Ian Padgham of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Erin Coburn of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Stein of the Indianapolis Museum of Art and Shelley Bernstein, chief technology officer at the Brooklyn Museum (image via nytimes.com)
In the mood for some museum news? You’re in luck, because the New York Times has more than you could EVER READ. Their annual special “Museums Section” was just published, and we sorted it for you. Check out a selected list of their stories here, plus stay tuned for an NYT Twitter chat this afternoon about museums and social media.
NYT Museums Special Section
- Private collections in public spaces: This article examines the increasing prevalence of collector-based shows in public museums, noting that they’re often cheaper and easier to pull together than a normal curatorial effort (plus they please donors!).
- Christopher Knight on private collection issues:
Death becomes them? Writer uses show on art collectors dead for decades to justify museum shows of living collectors. http://nyti.ms/eaYIuR
— Christopher Knight (@KnightLAT) March 17, 2011
- Airport art: Did you know airports make ideal spaces for art viewing? Meaning that you’re stuck in one area for a long period of time? I identify, there was a great Noguchi sculpture in Dulles that occupied my wandering attention.
- Underdog ambition: Long Island’s Parrish Art Museum is chomping at the heels of larger institutions. With a new building by Herzog and de Meuron and a newfound energy, will this be the museum to watch in the next decade?
- Asian art historiography: Charting the development of the Met’s Asian art collection. Now possibly the best in the world, it barely existed 60 years ago. Plenty of juicy trustee stories, quite a good read. Money quote:
The skylight was soon exposed, and 26 Chinese craftsmen, accompanied by a personal cook, were imported from the garden city of Suzhou to create the Astor Court.
- Museums for kids: The Long Island Children’s Museum is trying to get kids to play, whether its inside or outside, on a playground or… looking at poop. The museum has a whole poop collection! How did we not know this?
- Art tasting: Director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City Julian Zugazagoitia is hosting monthly art chats with his curators in an attempt to broaden the museum’s appeal. He looks like an up and coming museum guy, and the events sound pretty fun.
- Digital Participation: Museums are increasingly taking advantage of social and digital media for publicity and visitor interaction, but if you read Hyperallergic, maybe you already knew that. Anyway, a good overview. Add to that a fantastic story on museum tech and outreach directors that’s much more informative. How can museums become personal, strong communities?
- Cyborg museums: Nope, not robot overlord armies of museums. There are some museums that exist mostly online– niche collections supported by niche communities. Ever heard of the Fitness Museum? Me neither, but it’s out there.
- Museum gadgetry: A tiny new computer is making digital interactivity even more accessible, affordable and installable for museums. Check out the Arduino is changing exhibition design.
- Art and dance: Merce Cunningham’s dance company has traveled with a staggering array of museum-quality art objects, but these are for using, not hanging in a gallery.
Twitter Conversation
Had enough museum stuff? Of course not! Right now, a conversation is going on on Twitter under #nytmuseums, hosted by the New York Times’ Jennifer Preston (@NYT_JenPreston) and featuring such museum social media stars as Shelley Bernstein, of the Brooklyn Museum (@shell7), Ian Padgham of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (@origiful), Erin Coburn of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (@metmuseum) and Robert Stein of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (@rjstein).
Watch the conversation on Twitter or through the New York Times’ website. We’ll have highlights collected on this post as they come, so stay tuned! Here come the tweets:
The way to truly be great at social media is to lose the marketing voice. Connection over “what’s going on here today”. #nytmuseums
— Emily Lytle-Painter (@MuseumofEmily) March 17, 2011
We employ a diverse strategy for twitter. Combination: awareness, inspiration, engagement and promotions. So far ..sucess! #nytmuseums
— ClevelandArt (@ClevelandArt) March 17, 2011
Behind the Scenes content has been some of the most popular content by far on Memorial Art Gallery’s Facebook page. #nytmuseums
— Memorial Art Gallery (@magur) March 17, 2011
MT @cdilly Social media should be looked at as “relationship builder” rather than just an extension of a sales team. #nytmuseums #auddev
— Shoshana Fanizza (@AudienceDevSpec) March 17, 2011
Museums are talking about how Groupon has helped them with membership:
@chelawhita @nyt_jenpreston Groupon worked great 4 my org. sold +250 memberships, more than any dir.mail piece ever did. #nytmuseums
— Diana Trevisani (@dtrevisani) March 17, 2011
Yeah, @jgeneske, @sfmoma has done an amazing job using their avatar to engage. @morganlibrary & @asianartmuseum rotate theirs. #nytmuseums
— Museum Nerd (@museumnerd) March 17, 2011
How do your different social media channels communicate with each other? ie: Twitter/FB/Flickr/etc #nytmuseums
— Lucy Redoglia (@MetEveryday) March 17, 2011
RT @connerprairie:Were trying to practice the 1/4 rule. 1/4 content/marketing 1/4 industry news, 1/4 successes, 1/4 converstaion #nytmuseums
— Clark Art Institute (@the_clark) March 17, 2011
The amazing thing about social media and terrestrial interactions is that by using both, they end up enhancing each other. #nytmuseums :jl
— Artseeka (@Artseeka) March 17, 2011
@nyt_jenpreston @shell7: We agree that metrics don’t tell the whole story, but donors and board members LOVE numbers! #nytmuseums
— Andy Warhol Museum (@TheWarholMuseum) March 17, 2011
I absolutely agree with @gretchen_scott ( of @whitneymuseum ). Different social media solutions work for different museums. #nytmuseums
— Museum Nerd (@museumnerd) March 17, 2011
We’ve found that odd/unconventional content is most popular. Straight up the middle gets ignored. #nytmuseums #nytmuseums
— Midd Art Museum (@middartmuseum) March 17, 2011
That’s what people respond to in physical museums, too. RT @rjstein @origiful best social media “plan” is to be genuine and real #nytmuseums
— Emily Lytle-Painter (@MuseumofEmily) March 17, 2011
Yes, agree w/ @museumnerd. There’s a problem of sr. staff not understanding SM. It’s the younger professionals making strides#nytmuseums
— Anulfo Baez (@EvolvingCritic) March 17, 2011
We have a dedicated team who carries the conversations across various platforms. @meteveryday #nytmuseums
— metmuseum (@metmuseum) March 17, 2011
2nd that – RT @shell7: folks QR codes are not a good answer when the majority of your audience does not have a smartphone#nytmuseums
— Micah Walter (@micahwalter) March 17, 2011
Huge realm of potential: setting up SMS/tweet accounts for weekly programs using 40404 that non smart-phone peeps can follow. #nytmuseums
— Ian Padgham (@origiful) March 17, 2011
RT @rjstein: QR, AR and other experimental interfaces are great to prototype and try, but need other methods for ALL visitors #nytmuseums
— New Museum (@newmuseum) March 17, 2011
@rjstein @shell7 Regarding the importance of archiving social media content: absolutely relevant & insightful for the future. #nytmuseums
— US National Archives (@USNatArchives) March 17, 2011
RT @mariegossip: The @metmuseum #YouTube page is amazing, they offer videos from their lectures!! #nytmuseums
— Jennifer Preston (@JenniferPreston) March 17, 2011
Re: How do museums use YouTube?
Q6 we also use it for video content believing our content should go where the people are. don’t expect ppl to come to our site #nytmuseums
— Shelley Bernstein (@shell7) March 17, 2011
@eric_right_now @henryartgallery @museumsecrets To be in social media you have to give up some control over conversation #nytmuseums
— Chelsea Whitaker (@chelawhita) March 17, 2011
@metmuseum has 300+ videos on its #youtube channel—Director’s messages/Lectures/Behind-the-Scenes/etc. #nytmuseums re: http://bit.ly/g6lwDH
— Lucy Redoglia (@MetEveryday) March 17, 2011
Official chat is over, but the tweets keep flowing…
NYT editors just said offline that the museum community is awesome – couldn’t agree more.Thanks for being w/ us today! :)#nytmuseums
— Shelley Bernstein (@shell7) March 17, 2011
On art video aggregating website ArtBabble:
RT @art21: Q6: @artbabble is an important alternative to YouTube for us, since many classrooms block YouTube. #nytmuseums
— rjstein (@rjstein) March 17, 2011
And of course, the original is best:
RT @artcoholic: No amount of SM can replace the Awe & Wow that comes from being physically in the room with a work of art #nytmuseums
— J-La(@nyc8675309) March 17, 2011
UPDATE: #nytmuseums is trending in NY and DC! Congrats guys!
The marketing voice of museums rarely disappears on twitter. Connecting people w/ products is different than chatting w/ them.#nytmuseums
— Paddy Johnson (@artfagcity) March 17, 2011
Sharing a photo mean ” Come see this, you might like it.” They are not attacks on your IP. #nytmuseums
— John Pyper (@johnpyper) March 17, 2011
@artsicle We’ve only been on twitter for 4 months!If only there was a master list/wiki of Arts Orgs and their SM outlets… #nytmuseums
— Park Avenue Armory (@ParkAveArmory) March 17, 2011
Yes @rebeccataylorla it’s all about content and museums have it! Not only in the physical but knowledge and history. #nytmuseums
— Lisa Grow (@Kre8ivMona) March 17, 2011
#nytmuseums @nyt_jenpreston Today museums could become foci for their topics. Bringing together content and conversation.
— Jacob Cohen (@jstackhouse) March 17, 2011
@parkavearmory @artsicle Great Overview: “Examples of Arts Organizations Social Media Strategies” http://bit.ly/gTdxPg #nytmuseums
— CCS_FundRaising (@CCSFundraising) March 17, 2011
Yeah. It wore me out, but it was a lot of fun. RT @gretchen_scott Anyone else need an aspirin? My eyes are tired. #nytmuseums
— Museum Nerd (@museumnerd) March 17, 2011
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