I am currently coordinating the development of a mobile exhibit program, which travels to elementary schools and community centers. The exhibit program transforms the multi-purpose room of the host site into a virtual hands-on museum for an entire evening or afternoon. In addition to content goals for program participants, we would also like the program to "serve as a model for other small museums* to demonstrate how they can implement similar programs." Our center currently reaches over half of its audience through these sorts outreach programs, and we would like to be able to share our successes with others. To this end, we plan to pilot the new mobile program in at least one small museum by the end of 2004. I would love to hear your feedback and suggestions about what needs small museums have in regards to outreach programs and how a pilot program might most benefit them. The following are a few questions to ponder: What resources do small museums need to enhance their outreach programs? Are small museums interested in learning how to implement outreach programs? Are small museums interested in renting or purchasing exhibits that they could use in an existing outreach program? Do small museums need access to exhibits that they can easily set up on-site for temporary programs? What would a small museum hope to gain through piloting an outreach program? (* As a reference, our small museum serves roughly 45,000 people annually, our budget is approximately $500,000, and we have about 12 FTE staff members.) -- ----------------------- Mackenzie Tysell Health in Your World Project Coordinator Explorit Science Center PO Box 1288 / 3141 5th Street Davis, CA 95617-1288 530.756.0191 fax 530.756.1227 http://www.explorit.org ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).