Introducing StoryHabitat: A New Model for Community Stories and Exhibits

Introducing StoryHabitat: A New Model for Community Stories and Exhibits

I’m delighted to announce a new name and evolved model for our community storytelling business: StoryHabitat. This reflects the awareness that museums and exhibits are increasingly connected with other organizations in their communities — that they can work together to gather stories and increase awareness of local issues. Topics such as racial inequality, local habitats, community development, museum learning all lend themselves to...

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Sitting in our (virtual) booth at the NEMA Conference

I’ve been hanging out in our booth at the New England Museum Association (NEMA) conference the last couple days, online this year. What’s that like? It’s a lot like sitting at my dining room table, posting comments, checking emails, running out for groceries…But also catching some good sessions and catching up with friends in our Zoom boxes. It’s different. But we still connect. It’s still a great place try...

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Portland Museum of Art / Maine Memory Network: Upload Photos and Stories from Home

We’re continuing to evolve our mission to help cultural organizations reach out to members’ homes during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the last few weeks, we’ve added a major new feature to our online story recording service for museums: the ability for users to upload a photo from their device and then submit their video story about that photo. The Portland Museum of Art is using the service for their exhibit Stories of Maine: An...

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Stories from Home: Exhibit Testing During Covid-19

We’re noticing a trend with our new online story recording service for museums and cultural organizations: gathering stories for future exhibits. It provides a way to reach visitors in their homes, and have them submit their video stories via their own devices. The Museum of Durham History, for example, is using the service to record stories from women who are leaders in politics for their upcoming exhibit on the centennial anniversary of...

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Gathering Community Stories from Home: My Interview with Paul Orselli

Gathering Community Stories from Home: My Interview with Paul Orselli

Last month (or so) I enjoyed being interviewed by exhibit designer and museum blogger extraordinaire Paul Orselli of Paul Orselli Workshop (POW!). The topic: “What are the best ways to gather stories from visitors…both inside and outside museums?” The interview was of course in the context of covid-19, and the seismic impact that has had on museums’ relationships with their audiences. But it was before the tragic killing...

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Gathering Stories from Home: Marco Island Center for the Arts

Gathering Stories from Home: Marco Island Center for the Arts

Following up on our announcement three weeks ago of our new online story recording service, I’m happy to send word of our project using the service with Marco Island Center for the Arts. We began working with the Center early this year to provide both a permanent Storykiosk for exhibits as well as portable one to take to community events. The Center is celebrating its 50th year, and as I’ve noted from past projects, anniversaries...

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