What Makes Your Museum Meaningful?
• Collections
• Compelling Stories
• Emotional and Intellectual Connections
(Tangibles and Intangibles)
Why an Interpretive Plan?
• Keeps the project on track with clear objectives.
• Provides a way of explaining the project to funders, supporters, designers, fabricators and others.
• Provides an evaluation tool at every phase.
The 5-M Planning Model
Management
Message
Markets
Mechanics
Media
Management
• mission, goals, objectives • policies & regulations • key issues • revision and update strategies • operational resources
– staffing – budget – facilities & equipment – maintenance
Logic Model
• Impact (benefit you’re trying to achieve over the long term - for the resource, agency, or individual)
• Outcomes (observable behavior changes,
either immediate or short term) • Outputs (what you provide through media
choices)
Markets
• product - what you have to offer • price - perceived value • place - relationship to what’s around • promotion - how do people know about
you • publics - market segmentation
– users & support – existing & potential
Message • Why is this place or
collection significant? • What interests
visitors? • What is management
most interested in communicating?
Theme = Power
• It’s what sticks
• Thorndyke’s 1978 research
• People forget facts, but remember themes
• Ham’s Lindblad study
Message Development
Resource Management
Audience
Developing the Message
• Central theme - the message behind the collection
• Subthemes - framework for stories • Storylines - individual ideas
Thematic Framework
Storyline
Storyline
Storyline
Subtheme A
Storyline
Storyline
Storyline
Storyline
Subtheme B
Storyline
Storyline
Storyline
Subtheme C
Central Theme
Central Theme Characteristics Ü Should include tangible/intangible connection Ü Should include visitor, management, and
resource considerations
Ü Should be a simple sentence Agriculture sowed the seeds of change for 20th
century Boulder County.
Subtheme Development
Ü Groupings of stories
Ü Miller’s 7 plus or minus 2
Ü Should reflect the language of the theme
Ü May dictate development of site or building layout, but may not
Storyline Development
• Theme of the piece (exhibit, brochure, sign)
• Message elements – Facts – Anecdotes – Quotes – Illustrations – Graphic design
Mechanics
Large Scale Design Balance – Site or landscape features – Facilities and buildings – Interpretive stories
Visitor Experience Model
Entry Exit Connections
Decision
Commitment
Mechanics
Smaller scale – Functional
relationships
– Accessibility
– Space programming
– Placement
– Physical opportunities
& constraints
Media
• Publications • Signs • Exhibits • Souvenirs • Food items • Visitor centers • Auto tours • Guided tours
Products for children Demonstrations Living history Audio tours Landscape features Art & sculpture Playscapes Drama & music
Texas State Aquarium
China National Tea Museum
Hangzhou#
The care of rivers is not a matter of rivers, but of the human heart. --Tanaka Shozo
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