Resources

Redesigning the Future of Museums: Turning Audiences into Participants

Recently, Nina Simon, author of The Participatory Museum, spoke to arts and culture administrators at the Cultural Center on January 11, 2011.

Social networking, audience engagement, user-generated content, and architectures of participation. These are all hot concepts in the museum world now, but how do these buzzwords become pathways toward more effective practice? Nina Simon believes that every cultural institution can grow its audience if it is willing to grow with that audience through shared experimentation. She has been called a “museum visionary” by Smithsonian magazine for her participatory, audience-centered approach to exhibition design. In this presentation, Nina talks about the ways museums can become more engaging, community-based, vital institutions.