Belinda Nickles  -- regarding in-depth tours --

The offer of tours behind the scenes -- much less the opportunity to learn
from a curator -- are a tremendous attraction to visitors (and staff of an
institution -- in fact some museums I'm familiar with invite staff and
volunteers to attend such tours once a year -- fosters a real sense of
ownership and people feel important -- they've been let in on the
"secrets").

I am familiar with museums who offer this on museum day, for membership
perks at a certain level, for "adopt" days for school classrooms, special
donors, etc.  Yet these tours can become demanding if their numbers
increase.  What I've found helpful at any number of levels, is to train
people (e.g., volunteers, docents, guest services staff, assistant curators,
education staff) to assist in presenting the information and tours.  It
offers an opportunity for cross-departmental collaboration and learning and
minimizes the load on any one department.

 I consulted with one musuem whose curators have become embittered by having
to spend so much time at what was termed "development schmoozing" activities
that development hired their own person to do the tours......someone who
didn't have the background and knowledge of the content to adequately
conduct such tours.........once we asked the curator to conduct a training
for people who possessed certain prerequisites everyone felt more
comfortable that tour participants were getting the type of tour of which
the museum could be proud.

I've also found that visitors often don't mind paying a nominal fee for
behind the scenes tours -- but each of you knows your visitors!

Kind regards,
Terrie Nolinske

[log in to unmask]
www.tniconsultants.com
Oak Park, IL
708. 386. 1331


-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Belinda Nickles
Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2002 12:21 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Looking for feedback from sites that provide in-depth tours


Five years ago, I worked for a museum that offered
behind-the-secenes tours on Museum Day.  The charge
was the same as for regular admittance to the
museum.  The curator (me) gave the tours.  They
were 45 minutes long and included a look at our
research facilities and our exhibit studio.  I
explained how we chose and accessioned objects
for our collections, how we conducted research for
exhibits, and how exhibits were built.  We didn't
take people into our storage areas as the groups
were too large for me to keep an eye on everyone
(group sizes varied but were sometimes as large
as 25 people).

If I could have made changes, I would have kept
groups down to 10 people and made the tours at
least an hour long.  People were so interested
in the curatorial side of museums that 45 minutes
was never enough time to show them everything and
answer their questions.

Belinda Nickles
Museum Consultant

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