Remember back when you were in grade school and wrote haiku?  The old 5-7-5 syllable form from Japan about nature? Here’s a chance to reconnect the synapses and try it out again, this time with a new mission and with a worldwide group of museum friends. We’re forming a “Museum Haiku Group” with the goal of writing and sharing haiku daily (mostly) over a 2-4 week period, once each season. A “haiku sprint.”...

This week I’ve been doing community storytelling popup exhibits with Whim Museum during their annual “Come Home to St. Croix” celebration of culture, history, and family.  Special programs included events nearly every night — an exhibit opening, poetry readings, live music and more. Culturally rich stuff — and quite a transformation from what was once a sugar plantation. In the early 18th century, Estate Whim was...

It’s the morning after one of the great evening museum events at the ACM Interactivity conference — at the Children’s Museum of Phoenix — and the phrase that comes to mind is: “museums as playgrounds for adults.” It’s been a long time since I’ve heard as much laughter and shrieking from adults in exhibits (though as they say, maybe I don’t get out enough…) Here are some highlights:...

Usually I write about museums and technology, but had a great experience yesterday in a class with ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro, and wanted to jot down a few notes.  And maybe by the end wrap that into some thinking about museums, communities and special events… So, about a month ago I got word through the Ukulele Union meetup group I belong to that Jake Shimabukuro would be offering a class through the Office for the Arts at Harvard....

Something new happened at the American Association for State and Local History conference this year — AASLH booked the conference in partnership with the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, an organization focusing on “memory to action.” It feels like something is changing in the local history field — the feeling in the air is more grassroots, and more action-oriented. Another key component: the conference is...

Earlier this summer, Providence artist Amy Walsh and I tried an experiment: we booked a space at AS220, Providence’s maker hub (and a fine restaurant/bar as well), and created a “museum puppet throwdown.”  Basically, we invited people from the Providence museum community to come, sit down, have a beer, and make puppets.  Then we recorded puppetshows on storykiosk and uploaded to YouTube. We also projected highlights on the...