Museum Buzz

Emily is joined by a special co-host to breakdown the big take aways from season two.

Season Two interviewed museum leaders from around the world about how different departments interpreted the word 'Distance' in the COVID-era.

Esme Ward, Director of the Manchester Museum, is setting out to create the most inclusive, imaginative, and caring museum in the world. In this conversation, we zero in on her efforts to care for her staff, audiences, and collections through embarking on a journey of repatriation. "God knows I'm passionate about museums, but you know, I do worry that we over rely on that passion."

In this conversation, I speak with the four program co-chairs of the Museum Computer Network (MCN)conference about how they approached planning their virtual conference, what they're worried about, and whether conferences in the future will be more or less virtual.

MCN in November spans two weeks. Other virtual conferences are four weeks. One day. Live. Hybrid. Asynchronous. Conferences are experimenting and seemingly trying to lower as many barriers to entry as possible to still connect with their attendees.

Reopening is more than creating safe physical spaces for visitors and staff. It can be an opportunity to "reorient the place of museums" in society and how they engage with issues of white supremacy, white fragility, and social justice. Waqas Jawaid and Andy Chen, Co-Creators of Isometric Studio in Brooklyn, NY, created a Reopening Toolkit for Museums that included a preface called "A Lens Toward Justice."

Our conversation explores the toolkit and the larger ideas museums face as they reopen.

Ian Ellard, Head of the V&A Academy at the V&A in London, shares his experience of rapidly switching to distance learning as a result of COVID-19. Ellard was about to launch a new, cohesive adult learning program: the brochure was ready to print, the new logo was approved, all they had to do was hit 'send'. "But public health had other plans."

Listen to our conversation as we explore their journey into distance learning.

Kat Harding, PR and Social Media Manager at the North Carolina Museum of Art, shares a deep dive into their approach to #MuseumFromHome. This popular initiative by museums from around the world has allowed visitors to stay in touch with the institutions they love - and access new collections - during the pandemic.

In the wake of the shutdown, Scott Stulen, CEO and President of the Philbrook Museum of Art, had to act quickly. Projects that would take months, took hours. A new idea presented in the morning was up and running by the afternoon. In this conversation, Scott reflects on the role of museum leadership during these tumultuous times.

From collaboration to garden cats to victory gardens, the Philbrook has run over 250 programs since they initially shut down and it doesn't seem like they're slowing down anytime soon.

Erika Sanger, Executive Director of the Museum Association of New York (MANY), is balancing the desire and need to re-open with the reality of a national health crisis.

In this conversation, we talk about how she's led museums to navigate this difficult time by offering information, resources, and virtual meet ups. We also cover the economic realities that museums face: in New York state, museum's are losing $3.5 million a day.

More reopening resources are available on my website: http://emily-kotecki.com/podcast.

How have museums responded to the "COVID Moment"? In this episode, Josh Goldblum, CEO of BlueCadet, talks about how museums are having to rethink the visitor experience.

With museums closed and faced with re-opening, Goldblum believes museums can evolve their thinking by looking to other industries such as journalism, or companies such as Disney and Whole Foods.

Plus, what all museums may be wondering: what happens to all the touch screens?!

Museum Buzz is back with Season Two!

In this season Emily interviews guests from around the world to unpack one buzzword from different perspectives. That buzzword is "Distance."

We'll look at it through the lens of interpretation, re-opening, exhibition design. But also a little more abstractly: Can museums afford to distance themselves from the present? How do you shrink the distance between a visitor and an object in a world of social distance?

The podcast will be posting weekly beginning Sunday August 2. As always there will be a game at the end of every episode plus additional commentary by Emily!