Staff wrote:
>
> Fellow listers:
>
> I am chairing a panel discussion on collaboration & partnerships for the
> upcoming state museum conference and thought I would enlist your help.
> Please share a story, happy or sad, success or failure, about
> collaborations with other instiutions.  They need not be other museums--if
> you collaborated with a business or another not-for-profit--I would like to
> hear that story too.  And finally, what are the two or three biggest
> factors in creating  succesful collaborations/partnerships?  What are the
> biggest factors that lead to their failur (or rather I should say "lack of
> success")?
>
> You can reply to the list or to me personally at
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Thanks for your help.  I can't wait to hear your stories!
>
> Jay Smith
> Executive Director
> Reno County Museum
> Hutchinson, Kansas
Jay:
I am mostly writing back because I'm a native of Hutchinson, Kansas.
Your museum is done nicely, by the way.  I am the director of the 1859
Jail Museum in Independence, MO, and we regularly collaborate with other
institutions -- both non-profit and otherwise.  Unfortunately, the
museum collaborative efforts that we have been involved with are more
difficult in regard to achieving success than the corporate
collaborations.  There is a great deal of time spent in all museum
setting that I have been associated with just talking about projects.
While that is all well and good, it rarely gets the jobs done, and
making great ideas happen is the key to success, not discussing them!  I
would be very interested, though, in hearing the ideas that come out of
your conference.  I think it is of the utmost importance to set up
workable and understandable guidelines whenever setting up a
collaborative venture.  In my experience, one or two people end up
shouldering the load with many of the others staying in the background.
And I don't think that the others necessarily want to stay in the
background ( some do ), but they are not certain as to what they could
do to really help in the effort.  Whenever we work with a sponsor who is
donated goods or people, I find it helpful to really try to communicate,
without being patronizing, with everyone involved so that we truly
understand where the project is going.  But that is much easier said
than done!  Keep the list posted in regard to your conference.  I think
it's  a very valuable topic for all small museums and historical
societies.