Helping Museums Celebrate What Makes Them Special
What makes a museum special, and how do you help more people discover it?
The Morgan Arts Council (MAC)’s summer concert series at The ICEHOUSE in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, demonstrates how cultural spaces can become community gathering places through programming that gives people new reasons to connect, engage and return.
I recently read an article from the American Alliance of Museums about how museums can become a “third place” in their communities: a welcoming space beyond home and work where people gather, connect and feel a sense of belonging. The idea resonated with much of the work I do with museums and other cultural organizations.
The concept of the “third place” was popularized by sociologist Ray Oldenburg (1932–2022) in his book The Great Good Place. Oldenburg made the case for the importance of informal public gathering places that foster conversation, connection and a stronger sense of community.
An Interesting Opportunity
For museums, that idea presents an interesting opportunity. What if we think beyond getting people through the doors for a single visit and instead ask how museums can become places people want to return to, participate in and make part of their community life?
Every museum has something that makes it special. It could be its collection, the stories it preserves, its location, the people behind it, or the role it has played in its community. The challenge is translating those assets into experiences that are meaningful to the audiences the museum serves today, while also reaching people who may not yet see the museum as a place for them.
That’s where my 25+ years of tourism and destination marketing experience becomes particularly valuable.
Tourism is about more than promoting an attraction. It’s about understanding audiences, creating reasons to visit, connecting organizations to their communities, and turning awareness into engagement.
Looking Beyond Marketing
When a museum wants to attract new audiences, marketing is often the first thing people think about. Better advertising, more social media or a new website can certainly help, but promotion can only do so much.
Sometimes the opportunity is stronger messaging that better communicates why someone should visit. Other times, it’s developing new programs, partnerships or events that create additional reasons to engage.
And often, the work goes deeper into operations.
That can mean looking at hours, streamlined ticketing, consistant communications, the visitor journey or administrative processes and asking a simple question: Does the way we operate reflect how people actually want to engage with us?
Small changes can remove barriers, make the visitor experience easier and give staff and volunteers more time to focus on the work that matters most.
Becoming Part of the Community
The goal isn’t to turn a museum into something it isn’t. It’s to better celebrate what already makes it special and create more opportunities for people to discover and connect with it.
Tourism can certainly help museums reach visitors from outside their communities. But some of the greatest opportunities may be much closer to home.
Becoming a community gathering place means giving local residents reasons to visit more than once. That might happen through recurring programs, special events, partnerships with other organizations, educational experiences or simply creating a welcoming place where people want to spend time.
Those relationships can build attendance, but their value goes beyond visitation. They strengthen the museum’s relevance to its community and demonstrate impact to board members, donors, funders and potential partners.
For small museums in particular, that can be an important part of building a stronger and more sustainable organization.
The American Alliance of Museums article, “Boosting Local Attendance: Practical Strategies for Becoming Your Community’s Third Space,” offers some great ideas for thinking about that opportunity and is well worth a read.
