Indications of Museum and Exhibition Excellence

Created by the National Association for Museum Exhibition, "Standards for Museum Exhibitions and Indicators of Excellence" strives to lay out a set of guidelines that determine the best of the best in the museum world. While the standards for a museum exhibition seem rather basic, the indicators of excellence seems to be what really grabbed my attention. 

1. An aspect of the exhibition design is innovative.This means no more of the same diorama design, or mannequins dressed and stiffly posed, but rather new interactive components and the introduction of multimedia pieces to make the exhibit unique and attract and involve the audience in a way we haven't seen in the museum community before. 

2. The exhibition synthesizes and presents existing knowledge and/or collection materials in a 
surprising or provocative way.
Audiences want to be challenged and entertained. They don't want to just walk into a gallery space and see the same old recreation. They want that "shock and awe" value that encourages repeat clients. Why not juxtapose a weapons collection with flowers? Play rock music in a modern art gallery? Be creative and expose the art rather than treating it like a scientific specimen to merely be studied and seen from afar. 

3. The exhibition evokes responses from viewers that are evidence of a transforming experience
We want our visitors to have a personal and strong reaction. No more of the "it was alright" or "not bad" but a strong evocation of feeling. "My breath was taken away" or "I was shocked to see an exhibition designed like that," something that shows that we have engaged our visitor, invited them into the exhibition and allowed them to create an unforgettable experience.

These are just a few of the numerous points that NAME describes and I think it is incredibly crucial that we as museum professionals continue to strive for evolution in our design and execution of exhibits to gain a larger audience and create a truly memorable experience. By incorporating new media, music, and other aspects into the exhibition we are pulling the presumed "archaic" world of museums into the 21st Century and pushing them to the forefront of entertainment. And hey, you might just learn something while you're there. 

http://name-aam.org/about/who-we-are/standards
#MuseumExhibitInnovations #NAMEStandards #MuseumsAsEventHotSpots #ExhibitsAndMediaUnite #DareToChallenge