Call 'Em Like Museum with Eric Johnson

Call 'Em Like Museum is a weekly podcast exploring how museums really work, and why we love them. Host Eric Johnson talks with museum directors, curators, experts, and passionate fans about what drives them, from homegrown passion projects to world-famous institutions. Each episode digs into museum curation, exhibit design, and the visitor experience — plus the essential question: What's actually worth buying in the gift shop? Season One spotlights museums in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Walt Disney Family Museum, the deYoung Museum, and the USS Hornet Museum.

Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.callemlikemuseum.com/

Music: www.purple-planet.com

This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod: https://lightningpod.fm/

Creators and Guests

Host
Eric Johnson
Podcast editor, producer, and consultant at LightningPod.fm | Working with entrepreneurs, journalists, businesses, and more to achieve their podcasting goals

What is Call 'Em Like Museum with Eric Johnson?

Call 'Em Like Museum is a weekly podcast exploring how museums really work, and why we love them. Host Eric Johnson talks with museum directors, curators, experts, and passionate fans about what drives them, from homegrown passion projects to world-famous institutions. Each episode digs into museum curation, exhibit design, and the visitor experience — plus the essential question: What's actually worth buying in the gift shop? Season One spotlights museums in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Walt Disney Family Museum, the de Young Museum, and the Winchester Mystery House.

What do museums mean to you?

A museum to me is a place that
exists to teach you something.

The scholarly answer is that it was
a temple of the muses that inspire

and guide knowledge and wisdom.

It creates a space for people to come
together, and then everyone comes out

of this with their own sense of meaning.

And you maybe go and talk about
it later: "Oh, that was so cool. I

really liked…" you know, whatever.

That is a service that museums provide
far beyond the most obvious mandate.

A museum is a story that you may
not have known otherwise, that is

an opportunity to grow and learn
more about the world around you.

I really enjoy the small, kind
of homegrown, little municipal

museums that are in an old house
that really get overlooked.

It is one of those spaces where you
realize just how temporary life is.

Temporary as it all is, those moments
matter, just like people matter.

Museums take me back in time or
to other parts of the country or

the world, or even the cosmos.

It's a place we go where we expect to be
entertained, educated, see cool stuff that

we might not see anywhere else, and then
have a nice meal or coffee afterwards.

And there's always a gift shop.

This is Call 'Em Like Museum,
a podcast about how museums

work and why we love them.

Season One begins Tuesday, August 25th.