Micki: Your analysis of the situation is very interesting to read. I do 
not propose to respond to all you have said, although I might do so 
later. I just want to suggest that in your dealings with the 
consultants, you might request that their recommendations for exhibit 
design should ensure that the human senses are being challenged.

All museums manage to include the /visual/, although some artefacts may 
be hard to view because of display case design,their location within or 
level of lighting. Then there is /sound/ that may be personal or low 
level, but definitely should not be blaring and disruptive. If a 
commentary is provided, then care need to be taken with the method of 
delivery, language-  if in English, the accent; and whether other 
languages should be considered, for example French and Spanish. If so, 
what is the best method of delivery?

Then I believe consideration should be given to /touch. /While this is 
more difficult/,/ it is still worth considering/. /One of our most 
popular exhibits in the Australian Bicentennial Exhibition in 1988 was a 
preserved wombat (a native Australian animal) that we allowed visitors 
(children and adults) to touch. It withstood the touch of thousands, 
without any noticeable signs of wear, but of course this would not be 
not recommended for artefacts from the collection.  It certainly added a 
reality to the photographs and other artefacts. Then there is the 
question of smell - much more of a challenge, but not impossible to achieve.

My method of working is to develop a brief of what I want to achieve for 
a specified sum before inviting a select list of design professionals 
(obtained by an earlier advertisement seeking design professionals 
interested in registering for the project, vetted for their design work 
and ranked) to make a presentation of their ideas and concepts to a 
committee of which I have usually been the chairman when I was working 
full time in a museum. I have usually offered a token fee for this stage.

Then having discussed the various presentations with members of a 
committee, a designer or a design team would be selected to proceed to 
the next stage, that is, to develop the concepts into perspectives and 
sketch plans. At this stage if the designer does not perform, that 
person may be replaced by another designer who has made a presentation. 
After that stage is passed, there is a firm contract that takes us 
through to completion, according to a series of specified dates or 
milestones. The involvement of a curator, conservator and education 
officer at all stages is desirable, because of what they have to offer 
by way of comment.

All the above may be standard practice in the US, but as this is the way 
I have worked, I thought you might benefit from my experience.

Desmond Kennard
Principal Consultant
Museums in the making
HILL TOP, NSW


Micki Ryan wrote:

>To the discussion list:
>
>I am in the ruminating stage of helping to set up a preliminary exhibit plan
>for an entire new community heritage museum within a paucity of professional
>design command and staff. I'm looking for a handle on how to go about
>evaluating the strength of our existing collections to carry a story line
>about our community's history, with much new emphasis on exploring the
>humanities content of post-WWII immigrant settlement. The exhibits
>themselves will be contracted out for professional design, development,
>construction and installation once we have passed planning and final
>fundraising goals. Currently everything we own except our archives is boxed
>or draped and stored, as the existing facility is inadequate and temporary,
>and new construction is imminent. A conceptual architectural plan exists,
>the new site is paid for, and the construction permitting process has begun.
>The museum content, outside of some eye-catching entrance exhibits and the
>fairly well thought out archives-storage-research areas, is still in
>everyone's heads and also expressed in a preliminary concept outline. We
>feel we need a lot more informed evaluation before we can even think about
>seeking design proposals.
>
>Frankly, since I'm an archivist/collections manager, I'm a bit in over my
>head here. Working on this planning project are the museum's volunteer
>Managing Trustee, who has a strong background in fundraising and marketing,
>a half-dozen archives volunteers who love being part of the planning
>process, and me, the sole paid staff person. We have invited a small group
>of local exhibit designers to a brainstorming charette, coming up quite
>soon. My hope is that this session will lead to the foundation of some real
>exhibit planning. My fear is that since I don't really know how to move from
>point A to point B, (and am perhaps incapable of recognizing point A and
>point B) I will not efficiently get as much out of this generous sharing of
>professional time as we will need to move forward.
>
>We have asked the design consultants to review our collections for interest
>and relevance to community stories, and to pull from their own experiences
>and what they have seen elsewhere some ideas for effective, compelling
>exhibition techniques.  In other words, we have the pedantic history, how
>can we make it come truly alive through effective exhibition of relevant
>objects. We think of this as the first step toward an exhibit plan. I
>believe that from this brainstorming and resulting summary we will be able
>to identify what we lack to tell our story comprehensively, inclusively, and
>with interest, and can then create an action plan to bring those important
>elements in. Since all of our 3-dimensional objects are cataloged and
>photographed and none are on exhibit, I hope (pray!) that it will work to do
>this kind of evaluation from color photographs, unpacking only what they
>truly want to see for themselves, along with some sample items the
>volunteers are fond of.
>
>I should add that we have done a community survey for evaluating the need
>for a heritage museum to serve the five incorporated areas we represent, and
>we have excellent relationships with leaders and residents in all five
>communities. We have identified the former immigrant groups, now in their
>third generations, who have completely changed the tone, look and content of
>the communities since WWII; some are on our Board and many others are not.
>We have accessioned almost nothing related to their lives, as the museum
>started up in the 1970s with an emphasis on pioneer families and the school
>district. We plan to hold a series of forums inviting their participation in
>creating a space to tell their stories in words, photographs, objects and
>celebrations in the community museum. Only the Asian population has access
>to such a space in this region.
>
>There are so many good ideas expressed on this list that I am willing to
>expose all my shortcomings here in order to get feedback from those who have
>a much better grasp of where to get a toe-hold and what to mark as mileposts
>in the planning process.  I do have exhibit planning classes behind me, and
>textbooks and project notes/exhibit evaluations available, but for now let's
>call this posting and your responses a
>beer-and-pizza-with-jazz-in-the-background kind of a brainstorming session.
>
>What do you think? Is this the way to go about starting a plan? Any concrete
>ideas on what I should ask of the exhibit design professionals who are so
>generously sharing their time? Are my objectives realistic or not? Is the
>technique of working with photographs workable or just plain dumb? What
>would you do? What have I forgotten? What should I find out before
>continuing?
>
>Thanks for any feedback anyone is willing to provide.
>
>Micki Ryan
>Curator
>Highline Historical Society
>
>
>www.highlinehistory.org
>
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