A Happy Anniversary!

Today is truly a banner day for Museum Explorer!  Yes, we've had many of those lately, having just come back from a successful trip to the Smithsonian Museum... but today is all the more special because it marks 10 YEARS of Museum Explorer!!  In an article Rich wrote for Museum Magazine, "How Will Museums Label the Future?" (around the time when we started the company), he suggested as an answer to the titular question that "experimentation might lead to surprising results."  TEN years ago today, we started this company to make that happen, and about a week ago today, we presented one of our carts to the Smithsonian Affiliates at the Smithsonian Museum... 

In celebration of our anniversary, we wanted to share thoughts and well wishes from some of our customers. MANY THANKS to all of you for your support, and to everyone, including our family, friends, colleagues, and clients who have helped us make it to ten years.  Here is to 10 more years of experimentation--and success!!

"For the last ten years Rich has developed Museum Explorer with a process of a        continued cycle of improvement. He has gradually added people to complement his skills as he learned more about his clients needs so that Museum Explorer can now offer a wide array of services. The company combines the best of the commercial sector with a deep knowledge of museums."

Peter Crabbe

Director of Exhibitons & Design

DuPage Children's Museum

"Congratulations! 10 years and working for the Smithsonian as an anniversary gift. Awesome!"

Peggy Martin

Director of Exhibits, Graphics & Publications

Lincoln Park Zoo

"I absolutely LOVE working with Museum Explorer.  Over the last 8 years we have worked on many projects together, from very big to very small. The size of the project never matters - Rich and his team bring the highest level of expertise and creative thinking to EVERY SINGLE project. Congratulations on 10 great years!"

Eden Juron Pearlman

Executive Director

Evanston History Center 

The Wheels on the Exhibit (I mean, Bus) Go Round and Round

Exhibit developers and designers are lucky to have the chance to explore intriguing topics. Like reporters on breaking news stories, we get the scoop--sometimes from the discoverers themselves--on intriguing finds: dinosaur fossils, new (non-extinct!) species, artifacts from archaeological digs in exotic places. We get to suggest ways to present cool stuff and amazing ideas to the public. We get to tell museum audiences some thrilling stories.  And sometimes, we get to work on truly spectacular exhibits.

But…what if exhibits just aren’t enough?  What if you could take your exhibits off the walls, and then right out the front door, to the local park, school or shopping mall? Well how about climbing aboard the ultimate exhibit?  ...A BUS!

An exhibit bus is a big idea in a small, movable package.  You can climb aboard and cruise the streets of your community, all while exploring its history inside the bus itself.  An exhibit bus truly makes your community accessible by bundling an exhibit in a space that is not just interesting, but special. It is a unique way of quite literally delivering a message.

Picture installing a special exhibit on a small bus, one that can comfortably accommodate 12 to 14 children at a single time. That is about the same number of people that are able to comfortably crowd around the average exhibit case inside the average museum--but a bus is anything but average.

Next, picture yourself driving that bus around to schools, neighborhood festivals, branch libraries, malls--any type of place where school kids gather. Beep Beep! What a way to announce what you’ve got to offer. This little exhibit rocks because it rolls! And while the bus is only about 20 feet long and 8 feet wide, the exhibits inside cover a lot of ground--130 years of Chicago's growth and change, and delivers a hopeful message about a great person.

This bus, conceptualized specially for the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago, has two aisles and eight interactive areas. You can trace the history of Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable from his arrival in the Chicago region and his establishment of a trading post through his successful years as an entreprenuer, and onward to his legacy as Chicago’s founding citizen and inspirational figure.

Yes, the wheels on the bus go round and round, but when the bus stops and opens its doors for children, parents, teachers and members of the community the wheels inside everyone’s heads start going round and round, too. The DuSable bus includes plenty of stuff to do - flappers, sliders, magnetic poetry, interactive maps, push button audio sources and even a model canoe that you can sit down in and imagine yourself paddling up the Chicago river to your pioneer home and eventually into the history books. It truly is an inspirational experience.

What these features teach about our founder will move visitors. The more people read about du Sable and his achievements, his creativity and his instincts as a frontiersman and entrepreneur, the more people will realize what an amazing person he was. 

“Each day, we build on du Sable’s legacy,” as he was an epitome of hard work and innovation--characteristics still in high esteem of we Chicagoans.   As the exhibit points out, du Sable “settled here among native peoples and raised a family,” while also running and growing “a successful business, working with customers from many different places.”   DuSable “earned admiration and respect of people who knew him,” and the exhibit bus will likely make you feel that way, too.
 
So keep your eyes open for the DuSable Museum Story Bus. It just might come to your neighborhood one of these days. When it does, step inside to see "Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable: Legend and Legacy." We were inspired by the story of Chicago's founder, and we hope you will be too!

Getting it Written Down Right!

“Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that the jurors of the 2012 AAM Excellence in Exhibition Label Writing Competition recognized your label “Du Sable built his business at a watery crossroads” from The DuSable Museum Story Bus as excellent.”

                                                                                                               Email 3/2/12                                           

WOW! What a message to receive on a Friday afternoon—what a great way to end the work week! We’re proud, humbled and absolutely ‘jacked’ all at the same time. Winning any award that features competition from the very best museum professionals from across the US would be worthy of celebration, but winning an award of ‘Excellence’ for writing exhibit labels…well that really ranks! Writing is difficult (duh).  There are no clever interactives, bright lights or flashy graphics to hide behind—it’s all about the words! They gotta be just right.

The American Association of Museums Excellence in Exhibition Label Writing Competition is an annual event that showcases top work in labels representing almost every form of museum content, with the intention of inspiring writers and editors to create clear, concise and captivating labels. This year, the 2012 jurors included Jeanine Head Miller, representing the AAM Curators Committee; Cathleen Donnelly, representing the AAM Education Committee; Eugene Dillenburg, representing the National Association of Museum Exhibitors; and Toni Wynn, representing the recognized winners from the 2011 competition. After carefully reviewing the 83 entries submitted from across the US and Canada, the jurors selected 11 labels, including Museum Explorer’s work for the DuSable Museum of African American History Story Bus! The work will be showcased at AAM’s annual meeting April 30^th in Minneapolis.

At this point it probably makes sense to acknowledge the person who actually did the work on this prize-winning label. Susan Curran is an outstanding talent, with 30 years of experience in museum work (a true Museum Person!). Susan has been a part of Museum Explorer as a Senior Writer & Exhibit Developer for 6 years.  She is responsible for developing and articulating the museum voice for all exhibit label copy. Susan researched, wrote, rewrote, edited, and proofread all copy for all of the labels on the ‘Story Bus.’

For those of you who have not yet seen the DuSable Museum Story bus…it’s hard to miss!  As Susan says, “at 8 ft by 20 ft, with huge tires that carry it all over town, the Story Bus isn’t your typical museum exhibit.” The bus is very colorful in appearance, “wrapped in snazzy graphics,” and inside, it’s “fitted with displays that tell the tale of the museum’s namesake: Jean Baptiste Point du Sable.” According to Susan, the goal for writing this project was “to create labels that tell a story” using “concrete, visual language”; to “include first- and second-person pronouns to draw visitors into that story”; and to “explain unfamiliar ideas by drawing parallels with everyday life.”  Fortunately, the labels on the Story Bus are successful on all counts! The way to measure success is by asking: "Do visitors read the labels to one another? Do they point from label copy to objects in the exhibit? Do the labels appear to encourage interaction between visitors, and between visitors and objects? Reports from the DuSable Museum Story Bus indicate ‘yes’ to all!”

In the prize-winning label, we learn that “in du Sable’s day...early Chicago sat at a crossroads of mighty rivers, rushing streams, and a great lake," and that people “often took to water” for transportation, “paddling canoes.”  You can check out the full label in the photo for more fun facts about early Chicago!  And if you are ever in the Chicago area these days, you can’t miss the DuSable Story Bus. Most any day of the week you can find it parked outside a school or near a community center hosting kids who we bet actually do read the labels, and learn from them! So if you spot the BUS, don’t forget to jump on and take a ride!

Young fans admire the new Black Rhino Display. Check it out for yourself at Lincoln Park Zoo!

Keepin' It Real for Rhinos

A while back, in our “Chillin’ with the Rhinos” post (see our archive to follow-up!), we told you about what it might be like to really get inside Lincoln Park Zoo…

In this particular entry, we explained that “unless you're a visiting scientist, or working on behalf of science, animal welfare or conservation, it's nearly impossible to get behind the scenes on a summer day at Lincoln Park Zoo. “

Well…in a way we were right, and in a way we were down right wrong. Since we posted “Chillin’ with the Rhinos” in 2010, we have continued to work with the rhinos at LPZ, and we have made many changes! While you still can’t get behind the scenes and actually meet the beasts, you can do the next best thing and get a closer look at the giant black rhinoceros now on exhibit at Lincoln Park Zoo.

Just this spring the interactive exhibit designed by Museum Explorer opened at the Zoo, providing visitors with a fantastic opportunity to learn all about what it takes to care for this nearly extinct wild animal.

The zoo recently renovated the former Elephant Yard (the premier north exhibit yard) with an expansive Black Rhinoceros Exhibit and African landscape. This newly enhanced habitat is more than twice the size of the former rhinoceros exhibit, and provides enormous flexibility for breeding and housing a family group of this highly endangered species, while highlighting the zoo’s important mission to protect these animals in their native habitats. And in order to help enhance visitor understanding and in an effort to build a bridge between visitor and zoo-keeper, Museum Explorer worked with the Zoo’s education department to design an interactive component. Camera shaped spotting scopes allow visitors to watch and observe the rhinos closely, much like scientists in the field do. This feature also teaches visitors how programs at the zoo are designed, while learning how to preserve these great animals in the wild.

The exhibit features interesting tidbits about personalized Black Rhino care, including how to file its giant toe nails, that it takes a bucket of hand lotion a day to keep its skin in top flight condition and that vitamins are as much a part of its diet as they are ours.

The Black Rhino Display also features the not-so-elegant but absolutely essential part of zoo-keeping – CLEAN UP time. Did you know that the average full-grown male Black Rhino will deposit 80 to 100 pounds of dung a day? Five poops a day…that’s 20 pounds a crack--pun intended! Our new exhibit gives you a chance to see if you can measure up and muscle up to the task of being a Zookeeper. Just grab the handle of the shovel and you can put your shoulder against a 20 lb weight, equal to one trip to the Rhino Restroom….if you know what I mean!

While features such as these keep the exhibit fun and interactive, the message behind it all is communicating to the public what kind of work it takes to keep a rhino alive in the wild. Right here at Lincoln Park Zoo and at zoos everywhere, biologists, zoologists, even museum people are constantly working to ensure that animals like the Black Rhino will survive in nature due in part to efforts put forth by programs and researchers that work at places like LPZ.


Oh…ooops…and before we forget! Even though you still can’t reach out and touch the Rhinos directly, we have provided a full sized completely to scale realistic and touchable version of the Rhino for people to enjoy. Now you can get up close in personal with a Rhino from tip of the horn to end of its tail. See our pictures for a sneak peek!

Timelines

The museum business is a whacky racket, but it is a wonderful industry because ultimately we’re all contributing to something bigger than ourselves and our careers. Not least among us in this business are “Museum People,” who play an important role and make the day-to-day grind possible.

Everyone is aware of the typical “Museum Person” profile: that extroverted individual with a liberal fashion sense who possesses a flair for the poetic or dramatic moment during a meeting or at a conference--the stars of the museum business. This typecast typically includes curators, donors, art students, and so on--but there are so many other unsung “Museum People” …people that are so important and so dedicated but are not always recognizable as such. Sometimes they don’t even think of themselves as Museum people and might even reject the title! Regardless, people who do not come from these typical typecasts and backgrounds, who nevertheless dedicate their time and effort to bettering the museum world are truly Museum People. Even if through nontraditional means, if they give a lot of themselves to museums, they care and tangible rewards are not necessarily their motivation,they are invaluable Museum People.

Museum Explorer is losing a true “Museum Person.” Though regrettable, it is actually a happy occasion as one of our co-workers moves on to another job, back to work in the ‘Real World’ after a stint in the museum world for the past several years. Although her time in our business was short-lived, there isn’t a person out there who deserves the title of “Museum Person” more than Liz.

Like a lot of folks who move on or move back to the real-world after time served in the Museum World, it is not always easy to explain what goes on in our special not-for-profit realm. But having Liz on board for almost three years was worthwhile and a great benefit to our little troop of Museum-Lifers here at Museum Explorer. We learned a lot during our timeline together.

Liz served Museum Explorer a project estimator and budget manager. Prior to Liz’s arrival we managed our schedules and project budgets on our own, and we did fairly well--or at least so we thought. But when Liz arrived on the scene, taking a job with us after being bumped from the real-world during the economic crisis, we gained a real pro who took over and taught us many valuable lessons, things that are now in place and making us better at what we do every day.

Project Management is not just a skill, it’s an art form. Getting things lined up, laying out a timeline for the design team and for the clients, letting clients know what is what and when is when can make a project golden on both sides of the fence. The savvy client appreciates being skillfully directed and we, Museum X, we felt more comfortable and confident knowing a bit more about what was coming and when it was due.

Thanks Liz for teaching us how to stay on task and how to manage our process. Thanks Liz for getting on the phone and talking and sometimes taking on those tough clients. Thanks Liz for being a part of our timeline if for only a short time… and most of all Liz, thanks for being a ‘Museum Person.’

Good Luck!

Spreading the word about carts

On March 3, 2011, Rich Faron of Museum Explorer teamed up with Heidi Moisan of Chicago History Museum to lead a roundtable discussion at the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Smithsonian educators gathered to hear Rich and Heidi's presentation "Wheeling Visitors In: Customizing Carts to Connect with Audiences."

One of the roundtable attendees channeled her enthusiasm into a lovely blog entry, which we share with you here. Thanks to Jennifer Brundage, National Outreach Manager for Smithsonian Affiliations, for her kind observations!