Curating the Space: Senior Project Week 2

Evangeline C -

Hello everyone, and welcome back to my blog!

In this week’s meetings with both Museum Pros (my site placement) and the River of Time Museum, we finalized plans for the new exhibit. It was decided that the new space would be a rotating exhibit that would change about every quarter. This approach directly addresses the museum’s goal of boosting both overall attendance and return visits. This approach directly addresses the museum’s goal of increasing both the overall visit rate and return rate.  Additionally, it was settled that Museum Pros would be contracted to create the first exhibit on this rotating series.

During one of our meetings, we did a walk-through of the museum to determine the best location for this new exhibit. After some discussion, we decided that the ideal spot would be towards the end of the museum’s existing layout. This new exhibit will replace a space that was previously dedicated to the founder of the museum and the Fountain Hills Dark Sky community. The reason for this choice was that with a new dark sky center under construction nearby, the museum felt it was time to repurpose that section and use the space for something else. The space that is going to be used is pictured below:

 

On a different note, I’ve been conducting competitive intelligence by visiting other museums to identify which aspects of their exhibits draw the most guests. At one museum, I came across an app called Smartify, which allows visitors to scan different parts of the exhibit with their phones to learn more about specific items or features. I found this approach interesting, and I believe it would be interesting to include aspects of technology in our own planning.

This research is proving valuable as we continue to plan for the new exhibit.

Thank you, and see you next week!

Evangeline

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    mikyle_h
    Super cool exhibit! How do you think you might use Smartify in the future to aid in museum curation?
    February 20, 2025 at 6:37 am - Reply
      evangeline_c
      My research on Smartify was just to gain an understanding of what techniques and technologies other big museums use. Ideally, we would want to incorporate basic technology into the exhibit. However, the museum is facing financial constraints, so it will probably be relatively low-tech.
      February 24, 2025 at 11:49 am - Reply
    alisha_j
    This sounds very fascinating and exciting! How do you imagine the response of incorporating technology will be for the museum visit rate and return rate? Do you plan on incorporating visitor feedback during the planning period the next couple of months(like asking current visitors what they would think/like included in the exhibit)?
    February 22, 2025 at 9:50 pm - Reply
      evangeline_c
      Ideally, we would want to incorporate additional technology into the exhibit. However, the museum is facing financial constraints, so they may not be able to do so. In terms of incorporating visitor feedback, we absolutely plan on gathering input during the planning phase. Engaging with current visitors is key to understanding their preferences.
      February 24, 2025 at 11:47 am - Reply
    aditya_l
    This is a really cool concept; I think rotating the exhibits is a neat way to create demand (so if a visitor missed one part of the exhibit, they could come back next year or see something entirely different). I'm curious, for a rotating exhibit, would each rotation be a part of a similar 'theme'? or would they be different aspects altogether. For example, would they be like different seasons? or different cities?
    February 27, 2025 at 11:08 am - Reply
      evangeline_c
      Hi Aditya! For the rotating exhibit, each rotation will focus on a completely different theme. The museum has been considering several ideas, such as the foundation/history of Fountain Hills, political figures who visited the region, the local natural environment, and local artists, etc. At the beginning of my project, the 1st rotating exhibit was going to cover the creation of Fountain Hills. However, someone from the Chamber of Commerce suggested the current idea to the museum director, which the museum decided to pursue instead.
      March 3, 2025 at 8:35 am - Reply

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