Blog for 10/28-10/30

It is interesting to see how far museums have come in being more educational places than they have been before. It is intriguing to learn that docents came about more recently due to the desire of museum owners wanting people who can talk about the art intelligently rather than having just more guards. This shows that museums want to become more patron-friendly. It is also enlightening to see the work which goes forth into bringing in school children into the museum to augment what they learn about in school. This comes about through creating exciting exhibits which will teach the kids while entertaining them. The exhibits should be affective in teaching people of all different ages and understandings. With all of the work which goes on in creating an inviting, yet educational experience to those who come to the museum, this shows that museums want to be known to be wonderful places where people can congregate and learn with wonderful experiences. These experiences will add to the students' personal learning experience and help them out in the long run. Thus with this effort more people will come and use the museum. It is also enlightening to see what more museums can do to market themselves and hold themselves accountable to their patrons.
In discussing how exhibits are created and marketed, it is interesting to learn about all the work which goes into making a successful exhibit. It is good to do preliminary research to make sure that your idea is historically accurate and is innovative. It is also good to write text about what you are showing the general public so they know what is going on with the objects which you are showing them. It is also good to create the exhibit in the best way so that the general public will enjoy what you are presenting to them. This may include having unique items or unique ways to present the information to the patrons. As well, it is important to give the general public as much information as possible so that they will know what to expect when they enter into your museum. Also, you should play up your exhibit as much as possible so people will want to come and visit your exhibit and your museum. When I was in Edinburgh, there was an museum called "The Real Mary King's Close", which was under the city chamber building. It is marketed as being a haunted place. It was really cool in that you had a guide who directed you around telling stories of what happened there. There were also models of people in rooms where people had lived and died in talking about the black plaque. There were also a room which used a recording to tell a story of ghosts of people who lived in the area. The guide tries to scare the people with this story, which was intriguing. Over all, this museum experience was marketed to be really good, and it was.
On Tuesday, there was a tour to the DAM where we listened to Heather Nielsen who is a Master Teacher there. She talked about her background and what it takes to work in museum education. She told us that the Native American collection is the largest and oldest collection in the museum. It was interesting to learn and see how there were plenty of collections which were not behind the glass where they could be seen properly. It was also intriguing to see some the efforts to allow patrons to learn about the artists of the art and their take on their art through technological means. As well, it was good to learn about Heather's position as a master teacher and what you have to do in order to become one. You have to be really know and love your collection in order to explain about what it contains. It is also good to know that when exhibits are created, there is a team of master teachers, curators and exhibit creators working together to create the best exhibits possible.