Making the Museum

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 of design? What is a “machine for living”? Which is right: “know-feel-do” or “feel-know-do”? (Hint: might not be the first one.) Why would an aquarium visitor want to hear from the people who take care

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 one — or is that a trick question? When is it time to trust your gut? Why is collaboration so important? When is a single milk can the most important object in a museum? How can one single, simple philosophy inform

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 “nearly one” professional organization — to none at all. That’s because of the unexpected 2023 dissolution of NAME, the National Association for Museum Exhibition, a group within the American Alliance of Museums

“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?” What’s the difference between advocating for the client, and advocating for the project? How do you “inhabit your project?” How might a single gender-inclusive restroom project change an entire

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 from a master of scrappy PR. What is the #1 tip about PR, if you forgot all the others? How do you get a journalist’s attention? How do you get in the news without something new? Who should be your spokesperson? Is pr

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 structure”? What are design metaphors, and why should planners beware of them? How can exhibition teams better empathize with one another’s fears and concerns? Why should a museum professional or designer “hyp

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 on “anchor funding”? How many kinds of revenue should a new museum project have? What happens if you have the wrong number? (Hint: eh, not so good.) How much money do endowments make? And what’s so magical

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” be the secret to success for museum projects? How much technology is too much? Can we really design for all five senses? Can an exhibition be a high-wire act — literally? Jennifer Lemmer Posey (Tibbals Curator

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? What percentage of visitors go into one, and how many of them buy something? Why should you get an expert to design your store, and what happens when you don’t?David Franke (museum store architect) joins host Jona

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 museum have “ROI”? Which is more important, a profitable museum event, or one that advances a museum’s mission? What can economics teach us about how to make our projects better?James Stevens, AICP (Vice Pres