Five Ways to Make Your Museum a Welcoming Place
In our last blog post, inspired by Stan Kelly’s cartoon, Historic House Torture, we asked some questions based on the context of the drawing. Based on some of your responses to those questions and our experience in museums, we wanted to offer five ways to make your museum a more welcoming place.
Flip the story. Have your staff members select a favorite object or archival item and share a different story. If it’s a painting, don’t focus on the subject – talk about the painter. If it’s a piece of furniture talk about who used it – or more interestingly, who didn’t.
Go back to basics. Many of your visitors are crossing your threshold for the first time. Talk to your staff about what they think are the most important takeaways for visitors and then work together on what can realistically be incorporated.
Enrich! Your staff often spend time learning about where they work. How can you tap into their knowledge and share even more with visitors? Double enrichment gives your staff a chance to develop programs that they are passionate and can add additional layers of engagement for your visitors.
Make your spaces comfortable. An hour-long house tour with multiple flights of stairs might make someone winded. Taking in multiple galleries at an art museum might give someone a sore back. A fun-filled visit to a children’s museum might make toddlers hungry. Can you add a portable folding stool to your historic house museum? Comfortable chairs or railings to lean on in your art museum? A snack station in your children’s museum?
Be a space without judgement. Not everyone who walks through your door with the same knowledge and goals. Can you survey visitors at the entrance and exit to see what they thought going in and what they learned going out? Can you offer a family-friendly activity? What can you do to engage the spouse or friend that is just along for the ride?
Ensuring that a welcoming environment is crucial for the future of your museum. Happy and fulfilled visitors may become supporters. Staff who see that their feedback is acted upon will feel that leadership is taking their interests seriously. Being welcoming is about much more than a “hello!” and some small talk.
Do you have any tips to add? Email us or take our one-question October survey for a chance to win a lobster rope welcome mat.