10 Tips for Managing our museums

The Muse experience

By Michele Lanzinger - Muse Trento

We all need to think about ourselves as a pretty complex social ecosystem.
New functions centered on visitors experience switched our focus from
“how to showcase” to “how to be relevant and attractive to
our
Audience”. Ten Tips to use to exchange ideas
and to generate conversations
focussing on our common goals.
Where we are
Trento is a city populated
by 115,000 inhabitant
located at the bottom
of a valley in the Alps (NE Italy)
Our story started
long ago
Once upon a time…
…there was an old natural history
museum in town.

Since 18° Century, nobles & rich people

of Trento collected naturalia et mirabilia
and built up the permanent collection of
that museum.

Settled in 1921, the public museum was

housed in a Baroque palace, showcased
typical dioramas & glassboxes full of local
specimens.
 e rous people…
li c a cti v itie s engaged num
td oor pub
’s, a lot o f indoor & ou
During the 90
In January 2000 the tire belts factory Michelin, the largest industrial
compound in the whole region, stopped the production moving away.
… and the old museum was clearly too tight to fulfill the
ambitions of its very creative team. We were ready to
upscale!

In 2003,
the very chance was
provided by the City
Council of Trento,
which offered to move
the old NHM in the new
quarter, to become the
cultural pivot of the
area, attracting people
& revitalizing the place.
 The opening the 27° of July 2013
Ten years of:
- a long ride of front end consultations with citizen,
- a massive project activity
- a serious construction phase

One month of «living» advertising in the city inviting our

citizen to the (their) Opening Cerimony:

24 hours of continous activities

to present to them the identity
and the spirit of the new MUSE.
The aim 

for the township
to regenerate a large disused industrial
area for urban development and local
development

for the community

to produce an attractive and inspiring
public place where to build, together
with our community, a brand new
cultural experience.

for the museum

to get more space an level of organization
in order to up scale for a better and more
qualified public service
 Numbers … so far

for the local economy

500k visitor/y; 75% tourists from outside

50ML €/year on local economies (Trento city
counts 115.000 inhabitants)

for the community

rise of the town self esteem as cultural hub,

growth of citizen participation to cultural
initiatives

for the museum

from a few to n. 190 fte employees (160 with

University degree)
 1010
Tips
Tips
forfor
Managing
Managing
your
ourBuilding
Buildingand
andkeep
Keeping
it attractive
it
Attractive

Tip 1. Before the architects and (possibly) together with them …

Tip 2. Define tasks and organize your staff
Tip 3. Define Strategies, priorities and make decisions
Tip 4. Manage tasks by projects … and cost control
Tip 5. Make the Museum centered on visitor experience
Tip 6. Evaluate and evaluate
Tip 7. Define your cultural identity
Tip 8. Connect your Museum to the local development strategies.
Tip 9 Your Museum Goals have to be Visitor – Centered Goals
Tip 10. The ultimate Secret
Tip 1. Before the architects and (possibly) together with
them …

Create a «Dialog» between museologists and architects



Exhibition project

Cultural
Plan
Exposition
Masterplan

Object list an Wording and

specimen (n. text
1200) guidelines

Multimedia
Text
Storyboard

Audioguide
Tip 1. Before the architects and (possibly) together
with them …

Opportunities to build a dialog between

museum concept and building:
Mountains as a symbol
 Mountains as symbol
of all the fragile zones of the world.

A journey into the fabulous space of Muse to appreciate the

uniqueness of the alpine natural landscape and to imagine smart
solutions for our common sustainable future.
The «ZERO GRAVITY» principle
Six floors, one unique open space
from the top of the mountains to the deep history of life
 Tip 2. Define tasks and organize your staff/1


DIREZIONE
MUSE

STAFF DI DIPARTIMENTO
DIREZIONE RAGIONERIA E
FINANZA

AREA RICERCA E AREA GESTIONE

AREA TECNICA RISORSE E
SVILUPPO CONTRATTI
 Tip2. Define tasks and organize your staff/2
… and work with them on a regular and organized
basis
an example: Monthly Steering Groups Meetings
Timetable First Monday Second Third Monday Fourth Monday
Monday

9.00 – 11.00 CEO staff CEO staff CEO staff CEO staff
11. 15 – 13.00 Cross Inter Cross Inter Cross Inter Plenary
Dept. tbd Dept. tbd Dept. tbd
Ref. Mr/Ms. Ref. Mr/Ms. Ref. Mr/Ms Ref. Mr/Ms

14.30 – 16.00 Communication Research & Education Public Programs &

team & Group team Audience
Satellite Development
Museums Ref. Mr/Ms Ref. Mr/Ms Ref. Mr/Ms
Ref. Mr/Ms
 Tip 3. Define your strategies, priorities and make
decisions/1
The best way to Make Decisions is by “using a systematic
process to select on option among competing alternatives”.

Decision making occurs throughout all project stages:

• From the conceptual phase where aims and objectives for the
project are decided upon,
• To the development phases and realization
• To evaluative stages, after the completion, when the team
analise and evaluate if the job has been done “successfully”.

The RIBA stages

 Tip 3. Define your strategies, priorities and make
decisions/2
Forward Planning has to be considered “a permanent state of your mind”

“Tomorrow belongs to those who start today” and writing a forward planning is
not a bureaucratic secondary job.

Audience Goals Product Goals Organizational /

Competitive Goals
Audience Growth Improving Offerings& Building a Visitor
Programs (i. e. centered
temporary Organization
exhibitions)
Membership Growth Improving Design & Increasing Income
Services
Donor Growth Image Building Generating
Collaborations &
Partnership
Community Service
Tip 4. Manage your tasks by projects … and cost
control/1
The structure of a planning strategy is to seize the activities in projects.
As a rule, structure your activity in a Management by Project Approach
Tip 5. Make your Museum centered on visitor
experience/1

(From Being about Something To being for Somebody)

Tip 5. Make your Museum centered on visitor
experience/2
Tip 5. Make our Museum centered on visitor experience/3
Key questions for today:
• Why do people visit museums?
• What visitors do inside the museum and why?
• What meanings do visitors take away from their museum visit?
• If we knew the answers to these questions, … how could we use
them to improve museum practice?
Tip 5. Make our Museum centered on visitor experience/6

Can Museums be all things to all people?

Are mutual or exclusive priorities (and / or)

• Setting Learning Outcomes
• Reinforcing and/or Challenging Prior Knowledge
• Encouraging Engagement with the Natural World or Science
• Offering Different Social and Educational Experiences
• …
And consider:
Range of visitor experience:
Form visual and sensory to enchantment
(panels, cases with objects, touch it exhibits, video, Augmented reality, …

Level of intensity:
From observation to narrative centered exhibits to immersion and interactivity
(hands on, labs, digital interactives, games

Degree of services:
Information, hospitality, baby sitting and others relations with architecture, …
 Tip 5. Make your Museum centered on visitor experience/8
Some examples from the Muse experience:
• Contemplative
• Immersive
• Interactive
• Playful
• Learning/educative

This is the Museum, baby, The Museum. And there’s nothing you can do about it.
Tip 5. Make your Museum centered on visitor experience/7

The visit experience is

a creative experience
activated by the mind
(and the legs …) of the
visitors.

A good approach is
to set up an
Inspiring,
Learning and
Partecipative
Environment ….
Museo delle Scienze - DOCUMENTO AD
USO INTERNO
Museo delle Scienze - DOCUMENTO AD
USO INTERNO
1° floor
Science on a sphere. Visual technology to educate and entertain
The museum researcher tell their projects in
the permanent exhibitions
Open Labs
Cutting edge research in the hands of families
 Tip 6. Evaluate and evaluate.
There is an on going shifting Power, from Professionals to Museum Audience in
the processes of consultation and design of programs and displays.

Front end evaluation:

Beginning at the conceptual stage of the
project, “front – end” evaluation is used to
asses
Brand new or existing displays, test new
ideas, themes, stories and concepts.
Interviews
Formative evaluation:
Occurs at the same time as the development
of the project and can be used to test:
displays schemes, text and reading levels,
display formats and forniture.
Focus groups
Summative evaluation:
The final stage where consultation occurs
after the opening and is used to rectify
problems and feed into future redisplays.
Interviews and Focus Groups
 Tip 7. Define you “cultural” identity/1

Thanks to your big idea and the “marginal” observations in arrive from
the ministery … and you are invited to consider , here some good questions just t
start: 


• What is the focus of your project (vision, mission, mandate)

• What is the need or opportunity that your project is responding to?
• What outcomes will your project achieve?
• Does your project offer value for money?
• Is your project financially realistic?
 After a lot of job and public consultancy we were ready to move with new
objectives

To become:
• A relevant scientific research institution
• A relevant informal education institution
• A place where things happens, people meet and build up a personal
opinion
The key words of our identity
Research on Nature
Cultural landscape
Common future
Sustainability
Development
Education
Lifelong learning
Participation
Awarness
Social cohesion
From local to global
A journey into the fabulous space of Muse to appreciate the
uniqueness of the alpine natural landscape and to imagine smart
solutions for our common sustainable future.
Tip 8. Connect the Museum to the
local development strategies.
 How to make the difference?
How to put our taxonomies, collections, expositions
within
a larger scope?

FROM …TO
the «classic museum activities» new styles to connect our agenda with
the dynamic growth FOR & WITH the
grounded on research, communication,
education, exhibitions… local community, the «decision makers»,
the local economy …
The 21st century competencies:
- Critical thinking & Problem
solving
- Communication & Collaboration
- Creativity & Innovative spirit

and Literacy
- Global awareness
- Civic literacy
- Environmental literacy
- Technology & Media literacy
- Financial & Economic literacy

Not only frogs and birds, … new tasks for our

educational departments to became an
influencer
within the local development strategies
The 21st Century priorities
Help to Change the measure of the growth
From GDP = Gross Domestic Product
To GPI = Genuine Progress Indicator.
Research & Education
The research in the education programs
The research in the public programs
Tip. 9 Stop to be just nice and become relevant!

From observer
to activist
(Frank Howarth)

Science museums need to change

dramatically in attitude

FROM
skilled observers, commentators &
documenters

TO
active participants in their communities,
working with people to understand and
to take actions against some problems,
to help us humans to confront with the
natural world..
Gli obiettivi del coinvolgimento di
Nina Simons*

(*CEO of Santa Cruz museum of Art and History, liberamente tradotti da Michele
Lanzinger )

RELEVANTI: 
…
SOSTENIBILE: .
… 
“PONTIFICANTE”
…  
PARTECIPATIVO:
…
INFIAMMANTE:
…..
Museums has to have a role in this:

Global Report on Culture

for Sustainable Urban
Development
Recomendations:

1. People centered cities are 


Culture centered spaces.

2. Quality urban environment are

shaped by culture

3. Sustainable cities need

integrated policy – making that
builds on culture.
Inclusiveness
Work it out together
 Tip. 10 The Ultimate Secret
Passion, Enthusiasm, commitment
of the staff!
1. People 1. Enhance the liveability of cities and safeguard
centered cities ther identities
2. Ensure social inclusion in cities through culture
are culture – 3. Promote creativity and innovation in urban
centered spaces development through culture
4. Build on culture for dialogue and peace – building
initiatives

2. Quality urban 1. Foster human scale … urban conservation practices

environments 2. Promote a liveable built and natural environment
3. Enhance the quality of public spaces through
are shaped by culture
culture 4.

3. Sustainable 1. Regenerate cities and «environmental» linkages

cities need by integrating culture at the core of the urban
planning
integrated policy 2. Build on culture a sustainable resource for
– macking that inclusive economic and social development
builds on culture 3. Promote partecipating processes through culture
4. Develop innovative and sustainable financial