Museum lobbies have a huge influence on visitor experience. But what makes a good lobby?

What is a “liminal space” in a museum? How does research actually work? What does “peer-reviewed research” actually mean? What do researchers hope their outcomes will be? Which department of a museum is even responsible for the lobby, and all the other “spaces in between”?

Dan Clevenger (Principal), Monika Smith (Principal), and Helen Ho (Senior Associate, Senior Design Researcher) from DLR Group discuss “Liminal Space Research” with MtM host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio).

Along the way: wonder, awe, gaps in the literature, and all the spaghetti you can throw at a cupboard.

Talking Points:

1. DLR Group and the research team
2. What is a “liminal space”?
3. How research works
4. The peer review process
5. What the outcome will be
6. Sneak peek: things learned so far

How to Listen:

Listen on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311  

Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G  

Listen at Making the Museum, the Website:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/podcast  

Links to Every Podcast Service, via Transistor:
https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/ 

Guest Bios:

Dan Clevenger, AIA, LEED BD+C, Principal, Global Cultural + Performing Arts Leader, DLR Group. Dan Clevenger is an award-winning arts and cultural programmer, designer, and leader with more than two decades of experience across all phases of design and project development. His portfolio spans art museums, science centers, history museums, and natural history institutions, including the Heard Museum, Arizona Science Center, Chandler History Museum, C.N. Gorman Museum at UC Davis, the Sheldon Museum of Art at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and the University of Arizona Arts Master Plan. His work reflects a consistent commitment to institutions that strengthen their communities with purpose and longevity. Dan serves as a board member of the Western Museum Association and the Arizona State University Art Museum Creative Impact Board.

Monika Smith, AIA, Principal, Cultural+Performing Arts Design Leader, DLR Group. Monika Smith brings a rigorous design craft to some of the most complex museum environments in the country. A senior designer with 28 years of experience in cultural facilities and historic preservation, she is known for technically demanding work across new construction, adaptive reuse, and landmark renovation. Her portfolio includes the Albany Museum of Art, Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia, Library of Congress Conservation Lab, and the Smithsonian Institution. Monika is a juror for the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums Buildy Awards.

Helen Ho, PhD, EDAC, Senior Associate, Senior Design Researcher, DLR Group. Helen Ho helps cultural institutions make informed, community-centered design decisions. With more than a decade of mixed-methods research experience, she connects stakeholder engagement, post-occupancy evaluation, and evidence-based frameworks to outcomes that matter: visitor wellbeing, spatial equity, and long-term institutional impact. She translates complex community needs into clear design metrics and research-informed strategies that support meaningful, people-centered spaces. Helen holds a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Michigan. She is an EDAC professional and an AIA Associate Member.

About Making the Museum:

Making the Museum is a newsletter and podcast on exhibitions, written and hosted by Jonathan Alger. MtM is a project of C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio.

Learn more about the creative work of C&G Partners:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/ 

Links for This Episode:

Dan Clevenger: [email protected] 

Monika Smith: [email protected] 

Helen Ho: [email protected] 

The Cultural+Performing Arts / Museums Practice at DLR Group   

Strategic Research Partnerships Yield Museum Design Insights, at DLR Group 

Heard Museum by DLR Group 

Albany Museum of Art Adaptive Reuse by DLR Group 

Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery by DLR Group 

Links for Making the Museum, the Podcast:

Contact Making the Museum:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact 

Host Jonathan Alger, Managing Partner of C&G Partners, on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger 

Email Jonathan Alger:
[email protected] 

C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/ 

Making the Museum, the Newsletter:

Like the show? You might enjoy the newsletter. Making the Museum is also a free weekly email about exhibitions for museum leaders and teams. (And newsletter subscribers are the first to hear about new episodes of this podcast.)

Join hundreds of your peers with a one-minute read, three times a week. Invest in your career with a diverse, regular feed of planning and design insights, practical tips, and tested strategies — including thought-provoking approaches to technology, experience design, audience, budgeting, content, and project management.

Subscribe to the newsletter:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/ 

How do you build a museum?

How do you build the right project team? How do you engage with community? What does it mean to plan a museum? What does it mean to design a museum? How do you align your budget with your purpose? How do you build the story of your museum project?

Jamē Anderson, Monteil Crawley, Sarah Ghorbanian, and Chris Wood from SmithGroup discuss “Building a Museum: This is Not a Manual (the New Book)” with MtM host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio).

Along the way: a one-year process that took ten years, a mystery fifth guest, and branching out to herbal supplements.

Talking Points:

1. Why a book like this?
2. How do I build the right project team, and what does it mean to engage with the community?
3. What does it mean to plan and design a museum?
4. How do I align budget with purpose?
5. How do you write a book?
6. How do I learn more from my network?

How to Listen:

Listen on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311  

Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G  

Listen at Making the Museum, the Website:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/podcast  

Links to Every Podcast Service, via Transistor:
https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/

Guest Bios:

Jamē Anderson is a vice president and director of SmithGroup’s national team of architects, planners, and engineers who focus exclusively on cultural capital projects. Her career is dedicated to cultural institutions, having held roles at the National Gallery of Art and Smithsonian Institution in addition to her tenure at SmithGroup.

Monteil Crawley is a senior principal at SmithGroup and a leading expert in the design of museums and cultural facilities, shaping a unique design vision for each facility and institution. He has spent his career with SmithGroup designing prominent spaces and places that celebrate and reveal the history and culture of the United States.

Sarah Ghorbanian is a principal at SmithGroup who specializes in the planning and project management of complex cultural projects. She is an expert at coordinating the intersection of architecture and exhibition design to create compelling, holistic, and engaging experiences for museum audiences.

Chris Wood is a vice president at SmithGroup and leads the firm’s Washington, D.C., studio of design and engineering specialists devoted to cultural projects. He leads design teams for cultural capital projects of all scales and is a recognized expert in the planning and design of museums and collections facilities.

About Making the Museum:

Making the Museum is a newsletter and podcast on exhibitions, written and hosted by Jonathan Alger. MtM is a project of C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio.

Learn more about the creative work of C&G Partners:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Links for This Episode:

The Book: https://www.smithgroup.com/buildingamuseum 

SmithGroup: https://www.smithgroup.com 

Jamē Anderson: [email protected]

Monteil Crawley: [email protected] 

Sarah Ghorbanian: [email protected] 

Chris Wood: [email protected]

Links for Making the Museum, the Podcast:

Contact Making the Museum:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact

Host Jonathan Alger, Managing Partner of C&G Partners, on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger

Email Jonathan Alger:
[email protected]

C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Making the Museum, the Newsletter:

Like the show? You might enjoy the newsletter. Making the Museum is also a free weekly email about exhibitions for museum leaders and teams. (And newsletter subscribers are the first to hear about new episodes of this podcast.)

Join hundreds of your peers with a one-minute read, three times a week. Invest in your career with a diverse, regular feed of planning and design insights, practical tips, and tested strategies — including thought-provoking approaches to technology, experience design, audience, budgeting, content, and project management.

Subscribe to the newsletter:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/ 

How do you design for all ages at the same time?

What is “serious fun”? Does nature ever go out of style? How do you create content for both Native and non-Native audiences? What do education staff do when a gallery has no text panels? What are “Native sensibilities”? Why is Blue Deer blue?

Shoshana Wasserman (Deputy Director) and Kimberly Rodriguez (New Media Specialist) from First Americans Museum, and Bill Smith (Principal, Storyline Studio) discuss “Serious Fun at the First Americans Museum” with MtM host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio).

Along the way: a 12-foot hawk, rotary phones, and Grandma Turtle’s Choctaw collar.

Talking Points:

1. What is FAM?
2. What is the "FAMily Discovery Center" project?
3. Native Sensibilities Taking Center Stage
4. Native and Human Values: Community, Respect, Resilience, and Stewardship
5. We are all connected.
6. The project is still growing.

How to Listen:

Listen on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311  

Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G  

Listen at Making the Museum, the Website:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/podcast  

Links to Every Podcast Service, via Transistor:
https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/

Guest Bios:

Shoshana Wasserman (Muscogee Creek/Thlopthlocco Tribal Town citizen) began with a vision to weave culture, education, and community into meaningful spaces. For over 20 years, she helped bring First Americans Museum to life. A founding team member and Deputy Director, she oversees operations, guest services, and the store supporting Native artists. As co-curator of the FAMily Discovery Center, she champions immersive storytelling, tribal collaboration, and joyful design—all anchored in her belief We Are All Connected.

For 18 years, Kimberly Rodriguez (Muscogee/Oglala Sioux) has been part of the FAM journey—from name changes to documenting the site “from the ground to the mound.” A co-curator of two exhibitions and a proud member of the powerhouse Communications team, she blends professionalism with a Looney Tunes sense of humor. With deep pride in promoting the stories of 39 tribes in Oklahoma today, Kimberly brings heart, wit, and collaboration to everything she does—because like water, humor is life.

Bill Smith, Principal of Storyline Studio, brings over 40 years of experience as one of the nation’s leading exhibition designers. Formerly partner and design director at West Office Exhibition Design, he led award-winning projects for history, science, and cultural institutions. In 2003, he founded Storyline Studio to further his creative vision. His work has earned accolades from the Industrial Designers Society of America, AAM’s CurCom, and the Society for Environmental Graphic Design.

About Making the Museum:

Making the Museum is a newsletter and podcast on exhibitions, written and hosted by Jonathan Alger. MtM is a project of C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio.

Learn more about the creative work of C&G Partners:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Links for This Episode:

Shoshana Waserman:
[email protected]

Kimberly Rodriguez:
[email protected]

Bill Smith:
[email protected]

First Americans Museum:
https://famok.org/

FAMily Discovery Center:
https://familydiscoverycenter.org/

Storyline Studio:
https://www.storylinestudio.com/

Links for Making the Museum, the Podcast:

Contact Making the Museum:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact

Host Jonathan Alger, Managing Partner of C&G Partners, on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger 

Email Jonathan Alger:
[email protected] 

C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/ 

Making the Museum, the Newsletter:

Like the show? You might enjoy the newsletter. Making the Museum is also a free weekly email about exhibitions for museum leaders and teams. (And newsletter subscribers are the first to hear about new episodes of this podcast.)

Join hundreds of your peers with a one-minute read, three times a week. Invest in your career with a diverse, regular feed of planning and design insights, practical tips, and tested strategies — including thought-provoking approaches to technology, experience design, audience, budgeting, content, and project management.

Subscribe to the newsletter:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/ 

How can we make our exhibitions more sustainable — in every way?

Where do we start? What can museum teams learn from sustainability advancements in architecture? What’s a “red list?” What is the difference between embodied and operational carbon? What does it mean to do “design for deconstruction?” And when can we all buy the upcoming “Sustainable Museum Exhibition Handbook?”

Douglas Flandro (Exhibition Designer & Director of Sustainability, CambridgeSeven) discusses “What is Sustainable Exhibition Design?” with MtM host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio).

Along the way: museum egos, dark skies, and heat islands.

Talking Points:

1. Embracing Imperfection
2. Design for Human Health
3. Design for Social Health and Equity
4. Design for Ecosystem Health
5. Design for Climate Health
6. Design for the Circular Economy

How to Listen:

Listen on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311  

Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G  

Listen at Making the Museum, the Website:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/podcast  

Links to Every Podcast Service, via Transistor:
https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/

Guest Bio:

Drawing on his background in theater and film design, Douglas Flandro is especially interested in sustainable exhibit design, new technologies, immersive experiences, experiential graphic design and hands-on interactive exhibits. He has designed exhibits and graphics for numerous science museums, children’s museums, nature and visitor centers, aquariums, and zoos. As the firm’s Director of Sustainability, Douglas leads CambridgeSeven’s Sustainable Working Group and has taught and lectured at AAM, ASTC, Parson’s School of Design, and the Rhode Island School of Design. He is the author of the forthcoming book, “The Sustainable Exhibition Handbook,” due to be released in the Spring of 2026.

About Making the Museum:

Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. MtM is a project of C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio.

Learn more about the creative work of C&G Partners:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Links for This Episode:

Douglas by Email

[email protected]

Douglas on LInkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-flandro/

CambridgeSeven
https://www.cambridgeseven.com

The Sustainable Exhibition Design & Construction Toolkit
https://www.cambridgeseven.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/SEDC-Toolkit_v6_Sep2024.pdf

The Museum Exhibition Materials Pledge
https://www.mindfulmaterials.com/museum-materials-pledge

The Gallery Climate Coalition
https://measure.galleryclimatecoalition.org/

The Bizot Green Protocol
https://www.cimam.org/sustainability-and-ecology-museum-practice/bizot-green-protocol/

The Climate Toolkit
https://climatetoolkit.org/about/

Living Future (ILFI) Red List of Worst in Class Chemicals
https://living-future.org/red-list/ 

Green Science Policy Institute Six Classes of Chemicals
https://www.sixclasses.org/

DarkSky International
https://darksky.org/

Terrapin Bright Green 14+ Patterns of Biophilic Design
https://www.terrapinbrightgreen.com/report/14-patterns/ 

The Design Museum, "The Waste Age: What can design do?"

https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/waste-age-what-can-design-do

Links for Making the Museum, the Podcast:

Contact Making the Museum
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact 

Host Jonathan Alger, Managing Partner of C&G Partners, on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger 

Email Jonathan Alger
[email protected] 

C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/ 

Making the Museum, the Newsletter:

Like the show? You might enjoy the newsletter. Making the Museum is also a free weekly professional development email for exhibition practitioners, museum leaders, and visitor experience professionals. (And newsletter subscribers are the first to hear about new episodes of this podcast.)

Join hundreds of your peers with a one-minute read, three times a week. Invest in your career with a diverse, regular feed of planning and design insights, practical tips, and tested strategies — including thought-provoking approaches to technology, experience design, audience, budgeting, content, and project management.

Subscribe to the newsletter:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/

One in four people has a disability. Why aren’t we designing museums better for them?

What is inclusive design? How does it relate to universal design, or the ADA? Which disciplines and departments have to get involved to make a museum truly inclusive? What happened when the military tried to design for the “average” jet pilot? If we design for better accessibility, are we designing for our own future selves?

Sina Bahram and Corey Timpson (Principals, Prime Access Consulting) join host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners) to discuss “Inclusive Design Will Change the World.”

Along the way: curb cuts, multimodality, and the finance department.

Talking Points:

1. What is Inclusive Design?
2. The Average Jet Pilot
3. 1 in 4 People have a Disability
4. Vectors of Human Difference
5. Inclusive Design Has No Boundaries
6. It’s a Convincing Company, not an Accessibility One
7. A Company That’s Hopefully Pointless One Day

How to Listen:

Listen on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311  

Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G  

Listen at Making the Museum, the Website:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/podcast  

Links to Every Podcast Service, via Transistor:
https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/

Guest Bios:

Sina Bahram (President, Prime Access Consulting) is a blind computer scientist, consultant, researcher, speaker, mentor, and entrepreneur. He works with executive management, policymakers, engineering teams, content creators, designers, and others to promulgate accessibility and inclusive design throughout an organization. In 2012, President Obama recognized Sina as a White House Champion of Change. Sina and his PAC colleagues collaborate on creating digital experiences (web, app, embedded, projected, and more), immersive media, themed entertainment, capital builds, and any/all aspects of experiential design in order to welcome the widest possible audience. Sina serves on and chairs various corporate, research, and non-profit boards. Sina is a Mission Astro Access ambassador and recipient of a Thea Award.

Corey Timpson (Principal, Prime Access Consulting) is an active collaborator and thought leader in the fields of inclusive design, digital media, and experience design within the cultural and themed entertainment industries. As one of the two principals of Prime Access Consulting, Inc. (PAC) Corey's primary focus is to facilitate the creation of inclusive, rich, and meaningful experiences that are welcoming to everyone. Among Corey’s previous positions, he was the Vice-President of Exhibitions, Research, and Design, and concurrently served as the Project Director, for the design-build of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights where his focus was on interpreting difficult knowledge and presenting it through an inclusive, multimodal, and transmedia storytelling approach. Corey’s design leadership has accounted for over 30 international awards in the fields of environmental, exhibition, and graphic design, digital and interactive media, digital systems design, film and linear media, and universal design. Corey serves as an Advisory Board member of Europe’s Best in Heritage and is a board member of the Portrait Gallery of Canada.

About Making the Museum:

Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. MtM is a project of C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio.

Learn more about the creative work of C&G Partners:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Links for This Episode:

Prime Access Consulting (PAC):
https://pac.bz

Mosaic (M4C):
https://m4c.space

Links for Making the Museum, the Podcast:

Contact Making the Museum:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact

Host Jonathan Alger, Managing Partner of C&G Partners, on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger

Email Jonathan Alger:
[email protected]

C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Making the Museum, the Newsletter:

Like the show? You might enjoy the newsletter. Making the Museum is also a free weekly professional development email for exhibition practitioners, museum leaders, and visitor experience professionals. (And newsletter subscribers are the first to hear about new episodes of this podcast.)

Join hundreds of your peers with a one-minute read, three times a week. Invest in your career with a diverse, regular feed of planning and design insights, practical tips, and tested strategies — including thought-provoking approaches to technology, experience design, audience, budgeting, content, and project management.

Subscribe to the newsletter:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/

Is there a better way to collaborate?

What’s the secret to good feedback? How do you manage 40 people in a room? Are group facilitators ever truly neutral? Should you tell your teammates their responsibilities, or have them tell you? What’s a RACI chart? If collaboration is so important, why hasn’t there been a book about it — until now?

Emily Saich (Vice President of Exhibitions) and Joey Noelle Scott (Director of Exhibition Projects) from the Monterey Bay Aquarium discuss their new book “A Collaborative Approach to Exhibition Making” with host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio).

Along the way: post-mortems, “Yes And,” and cardboard kelp cutouts.

Talking Points:

1. A book for creatives, facilitators, and problem-solvers
2. Create responsibilities *with* collaborators
3. Truly neutral facilitators are rare
4. Healthy teams seek feedback
5. Build trust with contractors
6. Celebrate the work

How to Listen:

Listen on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311  

Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G  

Listen at Making the Museum, the Website:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/podcast

Links to Every Podcast Service, via Transistor:
https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/

Guest Bios:

Emily Saich has more than twenty years of experience leading exhibition development, design, prototyping, and fabrication of exhibitions and innovative visitor experiences. She has worked on several award-winning and influential exhibitions and managed projects for all types of museums and organizations, including science centers, natural history museums, children’s museums, public gardens, performing art centers, art museums, historic sites, zoos, and aquariums. Emily is vice president of Exhibitions at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where she leads vision and strategy for major exhibitions and guides collaborative teams through design and creation of visitor-centered experiences.  Emily holds a Bachelor of Arts in studio art from California Polytechnic University, Humboldt, and a Masters of Fine Arts from Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University.

Joey Noelle Scott is the director of Exhibition Projects at the Monterey Bay Aquarium where she leads teams that create innovative exhibitions that inspire conservation of the ocean. With 20 years of experience in educational and museum settings, she’s led a diversity of projects, including the creation of curriculum, professional development programs, digital products, and exhibitions. She’s built expertise in facilitation, program development, and project management with a particular focus on developing processes that support collaboration, creativity, and productivity. Her formal training includes a Bachelors of Science in genetics, an MA in education, and a certification as a Project Management Professional and LEED AP ID+C.

About Making the Museum:

Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. MtM is a project of C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio.

Learn more about the creative work of C&G Partners:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Links for This Episode:

How to Buy “A Collaborative Approach to Exhibition Making” (The New Book):
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/collaborative-approach-to-exhibition-making-9781538185261/

https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-collaborative-approach-to-exhibition-making-emily-saich/ee61b106aedc6e38?ean=9781538185261&next=t

Emily Saich on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilysaich/

Joey Noelle Scott on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joey-noelle-scott-6359aa12/

Links for Making the Museum, the Podcast:

Contact Making the Museum:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact

Host Jonathan Alger, Managing Partner of C&G Partners, on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger

Email Jonathan Alger:
[email protected]

C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Making the Museum, the Newsletter:

Like the show? You might enjoy the newsletter. Making the Museum is also a free weekly professional development email for exhibition practitioners, museum leaders, and visitor experience professionals. (And newsletter subscribers are the first to hear about new episodes of this podcast.)

Join hundreds of your peers with a one-minute read, three times a week. Invest in your career with a diverse, regular feed of planning and design insights, practical tips, and tested strategies — including thought-provoking approaches to technology, experience design, audience, budgeting, content, and project management.

Subscribe to the newsletter:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/ 

Is a museum where experiences happen — or is the museum the experience?

Can a museum be designed to inspire? What is the Medal of Honor? What role does a bold design idea have in making a project happen? Does the mission of a museum inspire the people who make it? Can everyone have a mission?

Bassam Komati, AIA OEAB (Partner, Viñoly Architects) discusses “Making the Medal of Honor Museum” with host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio).

Along the way: floating blocks, extra helicopters, and going above and beyond the call of duty.

Talking Points:

1. What is the Medal of Honor?
2. A Museum Meant to Inspire
3. The Origin of a Design Idea
4. A Tour of the Museum
5. A Building Team Inspired by a Cause
6. Everybody Can Have a Mission

How to Listen:

Listen on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311  

Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G  

Listen at Making the Museum, the Website:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/podcast  

Links to Every Podcast Service, via Transistor:
https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/

Guest Bio:

Bassam Komati, AIA OEAB, joined Rafael Viñoly Architects in 2006 and became a partner in 2019, contributing to major projects on four continents. He collaborated closely with Rafael Viñoly on conceptual designs, leading design development and coordination through digital and BIM platforms. As Partner-in-Charge of the National Medal of Honor Museum in Texas, he has led all phases since the firm’s 2019 competition win. His portfolio includes London’s Battersea Power Station Master Plan, NYU Abu Dhabi, and projects in corporate, commercial, research, and healthcare sectors. He holds degrees from Harvard University and the American University of Beirut and speaks internationally on architecture.

About Making the Museum:

Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. MtM is a project of C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio.

Learn more about the creative work of C&G Partners:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Links for This Episode:

Bassam Komati
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bassam-komati-562a11154/

National Medal of Honor Museum
Website: https://mohmuseum.org
Instagram: @mohmuseum

Rafael Viñoly Architects
Website: https://vinoly.com
Project page: https://vinoly.com/works/national-medal-honor-museum/
Instagram: @rva_ny
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rafael-vinoly-architects/

Links for Making the Museum, the Podcast:

Contact Making the Museum:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact

Host Jonathan Alger, Managing Partner of C&G Partners, on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger

Email Jonathan Alger:
[email protected]

C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Making the Museum, the Newsletter:

Like the show? You might enjoy the newsletter. Making the Museum is also a free weekly professional development email for exhibition practitioners, museum leaders, and visitor experience professionals. (And newsletter subscribers are the first to hear about new episodes of this podcast.)

Join hundreds of your peers with a one-minute read, three times a week. Invest in your career with a diverse, regular feed of planning and design insights, practical tips, and tested strategies — including thought-provoking approaches to technology, experience design, audience, budgeting, content, and project management.

Subscribe to the newsletter:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/ 

What are the (top) secrets of better collaboration?

Is collaboration like a game of ping pong? Or more like ballroom dancing? Is there a better way to disagree? Does having constraints make design ... better? How is an exhibition like a film? And what happens when your project feels — in this case, even literally — like “Mission: Impossible”?

Barbara Miller (Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, Museum of the Moving Image) and Danae Colomer (Director of Exhibition Management and Design, Museum of the Moving Image) discuss “Mission: Collaboration” with host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio).

Along the way: zombies, skateboards, and messages that self-destruct.

Talking Points:

1. A Moving Experience
2. What is Collaboration?
3. Is It Ping Pong ... or Ballroom Dancing?
4. Constraints Make a Stronger Design
5. Sometimes It’s Mission: Impossible

How to Listen:

Listen on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311  

Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G  

Listen at Making the Museum, the Website:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/podcast  

Links to Every Podcast Service, via Transistor:
https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/

Guest Bios:

Barbara Miller is Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs at Museum of the Moving Image in New York, where she organizes exhibitions and directs the content of the Museum’s permanent collection of material culture related to film, television and digital media. Major projects at MoMI include The Jim Henson Exhibition; Deepfake: Unstable Evidence on Screen; and Born Digital: Pathways Towards Preservation, an Andrew W. Mellon-funded initiative to institute sustainable collection and exhibition practices related to digital media. Prior to joining MoMI in 2009, Miller's wide-ranging research and storytelling projects included work on the nationally broadcast PBS documentary American Roots Music, for which she earned an Emmy nomination. She holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from New York University.

Danae Colomer is an architect and exhibition designer with over 15 years of experience across museum, architecture, and film design. She is passionate about the power of storytelling and how it can be translated into physical space to create meaningful, immersive experiences. Originally from Spain, Danae discovered her passion for exhibition design at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Since relocating to New York in 2009, she worked at Ralph Appelbaum Associates on award-winning museums worldwide. In 2021, she joined the Museum of the Moving Image as Director of Exhibition Management and Design. She holds a Master’s in Architecture from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid and a Master’s in Exhibition Design from FIT in New York. When she’s not designing exhibitions, Danae explores the world through the curious eyes of her children — which currently means mastering the rules of soccer and decoding the unique language of skateboarding.

About Making the Museum:

Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. MtM is a project of C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio.

Learn more about the creative work of C&G Partners:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Links for This Episode:

Barbara by Email:
[email protected]

Barbara on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-miller-8b788b13b/

Danae by Email:
[email protected]

Danae on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/danaecolomer/

Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI):
https://movingimage.org/

“Mission: Impossible — Story and Spectacle” (Exhibition at MoMI):
https://movingimage.org/event/mission-impossible-story-and-spectacle/

Links for Making the Museum, the Podcast:

Contact Making the Museum:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact

Host Jonathan Alger, Managing Partner of C&G Partners, on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger

Email Jonathan Alger:
[email protected]

C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Making the Museum, the Newsletter:

Like the show? You might enjoy the newsletter. Making the Museum is also a free weekly professional development email for exhibition practitioners, museum leaders, and visitor experience professionals. (And newsletter subscribers are the first to hear about new episodes of this podcast.)

Join hundreds of your peers with a one-minute read, three times a week. Invest in your career with a diverse, regular feed of planning and design insights, practical tips, and tested strategies — including thought-provoking approaches to technology, experience design, audience, budgeting, content, and project management.

Subscribe to the newsletter:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/ 

How do you choose the right architect for your museum?

Is architecture about more than a building? Is architect selection about more than architecture? What is a design “brief”? Why are museum projects on “elephant time”? Are anonymous open design competitions a good thing? What comes after “good design is good business”?

Susanna Sirefman (President, Dovetail Design Strategists) discusses “The Art of Choosing a Museum Architect” with host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio).

Along the way: cello studies, Winston Churchill, and two lions named Patience and Fortitude.

Talking Points:

1. Design excellence is a basic human right
2. Architecture is about more than a building
3. Architect selection is about more than architecture
4. Selecting the right architect is vital
5. Ask the right questions and you’ll get the right answers
6. Moving beyond “Good design is good business”

How to Listen:

Listen on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311  

Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G  

Listen at Making the Museum, the Website:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/podcast  

Links to Every Podcast Service, via Transistor:
https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/

Guest Bio:

Susanna Sirefman, President and Founder of Dovetail Design Strategists, draws from extensive knowledge of the latest design and building trends, providing her clients with unmatched access to both emerging and acclaimed talent in architecture. Trained as an architect at the renowned Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, England, Susanna’s deep knowledge of the field informs her ability to advise on design, synthesize architectural concepts, making architecture accessible to the public.

About Making the Museum:

Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. MtM is a project of C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio.

Learn more about the creative work of C&G Partners:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Links for This Episode:

Susanna on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanna-sirefman-17b8a813/

Susanna by email:
[email protected]

Dovetail Design Strategists:
https://www.dovetailstrategists.com

Links for Making the Museum, the Podcast:

Contact Making the Museum:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact

Host Jonathan Alger, Managing Partner of C&G Partners, on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger

Email Jonathan Alger:
[email protected]

C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Making the Museum, the Newsletter:

Like the show? You might enjoy the newsletter. Making the Museum is also a free weekly professional development email for exhibition practitioners, museum leaders, and visitor experience professionals. (And newsletter subscribers are the first to hear about new episodes of this podcast.)

Join hundreds of your peers with a one-minute read, three times a week. Invest in your career with a diverse, regular feed of planning and design insights, practical tips, and tested strategies — including thought-provoking approaches to technology, experience design, audience, budgeting, content, and project management.

Subscribe to the newsletter:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/

What if every museum were more like ... a children’s museum?

Why is play “agnostic”? Can you design an entire museum for every generation, all at the same time? How are children’s museums like (and not like) other museums? How did they get that way? Wait, could we make an entire exhibition out of nothing but cardboard boxes? What is “co-learning”? And why don’t more museum people visit … other people’s museums?

Along the way: teaching artists, art teachers, and what we really mean by “caregiver.”

Talking Points:

1. Children’s museums, then and now
2. See the word “museum” differently
3. Play is agnostic
4. Designing for multiple generations
5. Caregivers as co-learners
6. Why professionals should visit other museums

How to Listen:

Listen on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311 

Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G 

Listen at Making the Museum, the Website:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/podcast 

Links to Every Podcast Service, via Transistor:
https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/

Guest Bio:

Edwin Link, M.Ed., serves as the Executive Director of Children’s Museum of Atlanta, where he applies his 18 years of experience in the nonprofit, arts, education, children museums, and youth development sectors.  His experience includes developing and executing national initiatives focused on serving families in under-resourced communities, building community responsive experiences that create joy and wonder, building strategic partnerships, driving revenue to support strategic objectives, and identifying and implementing change management processes for operational efficiency.

About Making the Museum:

Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. MtM is a project of C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio.

Learn more about the creative work of C&G Partners:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Links for This Episode:

Edwin Link on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinlink/

The Children’s Museum of Atlanta:
https://childrensmuseumatlanta.org/

Links for Making the Museum, the Podcast:

Contact Making the Museum:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact

Host Jonathan Alger, Managing Partner of C&G Partners, on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger 

Email Jonathan Alger:
[email protected] 

C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Making the Museum, the Newsletter:

Like the show? You might enjoy the newsletter. Making the Museum is also a free weekly professional development email for exhibition practitioners, museum leaders, and visitor experience professionals. (And newsletter subscribers are the first to hear about new episodes of this podcast.)

Join hundreds of your peers with a one-minute read, three times a week. Invest in your career with a diverse, regular feed of planning and design insights, practical tips, and tested strategies — including thought-provoking approaches to technology, experience design, audience, budgeting, content, and project management.

Subscribe to the newsletter:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/