Work With Us

Move your museum beyond traditional engagement metrics to support genuine community progress. We help cultural institutions address critical challenges through research-driven insights, sustainable frameworks, and collaborative learning.

Many museums face common roadblocks: declining engagement, difficulty measuring impact, and departmental silos to name a few. The traditional response has been familiar but ineffective — demographic targeting, surface-level metrics, and isolated initiatives. Museums as Progress takes a different approach.

Three Core Challenge Areas

Audience Connection Beyond Demographics

Traditional visitor categorization reinforces the very barriers museums aim to break down. We help you understand communities through their goals rather than characteristics, revealing strategic opportunities for meaningful engagement.

Impact Measurement That Matters

Visitor numbers and satisfaction scores tell an incomplete story. We help you define success metrics that reflect genuine community value, gather evidence that resonates with stakeholders, and build frameworks for ongoing impact measurement.

Strategic Implementation Across Departments

When departments operate in silos, even the best strategic plans stall. We help align teams around shared definitions of progress, bridge planning-implementation gaps, and create frameworks for sustained collaboration.

Understand Before Taking Action

We believe lasting progress starts with deeper understanding — not just of demographic data or satisfaction scores, but of the outcomes your museum supports and the internal structures enabling or preventing institutional change. We help you:

  • Uncover the diverse ways people approach goals that matter to them

  • Identify which participant outcomes your museum is uniquely positioned to support

  • Reveal where internal perspectives align or create friction

  • Build evidence-based frameworks for measuring genuine impact

How We Work With Institutions

Our approach adapts to your institution's specific challenges and readiness. Most partnerships follow this progression:

Step 1: Foundational Assessment (MaP³)

Begin with a comprehensive assessment that reveals:

  • Which visitor outcomes your museum delivers most effectively

  • How departmental perspectives align (or don't) around priorities

  • Learning capabilities and knowledge-sharing patterns

  • Revenue patterns and institutional strengths

This assessment creates a strategic baseline that informs all subsequent work, ensuring resources focus where they'll create maximum impact. Your team receives:

  • A detailed profile mapping your institution's distinctive capabilities

  • Comparative benchmarking against peer institutions

  • Leadership discussion facilitation to interpret findings

  • Priority recommendations aligned with your current strengths

Step 2: Strategic Action

With your assessment foundation in place, your institution transforms insights into action through:

  • Targeted improvements based on identified capability patterns

  • Seasonal programming specifically aligned with your strategic priorities

  • Peer cohort participation with institutions addressing similar challenges

  • Focused measurement frameworks to track genuine progress

This implementation phase transforms assessment insights into visible institutional change. Your team develops:

  • Cross-departmental initiatives organized around visitor outcomes

  • Evidence-based frameworks for measuring meaningful impact

  • Practical tools that bridge planning-implementation gaps

  • Clear pathways for sustained progress beyond initial engagement

For organizations ready to go even further once their assessment is complete, MaP offers:

Advanced Program Details

Once your institution has completed the foundational MaP³ assessment, these specialized programs offer pathways for deeper progress.

The Value Realization Collaborative with John Falk

Transform how your institution measures and creates value through this year-long program combining research-driven frameworks with practical implementation support.

  • Define metrics that capture genuine community value

  • Develop practical tools for supporting progress

  • Receive implementation guidance throughout the year

The Community Goals Study

Uncover opportunities to support community goals through this collaborative research initiative.

  • Get custom insights into community goals and progress

  • Identify overlooked opportunities in your current market

  • Inform strategic planning with evidence-based audience insights

Custom Research & Strategy

For institutions that have identified specific strategic questions that require deeper investigation, we offer tailored research options, including:

  • Deep listening studies that reveal hidden barriers and opportunities

  • Opportunity mapping to identify gaps between community goals and current support

  • Implementation guidance that moves insights into action

Not Sure Where to Begin?

Every museum's challenges have unique dimensions, even when the core issues seem familiar. The most effective starting point depends on your specific context, constraints, and priorities.

Answer six quick questions to receive tailored recommendations for your institution's next steps.