Insights — Learning Hub Posts — Kera Collective (2024)

Creating Change, DEAI Lina Bhatti 7/30/24 Creating Change, DEAI Lina Bhatti 7/30/24

With increasing conversations around artificial intelligence (AI) and how we can use AI tools in our work, I constantly find myself apprehensive of what new waves of AI technology (like generative AI) are offering. Don’t get me wrong though—I’m all for technological advancement and I fully understand that AI is already around us, but I’ve been finding it hard to fully get behind the usage of AI in mainstream fields. Most of my apprehension comes from ethical and justice issues that, in my opinion, organizations and companies are ignoring. My main issues with incorporating AI technology into client work can be summarized into the following categories.

Creating Change, DEAI Ebony Bailey 7/17/24 Creating Change, DEAI Ebony Bailey 7/17/24

In my last post, I asked how museums might create meaningful and fulfilling community partnerships and I offered my musings to this question. This month, I return to briefly consider a few activities and techniques geared toward establishing and strengthening community partnerships. Again, as museum staff, how do you “build genuine, reciprocal relationships with your visitors and local organizations? How do you work toward a common goal with your local community?” Below, I explore how using metaphors and walk-and-talk conversations might help those involved in community partnerships (primarily museum staff and community partners) communicate the more intangible aspects of “community” and ground their collaborations in shared understandings.

Experience Design Cathy Sigmond 6/25/24 Experience Design Cathy Sigmond 6/25/24

Design is always on my mind. It’s no secret to my friends and colleagues that I love using my skills as an evaluator to support designers in creating meaningful experiences for people. I get excited when we work with experience designers to see how visitors make sense of concepts through exploratory front-end evaluation, lead visitors in prototyping sessions to refine exhibits and messages as part of formative evaluations, and measure the impact of visitors’ experiences in multi-method summative evaluations.

Museum Audiences Stephanie Downey 6/20/24 Museum Audiences Stephanie Downey 6/20/24

The idea that “you can’t be all things to all people” can feel paradoxical. Few people would disagree, but when push comes to shove, it can be hard to fully embrace. Museums, in particular, have a hard time surrendering to this notion because of their desire to be seen as inclusive by providing something for everyone; the need to attract funding, grants, and donations; and an over-reliance on using attendance numbers as markers of success.

DEAI, Hannah Heller 6/14/24 DEAI, Hannah Heller 6/14/24

I’ve been a fan of collaborative research ever since I learned about it when working on my dissertation on the role of Whiteness in the gallery teaching practices of White art museum educators (like myself). Initially, I was trying to study Whiteness through a traditional approach, where I developed study questions, recruited participants (other White museum educators), designed instruments, and analyzed data on my own. But several months into data collection, my findings just weren’t addressing my questions with the richness that I expected. I finally realized: I need to examine Whiteness by critically examining it in myself.

Katie Chandler 5/15/24 Katie Chandler 5/15/24

Have you ever found yourself staring at a mountain of qualitative data, feeling like you're lost without a map? Whether it’s transcripts from interviews or focus groups, written responses from a survey or assessment, or entries in a diary study, figuring out where to start can feel daunting.

Museum Audiences Amanda Krantz 4/25/24 Museum Audiences Amanda Krantz 4/25/24

My colleague recently asked for suggestions on resources to share with a client about audience research. We had no shortage of suggestions for resources about conducting audience research, but we lacked resources about the value of audience research for museum practitioners.

Perhaps one of the most glaring examples of orientalism and otherization in Western art museums is the omittance of nuance, detail, and breadth in exhibitions featuring objects, art, and ideas originating from non-Western cultures. Much of this stems from orientalism. When grand art galleries have curated exhibitions with varying degrees of complexity and specificities all around European art, but just one section set aside for an exhibit that checks off the DEAI box, it is obvious that museums not only have a problem with orientalism, but that their attempts to grow beyond the confines of an imperialist and orientalist past are weak. Here are some ways for art and history museums to confront orientalist approaches when curating exhibitions and galleries on non-Western art.

Experience Design Rachel Jackson 4/8/24 Experience Design Rachel Jackson 4/8/24

After many years of appreciating from afar, I finally visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, MA, last month. Named after its founder, the Gardner Museum is a marvel of different artistic movements displayed through its collection and architecture.

Experience Design, Cathy Sigmond 3/26/24 Experience Design, Cathy Sigmond 3/26/24

Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with many design firms and museums to prototype early versions of new exhibits with visitors. Prototyping helps us understand what works well about an exhibit and what doesn’t, and the results guide us in refining exhibits so they are more engaging and effective. Some of my favorite examples include testing out a tactile map of a large National Recreation Area; a hands-on airplane seat-building challenge; interactives about climate change; a Sims-style urban-planning experience; and, most recently, a 10-foot tall Plinko-like game about natural resources.

Creating Change Stephanie Downey 2/29/24 Creating Change Stephanie Downey 2/29/24

When thinking about their audiences, museums too often hyperfocus on what to provide for audiences or how to attract them. They think of exhibitions, programs, marketing efforts, and membership drives. However, before jumping to what the museum plans to do or how it will do it, it’s wiser and more helpful to take a step back and consider why doing it is important and who it is for. By thinking through both the “why” and the “who,” museums can locate their purpose and make deliberate decisions with their audiences in mind, rather than heading down a rabbit hole with no clear direction.

Hannah Heller 2/16/24 Hannah Heller 2/16/24

Observations are an important tool for evaluating museum programs from the perspective of a third party. Observations can reveal important dynamics and surprising ways a program may be addressing its intended outcomes. Observing programs in museums brings their own set of considerations, considering their logistical variations and museums’ history of exclusion.

Museum Audiences Ebony Bailey 1/26/24 Museum Audiences Ebony Bailey 1/26/24

What makes a community partnership effective? How do you build genuine, reciprocal relationships with your visitors and local organizations? How do you work toward a common goal with your local community? I have been invested in these questions throughout my career—as an intern at museums and now as a researcher at a museum evaluation firm.

Emily Skidmore 1/12/24 Emily Skidmore 1/12/24

As evaluators, we use many different methods to collect data, and one of the most-frequently used methods we use to collect qualitative (descriptive) data are interviews. Interviews take many forms depending on the context and project but what does not change is the essential element of curiosity that is built into the interview process.

We recently interviewed Ross Edelstein, a pioneer in the museum industry in creating accessibility on all levels. Ross is autistic, and brings his lived experience into the lens of his work with museums and accessibility. Below are some key themes from our conversation that are great ideas to incorporate into your own accessibility work.

, Creating Change Cathy Sigmond 11/28/23 , Creating Change Cathy Sigmond 11/28/23

At Kera Collective, we average around 20-30 active projects at a given time, of varying size and scope. As a small team, people often ask us how we handle so much work at once. The short answer? We prioritize staying organized.

Museum Audiences Hannah Heller 11/20/23 Museum Audiences Hannah Heller 11/20/23

From my years as a museum educator, I know well that program evaluation is one of those things that we know is important, but often find hard to prioritize. Program managers juggle a million responsibilities just to get a program off the ground, and it can feel overwhelming to also have to dedicate time and resources towards assessing a program’s impact once it’s running.

Amanda Krantz 10/16/23 Amanda Krantz 10/16/23

We recently conducted an exploratory study of the efficacy of various interpretative strategies at the Denver Art Museum (DAM). Given the goals of the study, we proposed an infrequently-used method: walk-and-talk interviews.

Museum Audiences Stephanie Downey 9/28/23 Museum Audiences Stephanie Downey 9/28/23

Museum professionals are the original content creators. They are extremely passionate and possess special knowledge and expertise. These characteristics, in combination with museums’ collections, are a perfect recipe for idea generation. I’ve been in many meetings where the energy exuding from museum professionals about potential new programs, exhibitions, apps, or other initiatives is captivating and contagious.

I sat down with Finnegan Shannon, a disabled artist and activist, to get a better understanding of their perspective on disability and accessibility in museum and art spaces. I was drawn to their work entitled “Do You Want Us Here Or Not” which critiqued the lack of places for rest in museums, ultimately creating inaccessible spaces. Below are a few themes we explored in our conversation.