The Cultural Resource Management Program at the University of Victoria is
offering a six-day course on public programming from March 8 - 13. Please let
us know if you'd like to receive further information or registration materials:
WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS:
STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE PUBLIC PROGRAMMING
Many museums today place public programming at the centre of their
activities, recognizing that they must attract and develop larger and more
diverse audiences, and ensure the experiences these audiences are offered
combine celebration, recreation, and education. This course examines how
museums can best achieve popular, accessible, financially sustainable public
programming, which also respects and reflects their collections and research.
Through readings, discussion, case studies, and site visits, you will develop your
abilities to:
* define your public programming goals and priorities
* identify and analyze internal and external issues critical to your success
* plan strategically and manage, implement and evaluate programs
* understand the programming implications of current issues: multicultural
perspectives, emerging technologies, accessibility, new learning theories,
globalization
* use others' best practices to your own advantage
This course involves a preparatory assignment
Instructor: Debra Burleson is the Director of the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural
History
Please register by: February 12
Fee: $589 (Canadian funds, credit or non-credit)
Participants can expect this course to be:
1. Practical - participants should leave with ideas, examples, processes they can
put to use.
2. Well grounded in theory - participants will understand what is known about
audiences, communication, learning in the museum and gallery setting.
3. Educational and entertaining, as (we might argue), all museum programs
should be. To this end, participants will freely discuss grey areas, make an
off-site visit, practice media relations skills, share best and worst practices
from their experience, and practice quickly developing and assessing public
program concepts.
DRAFT SUMMARY OUTLINE
Day 1 Monday, March 8
* Introductions; objectives, overview of course, grading scheme
* The nature and role of public programs, past and present
* Programming and the institution's mission
* UNIT 1 - Whose Hearts, Whose Minds?
* Our audiences: who comes to museums; the decision to attend; what we know
about what audiences want; user fees and other factors affecting attendance
* Audiences: diversity issues; targeting audience segments; building new
audiences; do program audiences return for exhibits or other programs? *
Participant reports: programs that build new audiences
* Optional social get together
Day 2 Tuesday, March 9
* Audiences, continued
* Participant-led Forum
- Is it worth the effort to try to build new audiences from
people who are not inclined to go to places like Museums? and/or
- Do user fees seriously alter the socio-demographic makeup
of museum and gallery audiences, and how much does this matter?
* Trends in museum audiences; survey information; community involvement
and consultation; comments about marketing
* UNIT 2 - Something for the Heart, Something for the Mind
Program content, design and delivery
* Theories of how museums communicate; of how people learn in museums and
galleries
* practical methods for planning programs - short or long term, detailed or
fast-tracked. How much programming is "enough"?
* Participant reports: program successes and failures
* Practice working together to quickly develop and assess program concepts
and develop timelines for implementation
Day 3 Wednesday, March 10
* Program Content, design and delivery, continued
* Participant-led Forum:
- Should museums and galleries embrace controversial issues,
and to what extent should they take a point of view? and/or
- Is content that is far from the mission acceptable if it is likely
to draw new audiences? And/or
- the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax increased
attendance in 1998 by 250% by featuring the Titanic disaster;
would you do similar exhibits and programs about the 1998
crash of the SwissAir jet in the Atlantic off Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia?
* Unit 2 Wrap-up: trends in program content and structure; risk-taking,
including participant reports on programs involving risk; the Internet and
public programs; planning versus over-planning
* UNIT 3 - Who is the Expert, Anyway?
* Job descriptions and organizational structures for public program staff; skills
and knowledge required; roles of curatorial staff, interpreters, marketing,
administration and contract staff.
* Issues in the use of volunteers - training; motivation; rewards; changing
demographics; the role and position of unions; security and public safety
issues; "job" descriptions; relation to staff; quality control
Day 4 Thursday, March 11
* Who does public programs?, continued
* Participant-led Forum:
- Is there a place for volunteers in the museums of the future? and/or
- Is it better to have programs led by people who know a little about
the content but a lot about communication?
* Trends: Partnerships and Programming. Who's in charge, or does it matter? -
the Nova Scotia Museum Frogwatch Program. Choosing partners; is there such
a thing as an unacceptable partner?
* Field trip to Emily Carr House: The Changing Role of Public Programs
* Best Practices in Programming: Group Project - The class will leave behind a
contribution to the museum community by designing a method for
documenting and disseminating best practices in museum programming, as
submitted by museum workers. What do we need to know to document a good
museum program so that others can understand, repeat or modify it?
Day 5 Friday, March 12
* Discussion of field trip experience
* Large programs - planning for peak-time audiences or major exhibits
* Evaluating programs: some methods; is formal evaluation worth the effort, or
is the "gut feeling" of experienced staff just as good or better?
* Work time for Best Practices Project
Day 6 Saturday, March 13
* Best Practices Project Presentations
- As time permits, the group will collectively pull together the best aspects of
each team's presentation into a class product, to be posted as a web site at a later
date.
* Course summary and conclusions; recommended web listservs and discussion
groups. Participant comments - what new ideas might you try when you
return to your institution, or get that first job in public programs?
* Course evaluation
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Joy Davis, Program Director
Cultural Resource Management Program
University of Victoria
Phone 250-721-8462
FAX 250-721-8774
email [log in to unmask]
For detailed Program information, please visit our Web Site at
http://www.uvcs.uvic.ca/crmp
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