The Cultural Leadership Laboratory
Value Articulation Intensive
Strategic development for museum directors ready to leverage breakthrough research on institutional impact.
The Challenge
Museum directors excel at communicating value to traditional supporters. When presenting to museum-friendly boards, cultural foundations, and engaged donors, you speak fluently about education, engagement, and programming investment.
But when facing stakeholders who don’t begin with cultural appreciation — who care primarily about community outcomes your institution could support — many directors retreat to familiar territory: visitor satisfaction, attendance demographics, or educational program descriptions.
Here’s what recent research reveals: cultural institutions generate measurable community value — intellectual wellbeing, social connection, physical health benefits — worth hundreds of dollars per visit. Yet most directors don’t leverage this data when it matters most or bring it to the attention of those who are most invested in those outcomes.
The gap isn’t leadership capability or institutional vision. You’ve successfully built stakeholder relationships and secured significant traditional support. The challenge is speaking the language of stakeholders whose primary interests extend beyond cultural appreciation — those who care about workforce development, community health, social connection, or economic impact, regardless of their feelings about museums specifically.
The Opportunity
Research from the Institute for Learning Innovation shows cultural experiences generate specific human outcomes that non-traditional funders actively support: reduced social isolation and increased social capital, enhanced cognitive flexibility, measurable stress reduction, improved problem-solving confidence, and much more.
Corporate wellness programs need employee engagement solutions. Community health initiatives focus on social connection. Economic development organizations track workforce well-being. Educational funders measure lifelong learning outcomes.
When you can demonstrate that museum experiences generate the specific outcomes these stakeholders need, you’re speaking their language. This positions your institution as essential infrastructure for goals they’re already funding, opening access to resources that dwarf traditional cultural philanthropy.
The Laboratory
The Cultural Leadership Laboratory convenes directors to address critical challenges through peer learning and strategic implementation. Each intensive focuses on a specific leadership challenge that requires both mindset shifts and practical application.
This fall’s intensive addresses value communication — developing frameworks that connect institutional capabilities with stakeholder outcome language. This peer environment enables testing value articulation approaches before implementing them with actual funders.
Eight-Week Structure
September-November, biweekly sessions with optional support sessions between core meetings.
Foundation Building (September 18): Economic frameworks connecting cultural experiences to community outcomes. Assessment of current communication approaches.
Language Development (October 2): Stakeholder-specific messaging frameworks. Design of field assignments for structured testing with real prospects.
Implementation Analysis (October 16): Results sharing and peer consultation on stakeholder responses and resistance patterns.
Integration Planning (October 30): Framework refinement based on actual conversations. Development of institution-specific implementation strategies.
Share Results (November 13): Community discussion of insights and peer learning outcomes, preserving individual privacy while advancing sector understanding.
Sessions will be held in the afternoons (Eastern time). Specific times will be set based on the availability of the first five participants who enroll.
Requirements
All participants test approaches with real stakeholders — board members, foundation officers, corporate partners — with genuine results.
Fee
Premium executive development programs require $10,000+ for intensive leadership training. We’re offering this Cultural Leadership Lab for $3,000.
If your institution is enrolled in MaP³, the fee is $1,500. Progress Circle members can register for $2,500. Email community@museumprogress.com to register at the applicable member rate.
Outcomes
Participants develop systematic approaches for presenting institutional impact to non-traditional stakeholders. You'll gain tested messaging frameworks, confidence with cross-sector prospects, and strategies for identifying funding aligned with demonstrated community outcomes.
By completion, you'll have field-tested value communication with real stakeholders, refined approaches based on actual responses, and created implementation plans for your institutional context.
Program Leaders
Kyle Bowen and John Falk co-facilitate, combining research expertise in museum community impact with practical institutional development experience.
Register
If you’re new to MaP, we encourage you to schedule a call to learn more and assess whether participation is right for you.
For those familiar with our approach and ready to secure their spot, you can register here.
Limited to 12 participants — 1 director confirmed, 11 spots available
Questions? Contact Kyle Bowen at kyle[at]museumprogress.com