The Questions You Have to Ask Before the Project, with Carolynne Harris (Remastered April 2024)

Making the Museum

We might think a design concept is the first step — but it’s not. What do you need to ask yourself, before you even start?
What does your community want from your new museum, and how can you find out? What happens when you have funding for 10 staff, but you design a museum that will take 25 staff to operate? What’s more important, the cost of creating the museum, or the later costs of operating it? What’s “noblesse oblige”? What’s a “civic entrepreneur”?

Carolynne Harris (Museum Planner, Carolynne Harris Consulting) joins host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners) to discuss “The Questions You Have to Ask Before the Project”.
Along the way: team sports, a right turn at Albuquerque, and training to do five things at once.
Talking Points:
1. A master plan comes before design, but what comes before a master plan?

2. Have you got your stakeholders aligned?

3. Do you know what your community wants?

4. Who are your financial supporters — both immediate and ongoing?

5. How many staff can you support, and how will they get paid?

6. Should there even be a museum?

How to Listen:
Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G
Everywhere
https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/
Guest Bio:
Carolynne Harris, Founder and Principal of Carolynne Harris Consulting, has over 30 years of experience in the museum field, including over 10 years of senior-level experience at the Smithsonian Institution and Fernbank Museum of Natural History. Carolynne’s nonprofit consulting business specializes in developing emerging museums, renovations, and expansions from early visioning through implementation, and strategic planning for non-profits. Carolynne has been published in Curator, served on the board of the Pennsylvania Museum Association and the Denver Commission for Cultural Affairs, and is currently the Board Secretary of the National Association of Museum Exhibitions (NAME). Carolynne has an MA in Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts from Emory University and a BA in Anthropology from The University of Virginia.

(Carolynne is also a member of Praxis Museum Projects Group, a "network of professionals, each of whom brings an expertise to the process of creating exhibitions and cultural experiences in collaboration with exhibit designers, architects, and museums". Members of the Praxis group are a special focus of the first episodes of this podcast.)

About MtM:
Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. This podcast is a project of C&G Partners | Design for Culture. Learn about the firm's creative work at: https://www.cgpartnersllc.com
Show Links:
Carolynne by email: [e-mail]
Carolynne on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynne-harris-1a52a9/
Carolynne Harris Consulting on the web: https://www.carolynneharris.com/

https://www.praxisexhibits.com/
MtM Show Contact:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger
[e-mail]
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com
Newsletter:
Like the episode? Try the newsletter. Making the Museum is also a one-minute email on exhibition planning and design for museum leaders, exhibition teams and visitor experience professionals. Subscribe here: https://www.makingthemuseum.com