Description

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What does the transformation to a visitor-centered approach do for a museum? How are museums made relevant to a broad range of visitors of varying ages, identities, and social classes? Does appealing to a larger audience force museums to “dumb down” their work? What internal changes are required? Based on a multi-year Kress Foundation-sponsored study of 20 innovative American and European collections-based museums recognized by their peers to be visitor-centered, Peter Samis and Mimi Michaelson answer these key questions for the field. <br><br>The book<br>-describes key institutions that have opened the doors to a wider range of visitors;<br>-addresses the internal struggles to reorganize and democratize these institutions;<br>-uses case studies, interviews of key personnel, Key Takeaways, and additional resources to help museum professionals implement a visitor-centered approach in collections-based institutions.

About the Author

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Peter Samis is Associate Curator of Interpretation at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He has a BA from Columbia University and an M.A. in art history from U.C. Berkeley. Samis served as art historian/content expert for "American Visions," the first CD-ROM on modern art (1993-94), then spearheaded development of SFMOMA’s award-winning Interactive Educational Technology programs. He has served as Adjunct Professor in the international graduate program for Technology-Enhanced Communication for Cultural Heritage (TEC-CH) at Switzerland's University of Lugano and on the advisory boards of numerous museum organizations and collaborative software initiatives. In recent years, he has focused on larger questions of museum interpretation, both analog and digital.

Mimi Michaelson is an education and museum consultant. She has a doctorate in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University, where she studied creativity, youth activism, and cognitive development. As a former Project Zero manager, she has broad research experience, including as Senior Project Manager of Harvard’s GoodWork project. She co-edited the New Directions volume, Supportive Frameworks for Youth Engagement.

Praise For…

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“Samis and Michaelson thoughtfully explore the changing attitudes towards museum visitors and the tensions between traditional, old-guard mindsets and newer, audience-focused approaches. Creating the Visitor-centered Museum is fascinating and beautifully written, and the authors' passion for museums shines through.”
—Dana Mitroff Silvers, Designing Insights

“Peter and Mimi’s book offers a window into how staff are negotiating the power between what visitors bring to their museum experiences and the traditions that their own organizations are wedded to—a challenge indeed. Change is afoot in the museum world.”
—Randi Korn, Founding Director, Randi Korn & Associates

“I am sure that this book will serve as a catalyst for important conversations about the mission of our galleries, the roles within it, the audiences we intend to serve and how we would go about doing so….The book does a very good job of articulating the wide possibilities of visitor-centered museums and the nature of museum change. I liked the way the book began with transparency of its goals and a basic analysis of the visitor-centered approach and I loved reading about the diverse case studies.”
—Susan Rome, Public Programmes, Vancouver Art Gallery