2024 Roadmap
Note: Fellow MAP member Ruth Hartt is leading a workshop series for arts leaders interested in growing their organizations’ audiences using innovation frameworks from the for-profit world. Ruth is a kindred spirit. If you appreciate the point of view that fuels Museums As Progress—especially our emphasis on audience goals as the foundation for organizations’ success— this series is for you. The deadline to register is January 9th; MAP readers and members can use the code MAP10 to get 10% off. Sign up at cultureforhire.com/a-path-forward
I have a weakness for metaphors and strained analogies. The main idea for today’s newsletter was going to be: “If most research firms are like going to eat at a conventional restaurant, then MAP’s community-driven research model is hibachi.”
Yes, it needs work. But at least it makes sense to the MAPresearcher bot, and now I don’t have to dwell on that tortured analogy anymore.
Instead, I’ll keep with tradition and share MAP’s annual Roadmap letter. And I’ll keep it simple by focusing on just one thing: MAP Academy.
Diagnosis: It’s been 30 years since Stephen Weil said that museums needed to move from “being about something to being for somebody,” and 15 years since John Falk offered identity-driven motivations as an alternative to monolithic, demographic descriptions of audiences. In that time, museums have made progress toward prioritizing the goals of the people they hope to support. But many museums still default to demographic descriptions, and the questions we ask about audiences are typically focused on organizational goals (i.e., engagement).
There are a lot of forces at work that undermine museums’ efforts to take a progress-first approach to their work—many seem beyond our control*. For example, funders often set terms for success, defaulting to demographic or purely quantitative metrics. This becomes ingrained as “just the way things work”.
But other forces may be addressable. For example, museums face resource constraints, but they are learning organizations—that is, relative to other sectors, there’s a spirit of camaraderie and generosity in sharing knowledge. That spirit may be the key to pooling resources to address financial constraints. Another example: It’s hard to change the conversation when people aren’t fluent in the topic; There are practically no professional development opportunities for museum professionals devoted to adopting audience goals as an organizing principle in museums. But museum professionals are a curious lot, and the pandemic altered people’s appetite and ability to participate in remote learning.
Hypothesis: A community of practice that trains museum professionals in progress-space principles and practices can change the conversation—given time. Along the way, participants can contribute to research projects that address questions that are critical to museums’ future success but that funders may not understand or appreciate.
Guiding Policy: In 2024, we’ll test these assumptions by focusing on MAP Academy.
Supporting Actions & Resource Allocation: To do that, we’ll launch 2 or 3 labs in the community and introduce three courses from Indi Young. Some things will have to take a back seat (perhaps including this newsletter).
Proximate Objectives: We’ll know if we’re going in the right direction or if my diagnosis is flawed based on how museums and museum professionals respond. If museums register for the Museum Membership program and participate in labs like Community Goals and Purposes of Membership in Gardens and Arboreta, that’s a strong signal. If individuals register for academy courses like Listening Deeply, that’s another positive signal. People’s behavior will tell us what we need to know.
Strategy (summary): Traditional funding models and client-centered research engagements have not accelerated the shift to progress-first (human-centered) strategic planning and practices in museums. In spite of an appetite for learning within the sector, professional associations have done little to support cross-disciplinary learning on an individual or organizational level. To address this, MAP will offer a crowdsourced model for research (Museum Membership) that also provides individual museum professionals hands-on training in progress-space research practices (Academy Training).
How you can get involved: If you’re not already a member, reply to this email—”send me an invite”— and I’ll invite you to join for free. If you decide you want to get more involved, you can become a Supporting Member or register your museum.
Happy new year,
Kyle
*Maybe all of them are beyond our control? I worry this newsletter may sound … naïve? Foolish? I mean, I can’t seriously believe that MAP is going to solve these big, intractable challenges, right? No, but I wonder if we have to act as if we can, no matter how dumb it looks or sounds, if we want to have any impact at all.
P.S. Yesterday, I messaged our community’s Supporting Members to thank them and invite them to join a call to discuss their plans and goals for the upcoming year. Nezka Pfeifer, one of our founding members, wrote back with a comment that made my day (shared with permission):
I'm not sure how much I'll get to participate this year, but I'm glad to keep an eye on all the things that pop up, so I hope I will be able to. I actually let my AAM membership lapse at the end of 2023 because I no longer find it useful or supportive, and it was a decision I had been considering for some time, but it was difficult to cut the cord after 30 years of membership. I am so grateful for what you are doing and the work you are creating with MAP because I think this is the future of what we all want and need in our field. And it allows for a lot more crossovers (as you've demonstrated) that are much more engaging and fruitful.
I printed one thousand copies and now have new wallpaper in my office.❤️
