Museum

B

Online Exhibitions

Online exhibitions extend a museum beyond its physical walls and invite virtual visitors to explore images and text at their own pace. These exhibitions range from digital images of a museum’s works to three-dimensional, interactive tours of a museum’s galleries with audio and video. The World Wide Web site of the National Gallery of Art, for example, provides images of thousands of its paintings, sculpture, decorative artworks, and works on paper. It also offers interactive virtual tours of past temporary exhibits that allow visitors to “walk through” the exhibition space as it originally appeared.

C

Exhibition Design

Most exhibitions are developed by a team of professionals. A curator or content specialist does extensive research on the topic of the exhibition. An exhibit designer plans the physical presentation and oversees production of the exhibition components. An educator determines the best way to communicate information to the audience. An evaluation specialist may incorporate research about visitor behavior and interests. An exhibition may require model building, acquisition of historical images, or sound or film production. Some museums invite a representative of a group with a special interest or expertise in the exhibition content to join the exhibition team. Developing an exhibition may take several years from concept to opening.

Objects on exhibit are accompanied by multimedia materials that enhance the visitor’s experience and the overall educational goals of the exhibition. Central to these materials is a brief, accurate, and easy-to-read narrative, presented in wall text, object labels, and audiovisual media such as videos and DVDs. The content is written, edited, and produced by museum professionals who are experts in the subject matter and knowledgeable about communicating with visitors. Museums often provide different levels of information—from basic background to more complex details—to suit diverse learning styles and educational levels. Museum publications, from brochures and booklets to gallery guides and exhibition catalogs, provide further documentation and disseminate the research conducted for an exhibition.

When interactive media are incorporated effectively into exhibition design, they stimulate visitor involvement, elicit an active response to objects or concepts, and facilitate learning. A touch-screen computer system, for example, can allow a visitor to select information according to individual interests. Interactive electronic maps, computer-based quizzes that test visitors’ knowledge, and programs that allow visitors to simulate a rocket launch or aircraft landing are other engaging exhibit features that make use of computer technology. Many museums offer audio tours of exhibitions using handheld listening devices. Some audio tours consist of a single standardized commentary; others allow visitors to customize their experience by choosing to hear commentary on only those objects they want to learn more about.

---

---

D

Blockbuster Exhibitions

Large, special exhibitions popularly known as blockbusters have been regular crowd-pleasing attractions since the 1970s. A museum uses this term to refer to an exhibition that draws huge numbers of visitors and significant media attention. A blockbuster can be a traveling exhibition, or it can be on view in just one museum. Although they are complex and expensive to produce, blockbusters offer possibilities for imaginative programming, attracting new members and visitors, and generating revenue for the museum.

An enormously popular 1976-1979 traveling exhibition, Treasures of Tutankhamun, is generally considered the first blockbuster exhibition. It recreated the 1922 discovery of the tomb of the ancient Egyptian pharoah Tutankhamun and featured fabulous artifacts from the tomb, including the boy-king’s solid gold funeral mask. Some blockbuster exhibitions are rare opportunities to see an artist’s work, such as the 1995-1996 exhibition on Dutch painter Jan Vermeer, put on jointly at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis at The Hague, the Netherlands. Other popular exhibitions focus on cultural phenomenon. Star Wars: The Magic of Myth originated at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in 1997 and traveled to other museums throughout the world. It examined the mythology underlying the Star Wars film trilogy and featured models, costumes, props, and artwork from the films.

V

Educational Programs

The educational responsibility of a museum permeates all of its activities. Museums are agents of historical, aesthetic, and scientific literacy. Through their collections, exhibitions, public and school programs, publications, public relations activities, scholarly activities, and other programs, museums stimulate a spontaneous, individualized form of learning and a lifelong educational process. Some learning in museums takes place in almost imperceptible ways, as visitors experience new ideas, view beautiful or unfamiliar objects, or are exposed to cultural values and experiences different from their own.

Most museums offer programs and activities for a range of audiences, including adults, children, families, school groups, and teachers. A museum’s educational programs may be held at the museum or at another location in the community, such as a neighborhood center or library. Programs for the public may consist of lectures and panel discussions by museum staff or other experts; films or film series; performances of music, dance, or theater; group tours led by staff or trained volunteers; formal classes for adults or children; and art, craft, or technology demonstrations. Many museums offer family-oriented programs such as weekend festivals, hands-on workshops, and special tours.

Schools are important partners in education with museums. Museums offer field trips for school groups, and they also provide educational materials and workshops that help teachers use museum collections and exhibitions as curriculum resources. Museum educators work with classroom teachers and school administrators to develop appropriate programs and materials based on curriculum needs. Modern museums also make extensive use of the Internet, offering educational activities and teacher resources on their Web sites.

VI

Museum Staff and Organization

The size of a museum’s staff varies widely depending on the size and scope of the museum. A small local history museum might have an all-volunteer staff or a single staff member, whereas a large natural history museum might employ several hundred people.

The museum director is its chief executive officer and provides the conceptual leadership for the museum and its staff. The director must have the management experience and skills necessary to administer a complex institution. He or she also acts as the chief fundraiser for the institution. The director often has specialized knowledge of the museum’s discipline.

The director usually reports to a board of trustees, a group of people composed of private citizens, community leaders, public officials, and others. Board members are either elected or appointed depending on the museum’s bylaws. The board of trustees establishes the museum’s mission, or purpose; expresses the guiding principles for how the mission will be carried out; and ensures that the museum has the financial resources to do its job. Museum board members also have responsibility for the stewardship of the museum’s financial assets, including its collections. In some countries, museums are organized and managed by the national or regional government rather than by a board of trustees.

In addition to the director, museums have staffs of professionals whose responsibilities vary according to the size and discipline of the institution. Generally the staff is divided into three categories: collections, public programs, and administration. Staff involved with the collections include curators, exhibit designers, registrars, and conservators. Curators oversee all or part of a museum’s collection, conduct scholarly research, and develop the content for exhibitions. Exhibit designers plan the presentation of exhibits and manage the physical production of the exhibit. Registrars receive new acquisitions, classify them, record information about them, and maintain a complete catalog of the museum’s holdings. Conservators have responsibility for the physical condition of museum objects. It is their duty to assess climatic, lighting, and display conditions; to make recommendations for restoring objects or stabilizing their condition; and to evaluate the fitness of objects to travel on intermuseum loan. Many other jobs in museums are related to collections and exhibitions. For more information, see the Museum Collections section of this article.

Staff involved with public and school programs organize lectures, film series, and performances; curriculum-related activities for school field trips and classroom lessons; teacher workshops; and collaborative programs with community organizations. Many museums use unpaid volunteers to assist with educational programs. Docents (pronounced DOH-sents) are trained volunteers who lead guided tours. Administrative staff members work in the areas of public relations, visitor services, fundraising, retail operations, publishing, security, business management, human resources, and information management. Large museums often maintain libraries or archives for research and for the documentation of the collections. The museum librarian orders, acquires, and processes materials for the use of the staff and outside researchers and, if library staff and space allow, for the public. Many museum activities, especially exhibitions and related programs, are a collaborative effort of all staff.

Qualifications for museum positions vary, but most museum professionals have advanced education and specialized training in their fields. A curator of art, for example, usually has a master’s degree or a Ph.D. in a specific area of art history. A museum educator’s academic background might combine a specific discipline, such as art history, history, or science, with additional study and training in education or museum education. Some universities in the United States, Canada, and Europe offer specialized training for museum careers. Undergraduate, graduate, and certificate-based programs may focus on curatorship, museum management, conservation, exhibition, museum education, and other areas. Most programs require students to complete an internship at a museum to obtain on-the-job experience. It is increasingly common for staff to enter the museum workforce from other fields, including education, nonprofit social service organizations, and business. Many museums professionals regularly attend workshops, seminars, and lectures as part of their ongoing career development. The study of how museums are designed, organized, and managed is called museology.

	More from Encarta
	•  Presidential Myths Quiz •  Coffee break: Recharge your brain