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/

What can we learn from one of the most complex AI projects in any museum today? 

What is the history of AI in museums? Can we add AI to our experiences without a complete renovation? How do you teach an AI about 775 different football teams? How can AI put visitors literally into a story? Is AI accurate enough for a museum? What about bias? Doesn’t AI take away jobs? And how do you specify exactly what shade of college football orange you want to an AI — if you can only use words?

Kimberly Beaudin (CEO, College Football Hall of Fame) and Geoff Thatcher (Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Creative Principals) discuss “A Museum Transformed with AI” with host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio).

Along the way: Hypercinema, Salvador Dalí, and net promoter scores.

Talking Points:
 
1. A College Football Museum Transformed with AI

2. History of AI in Museums

3. Adding, Not Redesigning

4. Putting Visitors in the Story: Cheerleader, Coach, Player

5. Accuracy, Inclusivity and Jobs

6. What We Learned

7. What Visitors Are Saying

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:

Kimberly Beaudin is the Chief Executive Officer for the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame, one of Atlanta’s top attractions, and college football’s mecca. Beaudin joined the College Football Hall of Fame in June 2015 as the Vice President of Marketing and Communications. With over 20 years of experience in leading brand development and marketing strategy, she was later promoted to oversee the sales operations of the business in March 2016. In April 2020, Beaudin was appointed CEO of the Hall of Fame, making her the first female leader of the storied attraction. In her role as CEO, Beaudin focuses on strategic marketing initiatives, community and public relations, group sales and event sales as well as philanthropic development and partnership sales and activation.

Geoff Thatcher is an experienced creative director who excels at leading projects from concept to reality. These projects are most often about creating world-class experiences in corporate visitor centers, executive briefing centers, museums, theme parks and live events.Great experiences are distinguished by great story telling. Whether it’s interviewing executives about the future of health care in America, walking the Fort Worth assembly line of the F-35 Lightning II or listening to a seventh-generation Hawaiian play ukulele in her living room, it all begins with finding the story and translating it into memorable experiences. Geoff’s passion and experience in leadership development is ultimately about creating an environment where great work can get done together.

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:

Kimberly on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-hartley-beaudin-a547933/

Kimberly by email:

[email protected]

College Football Hall of Fame:
https://www.cfbhall.com/

Geoff on Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffthatcher/

Geoff by email:
[email protected]

Creative Principals:

https://www.creativeprincipals.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 the secret to better museums was … neuroscience?

How can museums inspire human creativity? How much media should be in a gallery — or should there be any? How soon should you get feedback on your exhibition ideas? Can museums help us all “escape the algorithm”? What does knitting have to do with visitor satisfaction? In this episode, we’ll learn some unexpected tricks of the trade from a renowned museum leader.

Lynda Roscoe Hartigan (The Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Executive Director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum) discusses “Creating Effective Museum Experiences” with host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio).

Along the way: standup comedy, Iris Apfel, and moon chairs.
 
 
Talking Points:
 
1. Embrace Human Creativity

2. Design is Critical — Use Media Wisely

3. Knit Experiences

4. Escape the Algorithm

5. Know Your Audience — Get Feedback Early

6. Consider the Neuroscience

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:

Lynda Roscoe Hartigan is The Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Executive Director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum. As a curator, scholar and museum executive, Lynda Roscoe Hartigan brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to PEM. During her time as Chief Curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, she led an internationally recognized acquisition initiative to build collections of works by Black, self-taught and modern and contemporary artists. In 2003, Lynda was appointed as PEM’s first Chief Curator and in 2016 became Deputy Director. Overseeing the interpretation and installation of PEM’s new wing, she was integral to developing and advancing the museum’s innovative exhibition program, collection stewardship, fundraising, education, publishing, digital and global leadership initiatives. Most recently, she was Deputy Director for Collections and Research and Chief Innovation Officer at the Royal Ontario Museum, Canada's largest museum dedicated to art, culture and the sciences. Lynda has returned to PEM to become the museum’s first woman director and to boldly lead the nation’s oldest continually operating and ever-evolving museum forward.

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:

Lynda’s Email:

[email protected]

Lynda on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynda-hartigan-762b475/

Lynda’s Thesis:
"Grandma Moses and the Implications of Memory,' in Grandma Moses in the 21st Century, Jane Kallir, ed., Art Services International, Alexandria, VA, 2001, pp. 64-79.

https://www.amazon.com/Grandma-Moses-Century-Jane-Kallir/dp/0300089279

Calder exhibition:
https://www.pem.org/exhibitions/calder-and-abstraction-from-avant-garde-to-iconic

Ansel Adams exhibition:
https://www.pem.org/exhibitions/ansel-adams-at-the-waters-edge

Escape the Algorithm, PEM’s latest ad campaign:

https://www.pem.org/blog/turning-heads-pems-chief-marketing-officer-gives-the-scoop-on-the-museums-new-brand-campaign

Neuroscience initiative: 

https://www.pem.org/about-pem/pem-initiatives/neuroscience-initiative

Art Pharmacy from Mass Cultural Council:

https://www.artpharmacy.co/

FutureMuseum (PEM will be hosting museum leaders for this event on May 28 and 29, 2025):

https://www.museumbooster.com/future-museum

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 a museum were more like a laboratory?

What if our exhibits were experiments? What if our galleries were more about questions, rather than answers? What if we didn’t fear failure as much? What if scientists, artists, and technologists all created exhibitions together? What happens when you edit an exhibit about editing DNA? Should every project have a post-opening contingency — in addition to the normal kind?

Ann Neumann (Director of Galleries and Exhibitions, MIT Museum) joins host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners) to discuss “Museum as Lab.”

Along the way: circadian rhythms, robots, maritime paintings, and a huge spiderweb you can play like a musical instrument.

Talking Points:

1. The MIT Museum
2. Scientists, Artists, and Technologists
3. Editing the Genetics Gallery
4. Spiderweb Concert
5. Circadian Biology: Lighten Up
6. Moving 1,500,000 Objects

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:

Ann Neumann, Director of Galleries and Exhibitions at the MIT Museum, leads conceptual planning of museum exhibitions presenting MIT’s research, collections, and innovation in science, art, design and technology in the heart of the biotech corridor. Her focus is on the museum as an experimental test bed for ideas, conversations and experiences that reflect the critical issues of culture and society. She’s the recipient of numerous awards for her work and named a Blooloop Museum Influencer in 2024. Her experience developing museums and science centers in the US and internationally reflect a commitment to expanding the human experience and science understanding through interdisciplinary collaborations, visual communication and the built environment. 

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:

Ann by Email:

[email protected]

Ann on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-neumann

MIT Museum:
https://mitmuseum.mit.edu

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 | Design for Culture:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Making the Museum, the Newsletter:

Liked 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 we're doing community engagement … wrong?

How long should the process really take for a museum or exhibition? What’s the difference between demographics and psychographics? What does it mean to “move at the pace of community”? Why do community engagement experts sometimes cringe when they hear the word “charrette”? And what exactly does “community” mean?

Nu Goteh (Founder and Principal of ROOM FOR MAGIC, and Co-Founder of Deem Journal) joins MtM host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners) to discuss “Community Engagement Misconceptions.”

Along the way: Red Bull, lived experience experts, and Burnt Caramel Cookie Crumble.

Talking Points:
 
1. What Does Community Mean?

2. Moving at the Pace of Community

3. Engagement Isn’t Free

4. Finding Partner Organizations

5. Charrettes Are One Tactic (They’re Not a Strategy)

6. The Inherent Tensions

7. The Ice Cream Test

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:
 
Hi, I’m Nu—a designer, strategist, and educator dancing between design, culture, pedagogy and socially-engaged art. My practice integrates and reframes design beyond aesthetics. I’m interested in how design can serve as a catalyst for meaningful social change, informed by my Liberian heritage and a commitment to counter-culture ideals. I believe in the regenerative power of creativity to reimagine what is possible and to shape more inclusive and sustainable futures.
 
As the Founder and Principal of ROOM FOR MAGIC (studio practice) and the Co-Founder of Deem Journal (research & narrative practice), I see design as more than a tool—it's a language that connects people, places, and histories, offering pathways to restore and reshape the world. For me, design carries within it the life of communities, the rhythm of culture, and the potential for social regeneration.
 
I am passionate about creating projects that not only spark imagination but also nurture a sense of being, becoming and belonging. Whether building platforms for dialogue or designing systems for change, I am driven by a vision of community-focused spaces that invite others to participate, collaborate, and thrive. Design, at its best, becomes a bridge—a way to reclaim agency and envision new possibilities.

About Making the Museum:
 
Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. This podcast is a project of C&G Partners | Design for Culture.
 
Learn more about the creative work of C&G Partners:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/
 
Links for This Episode:
 
Nu via Email:

[email protected]

Room for Magic:
https://www.roomformagic.com

Nu’s Personal Website:
https://www.nugoteh.com

Deem Journal:

https://www.deemjournal.com

@deemjournal (Instagram)

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 | Design for Culture:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Making the Museum, the Newsletter:

Liked 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 we combined immersion, emotion, storytelling — and games?
 
We all want “engagement” … but what is engagement? How can our projects create it? What are the elements that go into it? Can game theory and play teach us how to make our experiences better? What is “narrative transportation”? Why are emotions key to memory creation? And what do Renaissance fairs have to do with museums?

 Ed Rodley (Co-Founder and Principal, The Experience Alchemists), joins MtM host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners) to discuss “Playful Engagement.”
 
Along the way: holodecks, Sleep No More, portmanteaus, and Ed’s upcoming book.

Talking Points:
 
1. What is “Playful Engagement”?

2. The Magic Circle

3. Immersion 

4. Emotion

5. Storytelling

6. Games and Play

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:

Ed Rodley, Co-Founder & Principal, The Experience Alchemists (TEA), is an award-winning experience designer with over thirty-five years’ experience in making exhibitions and experiences for cultural organizations large and small. Incorporating emerging technologies into museum practice has been a theme throughout his career. As a thought leader in the digital transformation of the cultural sector, Ed frequently speaks at events around the world like ICOM’s International Symposium 2024 in Dubai and the National Digital Forum 2023 in New Zealand. He was one of Blooloop’s 50 Museum Influencers for 2021. His book “Designing for Playful Engagement in Museums” is due out in Summer 2025 from Routledge.
 
About Making the Museum:

Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. This podcast is a project of C&G Partners | Design for Culture.

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

Links for This Episode:

Ed Rodley by Email:
[email protected]

The Experience Alchemists
https://www.theexperiencealchemists.com

“Taking the Plunge” in Museum Magazine
https://www.aam-us.org/2022/11/01/taking-the-plunge/ 
This article discusses the current state of immersive experiences, some of the conversations around these experiences and their “authenticity” and surveys the psychological research into immersion in digital environments to explore what makes them compelling.

"Thinking about Museums" Blog
https://thinkingaboutmuseums.com/
Ed’s personal weblog on museums, content, design, and why they matter.

Museopunks: The Podcast for the Progressive Museum
https://www.aam-us.org/programs/about-museums/museopunks/
Ed had the distinct pleasure of co-hosting with Suse Anderson her AAM-sponsored podcast which investigated the fascinating work and personalities in and around the museum sector, with a focus on emergent, boundary-pushing work and ideas.

Humanizing the Digital: Unproceedings from the MCN 2018 Conference
https://ad-hoc-museum-collective.github.io/humanizing-the-digital/
This book explored how museums can use technology to foster human connection and dialogue, advance accessibility and inclusion, and champion inquiry and knowledge, drawn from the Museum Computer Network conference.

CODE | WORDS - Technology and Theory in the Museum
https://medium.com/code-words-technology-and-theory-in-the-museum
Brought together leading museum thinkers and practitioners to explore emerging issues about the nature of museums in the light of the dramatic and ongoing impact of digital technologies.

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 | Design for Culture:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Making the Museum, the Newsletter:

Liked 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/

Can a statue change American history?

How do we decide who gets a statue? What happens when you realize how many people deserve a statue but never got one? What’s the difference between a “forensic sculpture” for an interpretive exhibition, and one you’d put in a fine art show? Why are some museums just not complete without a bronze statue of the main characters? Are there “statues of limitations”?

Ivan Schwartz (Founder and Director of StudioEIS), joins MtM host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners) to discuss “Sculpting History.”
 
Along the way: hagiography, phalanges, and ketchup bottles made of bronze.
 

Talking Points:

1. What is a “Forensic” Sculpture?

2. Sculptor as Visual Storyteller

3. How to Sculpt a President

4. A Phone Call from the Archives

5. Telling History Like It Is

6. Statues of LImitation

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:

Ivan Schwartz is the founder and director of StudioEIS. He is a sculptor, painter, and designer, with a keen interest in American history and the use of sculpture in the development of our national symbols. With a degree in sculpture from The College of Fine Arts at Boston University, he packed up and spent a year working in Pietrasanta, Italy in the early 1970s. He was the recipient of a distinguished alumni award from Boston University in 2003, and has shown his work in New York since 1981. Ivan was a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts until the end of 2009 and was also a founding board member of Art Omi, an international arts workshop. He was also President of Innovators in America, 2009-2011, working closely with Sir Harold Evans. The StudioEIS archive was acquired by the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas, Austin, in 2014 in association with a new area of study on American symbols.

StudioEIS has created hundreds of projects in its 50-year history; most notably for: The National Constitution Center, The New York Historical Society, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Virginia Women’s Monument, and The National Museums of African American History and Natural History. The studio has explored the American Presidency, Military History and Civil Rights history extensively. Current Projects include the Clara Luper Memorial that will be unveiled in May in Oklahoma City and Theodore Roosevelt & Barack Obama Presidential Libraries. 

Ivan has been seen recently on the CBS Sunday Morning program and at the Lyndon Johnson Library in conversation with Doris Kearns Goodwin on the subject of Abraham Lincoln. His film: “Lest We Forget, Statues of Limitation,” can be seen on Vimeo. 

About Making the Museum:
 
Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. This podcast is a project of C&G Partners | Design for Culture.
 
Learn more about the creative work of C&G Partners:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

 
Links for This Episode:

Ivan by Email:

[email protected]
 
StudioEIS Online:

https://www.studioeis.com

“Lest We Forget: Statues of Limitation” on Vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/211595498

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 | Design for Culture:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/

Making the Museum, the Newsletter:
 
Liked 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/