Donators, Donations, Dollars

I never really paid much attention to donor walls in Museums before. They were always just a list of names that meant nothing to me. The only donor wall I really remember was that of my elementary school playground and I only read that because I was bored.

However any organization, including Museums, need a steady stream of cash flowing in to grow and thrive. In a perfect world the Museum would not need to fight for donations or beg for donors, but this world does not really exist. The donor wall, while not the focus of most patrons and visitors, is a necessary accessory.

This donor wall is from the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Its almost a work of art on its own. I do not really think that donor walls are the most efficient way to drum up funds. Online media is a great way to get support and just get the word out there that the museum is in need of funds. However not every cry for help can bring in cash. 

The Historic Cherry Hill, who uses Youtube to gain support, literally begged for donation from visitor and watchers of their Youtube channel. This video kind of put me off. Most people like to give their money to organizations who already have donations because they seem to a credible institution. If a museum has no donators then they must not be worthy of the funds. Whether or not this is true is regardless, but it is a fact of psychology.

Cited

 Dilenscheider, Colleen. "Evolutionary Biology and Human Psychology: A Case For Museum Donor Walls," Know Your Own Bone. N.p., 15 November 2010. Web. 25 Sept. 2012.

"Museum of Science and Industry." Welcome to The Museum of Science and Industry. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. <http://www.msichicago.org/about-the-museum/press/current/u-505/>.

Historic Cherry Hill Year En Appealdirector of Historic Cherry Hill' Dir. Rankins5. Perf. Director of Historic Cherry Hill. YouTube. YouTube, 06 Dec. 2010. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTtLD9WcNb4>.

21st Century Skills For The Modern Museum

With the dawn of the 21^st century technology and information has boomed. No longer is there real need to step outside your own home to access knowledge and information. But how is this relevant to Museums? Due to immense amount of information that is out there now Museums need to be able to compete with Websites and Web Archives. To keep up the business end of the Museum, the institution must adapt to stay relevant in this day and age. With that being said the only way to improve the Museum is to improve the staff working there and bring fresh interactive ideas to the forefront of the Modern Museum. Now when I refer to the “Modern Museum” I do not mean that the museum is one of modern art or modern history, no I simply mean that the museum is one that has adapted to fit the current time period and maintain its attraction to visitors. There are a few simple ways to make sure that this can happen within all museums and their staff.

1. Technology Knowledge
   1. the use of technology in the 21^st century is critical. Interactive and out of the box exhibits are the best way to grab a visitors attention and keep them coming back for more.
2. Critical Thinking
   1. Staff should be able to analyze and quickly come up with solutions to problems. Also they should be able to take in as many fresh ideas as possible and consider all aspects of the museum and its patrons.
3. Environmental Literacy
   1. Living in this world today, we understand that what we do can have a large impact on the environment and community at large. Museums and staff should know and be aware of how the museum fits into the community environment and play a part in maintaining and protecting it.
4. Global Literacy
   1. The world is no longer full of isolated pockets of space. Today there lives a global community in which all cultures have the ability to be included. Museums and staff should be aware of this and take this into account when planning events and exhibitions. They should be encouragers of this global society and be accessible to all its peoples
5. Evaluation from visitors and patrons
   1. The only way a museum can grow and prosper to learn from not only it's mistakes but also it's successes. The Museum should take notes and criticisms from it's patrons and use them in future exhibitions and events. The only way it can reach its public is through the engagement of the said public.
      

6.  Multifaceted Institution

      1."Every museum today  has had to come to grips with this transformation from temple of art to    culture mall. In order to survive, museums today must be many things to many people: centers of scholarship, places of entertainment, temples of beauty, social service agencies, marketplaces, meeting places, places of diversity, places of calm, and, above all, places of socio-political controversy"

       I love this line from Susanna Torruella Leval about the nature of the "Modern Museum"and the different things it must be to different people. 

Works Cited

Eberbach, Cathrine. "InformalScience | Randi Korn - Interview from the Field."InformalScience | Randi Korn - Interview from the Field. Informal Science, 2008. Web. 18 Sept. 2012. <http://informalscience.org/member/interview/rkorn>.

"Podcast Audio." Podcast Audio. IMLS, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2012. <http://www.imls.gov/resources/podcast.aspx>.

Torruella Leval, Susanna. "ARTS, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY." The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts -. N.p., 1995. Web. 18 Sept. 2012. <http://www.warholfoundation.org/grant/paper5/paper.html>.

10 Great Reason to Visit a Museum

This Article written by Colleen Dilenschneider,  provides a wonderful and brief summery of all the reasons that Museums have a valuable place in society. I loved the embedded video. We had already watched it in class but I made sure to watch it one more time just to remember some of the small details.Just to reiterate some of the points she made I will list them below with my own explanations

1. Museums make you feel good: Do you remember the way you felt the last time you were in a museum? I do, one of my favorite places in the world is the DIA. The ambiance of the marble halls and classical architecture, can make you feel like a sophisticated, cultured adult. At least, that is how it makes me feel. No shopping trip to any upscale retailer has the same affect on me as to when I step into a Museums
2. Museums make you smarter: The main purpose of Museum to give as much knowledge to their visitors as possible. They want to provide all museum patrons with the tools to learn for the sake of learning. There might not be any grades to prove it, but when you leave a museum you will always leave with more inside your head than when you entered
3. Museums provide an effective way of learning: Interactive learning is really the best way to go. When a person can be in presence of something real, they are more likely to retain it, than if they simple heard about it in a lecture or textbook. When I went to London this summer, I came face to face with portraits and paintings that I had only seen inside my history textbook. It had a huge impact on me and I was able to better understand what exactly I had read about.
4. Museums are community centers: The primary focus of Museums is to teach and educate its community. Many have summer programs and after school learning opportunities for children in the community. They are also a place where the community can hold events and celebrations.
5. Museums inspire: They sure do! I was on an outing to the DIA when I decided that I wanted to make a career out of Museums. I have a love of Art, History and Culture so much, that I want to share with the rest of the world. I love museums and that could only mean that pursuing more knowledge about them would have to be part of my life. Museums are places where your all five of your senses are allowed to work all at once and simultaneously. You can absorb so much and put your new found knowledge to creative use. 
6. Museums help bring change and development to communities: Museums that can engage communities can educate that community and make it a better place. Online access to archives and research material allow for great spread of knowledge
7. Museums are a great way to spend time with friends and family: Some of the best memories that I have are going to see exhibits with my mother. We would bond quietly over art and historical artifacts. This past summer I spent a week in Paris with my parents and the majority of our week was spent inside the halls of the Louvre, Le Musee D'Orsay, L'Orangerie and Versailles. It was an amazing trip, one I will never forget.
8. A museum may be your next community partner or business endeavor: I do not know much about this yet but The museum is great place to hold events and benefits. My high school held their prom at the African American Museum in downtown Detroit a few years ago.
9. Museums are free… sometimes: Need a cheap date or low cost family outing? Museums are much less expensive than going to the movies or shopping spree!
10. There is a museum close to you: Being so far away from Detroit, I had no idea what to expect when it came to how close the nearest museum would be. However I gladly found that I am surrounded by Museums! Not even three blocks from my place of residence in East Lansing is the soon to be completed Broad Art Museum, and only a ten minute walk from my house is the MSU Museum on Campus. Knowing that there is not only one, but two Museums so close to me is sigh of relief.

Outside the Gates of Versailles with my Mother

At the Musee D'Orsay

The Louvre

Works Cited
   Dilenscheider, Colleen. "10 Reasons to Visit a Museum." Know Your Own Bone. N.p., 30 July 2009. Web. 11 Sept. 2012. <http://colleendilen.com/2009/07/31/10-reasons-to-visit-a-museum/>.

The Museum Professional Standards of Excellence

For any profession there must exist at some time, a set of rules or guidelines pertaining to the carrying out of the said profession. The same must be for those wishing to be part the vocation that finds themselves within the museum. But who are these people that make up the Standards of Excellence that all Museum Professionals must be trained under and preform to their utmost ability?
      The Committee on Museum Professional Training is the answer. This is the document that sets down the guide lines in which all museums should aspire to meet.
       The Committee on Museum Professional Training has developed this document to serve many purposes:

• Function as guidelines for members of the community of museum professional educators, learners, and professionals in the field.

• Recognize common responsibilities and objectives.

• Identify appropriate content, teaching methodologies, measures for outcomes and assessment.

• Be adaptable to a variety of learning programs.

From these ideas, The ICTOP Curricula Guidelines for Museum Development, breaks the down the five areas in which a museum needs to adhere to in order to function efficiently and successfully. This is displayed in a wonderful informative image of a tree. 

1. General Competencies being the key figures or the roots of the tree symbolize the very basics of professionalism general knowledge of the work environment and the museum as a workplace.
2. Museology Competencies involves knowledge of and skills in the application of the intellectual foundations of museum work
3. Management Competencies knowledge of and skills in the theory and practice of museum operations. Basically what it takes to run the museum not only from educational point of view but also as a business and as a credible community source. 
4. Public programming competencies, knowledge of and skills in serving the museum's communities. How to make the Museum a place that the community will feel apart of and take interest in. This goes past the tourism aspect of it and into making the Museum place for the community in which it is placed. 
5. Information and collections management and care competencies. having the knowledge of and skills in creating, preserving and sharing museum resources. How to affectively have an impact on the visitors and create a museum exhibit that will engage vistors and have a fun learning environment.

Cited Works

"Committee on Museum Professional Training." Committee on Museum Professional Training. The American Alliance of Museums, n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2012. <http://www.compt-aam.org/resources/standardsguidelines.html>.

"ICTOP Museum Career Development Tree." ICTOP Museum Career Development Tree. Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, 29 Aug. 2009. Web. 11 Sept. 2012. <http://museumstudies.si.edu/ICOM-ICTOP/index.htm>.