by Beck Tench Each summer, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History hosts MuseumCamp , a professional development experie...

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We Need Fewer Bottom Lines In Nonprofits

If you run a for-profit business, the bottom line is your financial profit. The goal is to make money. At the end of the day, you are meas...

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Audience Demographics And The Census: Do We Have A Match?

When you look at this infographic, do you see a duduk perkara to be solved? A snapshot of the market for the arts? Or something else entir...

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Spend Summer In Santa Cruz - Or Just A Weekend - Exploring Community Engagement At The Mah

Do you dream of a summer filled with learning, community engagement, and sea lions? Time to stop dreaming and start doing. This summer, ...

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Data In The Museum: Experimenting On People Or Improving Theirexperience?

Every few months, a major news outlet does an "expose" about data collection on museum visitors. These articles tend to portray mu...

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Want To Activate Public Space? We're Hiring... And Some Thoughts On Iteration And Temporary Positions

For the past two years, I've been working on a project to activate the concrete space adjacent to our museum as a vibrant, community p...

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The Participatory Museum, Five Years Later

This week marks five years since the book The Participatory Museum was first released. I wrote The Participatory Museum for two reaso...

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Crossing The Professional-Amateur Line

Think back to the last time you crossed a line. Did you feel brave? Deviant? Proud? Ashamed? In art institutions, we typically treat th...

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Community Science Workshops And Shared Authorship Of Space: Interview With Emilyn Green

Imagine the most community-based science center possible. Imagine it in a poor, immigrant farmworker community. It exists. It thrives. In ...

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