Interpretive Planning & Organizational Strategy
Interpretive planning is the process of establishing the themes, narratives, audiences, and desired outcomes for your visitor experience, including interpretative and education programs, exhibits, online resources, and more. Interpretive planning is an inclusive process – informed by your board, staff, volunteers, visitors, partners, and stakeholders. It helps define long-term goals, as well as short-term and annual work plans.
To create transformative visitor experiences at your site, we can guide you through the planning process to
- identify and solicit feedback from audiences and stakeholders,
- develop and refine theme statements, essential questions, goals, and outcomes,
- place focus on the stories of marginalized people at your site,
- create empathetic and inclusive narratives,
- foster relevant connections between your audience and your stories, and
- connect with your community.
Please know that your [planning session] made a big impression on many of our committee members. During tense moments with how to proceed, I have heard them reference you as a way to guide us in our decisions … honesty, humanity, and humility.
– Organizational Strategy Client
Professional Development Workshops
Our professional development workshops deepen staff knowledge about the complex history and legacy of slavery and other marginalized stories and develop skills for comprehensive and conscientious storytelling. We share replicable practices for connecting to and extending your site’s interpretation of its history, as well as training to help staff achieve a greater understanding of the complicated emotions that often hinder our work. We also offer workshops on developing school programs that establish a brave space to talk with young people about challenging history, while acknowledging the presence of historical trauma and helping students empathize with those who were marginalized by dominant cultures.
The workshop challenged me to think more concertedly about the issues of race and slavery. [It] came alive in a way I would have never expected it to.
– Workshop Participant
Education Program and Resource Development
MUSE creates programs that incorporate experiential learning and dialogic techniques. Using curriculum frameworks and culturally-responsive teaching methodologies as a foundation, we develop educational resources that bring documents and objects to life.
[I took away] the great way you conducted the activities. You really designed them in a way that allowed participants to engage. It was not forced or uncomfortable. It also was an amazing day of learning about those with whom we work.
– Workshop Participant
Exhibit Development
From theme development and text writing to interactives and evaluation, MUSE can help you bring your vision to life in 3D or online.
