Years
2018-2019
Institution
Ford’s Theatre Society
Visitor research at Ford’s Theatre had found that students tended to disengage quickly in their time in the Ford’s Theatre Museum.
Knowing that a redesign would not be imminent, Ford’s needed to find a means to engage student groups—a third of visitorship.
I collaborated with colleagues to try different methods of engaging student groups.
What I Did
Contributed to grant writing
Took part in writing a successful grant application to the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to engage students by creating a “mobile interpretive solution” for them to use while on-site.
Pivoted the project
After discussions with other institutions showed low takeup rates for mobile apps and mobile websites, plus the possibility of an exhibition redesign coming sooner than anticipated, I worked with colleagues to pivot the project.
Participated in discussions with IMLS program officers to reconfigure the tactics in the grant to a prototyping process suggested by the Director of Education and an external evaluator.
Managed the process
Managed the prototyping sprint process—six week-long sprints to test low-cost interpretive interventions to engage students.
Arranged groups of Ford’s Theatre staff to join in the brainstorming, building, evaluating, and debriefing sessions each week.
Created content for prototypes
Wrote content and sourced images for each exhibition element tested.
Disseminated results
Co-wrote blog posts reporting on the results of each sprint.
Presented about this process at conferences.
Managed creation of new exhibition elements
When the prototyping process resulted in a solution—cards and flip doors allowing students to follow young people through the Civil War era—I sourced a fabricator and led installation of the new elements.
When the new elements began to break, I worked with colleagues to repair and make more durable.