Innovation & Museums: 5 Forward-Thinking Initiatives

This post explores what it means for museums to be innovative in today’s digital culture, and describes unique, forward-thinking programs and initiatives in five different museums.

What does it mean for a museum to be innovative? When thinking of innovative companies and institutions, Amazon comes mind, as does Apple, AirBnB, even Bank of America with its digital tools that support virtual banking (like depositing a check with a smart phone). I don’t usually associate museums with innovation. Words like staid, traditional and stoic seem to describe museums best, traditional ones at least. For the most part, cultural institutions are not leading the way in offering guest-centric, unique, user-friendly experiences. 
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I was reminded of museums’ status as ‘traditional’ institutions in Successful Museum Management a course I’m taking with Northwestern’s Museum Studies certificate program. The instructor, a museum director of a small museum, shared a graphic illustrating strategic planning elements for museums (below); the graphic shows the mission statement and values lasting for 100 years (!). 

Image of Strategic Plan from Museum Studies course, 'Successful Museum Management', Northwestern University

Image from YouTube video describing how 'Dot' the digital tour guide works through Facebook Messenger app for Akron Museum of Art

A mission statement steers the ship so to speak. Yet a hundred years seems eons in today’s fast-paced environment when technology is drastically changing consumer behaviours. Yet it doesn’t mean that organizations can't adapt with shorter-term goals and objectives. A recent article by an experienced museum practitioner discussed the need for adaptable strategic planning, more importantly, the need for a responsive, flexible mindset that's open to change. 

Easier said than done, change is hard. Yet, one only needs to look at how retail has changed over the last couple of years, the number of big retailers are defunct due to shifts in customer purchase behaviours, for example Toys R Us, Sears, K-mart and others, to see how inability to adapt led to an at-risk business model. Cultural institutions are just as vulnerable. 

So how do museums adapt, become agile organizations? I don’t work in the museum sphere, but I do know that it’s leaders of organizations who act as visionaries, who assess opportunities and strengths within their organization that can lead an organization to sustainability; who know how to  leverage people and resources effectively, are responsive to the environment, can create and implement strategies that meet the needs of customers (visitors) and employees.    

Below are examples of museums that are innovating—are trying new, unique initiatives that disrupt traditional ways of operating. One project listed (SFMOMA’s app), is no longer operating as it was intended at launch, yet I still included it, as it’s a constructive example of how initiatives can be at risk without the support of resources and/or leaders who aren't able to adapt to change.

Grading Art: The ‘D’s Gotta Go

• Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) at Newfields is shaking things up. Its director Charles Venable implemented an unprecedented initiative to streamline the museum’s bulging collection. The IMA was planning to spend $14 million to double its storage for its undisplayed artwork, until Venable decided on a different tactic—rank every item in the collection (54,000 items) with a letter grade, then sell or give away works with a ‘D’ grade. The ‘D’ works represented 20% of the collection. A bold move; a strategy museums may want to do…but don’t have the wherewithal to go there. The NYT’s article (link below) describes IMA’s program and includes a quiz where you can guess the letter grades IMA gave to select art works (it’s fun!).
  • Clean House to Survive? Museums Confront Their Crowded Basement, by Robin Pogrebin, The New York Times

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The Non-Curator Curated Exhibit

• The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (Austria’s largest museum) started a yearly program inviting non-curators, typically artists or writers, to curate an exhibition (with free rein) from the museums collection of four million objects. Most recently the museum invited filmmaker Wes Anderson to ‘curate’ an exhibition. The result was an exhibition titled ‘Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and Other Treasure’. A podcast with the museum’s director described the process as challenging at times (with the museum curators), yet ended up being exhilarating for museum staff and visitors.  
  • The Grand Vienna Museum: On Wes Anderson and Juman Malouf [podcast], Museum Confidential 

Fire the Curators

• It’s hard to believe that a museum would fire its curatorial staff with no intention of replacing them. Yet that’s what Leicester Museums in the UK have done. The council that runs the seven museums initiated a different tactic to engage new audiences—to attract non-museum goers by assembling an “audience development and engagement team”. Another bold move. The council describes it as a “new structure [that] marks a move away from prioritising resource for subject specialist curation. Instead, the service will focus on new ways to support different perspectives, voices and viewpoints in order to increase the service’s relevance to more diverse audiences and particularly to attract those who are traditionally ‘non-museum’ goers. We want to make Leicester’s museums more relevant to the city’s diverse communities.”  Wow! 
  • Leicester museums to restructure curatorial team, G. K. Adams, Museums Journal

 
“Alexa, What IS This”?

• Digital assistants, like Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri are changing how we access information at home and on the go, so why not at a museum? Meet Dot, Akron’s Museum of Art digital tour guide. She is always ‘on’ providing visitors with a tour experience of 60 artworks; she also asks thought-provoking questions about the art, designed to stimulate conversation. It’s recommended that one member of the group interact with Dot on his or her smart phone. There is a caveat however, Dot is available only for those who have a smart phone, and  have Facebook’s Messenger app downloaded on their phone. A great idea, but Dot highlights the challenges with technology, there are barriers—not everyone has access to a smart phone, has a Facebook account, has (or wants) to have the messenger app downloaded. However, it’s a great way to leverage technology, and worthy of exploring further. The technology of Dot will be showcased at the Museum Tech conference in October 2019.
  • Connect with Dot, Akron Museum of Art, 

At San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) Tech Goes Awry

• SFMOMA launched its app in 2016 that appeared to be the next generation app for museums, to disrupt the traditional audio guide with its punch-by-number method. When SFMOMA first launched the app it was designed so you could keep your phone in your pocket, no punching in numbers, the app used GPS monitoring to identify where you were located in the museum and would deliver an audio tour according to your movements. Wired magazine wrote about the app, saying this, “The guides will tell you where to go. They'll wait for you, because they know where you are too. [awkward pause] Oh, that sounds creepy—it's not.” The experience, according to Wired, is “immersive and intuitive”. Alas, the technology has lapsed, and now the app has reverted back to a traditional museum audio guide. SFMOMA’s initiative is a good example of how technology is just that, a tool, that needs to be supported by a sustained strategy with resources and commitment. At time of writing, SFMOMA’s app has a 2.5/5 in Apple’s app store :(.
  • ​The SFMOMA’s New App Will Forever Change How you Enjoy Museums, Rene Chun (May 5, 2016), Wired

As we’ve seen with this selection of five unique initiatives, innovation IS happening within cultural institutions, change is afoot with much to look forward to. As in any industry, there are leaders and laggers, I’m going to keep my eye on the leaders and see where it takes us! 

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