Fresh Ideas: 12 Days of Christmas, Day 2

Show Notes

Welcome to day two of the "12 Days of Christmas: Museum Education Edition!" Today’s episode is all about rekindling your museum magic – breathing fresh life into program ideas, especially during quieter winter months.

Key Takeaways:

• Embrace your inner explorer by wandering your galleries.
• Innovation often comes from collaboration.
• Walk through the museum from your visitors' perspectives.
• Draw inspiration from pop culture, social media, and broader trends to create programs that resonate with today’s audiences.
• Fail forward and experiment with new ideas.
• Continue learning and seeking inspiration by attending workshops, reading widely, and exploring virtual museum programs.

Resources Mentioned:

• Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience by John Falk
• The Value of Museums* by John Falk 
• Museum Educators Roundtable Blog
• AAM Blog

Connect with Rachel:
Explore Rachel’s website to book a consultation or "Power Hour" for personalized advice on enhancing your museum programs. https://modernmuseumeducation.com/services

Creators and Guests

Host

Rachel Gibson

Museum Education Consultant | I help museum educators create sustainable, strategic, and pedagogically sound museum programs for children and families through 1:1 consulting, museum program evaluation, educator professional development workshops, and online content, sourced from my unique experience as a long-time museum educator and academic researcher.

What is Modern Museum Education?

Rachel Gibson is a museum education researcher, consultant, and former frontline educator helping museum professionals create engaging, sustainable programs for children and families. On the Modern Museum Education Podcast, she explores topics like family learning, audience engagement, museum strategy, program design, intergenerational learning, and the real-world challenges museum educators face every day.

Part conference session and part coffee shop chat, each episode blends research-backed insights with practical strategies you can actually use—whether you're planning field trips, designing family programs, leading education teams, or trying to keep your creativity alive in a stretched-thin museum world.

If you believe museum education matters deeply—and that your work isn’t childish just because you work with children—you’re in the right place. Discover more at modernmuseumeducation.com!

Hi, I am Rachel, a resource expert and
career coach for museum educators who

are stretched thin, but long to fall
in love with their world-changing work.

After over 15 years with my own hands
in the glitter, I know how it feels

when your Board thinks your work is
childish because you work with children.

I know how hard it is to lead a tour
on a difficult subject, and I know the

frustration of waiting on a school bus
that is 20 minutes late or worse, 10

minutes early as I'm heading towards
the second half of my career, I find

myself with a passion to help my fellow
educators reverse the chronic state of

being overworked and underappreciated
so that they can reclaim their

creativity and emotional energy.

Join me and my museum buddies as
we share our best tips, tricks, and

techniques for modern museum education.

Hello and welcome back to the 12 days
of Christmas museum education edition.

My name is Rachel and I'm your host.

This little series of podcast episodes.

I'm super excited about it is
my gift to the museum educator

community this holiday season.

Every day for the first 12 days of
December, I'm going to be releasing a

bite sized podcast episode stuffed with
actionable tips and as always grounded

in current research to help you level
up your museum education programs.

So today on day two, we're talking
about how to rekindle your museum magic.

So how can you find fresh ideas for
your unforgettable museum programs?

I know that this time of year,
it was always a bit quiet for me

in the museums where I worked.

Now I know not all museums are quiet over
the winter months and sometimes there's a

big push in the early part of the holiday.

If you have fall programs or harvest
programs or holiday programs, but

then once you get to the end of
December for a lot of museums,

the early part of the year, the
winter months are quiet and slow.

You don't see a lot of field trips.

You don't see a lot of
visitors in general, especially

if the weather is poor.

And so, it's often a good time to sit with
your old programs and think about them.

Revisit those program elements, ask
yourself if they are still hitting

the mark, if they're still working
really well, and then plan the

details of your new programs that
are coming up later in the year.

But it can be daunting to drum
up fresh, exciting ideas for your

programs, especially when the
weather is not fresh and exciting.

When it's cold and dreary outside

sometimes it's a little hard to
shake the cobwebs out of your brain.

So fear not, because I have been
right where you are staring at a

blank screen with the haunting echo
of, you know, been there, done that

rattling around in my brain, looking
for something fresh, something new,

something exciting for my visitors.

So today I've got some strategies
to help you break free from that

creativity block and make your
museum programs the talk of the town.

So my first tip is to
embrace your inner explorer.

So remember when you were a kid and
everything felt like an adventure?

Channel that energy.

Start by revisiting your museum's
collection with fresh eyes.

Be curious.

Ask yourself, what haven't
we highlighted yet?

What story isn't being told?

Is there an object in the collection
that really rings your bell but

never really gets a lot of attention?

Walk around your museum.

This is a perfect time of the year to
take a walk, especially if your museum

is not crowded in the winter months.

You can really spend time in
your galleries, in your exhibits,

in your museum spaces, and
just sit with your collection.

Sit with the story, sit with
the narrative, and just allow

that to sort of sweep over you.

Sometimes the most captivating program
ideas are hiding in plain sight, just

waiting for someone with curiosity
to come along and uncover them.

So try to visit your own museum as
though you'd never been there before.

And think about what might
someone want to know more about?

What might they want to do in this space?

So tip number two, stop,
collaborate, and listen.

Wink, wink.

No person is an island.

No museum educator should
ever feel like they are going

solo on their creative quest.

Reach out to your colleagues and
not just the ones inside of your

institution, but across the field.

Organize brainstorming sessions.

Set up a zoom call or a phone call or if
you live in the same town, meet up for

coffee or for lunch and just chat about
what you're doing and what's going on.

You would be surprised how a
casual chat can turn into a

groundbreaking program concept.

Collaboration is the secret sauce
that makes good ideas great.

So reach out to somebody.

And if you don't have anyone to
reach out to, reach out to me.

I love to chat with museum educators
about what's going on and what their

programs are and maybe where they're
stuck or if they have questions.

So send me an email and I would,
I would, I would absolutely

love to collaborate with you.

Tip number three, walk
a mile in their shoes.

So think about your audience
and this can really spark some

serious innovation for you.

You might try creating personas
for different visitor segments.

So think about families or young adults
or, you know, content area experts.

So if you're a history museum,
think about your history buffs.

If you're an art museum, think
about your, you know, art experts.

Walk through the museum as if
you were one of those people.

This is my favorite tip of all time,
especially if you're trying to create

programs for children, walk through
your museum on your knees, literally

get down on the floor, look at your
exhibits from the perspective of a child.

What can they see from
their line of sight?

What is going to be catching their
eye, maybe use those objects or that

point of view to spark some new ideas.

This empathy exercise can really
lead to a personalized and

engaging program idea that can
really connect with your visitors.

And if you're struggling here,
I would really encourage you to

go back to some of the classic
literature that helps you connect

with visitors and their motivations.

So you know, one of the seminal works
in our field is Identity and the

Museum Visitor Experience by John Falk.

You know I love to talk about the book,
The Value of Museums, also by John Falk.

There's a lot of really
great research out there.

You could also, if you want
something shorter, maybe go check

out the Museum Educators Roundtable.

They've got a a really great blog.

If you don't subscribe to
their journal, you can just

check out the blog posts there.

AAM has a lot of really great blog posts.

So just go back and see what's
been written about museum

education and museum programs.

And maybe that will sort of shake
some things loose in your brain,

especially when you're thinking about
what is it that your visitors need.

Okay.

My next tip is this.

The world is your oyster.

Do not get so focused on what we do
in the museum field that you miss

all the amazing things that are
happening in the world at large.

Explore trends in pop culture,
technology, social media.

Can you create a TikTok inspired tour?

Is there something
trending online that might

be interesting to your
particular visitor demographic?

Start looking at what is
capturing people's attention

outside of the museum sector.

And then ask yourself if you
can bring that into your program

in some kind of meaningful way.

Now, caveat, as I said in
the last episode, don't do an

activity just to do an activity.

Don't bring in pop culture just to bring
in pop culture, make sure that it connects

in a meaningful way to your site's
mission and to your narrative themes.

But if it does you know, don't reinvent
the wheel if something cool is happening

out in the world, try to embrace that.

My next tip is my most favorite
probably, and it is this.

Fail forward.

Here's a little secret.

It is okay to fail.

In fact, some of my best ideas
have come from projects that

didn't quite hit the mark.

So ask yourself what is not
working and start there.

I actually have a few blog posts on
my website that I will link in the

show notes for you about how I have
at different times in the past, re

evaluated existing programs to ask
what is not working, whether it was

not working because the audience wasn't
connecting, whether it wasn't working

because it was too expensive to put on.

Like, lots of different reasons
why a program might be failing, and

it's okay for a program to fail.

It's okay to retire an old program,
and it's okay to try something.

that doesn't really work
and you never try it again.

Experimentation is the like it's,
it's a stepping stone, right?

It's not a setback.

If something doesn't go right, you can
ask yourself why, and then allow space

for creativity to flourish and good
ideas to grow from something that maybe

didn't work perfectly the first time.

So allow yourself the space to experiment
and give yourself the chance to fail.

If it helps, you can call
these programs pilot programs.

You can pilot a program.

If you have a school group or a teacher
that you work closely with, you know,

you can send that teacher an email and
ask if you can pilot a program with them.

Maybe just do a just a general
community day and try some activities

with the community at large.

It doesn't have to be
something that's repeated.

You don't have to promise to do it always.

A program can happen once and then
never again, and that is okay.

So give yourself the
freedom to experiment.

And the last tip is is
to keep your spark alive.

Do not forget to nurture
your own creative spirit.

Attend workshops and
webinars and conferences.

Look into other fields as well.

If you are in a science museum,
attend science educator conferences.

If you're an art museum, attend
art educator conferences.

Read widely.

Travel, even if it's just virtual,
you have the opportunity now to

see any place in the whole world
with a few clicks of your finger.

Explore, explore the
world that's around us.

Look at virtual programs that
are happening in other museums

and be inspired by those.

Keep feeding your curiosity about
the world around you because a

well rounded perspective is fertile
ground for innovative ideas.

So now that you've armed yourself
with these strategies, let's

just promise each other no more
settling for mediocre programming.

I'm going to say it again.

Don't settle for mediocre programming.

You can do amazing things at your museum.

I know you can.

Museums are so exciting.

They have the power to change the world.

Remember that we are in this together
to inspire, to engage, and importantly,

to enjoy every step of this creative
journey in museum education.

One of the greatest things about museum
education is that it has the potential

for creativity baked right into it.

So never forget that that is an important
part of the work that you were doing.

So go ahead, dare to dream big,
let those novel ideas flow freely.

And if you need some help with this
or someone to bounce ideas off of,

I am excited to put my long time
of experience to work for you.

So just check out my
website for my services.

We can schedule a power hour
consultation, or I can do more work

directly with you or your institution.

And in the meantime, I want to
wish you happy innovating and

lots of good creative vibes.

Thank you so much for joining us.

If this episode has been helpful to
you or interesting, please take a

minute to like subscribe and leave
a review which will help other

museum educators find this resource.

As always, if you would like to work with
me more directly, have any questions or

would like to be a guest on the podcast,
you can find links to all that and more

on my website, modernmuseumeducation.com.

I'll see you back here next time.

And in the meantime, please remember
that your work is not childish,

just because you work with children.