Nice to Necessary

Moving From Nice to Necessary 10:45 – 12pm
Panel: Sarah Orleans, Portland Children’s Museum, Julia Brand, Louisiana Children’s Museum
Rhonda Kiest, Stepping Stones Museum for Children, Jeanne Vergeront, Vergeront Museum Planning

I thought this workshop had a great panel. Each of the panelists gave great examples of how to amplify your message that your organization is not just nice but necessary to to the fabric of the community. My favorite speaker was Julia Brand from the Louisiana Children's Museum because her stories about her museum's survival through multiple natural disasters was especially inspiring (kudos to the Children's Museum of Manhattan who helped them out right after Hurrican Katrina - details to follow.)

The panelists were asked to address these issues:
What does necessary mean? Based on each community, economic times, changes with time.
Shift from nice to necessary is in being accountable to long term outcomes
Museums must be a leader in some way to be necessary
Museums must be both nice and necessary - meet pressing local community issues
What have you done to grow your presence in your community, what outcomes strenghten your presence?

STEPPING STONES MUSEUM FOR CHILDREN, Norwalk, CT
Start with mission – based on a community survey (like our needs assessment for PALs)
Environmental/plants and animals – 2003 Rainforest Adventure designed to travel, repurpose exhibits and human body exhibit. 18 mo. process to develop with many community partners, including the Dept. of Public Health, Yale Healthy Children Healthy Communites
2006 created Healthyville, again can travel
New addition 2009 – opened 11/2010, LED Gold certified. Conservation quest – travelling, go into school environments.
Planning for what’s next :2011-2014 strategic plan "Open your world"
OAT – Organizational Advancement Team – 1 – learning impact 2 – community value 3 – growth and development
Strategic Ventures – healthy children= healthy communities
New addition – Energy, Energy Lab – more water exhibits
Leadership roles – Norwalk ACTS, 30 organizations – museum asked to talk on organizing ACTS, Deliverables – create strategic plan and define outcomes = Every third grader can read at grade level All Norwalk students will graduate from high school to college
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LOUISIANA CHILDREN'S MUSEUM
Necessary is what’s relevant, so it will be sustainable.
Hurricane Katrina 2005 – they received a gift from the Children's Museum of Manhattan a 3 month loan of Play Helps, portable, hands on interactive musical and storytelling experience which was taken to St. Bernard Parish, the most devastated part of town. Play Helps was necessary. The city was focused on physically rebuilding but the needs of the children were put on the on the backburner. 1700 students per week visited Play Helps. Due to high demand, they raised enough money to extend the 3 mo. rental based on the feeling that children could heal through play. The name of Play Helps was modified to Play Power. Currently 8000 children visit on a weekly basis and services 3 schools. Play Power moved into crime ridden areas. Fills a void that schools and community center. Reinvent themselves, shift purpose serve ares they haven’t been to before.
Become visible as a necessary anchor in the community - network – being invited as a part of a conversation on city, state levels.
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PORTLAND CHILDREN'S MUSEUM
60 years old, moved to new location last year.
This was interesting - they opened Opal a charter school which blends school and museum environment. Reinvented themselves by creating a Center for Children’s Learning which examines what does early literacy research tell us and what does that look like? Center includes a variety of disciplines - staff from Intel as well as anthropologists.
What provokes curiosity in a child? How do we strenghten the connection between literacy and the arts? How can environments support the creative capacity of children?
How does playful inquiry support children to wonder, imagine and create?
Educators from all the world attend Center's symposiums

An important factor that came up during question and answer time was that staff need time to improve their own knowledge – need to build in time in order for staff to educate themselves.
Another audience member from Philadelphia asked about the public's perception of the relevance of children's museums. He used the example how the threat of closing libraries vs. children’s museums closing sparked an uproar from the public. The public was up in arms at threat of closing libraries but people wouldn’t have the same reaction for museums. People don’t understand museums. He asked how to change the public perception of children’s museums. A panelist said to provide measurable outcomes for children’s museums. Seems like a major dilemma revolves around how public understanding of the relevance of children’s museums is a challenge.