SPECIAL FOCUS

One Foot in Scholarship,One Foot in Disney

Entrepreneurs in museum management design exhibits that are exciting, interactive and "cool," with a marketing and sponsorship hook

BY JANET L. GALLIMORE

A steadfast hold solely on scholarship will lose a museum in today's crowded leisure marketplace. Museums and their managers instead are challenged to embrace a marketing mind-set to pull in patrons, keep them active and intrigued, then bring them back.

Photo: The second annual Fall Heritage Run, a motorcycle tour of historic destinations in Lake County, continues to be a fun and compelling way to attract nontraditional visitor attendance to the Lake County Museum. Photograph by Kim Karpeles.

Nowhere was this more mandated than at the 1991 annual meeting "Forces of Change" of the American Association of Museums (AAM). There the AAM presented "Excellence and Equity: Education and the Public Dimension of Museums," a position paper on the need for museums to be both stewards of professional excellence and responsive to the public. "Excellence and Equity" challenged American museums to reconsider their roles in a rapidly changing world. Public museums, such as those operated by park and forest preserve districts, as well as private museums must reconsider and shape their roles for the future. For some time, museums have enjoyed an "entitlement" existence. They are the keepers of cultural and natural heritage and are important because they improve the quality of life in communities. Museums hold themselves accountable to strict standards in collections care and scholarship. Because of their educational missions, museums have long considered their value to be evident.

However, increased competition for limited public and private funds has challenged their sustainability, and heightened public accountability has given cause to question their relevance to the communities served.

How has this affected museum management? Certainly, museums have had to transform the way they operate, reorganize staffs, and reconsider "products" in light of audience needs. Performance indicators such as increased attendance, earned revenues, and community support have become as important as the quality of programs and services.

Many museums have adopted private sector business processes to assist in their operations. Language such as "scenario-based planning," "data modeling," "performance benchmarks," and "cost- benefit analysis" would have been relatively unheard of in museum conversations ten years ago.

The roles of staff and volunteers have changed, along with allocation of staffing to specific museum functions. There is a higher expectation of staff to be mindful of the public they serve, to share in the responsibility for the success of the entire organization, and to adopt an entrepreneurial mind-set, recommending and implementing new practices that advance the goals of the institution while saving resources.

Use of focus groups and demographic surveys have supplemented staff recommendations for new exhibits, programs, and services. A shift to a market

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orientation and awareness of competition for people's leisure time requires thinking that balances content scholarship with a presentation akin to Disney.

The Lake County Museum, for one, has shifted to this type of marketing mind-set. Located in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, the museum is a department of the Lake County Forest Preserve District, which has faced significant change due to the Property Tax Extension Limitation Act (or tax cap). The tax cap imposed resource limitations that forced the district and, thus, the museum to set new institutional priorities. An expectation for the development of non-tax revenue and increased use by the public became a priority. The forest preserve's board of commissioners and staff engaged in a process that resulted in a revised mission and new strategic plan that focused on the enhancement of the museum for improved public access to its collections.

In order to reach its new goals, the museum had to reallocate its internal resources and determine how it could compete more effectively in the marketplace. A reorganization dedicated more staffing to visitor services and marketing. Consolidating collections and archives staff focussed our vision for use of the museum's historic resources.

In order to generate revenue, programs were analyzed to determine their interest and value to the market. Our programs are designed to be mission- related, fee-based services with appeal for a broad audience.

We have also been successful in promoting use of our archives to for-profit clients such as a partnership with Corbis in a licensing agreement for Internet sales. Corbis is a privately owned company that provides visual content and services to creative professionals and images consumers through innovative digital technologies.

Similarly, we have expanded use of the museum facility for weddings, birthday parries and business meetings. Staff also has received nontraditional training in areas of negotiation and revenue enhancement strategies.

The cornerstone of the museum 's strategy to be more competitive in the marketplace is its "New Exhibition Project." In 1999, the museum will unveil 6,000 square feet of spectacular, new exhibitions. The forest preserve board concurred with the staff that the museum's major public "product," its exhibits, had to be compelling, exciting and fun if the museum were to increase its audience and encourage attendance from nontraditional visitors. At the same time, the exhibits had to reflect the rich history of Lake County and highlight the Museums Curt Teich Postcard Archives.

Above: What do more than one million images illustrating more than 100,000 cities and towns look like? The new "Millions of Postcards" section of the "Bringing the World Home" exhibition of the Lake County Museum is intended to provide the general public and tourists with access to the nationally renown Curl Teich Postcard archives. This and other exhibits will open in late-1999. Drawing by Abrams, Teller, and Madsen/EDE of Chicago.

The museum started this project by getting ideas from the community. Subject matter specialists from area colleges and universities were invited to brainstorm how to make history more exciting and relevant to the general public. Focus groups were conducted representing the museums target audiences of families with children, primary and secondary schools and tourists. To ensure inclusiveness, detailed dialogue with the African, Hispanic, and Asian American communities took place. And, for the "cool" factor, fourth graders selected exhibit interactives. The design/build firm of Abrams, Teller, and Madsen/EDE of Chicago was asked to incorporate this input and design exhibits that would be experiential and exciting, have a marketing and sponsorship hook, and be party proof.

American Demographics indicates that most people shop in their leisure time, so the museums new exhibit, the "Lake County Mall of History" will use the popular cultural icon of the shopping mall to organize and tell the comprehensive story of the history and culture of Lake County. The design is intended to appeal to both current patrons and visitors who might have never before considered visiting a museum.

For example, the "Nature Store," one of 11 exhibits in the Mall of History will invite the visitor to "read" the land and reflect on its history using the forest preserve as a backdrop. "Bringing the World Home" will present the history and significance of the picture postcard, in the nation's only permanent exhibition on this subject. The exhibit offers a new major tourism attraction for Illinois and a way for the general community to explore the richness of the Curt Teich Postcard Archives.

These new exhibits involve the visitor directly, emotionally, and experientially through real stories of people of the past; offer information in a compelling,

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contemporary way; and are intended to expand the museum's audience as well as change the public's perception about history.

The American Association Museums (AAM) has worked with the museum community to create tools to assist organizations interested in implementing the principles set forth in "Excellence and Equity." The Lake County Museum served as one of 11 museums selected nationwide in AAM's National Research Demonstration Project to Expand Education in American Museums. These 11 museums, along with others, assisted in developing New Visions: Tools for Change in Museums. The national accreditation process now also assists museums in assessing how well they address organizational development and meet the needs of their communities.

Museum management has grown increasingly complex. The more passive role of stewards of memory has expanded and now even embraces the museum's role in serious social concerns such as literacy and the environment.

Why is this the business of a museum? In his 1997 keynote address to the Midwest Museums Conference entitled "No Magic Map," Robert R. Archibald, president of the Missouri Historical Society, reflected: "Our old roles are increasingly irrelevant to the needs of our communities. In the face of increased competition for philanthropic dollars and growing scarcity of public dollars for services of all kinds, I don't think that dollars for cultural activities are going to be easier to come by in the future, unless we transform ourselves."

As we look toward the future, museums that are prepared internally to embrace their role externally will flourish, no matter what change awaits. •

JANET L. GALLIMORE
is the director of the Lake County Museum and vice president or the Association of Midwest Museums.

About the Lake County Museum The Lake County Museum collects, preserves, interprets, and presents the history and culture of Lake County. Through its Curt Teich Postcard Archives, the museum provides access to the nations largest collection of postcards and related materials which illuminate 20th century life. The Lake County Museum uses the power if its object and archival collections in public programs of education and preservation which foster an understanding of the history of Lake County, Illinois, and its place in the world. The Museum's success and value are measured by the enjoyable learning environment that we bring to our diverse community. The Lake County Museum manages more than 18,000 objects and 10,000 archival items relating to Lake County history. The Curt Teich Postcard Archives, covering 1893-1978, is the largest public collection of postcards and related materials in North America with more than one million images illustrating more than 10,000 towns and cities alone. A department of the Lake County Forest Preserve District, the museum is located in a 40,000-square-foot complex in the Lakewood Forest Preserve, in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. With a staff of 14 and 500-plus community volunteers, the museum serves more than 35,000 visitors annually through exhibits, programs, events, and use of collections and facilities. The Lake County Museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums. • Photo: The Lake County Museum is one of the largest museums in the collar counties of Chicago. This nationally accredited historical museum is located in the 2,100-acre Lakewood Forest Preserve in Wauconda.

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