I am the first paid staff at our insitution (started 4 years ago). THis is a
new organization in a rural Michigan community of about 8,000 and when I
started I was told that they were planning to call our facility a "cultural
heritage center" because the word "museum" connotes boring. Hmmmm. My
argument was that at least people know what a museum is and would have no
idea what a "cultural heritage center" is. I'm not sure I know. I agree that
marketing is a very important issue. We need to help our public understand
the expanding definition of the word "museum." That way they have the
foundation of understanding that can then be built upon. Museums aren't just
really "cool stuff", they are also places of activity and fun and learning.
"museum" does not have to equal "static". We are a place where things
happen. (That's not to say that one cannot still go to a "quiet place where
s/he can contemplate at her/his own pace." It's all possible.)

Don't create a new nomenclature, build on the existing.

P.S. We don't call ourselves a cultural heritage center anymore.

Teresa M. Goforth
Executive Director
Courthouse Square Association

----------
>From: "Cynthia L. Ogorek" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: A museum by any other name (nee: non-collections institutions)
>Date: Mon, Apr 17, 2000, 10:46 AM
>

>> Also, about a year and a half ago we had a feasibility study looking toward
>> a new, larger museum. The firm that did the study said 'museum' is becoming
>> an unpopular label.  People no longer want to visit a museum, they want a
>> 'Center' or something else more catchy with lots of interactives, an IMAX,
>> and a few artifacts.  I disagreed.  Are they right?
>
>> Jerrie Clarke
>> Curator of Collections
>> Valdez Museum
>
>Goodness, I hope not!  I still think there are people out there who like
>to go to quiet places where they can contemplate at their own pace. They
>are not asking to be "entertained" and bombarded with special effects.
>   If we history museum people are worried about not attracting enough
>people, we need to do more marketing, that's true. We can up the
>numbers, but I don't think that every musuem has to be a constant
>blockbuster in order to provide the service of making history available
>to everyone -- who wants it. Quite often we have other things to offer
>the public besides our exhibits...what about research facilities?
>Places to have meetings?  Places to hold classes or lectures on history?
>Being the place to which the local library refers patrons in need of
>in-depth historical information?  AND being the place that the chamber
>of commerce lauds as the local answer to "culcher" when promoting the
>town as a tourism destination?  It seems to me that our smaller
>museums, at least, can be very personal and user-friendly and not just
>places for hoards of mindless tourists to run through in order to say
>they've "been."
>   Less is often more.
>   It's mid-Monday morning and I will now have a cup of coffee. Thank
>you for listening.
>
>Cynthia Ogorek
>Matteson Historical Museum
>Matteson, IL
>
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