Museumnext, held on September 25-26, 2015, at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, marks the first North American edition of this annual conference, focused on inclusivity within museums. The event features a range of speakers discussing innovative practices and community engagement strategies to enhance inclusiveness in the museum sector. Attendees are encouraged to explore local arts venues and participate in discussions on the evolving role of museums in society.

1. Building Inclusive Museums
MuseumNext
Indianapolis
25—26 September 2015
at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

2. MuseumNext — 25—26 September 2015
Since 2009 MuseumNext has taken place on an annual
basis in a different European city. We are excited to
bring the conference to North America for the first time,
cordially invited and expertly hosted by the Indianapolis
Museum of Art. We hope the conference will become
a regular event in the fall calendar in the States while
continuing our European edition in the spring.
MuseumNext brings together like-minded people
to discuss trends and what’s at the forefront of
developments within the museum sector. Speakers
generously share inspiring projects and communicate
valuable knowledge. MuseumNext conferences are
noted for encouraging networking, facilitating space
and time for delegates to get together and exchange ideas
I’d like to extend a huge thank you to our hosts; the
Indianapolis Museum of Art, in particular Silvia Fillipini-
Fantoni and Scott Stulen and the wonderful teams that
work with them at the IMA. We are indebted to you not
only for inviting us to your wonderful venue, but for all the
work you have put into making the conference happen.
Thank you to our speakers, for responding to the call
for papers, for enthusiastically answering the brief
and for sharing how they are making their own
museums more inclusive.
Thank you to our sponsors, your support is so valuable
and has helped make the conference happen and finally,
thank you to each and every delegate who has taken two-
days out of their busy schedules to attend our first North
American conference. I encourage you to visit the plethora
of arts venues, museums and cultural outdoor spaces in
the city and I hope that everyone has a fantastic time.
Kala Preston
Director,
MuseumNext
@MuseumNext
Welcome to Indianapolis. We are honored to host the first
US edition of MuseumNext at the Indianapolis Museum
of Art and participate in the ongoing conversation about
the future of museums and their role in our communities.
The “inclusive museum” theme raises questions, which
extend beyond the walls of our institutions and into
our cities and neighborhoods. Inclusivity is currently
a relevant topic in Indiana, due in part to the passing
of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The
community responded quickly and decisively to demand
changes to the amendment. While contentious, some
positives emerged from the debate, including how
museums can become sites of community convening,
dialog and agents of social change. In the same spirit
of conversation and gathering, we look forward to
hearing from this impressive lineup of innovators,
leaders and instigators over the next two days.
Thank you to Jim Richardson and Kala Preston for the
opportunity to host MuseumNext and their hard work
making this program a reality. Thank you to my staff
and colleagues at the IMA and the Indianapolis museum
community for your help and support. And finally,
thanks to each of you for attending MuseumNext and
participating in these timely and relevant exchanges.
We hope you enjoy your time in Indianapolis and
encourage you to explore and experience the warmth
and hospitality of the city. Indy is blessed with a wealth
of museums, performing arts venues, parks, schools
and cultural opportunities, which are attracting and
retaining creative talent. Indy is a city on the rise, a
place where you can dream, but also a place to get
things done. We love it here and hope you will too.
Scott Stulen
Curator of Audience Experiences and Performance,
Indianapolis Museum of Art
@middlewest
Welcome

3. museumnext.comMuseumNext — 25—26 September 2015
The Indianapolis
Museum of
Art (IMA)
4000 Michigan Road,
Indianapolis,
IN 46208
www.imamuseum.org
The Cerulean
at The Alexander
Hotel
339 S Delaware St,
Indianapolis,
IN 46225
www.ceruleanrestaurant.com/
indianapolis/
The Children’s
Museum of
Indianapolis
3000 N Meridian Street,
Indianapolis,
IN 46208-4716
www.childrensmuseum.org
Venue Guide
Shuttles will pick up from downtown
outside The Alexander Hotel and
the Hilton Garden Inn to bring
delegates to the Indianapolis
Museum of Art (IMA). If you are
driving there are plenty of free
parking spaces available.
Take a seat in The Toby for an
itinerary of morning and afternoon
presentations or head off to
MuseumCamp at The Children’s
Museum of Indianapolis
(pre booking essential!).
Visit other museums in Indianapolis
While you are here, show your
delegate pass at The Children’s
Museum of Indianapolis, The Eiteljorg
Museum, Indiana State Museum
and the Indianapolis Museum
of Art and see their exhibitions
and collections between Friday
25 and Sunday 27 September.

4. MuseumNext — 25—26 September 2015
Schedule Day 01
Friday 25
September 2015
8.15am Shuttles from downtown hotels to IMA
The Toby, Indianapolis
Museum of Art
9.00 – 9.30am Registration
9.30 – 9.40am Welcome
9.40 –10.00am Better Together: The Museum As Cultural Commons
10.00 –10.20am Engagement For All: Striving For Accessible
And Inclusive Membership Programs
10.20 –10.40am We Are Throwing A Party And Everyone’s Invited!
10.40 –11.00am When Your Community Does The Blogging: What, Why And How
11.00 –11.20am Expanding Our Narratives With LGBT Interpretation
11.20 –11.40am Improving Experience Through Evaluation
11.40am –12.00pm Leading Inclusion
12.00 –12.20pm Creating The Inclusive Museum Through Storytelling
12.20 –1.20pm Lunch Break
1.20 –1.40pm The Born Digital Art Institution
1.40 –2.00pm Out West At The Eiteljorg: Building
Collaborations With LGBTQ Communities
2.00 –2.20pm Where The Sidewalk Ends: Museum Grounds As Public Spaces
2.20 –2.40pm Do Not Touch The Artwork: Creating New Signs For A Modern Visit
2.40 – 3.00pm Use Your Senses: Overcoming The Accessibility Paradox
3.00 – 3.20pm Feel The Squeeze And Do It Anyway: How To Be
An Inclusive Museum In Times Of Financial Crisis
3.20 – 3.40pm Beyond Tokenism: Institutionalizing Inclusivity In Museums
3.40 – 4.00pm Sensitive Spaces: Designing Museum
Experiences For Those Who Live With Dementia
From 4.00pm Shuttles to downtown
7.00 –10.00pm Evening Reception at The Cerulean, downtown Indianapolis
The Children’s Museum
of Indianapolis
2.00 – 5.00pm MuseumCamp (pre booking essential)

5. museumnext.com
Schedule Day 02
Saturday 26
September 2015
8.45am Shuttles from downtown hotels to IMA
The Toby, Indianapolis
Museum of Art
9.15 –10.00am Registration
10.00 –10.15am Welcome
10.15 –11.15am Fighting For Inclusion
11.15am –12.00pm Exploring ASK At Brooklyn Museum
12.00 –1.00pm Lunch Break
1.00 –1.30pm Inclusion Or Irrelevance: The Data Behind The
Urgent Need For Museums To Engage New Audiences
1.30 –2.00pm The Challenge Of Engaging Millennials In Art Museums
2.00 –2.30pm Mining The Digital Landscape, Engaging Communities Of Color
2.30 – 3.00pm Including The City: Representing Amsterdam
By Working With The People Of Amsterdam
3.00 – 3.30pm Afternoon Break
3.30 – 4.00pm Finding The Lost Palace: Establishing
Digital RD In A Heritage Organisation
4.00 – 4.30pm Taking A DIWO (Do It With Others)
Approach To Public Engagement
4.30 – 5.30pm Closing Conversation
5.30 – 5.40pm Final Thoughts And Thanks
6.00 – 9.00pm Evening Reception at The Indianapolis Museum Of Art
From 7.30pm Shuttles to downtown

6. MuseumNext — 25—26 September 2015
Indianapolis
Museum of Art
9.00—
9.30am
Registration
Come along to the IMA and pickup
your delegate bag and lanyard.
Your lanyard will ensure entry to all
MuseumNext sessions so remember
to keep it with you! Refreshments
will be served.
9.30—
9.40am
Welcome
Jim Richardson, Founder of
MuseumNext and Scott Stulen
from the IMA will welcome
delegates to the conference.
Conference Day 01
9.00am—
5.00pm
Test It Lab
Check out the Test It Lab, a space
where museums visitors and
conference attendees will be invited
to try out a number of prototypes that
the Indianapolis Museum of Art has
been developing to test interpretive
elements and activities for some of
their upcoming exhibitions. This will
give you the opportunity to provide
useful feedback about the prototypes,
which will then be used to inform
potential changes to the interactives.
It also provides an insight into the
IMA’s innovative visitor-centered and
collaborative exhibition development
process, informed by extensive
research and evaluation.

7. museumnext.com
9.40—
10.00am
Sarah Schultz
Independent
Curator
and Public
Engagement
Consultant
Better Together:
The Museum
As Cultural
Commons
What does it look like when a
museum behaves as a commons
and becomes an open platform for
and with the public? The Walker
Art Center engaged this question
with Open Field, a summer-long
experiment that invited the public,
artists and the institution to
collectively imagine an alternative
park adjacent to the museum. The
resulting programs, from singing,
to bullwhipping to cat videos
taught us about how to be a more
responsive, inclusive and civically-
minded contemporary art center.
Friday 25 September

8. MuseumNext — 25—26 September 2015
10.00—
10.20am
Angela Venuti
Membership
Officer,
Museum of
Photographic Arts
@AngelaVenArts
Engagement
For All: Striving
For Accessible
And Inclusive
Membership
Programs
Inclusivity and accessibility are
two factors that will make today’s
museums thrive well beyond museums
who ignore them. But why is it
important to adopt them in all
facets? How does it make one
museum more successful than
another? These can and should
be applied to all areas of a
museum’s program, including
admissions, curatorial, education
and public programs, and
membership and development.
Using case studies of the Museum
of Photographic Art’s Pay What
You Wish admissions and Crew
membership, Angela will examine the
attitudes necessary to adopt practical
solutions to common challenges.
10.20—
10.40am
Katie Hill
Audience
Engagement
Specialist,
Minneapolis
Institute of Art
@czarkat
We Are Throwing
A Party And
Everyone’s
Invited!
When the Minneapolis Institute of
Art celebrated its centennial birthday
year in 2015, the museum set out to
raise broader public awareness of
the permanent collection and bring
art into the community in new and
surprising ways. As a result, the
museum gained new audiences and
proved that the 100-year-old museum
was just getting started. Working
within a framework of 52 surprises
from the museum to the community,
Katie Hill orchestrated a year-long
range of happenings on-and off-site.
This session will cover the strategy
behind this ambitious initiative,
the challenges and opportunities
of surprise programming, and
how the Audience Engagement
division is successfully attracting
new audiences to the museum.
Party hats will be provided!
Conference Day 01

9. museumnext.com
10.40—
11.00am
Lori Byrd-
McDevitt
Manager of
Digital Content
and Social Media,
The Children’s
Museum of
Indianapolis
@LoriLeeByrd
When Your
Community Does
The Blogging:
What, Why
And How
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis,
the largest children’s museum in the
world, has experimented with the
idea of community blogging since
2013, aiming to provide a platform
for museum families to share
experiences on the museum’s blog
over an extended period of time.
Through a number of programs,
the digital media team has learned
a lot about the possible pitfalls
and the soaring opportunities
of community blogging.
This presentation shares the strategy
behind The Children’s Museum’s
community blogging programs,
while focusing on overall learnings
that can be applied to other
museums, big and small, in order
to create a more inclusive blog.
11.00—
11.20am
Susan Ferentinos
Public history
researcher, writer
and consultant
@HistorySue
Expanding
Our Narratives
With LGBT
Interpretation
When museums present a rich
array of topics and experiences,
they send a message of inclusion
to their constituents. Yet, the task
of expanding narratives can be
daunting for staff who lack specific
subject knowledge in the topics they
wish to interpret. In this presentation,
Susan Ferentinos will discuss ways
that museums might begin thinking
about expanding their interpretation
to include Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
and Transgender (LGBT) stories.
Topics will include stakeholder
considerations, types of interpretive
options, and staffing and sustainability.
Numerous examples, drawn from
museums of varying sizes located
in different parts of the United
States, will leaven the discussion.
Friday 25 September

10. MuseumNext — 25—26 September 2015
11.20—
11.40am
Elizabeth
Bolander
Director of
Research and
Evaluation,
Cleveland
Museum of Art
@eabolander
Bethany
Corriveau
Audience
Engagement
Specialist,
Cleveland
Museum of Art
@bethanyinCLE
Improving
Experience
Through
Evaluation
This panel will discuss the role of
programming to deepen relationships
and provide new avenues for
education and engagement.
Presenters will discuss the findings
from a recent institution-wide
evaluation of public programs that
gathered data from more than 14
different types of programs offered
on-site. The study was the first of
its kind at the Cleveland Museum
of Art and allowed staff not only
to identify who is and is not coming
to programs, but how participants’
satisfaction and needs change across
these different types of experiences.
Focusing on adult audiences,
presenters will discuss ways in
which this data is influencing new
approaches to public programming.
11.40am—
12.00pm
Seema Rao
Director,
Intergenerational
Learning,
Cleveland
Museum of Art
@artlust
Leading
Inclusion
Technology isn’t inclusive. Technology
is just a tool to help humans with
human endeavors. Humans, on the
other hand, are the ones who can
be inclusive, if they choose to be. In
this talk, Seema would like to incite
all of us to use our power to make
the choices that result in inclusive
technology. Why do museums employ
technology? The rhetoric of museums,
in their PR materials, highlights the
innovative, cutting-edge nature
of technology. We are living in a
culture of where digital is the norm.
This talk is a call to arms
empowering all of us to use
technology as a tool of inclusion
in the museums of the future.
Conference Day 01

11. museumnext.com
12.00—
12.20pm
Matthew Solari
Creative Director,
BRC Imagination
Arts
@solarim
Creating The
Inclusive Museum
Through
Storytelling
There is an adage that it is nearly
impossible to hate anyone whose
story you know. Highly impactful
inclusive museums tap into the power
of authentic stories to create both
communal and personal moments.
They employ specific techniques
to take guests on transformative
emotional journeys that inspire true
inclusivity and change millions of
people each year. Award-winning
experience designer, filmmaker and
storyteller Matthew Solari, shares
strategies for identifying, engaging,
and transforming visitors in truly
inspiring inclusive stories in this
exciting – and inclusive – presentation.
12.20—
1.20pm
LUNCH
BREAK
Friday 25 September

12. MuseumNext — 25—26 September 2015
1.20—
1.40pm
Zachary Kaplan
Assistant Director,
Rhizome
@sailingfanblues
The Born-Digital
Art Institution
Increasingly, it’s point of principle
that the internet represents not a
separate space, but an encompassing
condition which is restructuring
systems of labor, authorship,
value, visibility, and interaction.
Of course, museums and other
traditional memory institutions
are not exempt from this new
reality, and possibilities emerge
when these institutions understand
themselves as networked entities.
This talk introduces the “born-
digital art institution”: discussing a
number of new models for what an
art institution can be—its programs
and languages and operational
structures—when it organizes itself
with the internet at its core. Some
of these memory institutions take
the form of the building-based
museum, others as small spaces
nesting themselves within and among
those traditional institutions, yet
others as outposts on social media
sites like Tumblr and Facebook,
and some others as custom web
platforms, including Rhizome itself.
1.40—
2.00pm
Johanna
M. Blume
Assistant Curator
of Western Art,
History and
Culture,
Eiteljorg Museum
of American
Indians and
Western Art
@curatourist
Martha Hill
Vice President for
Public Programs
Visitor Experience,
Eiteljorg Museum
of American
Indians and
Western Art
@eiteljorgmuseum
Out West At The
Eiteljorg: Building
Collaborations
With LGBTQ
Communities
This presentation will investigate
how museums can engage
marginalized communities through
programs and exhibits, and create
more inclusive environments. The
specific focus will be on LGBTQ
communities with a discussion of
the importance of fostering authentic
relationships with the communities
museums seek to represent.
The staging of Out West programs,
the development of the Blake
Little: Photographs from the Gay
Rodeo exhibit, and both projects’
subsequent successes owe much
to collaborations between Eiteljorg
staff and representatives of the local
Indianapolis, and broader Western
LGBTQ communities. Presenters
will discuss specific strategies the
Museum employed to build and
nurture these relationships.
Conference Day 01

13. museumnext.com
2.00—
2.20pm
Elizabeth
Kryder-Reid
Professor of
Anthropology and
Museum Studies,
IU School of Liberal
Arts (IUPUI)
@KryderReid
Laura Holzman
Assistant Professor
of Art History and
Museum Studies,
Public Scholar of
Curatorial Practices
and Visual Art
@HolzmanLaura
Scott Stulen
Curator of
Audience
Experiences and
Performance,
Indianapolis
Museum of Art
@middlewest
Where The
Sidewalk Ends:
Museum Grounds
As Public Spaces
Whether situated in pristinely
manicured botanical gardens, wedged
between skyscrapers on a bustling
city street, or nestled in the woods on
an historic site, a museum’s grounds
reveal much about the institution.
Museum founders, architects, and
scholars have long recognized the
potential power of placing a museum
in a particular setting.This remains an
issue of contemporary concern because
perceptions about and uses of museum
grounds are important factors in
shaping an inclusive museum.
The appearance, management,
and use of museum grounds convey key
messages about who belongs near the
museum and how they are expected to
behave on site.This panel will consider
examples that illuminate the contested
dynamics of museum grounds as places
where public practice, private interest,
and institutional power intersect.
2.20—
2.40pm
Adam
Reed Rozan
Director of
Audience
Engagement,
Worcester Art
Museum
@adamrozan
“Do Not Touch
The Artwork”
Creating New
Signs For A
Modern Visit
How did a 117-year-old institution in
central Massachusetts reinvent itself?
Through a mix of vision, moxie, and
action. Come learn from its director
of audience engagement how the
Worcester Art Museum learned to love
its visitors and started telling them
what they can do at the museum.
Friday 25 September

14. MuseumNext — 25—26 September 2015
2.40—
3.00pm
Nynke Feenstra
Researcher
and Museums’
Accessibility
Advisor, Leiden
University, the
Netherlands
Use Your Senses:
Overcoming The
Accessibility
Paradox
An inclusive museum does not attach
labels like ‘blind’, ‘deaf’, or ‘not impaired’
to people, but in order to create an
accessible museum it is necessary to set
apart the blind or the deaf, and look at
the special needs of a particular group.
The presentation will explore the
possibilities of designing a multi-sensory
presentation of a museum collection as
a means to establish an intellectually
accessible collection for everyone.
Including insights from neuroscience,
Nynke will argue that such a
presentation benefits all visitors
regardless of their impairment
and consequently overcomes
the accessibility paradox.
3.00—
3.20pm
Laura Crossley
PhD Researcher
and Museum
Consultant
@lfcrossley
Feel The Squeeze
And Do It Anyway:
How To Be An
Inclusive Museum
In Times Of
Financial Crisis
During international austerity and
leaner financial times, museums
must take measures to embed
community engagement work
with non-traditional groups in their
core practice so that it does not
only happen when project funding
is available or not take place at all.
The presentation draws on interviews
with museum professionals across
England, working in a variety of
museums, to demonstrate how
interviewees are changing their
community engagement practice
to ensure that they remain
dynamic, inclusive institutions
despite losing core funding, or
having their funding reduced.
Conference Day 01

15. museumnext.com
3.20—
3.40pm
Monica O.
Montgomery
Director, Lewis
Latimer Historic
House Museum
@MuseumHue
@Monica_Muses
Masum Momaya
Curator
Smithsonian
Institution
@MasumMomaya
Beyond Tokenism:
Institutionalizing
Inclusivity In
Museums
Often, diversity and inclusion
efforts in museum collections,
education, exhibitions and public
programming are one-off initiatives
that engage an identified under-
represented community around a
specific project. Relationships are
built, stories are shared, photos are
taken and Facebooked/Tweeted/
Instagrammed, funders are informed
of progress, and boxes for diversity
are checked. However, in the long-
run, inclusivity is not institutionalized
in the culture and practice of
museums or their strategies for
community engagement.
Presenters will discuss lessons
learned and exemplary practices
from their own work in collections,
education, exhibitions and
public programs and those of
museums around the country.
3.40—
4.00pm
Heidi Benham
Information
Experience
Designer, Royal
College of Art
@aitchbdesign
4.00pm
Sensitive Spaces:
Designing Museum
Experiences For
Those Who Live
With Dementia
As we grow older we become more
vulnerable to Dementia. In the US,
one third of seniors die with some
form of the disease. Heidi believes
that through careful planning and
a deep understanding of Dementia,
we have both the capability, and
the responsibility, to create a future
that is sensitive and inclusive of
those who live with the disease.
Helping them to maintain a
rich, fulfilling and active life.
Through sympathetic and creative
design methods, museums have
the opportunity to create truly
engaging experiences, making
time for reflection, for feeling
and for a sense of connectivity.
Shuttles to
downtown
Friday 25 September

16. MuseumNext — 25—26 September 2015
Conference Day 01
The Children’s
Museum of Indianapolis
2.00—
5.00pm
Mar Dixon
Audience
development
and social media
specialist
@MuseumCamp
@TCMIndy
@MarDixon
MuseumCamp
At The Children’s
Museum Of
Indianapolis
Mar Dixon and Linda Spurdle founded
MuseumCamp in 2011 after attending
one too many conferences where
the real conversations happened
at the coffee break (MuseumNext
being the exception!).
The idea behind MuseumCamp
is to turn the focus on delegates
attending the Camp to talk about
issues that are important to them
This session is about ideas brought
on the day that the participants
collectively decide to talk about.
MuseumNext Indianapolis will bring
MuseumCamp to the world’s biggest
and best children’s museum, where
you’ll convene in the recreated
classroom of Ruby Bridges, the brave
little girl made famous for her role
in the newly desegregated schools
of the American south in 1960.
Pre booking essential. Capacity: 30
The Cerulean at
The Alexander Hotel
7.00—
10.00pm
Evening
Reception
MuseumNext takes over Cerulean,
one of the leading restaurants in
Indianapolis for a casual evening of
food, drinks and conversation. Enjoy
a special farm-to-table menu created
for MuseumNext by Cerulean chefs,
drinks by Indianapolis’s Sun King
Brewery and music by DJ Scott Stulen.
The Cerulean – 339 S Delaware St,
Indianapolis, IN 46225 (317) 870-1320

18. MuseumNext — 25—26 September 2015
Conference Day 02
Indianapolis
Museum of Art
9.15—
10.00am
Registration
Catch one of the shuttles from
downtown Indianapolis to the IMA
and pick up your delegate bag and
lanyard if you haven’t already done so.
Grab a hot drink and network
with fellow delegates before the
conference starts.
10.00—
10.15am
Welcome
Welcome by Jim Richardson, Founder,
MuseumNext and our host for the
day, Charles Stanton.
Sponsored by Mailchimp
9.15am—
5.30pm
Test It Lab
Check out the Test It Lab, a space
where museums visitors and
conference attendees will be invited
to try out a number of prototypes that
the Indianapolis Museum of Art has
been developing to test interpretive
elements and activities for some of
their upcoming exhibitions. This will
give you the opportunity to provide
useful feedback about the prototypes,
which will then be used to inform
potential changes to the interactives.
It also provides an insight into the
IMA’s innovative visitor-centered
and collaborative exhibition
development process, informed by
extensive research and evaluation.

19. museumnext.com
Saturday 26 September
10.15—
11.15am
Nina Simon
Executive Director,
Santa Cruz
Museum
@ninaksimon
Fighting For
Inclusion
We’re all here at this conference
because we believe in including
communities in the museum
experience. So what’s stopping us?
In this interactive keynote, Nina
will explore common barriers to
inclusion—for community members,
institutions, staffs, and boards—
and tools to overcome them.
Nina Simon will share honest
stories and effective strategies
from her experience as an
activist director of the Santa
Cruz Museum of Art History.
11.15am—
12.00pm
Shelley Bernstein
Vice Director
of Digital
Engagement
Technology,
Brooklyn Museum
@shell7
Exploring Ask
Brooklyn Museum
Shelley’s talk will explore ASK
Brooklyn Museum, a new initiative
which empowers visitors to ask
questions using their mobile
devices as they explore the galleries
with experts answering incoming
queries in real time. This three year
project is funded by Bloomberg
Philanthropies as part of their
Bloomberg Connects program.
Shelley will discuss the Museum’s
shift to a user-centered approach
for project concept, design, and
build; agile planning methodology
is being used to test ideas directly
with visitors. Shelley will talk about
the iterative process in getting
the project up and running and
lessons learned from the floor.

20. MuseumNext — 25—26 September 2015
Conference Day 02
12.00—
1.00pm
LUNCH
BREAK
1.00—
1.30pm
Colleen
Dilenschneider,
Chief Engagement
Officer,
IMPACTS Research
@cdilly
Inclusion Or
Irrelevance:
The Data Behind
The Urgent Need
For Museums
To Engage New
Audiences
The need for museums to evolve to
be more inclusive seems spot-on with
their missions to educate and inspire.
Unfortunately, museums that aren’t
engaging new audiences risk their
future existence. Data suggests that
attendance to cultural centers is on
the decline.The good news? Data also
suggests that forward-facing museums
may realize near-term improvements
to visitation if they begin to successfully
engage diverse audiences right now.
This is an overview of the big data about
who is not going to museums today,
how we can get them there, what this
means to our bottom lines of financial
solvency and mission execution, and
why targeting new audiences matters
now more than ever before.

21. museumnext.com
Saturday 26 September
1.30—
2.00pm
Silvia Filippini-
Fantoni
Director of
Interpretation,
Media and
Evaluation,
Indianapolis
Museum of Art
@silviaff20
Scott Stulen
Curator of
Audience
Experiences and
Performance,
Indianapolis
Museum of Art
@middlewest
The Challenge
Of Engaging
Millennials In
Art Museums
While older Americans continue to
visit museums regularly, there is
a significant drop in attendance
within the Millennial generation
and eventually their offspring. This
disruption in the “pipeline” of new
patrons threatens the future of art
museums and if not reversed, may
lead to the end of many institutions
in the not so distant future.
Over the past two years the
Indianapolis Museum of Art has
made a significant effort to move
away from the more passive forms
of interaction traditionally offered
in art museums, towards a new
engagement model that supports
social interaction, participation and
entertainment to better connect
with emerging audiences and
ensure the future of the institution.
2.00—
2.30pm
Adrianne Russell
Museum educator,
literary artist
and nonprofit
consultant
@adriannerussell
Ravon Ruffin
Co-Creator,
Brown Girls
Museum Blog
@2brwngirls
@Ravon_Ashley
Mining The
Digital Landscape,
Engaging
Communities
Of Color
Museums have a history of
marginalizing black and brown
communities, either by denying
them entrance, or neglecting
their representation in staff,
exhibitions, collections, educational
programming and interpretative
planning. Although museums have
not typically engaged these groups
in productive ways, it does not
mean these groups are stagnant in
culture production, preservation and
presentation. Creatively, they have
made online spaces for themselves,
circumventing the periphery – where
museums have often placed them.
This talk explores these digital havens,
how museums can engage them, and
why museums who are interested in
racial reconciliation and sustained
progress should engage with them.

22. MuseumNext — 25—26 September 2015
Conference Day 02
2.30—
3.00pm
Annemarie
Van Eekeren
Head of the Public
Education
Department,
Amsterdam
Museum
@aveekeren
Annemarie
Den Dekker
Head Curator,
Amsterdam
Museum
Including The
City: Representing
Amsterdam By
Working With
The People Of
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is diverse with 180
nationalities represented in the city
today and is known worldwide as a
very liberal city with a large lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)
community. The museum aims to
represent this dynamic and diverse
city by contemporary collecting,
outreach and educational programs.
Working in close proximity with groups
like heirs from the transatlantic
slavery, Dutch women who have
converted to Islam and transgenders
the museum has learned from and
improved upon their methods of
participation and representation.
This presentation will share insights
in to the narrative methods of
participation and dilemmas of
the City Museum.
3.00—
3.30pm
AFTERNOON
BREAK

23. museumnext.com
Saturday 26 September
3.30—
4.00pm
Tim Powell
Digital Producer,
Historic Royal
Palaces
@HRP_Palaces
Finding The
Lost Palace:
Establishing
Digital RD
In A Heritage
Organization
A beating heart, a magic trick, a
text from the King, and a palace
made of sound... How can you create
meaningful experiences of history in
a building which no longer exists?
The Lost Palace will be a new visitor
experience, allowing HRP to tell stories
as ‘history where it happened’; to
reclaim the streets as public cultural
space, where history is performed and
participated in; so people will sense
these lost spaces and encounter the
characters that once inhabited them.
To achieve this,they have established an
in-house digital RD practice and have
run an open call competition to create
and test prototypes.This talk will share
how they did this, what they are doing
next–and what they learned from
experimenting with technology in one of
themostsecurity-sensitiveareasoftheUK.
4.00—
4.30pm
Fionn Kidney
Global
Engagement
Manager,
Science Gallery
International
@fionnkidney
@sciencegallery
Taking A DIWO
(Do It With
Others) Approach
To Public
Engagement
How can we create experiences that
surprise and engage audiences in
an era of hyper-stimulation and
information overload? How can
cultural organizations meaningfully
engage their communities in the
creative process? And how can
this engagement be valuable
for the audiences and creators
alike? To answer some of these
questions, Fionn will talk through
the highly collaborative creative
process developed by the innovative
Science Gallery that is now
spreading worldwide through the
Global Science Gallery Network.

24. MuseumNext — 25—26 September 2015
Conference Day 02
4.30—
5.30pm
Colleen
Dilenschneider
Chief Market
Engagement
Officer,IMPACTS
research
@cdilly
Scott Stulen
Curator of Audience
Experiences and
Performance,
Indianapolis
Museum of Art
@middlewest
Closing
Conversation
Our panel will discuss key topics from
the presentations over the last two
days with Colleen Dilenschneider,
Scott Stulen, Monica O. Montgomery,
Fionn Kidney and Seema Rao.
5.30—
5.40pm
Final Thoughts
And Thanks
Final thoughts on the
two-day conference.
Monica O.
Montgomery
Director of the
Lewis Latimer
Historic House
Museum
@MuseumHue
@Monica_Muses
Fionn Kidney
Global
Engagement
Manager,
Science Gallery
International
@fionnkidney
@sciencegallery
Seema Rao
Director,
Intergenerational
Learning,
Cleveland
Museum of Art
@artlust
Priya Sircar
Senior Consultant,
Lord Cultural
Resources
@LordCultural

25. museumnext.com
Saturday 26 September
Indianapolis
Museum of Art
6.00—
9.00pm
Evening
Reception
At Oldfields–Lilly House and Gardens
After the closing session join us in
the beautiful formal gardens of
the Indianapolis Museum of Art
for a casual happy hour followed
by a closing celebration hosted
by the IMA Audience Experience
and Performance team. Dine from
a curated selection of local food
trucks, enjoy drinks from Sun King
Brewing and New Day Meadery,
DJs, games and a few surprises.
Shuttles will take delegates back
downtown between 7.30–9pm

26. 18, 19, 20 April 2016

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