Transforming into a fun institution
With Silvia Filippini Fantoni North Carolina Museum of Art
CHALLENGE
Tasked with engaging a young and more diverse audience, she launched her portfolio with a brand new departmental philosophy introducing fun and play to program planning – a radical step from prior practice. As well as building this new audience, she has had to defend the shift to internal stakeholders, with interdepartmental reactions to the new approach ranging from apprehensive skepticism to existential denial.
ACTION
Define a clear holistic approach
Silvia inherited programs previously scattered across several different departments. To best infuse fun and play across the board, she developed a clear definition of the intention:
Provide opportunities for creative play and gamification
Communicate ideas in a fun, interactive and light-hearted way
Introduce elements of surpriseDo your research
Focus group studies were launched with members and non-members, visitors and non- visitors. Including both sides, she says, was an essential step. Crunching the data on who is not engaging, i.e. the revenue that is not coming in, created the foundation for a more powerful argument. This feedback, bolstered by data analyses and examples of success stories, paved the way to a programming overhaul.
Internal battles
“You need to be aware that the seeds you are planting now won’t reap results before at least another year,” Silvia advises. That said, understanding the internal apprehension grew from a recognition that programming is an easier place to experiment with fun: it is ephemeral, lower costs, lower stakes.
RESULTS
Increased number of under 45s (target visitors) in programs and exhibitions
Increased diversity in programs and exhibitions
Visitors of all ages are engaging with playful activities/programs
Successful experiments have been turned into ongoing programs
KEY LEARNINGS
Always back up your new and “scary” endeavours with research and best practice examples, and provide a translation to what they would translate to in your organisation. Play allows visitors to learn through discovery, cementing and backing up curatorial lessons. It breaks down the barriers between them and the institution, the works and their fellow visitors. And it’s not just kids – visitors of all ages can engage with playful activities.