How To Skwish Your Museum: A Practical Guide to Sustainability

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SUSTAINABILITY
HOW TO SKWISH YOUR MUSEUM

Alexandra Hatcher, Alexandra Hatcher Consulting Inc., Calgary
Lisa Making, Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller
Hannah Chipman, Telephone Historical Centre, Edmonton

SWG Recommendations Report available to download:
http://www.museums.ab.ca/media/34750/museumsswg_report_final.pdf

SUSTAINABILITY IS AN
ORIENTATION, NOT A
DESTINATION.
Bell, Masaoka, Zimmerman, Nonprofit Sustainability, 2010

SUSTAINABILITY
▸ Financial
▸ Environmental
▸ Health & Wellness
▸ Community Engagement
▸ Social Responsibility

TENSEGRITY
Tensegrity Structures are known for:
DEFINITION:
maintaining structural stability, or integrity, through continual tensional forces - Buckminster Fuller
‣ Flexibility
‣ Agility
‣ Resilience
‣ Strength

FINANCIAL
Connecting Mission Impact & Financial Return
PROFITABILITY
MISSIONIMPACT
Bell, Masaoka, Zimmerman,
“Strategic Imperatives”,
Nonprofit Sustainability, 2010

ENVIRONMENTAL
Respecting the interconnectedness of our environments.
Aaron Paquette, April 2013

ENVIRONMENTAL
Human Brain Blood Vessels River Tributaries City
Leaf Desert Palm of Hand
Aaron Paquette, April 2013
Respecting the interconnectedness of our environments.

HEALTH & WELLNESS
Contributing to positive quality of life.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Engaged in Community; Engaged with Community.
Archaeologist Jack Brink looks on as Blackfoot Elders conduct a blessing ceremony.
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Alberta

SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
Identifying community needs and
addressing those needs with the
intention of positive change.

SUSTAINABILITY
▸ Financial
▸ Environmental
▸ Health and Wellness

FINANCIAL
Get to know your restraints

FINANCIAL
Get to know the market

FINANCIAL
Get to know your organization

FINANCIAL
Be Patient

ENVIRONMENTAL

WHAT’S NEXT?

ENVIRONMENTAL
“The other interesting thing, is that one
point that was made in that whole
sequence on extinction, is that 99% of
species that have ever existed are extinct.
So the question begs, how much of the
concern from scientists these days is well
placed concern, in terms of maybe being
accelerated by humans, and how much of
it is just a naturally occurring process?”
Interview Respondent 021

ENVIRONMENTAL
"We know there's major climatic changes, we're talking a
drop in mean annual temperature of at least six degrees
Celsius in the time span of about 100,000 years, that's
super fast." Dr. François Therrien

SUSTAINABILITY
▸ Financial
▸ Environmental

HEALTH & WELLNESS
Defined in the SWG Report:
“the condition or state of being well, contented and satisfied with life …
Well-being (and so quality of life) has several components, including
physical, mental, social, [intellectual], and spiritual. Well-being and quality
of life are also used in a collective sense to describe how well society
satisfies people’s wants and needs.”;
“a shared sense of meaning and purpose is the single attitude most
strongly associated with community well-being. The process of arriving at
collective meanings is central to the health of a community.”
Alberta Museums Association, 2013

HEALTH & WELLNESS
Health is a state of complete physical, mental
and social well-being and not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity.
Wellness is an active process of becoming
aware of and making choices toward
a healthy and fulfilling life.
World Health Organization
defined…

HEALTH & WELLNESS
Community
Organization
Indivi
dual
INTERCONNECTEDNESS

INDIVIDUAL HEALTH & WELLNESS
Dimensions of Wellness:
Social
Physical
Intellectual
Emotional
Spiritual
Occupational
Environmental
Financial

ORGANIZATIONAL HEALTH & WELLNESS
Sustained organizational health is
among the most powerful assets
an organization can build.

McKinsey, 2014
DIRECTION
ACCOUNTABILITY
COORDINATION
AND CONTROL
EXTERNAL
ORIENTATION
LEADERSHIP
INNOVATION AND
LEARNING
CAPABILITIES MOTIVATION
CULTURE AND
CLIMATE
- Role Clarity
- Performance Contracts
- Consequence Management
- Personal Ownership
- Shared Vision
- Strategic Clarity
- Employee Involvement
- Meaningful Values
- Inspirational Leaders
- Career Opportunities
- Financial Incentives
- Rewards and Recognition

D.
C.
B.A.
F.
E.
ACTIVITY

ACTIVITY
D.
C.
B.A.
F.
E.

D
.
C
.
B
.
A.
F
.
E
.
ACTIVITY

COMMUNITY HEALTH & WELLNESS
“Community Wellness is the
combination of social, economic,
environmental, cultural, and political
conditions identified by individuals
and their communities as essential
for them to flourish and fulfill their
potential.” Wiseman and Brasher, 2013

Happy City, Understanding Local Needs for Wellbeing Data
ECONOMY
EDUCATION
AND
CHILDHOOD
EQUALITY
HEALTH
PLACE
SOCIAL
RELATIONSHIPS
PERSONAL
WELLBEING

ECONOMY
EDUCATION
AND
CHILDHOOD
EQUALITY
HEALTH
PLACE
SOCIAL
RELATIONSHIPS
PERSONAL
WELLBEING
Autonomy
Happiness
Life Satisfaction
Worthwhile
Anxiety
Unemployment
Job Quality
Material Deprivation
Child Learning
Adult Learning
Children’s Wellbeing
WB Inequality
Health Behaviour
Overall Health
Mental Health
Green Space
Housing
Democracy
Local Environment
Crime & Security
Culture
Close Support
Generalized Trust
Personal Relationships
Community Cohesion
Volunteering
Personal Wellbeing
Economy
Education and Childhood
Equality
Health
Place
Social Relationships
Happy City, Understanding Local Needs for Wellbeing Data

HEALTH & MUSEUMS
“Museums serve the health needs of
the self by fostering relaxation,
introspection, and health education.”
Silverman, The Social Work of Museums, 2010

HEALTH & WELLNESS
SOCIAL INDICATORS
Hill Research Strategies, The Arts and Individual Well-Being in
Canada, General Social Survey, 2013
• Self-reported health
• Self-reported mental health
• Volunteering
• Feeling trapped in a daily routine
• Stress level
• Knowledge of neighbours
• Doing a favour for a neighbour
• Self-reported satisfaction with life

HEALTH & WELLNESS
Health
(excellent –
very good)
Mental Health
(excellent –
very good)
Volunteer Trapped in
daily routine
Stress (Not at
all – not very
stressfull
Knows
neighbours
(mainly – mostly)
Favour for
neighbour
Very strong
satisfaction with
life (8-10)
60%
47%
50%
37% 38%
Health, well-being and social connections of art gallery visitors in 2010
Art gallery visitors Non-visitors
Hill Research Strategies, The Arts and Individual Well-Being in Canada, General Social Survey, 2013
67%
58%
31%
30%
37%
45%
69%
63%
62%
58%
42%

HEALTH & WELLNESS
Community
Organization
Indivi
dual
M
U
S
E
U
M
INTERCONNECTEDNESS

SUSTAINABILITY
▸ Financial
▸ Environmental
▸ Community
Engagement

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IS: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IS NOT:
Identifying and addressing what the community
cares about.
Identifying what the community can do for your
organization.
Doing things that really matter, e.g. activities
focused on building better communities.
Token exhibits and programs about or with
community groups.
Establishing long-term relationships and
partnerships with other community groups.
Occasional stakeholder input meetings or an
annual visitor survey.
Working with community groups to plan and offer
your programs and activities, and sharing the
control, acknowledgement and proceeds.
Continuing to control and run your programs and
activities, yet expecting other community
organizations to participate and donate.
Getting involved in community activities outside of
your organization.
Expecting reciprocity for contributions to the
community outside your organization.
Matelic, Transformative Power and Community Engagement, AMA, 2013.

COLLABORATION SPECTRUM TOOL
COMPETE Competition for audience, resources, partners,
public attention
CO-EXIST No systemic connection between organizations
COMMUNICATE Information sharing (e.g. Network)
COOPERATE As needed, often informal, interaction on
discrete activities or project
COORDINATE Organization systematically adjust and align with
each other for greater outcomes
COLLABORATE Longer term Interaction based on shared
mission, goals; shared decision makers and
resources
INTEGRATE Fully integrated programs, planning, funding
Resource: adapted from Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement, Collaborative Spectrum Tool.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
The What

The Who
• The homeless
• Cultural groups
• Youth at risk
My Flashpoint Issues:

The Why
“Museums had inadvertently arrived at a
metaphorical watershed where it is now
imperative to ask broader questions about
why they do what they do, to confront a
variety of admittedly unruly issues, and to
propose some new choices.”
Robert R. Janes, The Mindful Museum

The How

“How is it that museums, as social
institutions, may remain aloof from the
litany of socio-environmental issues that
confront us, when many of these issues
are intimately related to the purpose,
mission, and capabilities of museums as
we know them?”
Robert R. Janes, The Mindful Museum

TENSEGRITY
Tensegrity Structures are known for:
DEFINITION:
maintaining structural stability, or integrity, through continual tensional forces - Buckminster Fuller
‣ Flexibility
‣ Agility
‣ Resilience
‣ Strength

CONTACT US @
ALEXANDRA HATCHER
alexandra@alexandrahatcher.com
HANNAH CHIPMAN
thc4@telus.net
LISA MAKING
lisa.making@gov.ab.ca

How To Skwish Your Museum: A Practical Guide to Sustainability

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to How To Skwish Your Museum: A Practical Guide to Sustainability

Similar to How To Skwish Your Museum: A Practical Guide to Sustainability (20)

More from West Muse

More from West Muse (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

How To Skwish Your Museum: A Practical Guide to Sustainability