Falling Leaves Trigger Discovery

In the autumn, social media headlines can seem like falling colourful leaves where some can be eye-catching enough to grab your attention. This month I discovered blogger Kate and her website Museum Drip: Flexin on Art History and Museums. You are no doubt familiar with the “one thing led to another” expression. In this case enticing little literary leaves having fallen and scattered about on a blogger’s page triggered my interest. My computer mouse finger responded.

Is looking, learning?

In her post Art Museums: Is Education the Objective?, the core of the article dealt with increased understanding for the critical role of the interpreter. She came right out stating that “… with all of this mounting evidence that art museums need to connect to audiences to remain relevant, there continues to be pushback against doing it.” {witness recent cuts to education/interpretation staff and docents}. Kate delved into this in a very refreshing way. One avenue worth exploring was whether looking is learning for all visitors. She also addressed the institutional quandary of how “inserting a mediated experience can interrupt the transcendence of immersing yourself in an artwork.” She even poked some fun at this sentence and its comprehensibility.

Credit: Bill Reynolds

Even though this post talked about an art museum, the role of the interpreter and the situation of a guided (mediated) experience butting up against the art curator concept of looking is learning, is just as relevant to exploring a natural environment or historic house. Looking can be enhanced by an interpretive guide approach and accomplish many of the core values as set out below.

Kate included the core values of interpretation as prescribed by the Association of Art Museum Interpretation (AAMI):

• Creates multiple pathways for understanding by creating an experience that equally values the visitor, the art object, and the organization’s mission.

• Encourages audiences of varying backgrounds, knowledge levels, and learning styles to make relevant connections between art, ideas, and their lived experience.

• Practices socially, intellectually, and physically accessible and inclusive interpretive strategies onsite, offsite, and online.

• Creates learning opportunities that invite visitors to shift previously held views and expectations through intentional, respectful, and often playful provocation,

• Utilizes collaboration, curiosity-driven experimentation, rigorous evaluation, reflection, and skill building, to create meaningful interpretive experiences.

Regardless of where you interpret, these points are valid and unpacking their meaning could be worth several blog posts. Suffice it to say, spend some time reviewing these statements as an evaluative checklist for your facility and its programming.

Some quick highlights: The second bullet focuses on the variable characteristics of your audience, something that can never be overstated yet is so often forgotten during program design. This is the first time I have seen playful and provocation linked together and I like it. Can you remember the last time you incorporated playful provocation? The last bullet above captures so much to be conscious of when planning an experience that it deserves abit of reflection time and self-analysis. (So, read it over slowly and spend some time doing exactly that).

Anybody interested in a creative, no-holds- barred, group zoom session, on how you might accomplish elements of each of the following 5 values when presented with an artifact of EID’s choosing? If interested, drop us a line at contact@eidcoaching.com and we will set something up.

In relation to art museums, the article introduced an interesting term - empathetic thinking. My immediate response was how this is potentially relevant for all interpretive environments. The art world examples are why EID always advocates that we share across fields of education and interpretation, because we can gain from new twists on existing perspectives.

Community Engagement

Kate mentioned the Delaware Art Museum and their multi-year project to engage their community because it impressed her, resulting in a paradigm shift. This was another colourful, intriguing leaf fluttering by, so I took a peek and investigated further, being glad I did.

Courtesy AAMI website

Planning for gallery reinstallation meant involving the community, curators, and educators. Not only did they attack the curator/educator divide but they also ramped up participatory dialogue with visitors! The use of community salons and prototyping workshops collecting visitor feedback from post-it notes led to “clusters” of ideas. This process resulted in the realization that adding voices to walls permanently would be invaluable. The team decided that there was a need in all future endeavours to incorporate more frequent access to visitor’s ideas, questions, and opinions. For more background, read the full article on AAMI’s website:

https://artmuseuminterp.org/2019/09/26/centering-community-relevance-in-reinstallation-planning/

R-E-S-P-E-C-T & silo dismantling

She referred to her earlier post Cardboard Cutout Kids: Museum Field Trips & Interdepartmental Buy-In on the subject of how interpreters can gain respect from internal colleagues and how to bridge the gap between departmental silos (one of my favourite topics). Another leaf floating by that got plucked up for its inspiration…

On the subject of counteracting the GET NO RESPECT situation, she looked at better internal profiling for the profession. Kate brought up the point about museum field trips being a daily occurrence, so they tend to be talked about less often, and primarily only in terms of sheer numbers. Her super effective solution was to highlight one or two adorable, hilarious or profound things that happened during a field trip and share it weekly via email to the full staff.

Those weekly emails were a great way to crack the door open to set up tour shadowing for people in other departments. This was successful in her facility. Kate declares that everything that happens in a museum is interconnected, so it’s important for everyone including collections staff, curators, event planners, marketers and fundraisers, to see how the collection and galleries are used on a school tour while sensing the multiple benefits being gained through organizational and communication skills. This also results in a great feedback process.

If you are wondering whether this will be a rewarding and fun read, here is an example of her relevant, conversational style when describing school field trips: “…you just can’t really fathom the lack of personal space, the feeling of constantly being “on,” the number of conversations you need to carry on simultaneously, the trickiness of transitioning from one lesson or space to the next, the planning your lunch food for maximum wolf-it-down-fast-ness.” Combined with some images that will have you chuckling, giving this blog a read will not disappoint. https://museumdrip.com/2021/09/12/cardboard-cutout-kids-museum-field-trips-interdepartmental-buy-in/

Being comfortable & accepted

Her reference to the Hello wall as an example of effective field trip welcoming meant a third leaf found itself pirouetting into my view, in the form of a referral post titled, Five Things I Look for in a “Welcoming” Art Museum. Many of our EID posts talk about the importance of welcoming and designing for visitor anticipation. Especially our A Tale of Two Welcomes and What Make a Happy Heritage Facility delved into this important topic.

EID and Museum Drip are both aligned on this concept of welcoming, which is connected to the fact that people need to see themselves represented in public spaces. This relates to all human age, race, gender and ability characteristics along with learning styles. Kate drilled down on children, emphasizing that one’s facility needs to show it is aware of children (with and without adults) – that they are wanted and embraced as visitors even when they are not with their class. If this isn’t visible in the galleries/exhibit areas, but only down a back corridor (in a special room), then it doesn’t count.

Drawers at child level
Photo credit Bill Reynolds

Kate expounded that “since most museum visitors are not art-world insiders, a child-centered exhibition strategy that considers how to make complex art concepts accessible, actually works well for visitors of all ages.” EID stresses this approach ad-nauseum and advocates its applicability for all heritage subjects. I have often found written self- guided activities done for school classes tucked away from the general public’s purview. They should have been available for weekend use, because they were extremely well done and promoted investigative curiosity. I fear this is another silo needing to be bridged – that between the public programmers and school programmers. Watch out for those walls, not only between but within departments.

Not only a bench but a themed one to boot in a botanic garden’s aquatic habitat
Photo credit Bill Reynolds

My favourite quote of all three blogs has to be this one. “For the love of Ruth. LET PEOPLE SIT DOWN.” One, because I have not heard that expression in a long time and for some reason it always commands my attention while making me smile at the same time. Can’t tell you why. Two, because she is addressing one of EID’s pet peeves from a visitor experience design perspective. Interpretive designers know this and if they were brought in to the exhibit planning table, the human need for rest and reflection would be designed in.

Finally, how about this zinger that appeared in her blog: “9/10 art museum’s style guides for writing their wall texts say something along the lines of “we assume that our audience is educated, but not experts on art,” and probably 2/10 art museums actually write their texts that way.” How do we get that changed? Through respect for the art of interpretation? Through silo breaking? Through seeing a range of visitor types being represented? Through hearing community voices on the walls?

Be a leaf peeper this fall and let your curiosity run amok. Maybe even gather up a pile and dive in. You never know what will surface. (Note: I live in a temperate deciduous forest).

Hello, World!

Neighbourhood National Park: Homeowners Unite Part 2

In the first blog post on the book, Nature’s Best Hope by Douglas Tallamy, the focus was on how individual efforts in restoring native landscaping of residential/corporate landscapes, city parks, hedgerows, and roadsides could reverse the deleterious impact of non-native plants. The author pointed out that homeowners remain clueless, through no fault of their own, regarding the human race’s reliance on ecosystem functioning. As a result, ecological health has been severely impacted by urban/suburban landscaping choices. In this post, we explore how we might accomplish buy-in for wholesale landscape change by tens of millions of homeowners and delve deeper into why this new approach is so necessary.  Believe it or not, this all starts with our cute, wiggly, highly delicious caterpillar.

The Critical Caterpillar

96% of breeding terrestrial birds rear their young on insects not on seeds or berries. The author recounts a lot of evidence that catapults caterpillars ahead of all insects as the primary food that needs to be available in a relatively small area. This is due to the number of trips parents need to make to satisfy the incredibly fast growth rate of nestlings. Specifically, a male warbler, a small songbird, makes 240 nest visits a day and a female visits the same nest up to 570 times. Nestlings stay in their nest on average for 12-16 days. Are you doing the math?  

Chickadee parents, another small songbird, feed their fledglings for up to 21 days even after they have left the nest. That is quite a demand for caterpillars brimming with proteins and fats. Imagine how many more trips would be needed if you were feeding nestlings tiny aphids or spiders. You still have to multiply that one nest by the number of different bird families in your neighbourhood needing food. That’s a truckload of caterpillars. Any wonder why our bird diversity and numbers are down? Have you noticed a predominance of seed eaters (finches, cardinals) and carrion feeders (crow family, gulls) in your neighbourhood? What you plant in your yard makes a difference!

Nutrients called carotenoids are twice as plentiful in caterpillars as in other insects. Birds need to get their carotenoids from insects that eat plants in order to produce brightly coloured feathers- key for attracting females and as a signal of health. Carotenoids also stimulate three biological processes: immune systems, antioxidants that protect DNA from oxidative damage and sperm vitality (remember signal of health-those females are a smart lot). This points to the fact that caterpillars are not optional but essential during the breeding season. 

So, which plants are the best hosts for caterpillars? Suffice it to say, as Tallamy points out, native species are by far the best. Keystone species that make up about 5% of plant genera host 70-75% of the local moth/butterfly producing-caterpillars. If you would like to discover more, check out  https://www.audubon.org/plantsforbirds

goldenrod-keystone species

Caterpillars are only one phase of the butterfly/moth life cycle requirements; they also must have the microhabitats their pupae need to survive. If the host trees are surrounded by sterile raked up lawn, their will be no leaf litter or rotting wood in which to spin cocoons. Similarly, they can’t tunnel into a concrete surface or into the soil if it is too compacted by regularly trammelling of feet or lawn mowers. We haven’t even touched proper landscaping for the egg or adult stages of life.

Ecological Elephant in the Room

But it does not end there. We have only looked at impact on caterpillar-bird interactions. There is a bigger elephant in the room, ecologically speaking. As we homogenize plant diversity around the world with a small plate of ornamental favorites, the insects that depend on local native species decline with a domino effect on other invertebrates and vertebrates dependent on them for food. Tallamy reports that 90 % of insects have restricted their development and reproduction to very specific plant lineages, so non-natives will not support a majority of them. In the mid-Atlantic region alone, there are 69 native bee species that need exclusively either goldenrod, aster, evening primrose, blueberry or willow pollen to rear their larvae. Is this just the tip of the iceberg?

To add insult to injury, we have created a culture where insects are maligned. We win the war against insects at out peril. Interpreters have their work cut out for them to counteract the position that many children are being taught to fear every insect they see, rather than respect those few that might sting to defend their nests.

So “how” do we go about starting to make some changes in our yards and gardens to counteract the aesthetic biological wasteland choice? Tallamy’s raison d’etre is about empowering all of us to make our planet a better place and kickstart a grassroots approach to perhaps the greatest conservation project of all time. We cannot confine all of our conservation efforts to patches of protected areas because that will never be enough. Parks are too small and too separated to accomplish viable biological corridors that connect preserved habitat fragments with one another.

The book’s premise relies on the fact that we can easily manipulate the land we own and it is the low hanging fruit for ecosystem restoration. The personal space landscaping paradigm must change and become synonymous with ecological restoration. Most landowners would have to make it a conscious effort to convert a significant percentage of their present sterile lawn and “restore it to much of its prehuman productive native plant glory.”  

We worry about the destruction of the Amazon rainforest - 20 % of which has been logged.  Who is getting upset with the destruction of the North American eastern forests - 70% of which has been transformed into pavement and lawn? “Every square foot dedicated to lawn is a square foot that is degrading local ecosystems.”

Why a New Approach?

Tallamy cites two major missteps whose correction must become part of our everyday culture. 

1.       The most serious misstep he claims has been to assume that people and biodiversity cannot co-exist.

2.       The second misstep has been to leave conservation to conservationists - a tiny trained community of ecologists.

Leaving this responsibility to a few experts means the rest of us remain largely uninformed about why we need respect and care for the earth’s and its systems of life and how to practice that care and respect in our daily lives. “Land ownership is not just about privilege. It’s about responsibility.”

Tallamy believes it is critical for us to make nature relevant again in people’s lives and to reduce the fear factor of venturing outside. The media informs us that we may be attacked by a mountain lion, maimed by a coyote, struck down by West Nile of Zika virus or crippled by Lyme disease. We need to reverse the negative relationship with nature causing avoidance because of inaccurate safety concerns.

 “Our misguided risk assessment has convinced us that tailgating a forty- ton trailer at 75 mph is of no concern, but revegetating our yards will surely result in a deadly bite from a rattlesnake species that in reality was extirpated 150 years ago.” The author relates how our ability to assess risk is really skewed. Benefits far outweigh the risks. Statistics tell us that we are far more likely to die from the common cold, falling out of bed, slipping in the shower or using a toaster for that matter, so why should we avoid contact with nature due to a miniscule chance of harm?

courtesy Bill Reynolds

Make Nature Relevant Again

Basically, there are two options to make nature relevant again: take people to nature or bring nature to people. The fallback strategy has been the former with trips to parks and the participation success rate has been small.  We must ramp up support for the latter approach, emphasizing the surrounding of people with nature, where they spend most of their time, by using native plant suburban/urban landscaping. This should prepare people so they can capitalize on the few nature outings former approach. Will we be able to expose a majority of people to the countless species on this planet long enough for them to develop a caring and harmonious relationship with them? No one can be certain but let’s give it a try.

I agree with Tallamy’s assertion that native plantings in urban/suburban landscapes can become the norm, if logic-based peer pressure combined with financial incentives are promoted and implemented. Landscapes dominated by native plant species would become the new normal when more and more high-end properties demonstrate such attractive designs and gain community admiration. Heritage sites should play a role as frontrunners in piloting and encouraging paradigm shifts in plant community landscaping. 

What needs to change? The traditional status symbol of the upstanding gold standard property, with its immaculate, weedless, inanimate, sterile lawn, maintained by “unspoken rules established by the tribe,” has got to go. We need to bring Home Owners Associations into the 21st century. Being good citizens with responsible community minded values means our properties must be productive from a watershed, climate, and biodiversity perspective. This also means landscapes must be designed to support diverse food webs, support generalist and specialist pollinators, and store as much carbon as possible in plants and soils.

The newly planned and cared for native- plant- dominated landscaping has less lawn, and more powerhouse species that drive food webs and support pollinators. It will be important to dispel the common viewpoint that using native communities represents a form of lawn neglect. Lawns as pathways rather than wall-to-wall carpeting, can be the transition to conscious design and attitude change toward nature. A neatly trimmed, defining grass border goes a long way towards opening the door to breaking gold standard stereotypes.  Tallamy refers to websites and apps like YardMap and Nextdoor to help you coordinate conservation with neighbours.

The Problem with the Word “Weed”

In addition, he proclaims that we have a marketing issue with many of our native plants that needs addressing. They have been carelessly given common names with the word weed in them because of a subjective notion that where they grow is in the way of a cultivated crop, crowding an ornamental garden species or along a roadside. This has “stacked the emotional deck against them.” What if milkweed was called monarch’s majesty, New York ironweed was called Manhattan splendour, fireweed was called blazing torch, tickweed was called golden star, hawkweed was called orange delight or sneezeweed was called radiant sunset? Sneezeweed’s moniker encouraging avoidance is “not even up to snuff” as it does not make you sneeze unless you dry its leaves, crush them, and stuff the powder up your nose.

Moving forward, how do we reward the private landowner (83% of the US is privately owned) from the smallest city lot to the largest corporate landscape, if they rebuild much of the food web that once existed in their yard, by including plants that provide nourishment, cover, and forage?

As Tallamy points out the existing concept of a homeowner- driven certified habitat program was the brainchild of the National Wildlife Federation in 1973 and provided a model that has resulted in changing 2.5 million acres as of 2018. Tallamy has estimated 400 million acres in the US is in lawn, so there is still a way to go. The program includes college campuses, schoolyards, corporate landscapes, botanic gardens, zoos and entire communities.

In Canada I am aware of the international reward and recognition program called Communities in Bloom, that has been operating for at least a decade or two. After reviewing the evaluation criteria for this traditional civic pride beautification and green space enhancement program, nothing about native landscaping popped up. This indicated to me that they might be ripe for some new approaches.

E.O. Wilson brings the seriousness of our non- native landscaping home when he said,” If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.” He even predicted humans would last only a few months if “these little things that run the world” were eradicated.

Ecologically Sound Aesthetics

What is ahead of us? Luckily, Tallamy bounces back from some potentially depressing statements. Exciting times he says - to get involved in the hugely rewarding task of restoring ecological function to the land, and viewing it, ”…not as a commodity to be exploited but as the source of our continued existence.”  Every day we are learning more about how to redesign landscapes to meet aesthetic, cultural, ecological and practical needs to place plants from the ground to the canopy that will sustain complex food webs, store carbon, manage our watersheds, rebuild our soils and support a diversity of pollinators. As interpreters, how do you plan to modify your site’s appearance and stimulate behaviour change in visitors when they return to their communities and yards?

Neighbourhood National Park: Homeowners Unite

“We interrupt our regularly scheduled blog post on interpretive design and planning to bring you this important message from Douglas Tallamy…”

Not too often, but occasionally, a book comes along with a powerful conservation message that crosses boundaries and speaks to a wider than usual audience. Nature’s Best Hope, by Douglas Tallamy, is one of those books.

“Millions of acres now covered in lawn can be quickly restored to viable habitat by untrained citizens with minimal expense and without costly changes to infrastructure.”

This book grapples with the challenge of convincing people to value something they do not currently value – and it’s for their own good and the good of the planet. Tallamy want folks to discover the rewards of responsible landscaping to reduce vision-clouding tribal loyalties to the artificial lawn culture that, on the surface, appears to be self-sustaining. What is being advocated is a new national pastime to refocus our current denaturing of neighborhoods to one of renaturing our urban and suburban environments. 

Ignorance of nature has led to indifference about its fate. It is tempting to garden only for beauty and choose plants for decorative value, without regard to the many ecological roles our landscapes can perform. The result: vitality is drained from the surrounding ecosystem. Introduced species take over, and complex food webs are not supported.

By understanding human behaviour, the author underpins his book with examples of indulging our need for immediate, short-term gains rather than acts of sacrificing in order to fix problems. As Tallamy says, “Humans are not genetically programmed to care about the future.”. He proposes a selfish approach but for ecologically good reasons, where people begin to wholeheartedly accept their role as citizens of the natural world rather than its conquerors or at best “oblivious -of – consequences” destroyers. Small efforts by many could deliver enormous physical, psychological, and environmental benefits for people, plants and animals by contributing to a homegrown national park.

Tallamy drills down to one’s backyard and focuses on homeowners. Individual action is front and centre - this is not about reduce, reuse, recycle behaviour. This is about planting behaviour and a conscious shift away from traditional landscaping. One would be building a powerful connection to place -that personal feeling of identity, comfort and special meaning. “We can never truly own nature, but a sense of ownership, creates a strong sense of stewardship ethic, something this land we occupy desperately needs.”

Image courtesy Bill Reynolds

Humans have explored, mapped and colonized virtually all of land-based planet earth. “We crave new experiences, new horizons, and uncharted territories…most of us still yearn to discover.” Could we enhance the thrill of discovering new places with the same exhilaration by discovering new things?  Would bringing natural wonders to our backyards open up a new thrill of discovery? Many people have discovered during COVID how the existing natural world, that was always there, surrounds them with delight and captivation once they start noticing.

The convincing gets easier when you combine this with the research detailing numerous mood enhancing, attention enrichment, and stress reduction medical benefits that arise from nature exposure. Author Richard Louv has coined this balm Vitamin N. However, Tallamy points out that these benefits are short-lived and realized only from repeated exposures. He stresses that a two-week vacation trip to a national park cannot fulfill this, but your yard or neighbourhood “national” park can.

Organized school trips, community hikes, and even family picnics are social events involving large and small groups of people. The author explains that typically these are highly structured and regulated events (and usually never at dawn or dusk when much of nature is most active). They are far too infrequent to help children and adults develop a sense of seasonal changes or a sense of the un-noticed natural cycles of life. These experiences lack the unhurried exposure and repeated solitude enhancing opportunities that could come from expeditions into our own yards - if planted with native passengers from the local bioregional community. We can enter this natural world 365 days a year having simple, commonplace encounters resulting in a sense of nurturing responsibility and harmonious relationship.  Might the human race take this on as a life value?

The aim is to reverse the impact of invasive plant species (3300 in North America) that are displacing our native plant ecosystems, causing major disruption and spreading like a tumour. The intent of this collective effort would be to help preserve ecosystems in all bioregions and biomes that have been decimated by the fake “aesthetic” culture of a monoculture sod lawn and non-native ornamental plantings. Here is how Tallamy sets the stage for a land ethic development:

 “Just as we are not free to throw garbage into our neighbour’s yard, we are no longer free to release countless propagules of invasive species onto our neighbour’s landscape. We are no longer free to flood our neighbours with stormwater that our huge lawns cannot absorb; nor are we free to deplete our neighbours’ aquifer by watering our thirsty grass. None of us have the right to destroy the diversity of life that once thrived on our properties-life that is required to run the ecosystems that keep us and our neighbours alive. We do not have the right to starve our local pollinators by removing the native flowers on which they depend. We do not have the right to heat up our neighbour’s airspace by cutting down the trees on our property.”

image courtesy Bill Reynolds

The book explains why ignoring these “rights” have led to an ecological catastrophe that could be reversed with individual action.  Individual efforts will determine whether “…we live in a world thriving with life or in one in which little stirs.”

As many of you know, increasing the number and biomass of plantings in yards and public spaces provides great benefits. Plants pull carbon out of the atmosphere and also pump that carbon into the soil via their roots.  However, through misguided purchasing preferences, the public has reinforced the landscaping industry’s focus only on the aesthetic value of plants, rather than the plant’s role as an ecological backbone supporting an interrelated web of life. The underappreciated consequences have wreaked havoc by severely reducing biodiversity. Nature’s Best Hope provides a recipe for reversal.

Tallamy makes a point that: “…even our greenest cities have missed the most critical aspect of nature-conscious urban design: PLANT CHOICE MATTERS” (my caps). The type of plants we use in our landscaping determines how much energy is passed on to animals from that which is captured by them, thus effecting the carrying capacity of the area. Native plants differ in their ability to do that because of the evolutionary traits they have developed and are incredibly better at it than introduced species.

Replacing native plant communities with introduced plants compromises ecosystem functioning making it less stable and less productive, primarily by reducing the number of species and the number of interacting species. This is “…akin to throwing a monkey wrench in a machine.” Non-bioregion species can interact in a negative way and prevent other native bioregion parts from interacting effectively. When introduced plants replace natives the caterpillar community and the associated reliant insectivore community become severely diminished (96% less food available).  Most birds rear their young on insects, especially caterpillars, and non-native ornamental plants are nowhere close to being as caterpillar friendly.

image courtesy Bill Reynolds

“Not only is it easy to create a world in which insects can coexist with humans, it is easy to create landscapes in which they can actually flourish.” We just need to choose the right kinds of plants that support the two groups of insects (caterpillars and native bees) that “…contribute the most energy to local food webs- that is, the insects that are larger, more numerous, more edible, and more nutritious than others- and those responsible for most of the pollination.”

And now a word from our sponsor -EID: Tallamy’s manifesto and strategic approach is highly relevant to interpretation as a helpful blueprint for wildlife preservation that our visitors could take home and apply immediately after their visit to your site. (some follow up “doing” post the “presentation”).

The endgame is to enrich lives: “…more pollination services, more cost-free pest control, more carbon safely tucked away in the soil, more rainwater held on and within land for our use in a clean and fresh state, more bluebirds, orioles, and pileated woodpeckers in our yards, more swallowtails and monarchs sipping nectar from flowers.”

 I had no idea the extent of damage caused by inappropriate landscaping choices until reading this book and being exposed to the research data that Tallamy has pulled together. The current habitat loss could be modified and thus be reduced from the present damage already inflicted on our native populations, and hopefully prevent the need for further reversal in the future. This is critical and provides the ecological basis that will allow the window dressing of beehouses and bird feeders to actually make a difference.

We’ll continue this conversation in the next blog post by trying to answer Tallamy’s question: So, how do we move beyond “preaching to the choir to reach the tens of millions of people who, through no fault of their own, remain clueless?” Stay tuned for some shocking and mind- boggling facts along with the on- the-ground strategy to move forward.

Identity Crisis

“Our (heritage) institutions are unable to resolve their problems of role definition” as they suffer from “an identity crisis.”  This quotation from an 80’s museum journal was addressing the issue of institutional purpose attributed to the increasing importance of social function and community relevance.

 As I clean out old file folders from my interpretive naturalist days in the roaring 1970’s and 80’s, I continuously come across essays that speak about contemporary issues of the time prevalent at interpretive conferences and in publications. Light is shed on perspectives worthy of consideration in present visitor experience debates relevant to all natural and cultural heritage sites.

One historical essay that brought to light situations that needed addressing - which are still relevant today - was The Museum, a Temple or the Forum by Duncan Cameron, Director of the Brooklyn Museum.

ROM entry plaza Credit: Bill Reynolds

Mr. Cameron showed concern that “many institutions cannot decide whether they wish to be a museum, as a temple, or wish to become a public forum. Some have tried to bring the forum inside the temple.” This is an ongoing debate in 2021.

Duncan advocates against this, as he stresses that “the idea of bringing the forum- the place for confrontation and experimentation- inside the temple is to inhibit and in effect, to castrate the performance in the forum.” Integrating these two discrete sociological functions he says poses a significant problem and his recommendation was to create a distinct exhibition hall and meeting place open to all where controversial interpretations of history/society/ nature of the world, and radical innovations in artforms are accepted.

Not only is the forum potentially “robbed of its vitality and autonomy,” if placed inside the temple, but also the acceptance by the museum of something untried tends to devalue the museum process of expert judgement and “proved excellence” credibility in the eyes of the public. 

This need for a forum function that creates opportunities for societal critics to produce, be seen, be heard, and to confront established values and institutions was being proposed as a real and urgent need in the hallowed museum/gallery halls. Similarly in a natural history context, what opportunities for environmental and sustainable development criticisms are being presented and heard to confront established economic systems and values in zoos, botanic gardens, nature centres and parks? How are you doing in this educational regard of balancing the forum/temple roles?

Until a century ago, collections were private and reflected the owner’s perception of reality and self-image - look how curious I am, how far I have travelled, how rich I am, what good taste I have. This changed with the public museums concept of assembling collections for education, enlightenment, and recreation. This was no longer someone else’s collection you could look at but your collection, owned publicly, embodying the concept that it should be meaningful to you, the visitor.

Mr. Cameron notes that two problems arose “that have not yet been solved in the majority of museums and galleries.” Read on and reflect – are these still a problem today?

The first problem came about because “the collectors and those responsible for organizing and structuring the collections were now the members of an academic, curatorial elite.” Exhibitions were meaningful to “this exclusive private club of curators” due to their being trained in ”scientific systems of classification, prevailing theories of history, or the academic approach to art history.”

The second related problem dealt with value systems that reflected the upper middle- class elite that determined the selection of material to be collected and its priority for presentation.

credit to Anacostia Community Museum web site

Mr. Cameron proposed that the academic systems of classification were “an undecipherable code for the majority of museum visitors” and must either be “replaced or be supplemented by interpretation of the collections based on the probable experience and awareness of the museum attendees,” (can’t agree more).  He asserts that museums impose and enshrine the evidence of bourgeois and aristocratic domination of society on to the public. “Social history and the insights of the anthropologist must be used to develop techniques of interpretation” that will relate the collections to popular culture, contemporary life and society. Another bold statement that rings so true and why we in EID emphasize the use of universal processes in interpretation, presented in the book Interpretive Design: The Dance of Experience, to address this deficiency identified so long ago.

“The forum is where the battles are fought, the temple is where the victors rest. The former is process, the latter is product.” Duncan advocates for social responsibility in museum programming and states, “where museums have the knowledge and the resources to interpret matters of public importance, no matter how controversial, they are obliged to do so.” Do battles of the environmental kind need to be fought at nature centres, botanical gardens and zoos?

Are you working in a temple or a forum or both? Do these two roles work best as partners or apart? Should you be rethinking your role?  “In the absence of the forum, the museum as a temple stands alone as an obstacle to change… In the presence of the forum, the museum serves as a temple, accepting and incorporating the manifestations of change. From the chaos and conflict of today’s forum the museum must build the collections that will tell us tomorrow who we are and how we got there.”

Anacostia Museum Credit to Smithsonian Institution web site

In The Museum, a Temple or the Forum the Anacostia Neighbourhood Museum is offered up as an example, of a place that suffers from an identity crisis and should not be considered a museum but some form of centre instead, as it does not hold any collections and does no original research yet presents a continuing program of exhibits. If the public considers what they have is a museum but it does not possess these two critical functions then will they be getting shortchanged?

The article mentioned that this centre was affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution.  My initial thought was how forward thinking of a recognized museum to see its role as a partner to provide a hand-up to an emerging educational institution focused on protecting its heritage through presentation. Are you familiar with examples near you where ongoing mentoring or mutual support is provided by heritage institutions to benefit each other?

There was no consideration at this juncture that perhaps the word museum needed to evolve – or that a spectrum seemed to be emerging where different forms of centres with different roles emphasizing behavioural exhibition design and education should have a place on the heritage interpretation landscape. Similarly, a new focus on non-object documentation and preservation along with the provision of a social platform role for civic engagement and community relevance was brewing.

At the present time, Mr. Cameron would have to be in agreement with the word museumas the now called Anacostia Community Museum (ACM) – the first federally funded community museum in the USA- do research and have collections.Their mission states that their “museum convenes people and ideas, while documenting and preserving communities’ memories, struggles, and successes, and offering a platform where diverse voices and cultures can be heard.” Read that again and take it all in.

credit to Anacostia Community Museum web site

Compare to your site mission and how diverse voices are being captured. Even if you are natural history based, consider how you are documenting the natural communities’ memories, struggles, and successes and offering them a platform to be heard.

“Through community-based documentation and research—including extensive oral history interviewing, photo-documentation, community surveying and mapping— the Museum is able to offer cutting-edge insights about the wide range of social, political, economic and environmental forces that have shaped and continue to shape our urbanizing world.” Again, even if you are natural history based, how have you and your stakeholders used interviewing, photo-documentation, surveying and mapping to offer cutting-edge insights about the wide range of social and environmental forces that have shaped and continue to shape your park/forest/ecosystem?

ACM's approach to exhibition development and the viewing experience (their choice of words) is based on direct collaboration with local communities, including residents, members of neighborhood organizations, artists, community activists, planning organizations, scholars, local officials, local businesses, and families. How many of you can claim such a wide- ranging level of collaboration? This sure builds buy-in and word of mouth promotion!

 The ACM vision is to inspire communities to take action, and to be an incubator for the next generation of civically engaged citizens. By illuminating the intersections of history, culture, and contemporary social issues ACM amplifies peoples’ voices, and uses a local lens to “tell stories that resonate nationally and globally.” Better read THAT again and take it all in, regardless of your “collection” and mandate.

There are some very significant words and phrases used that are NOT normally associated with museums or exhibition centres. Can you see a role for your site doing a better job in any of these areas? Take your time. If you are even remotely wondering whether you need to up your community relevance, there is good fodder here to consider in the ACM vision statement.

As I explored their web site, two programs that breathed their vision and mission, caught my eye. Take Time Thursdays with the ACM talks about giving participants a chance to take time for wellness, health, and creativity with artists, thought leaders, performers, wellness practitioners and others.

WEL program image credit to Anacostia Community Museum

Secondly, was the Women's Environmental Leadership (WEL) initiative: “a program that builds the capacity for future women in environmental leadership by introducing established leaders to the next generation of women interested in environmental advocacy and justice efforts.”  WOW !

My archival file folder reflections indicate to me that revisiting the positions and philosophies espoused in the not- so- distant past can be worthwhile on several levels. Not only as sparks of inspiration where we can gain from their insight, but also as routes into the present to benefit from previously unbeknownst facility exposure. Being familiar with some of the historical perspectives in our field can be very helpful as one continues to advance one’s professional standing and one continues to raise the profile of interpretation as the core element necessary for a successful visitor leisure experience. 

Anticipate future looks into the past.

Interpretive Invitations

Two of EID’s blog post installments in October and December 2020 (Putting Interpretive Design Ideas into Practice Phase 1 and Phase 2) covered the importance of developing a clear mission driven interpretive framework, with specific holistic outcomes for the visitor, based on key site essences. This set the stage for our upcoming third post on describing the interpretive offerings at an Invitation Station that will invite the visitor to participate in the essence driven immersing experiences. The key word here is…Invitation!

As Mike and I put the finishing touches on Phase 3 about our interpretive planning and design project at Métis Crossing, I made a point of revisiting the Interpretive Design and the Dance of Experience book for more inspiration and instigation.

When I found myself corner tabbing, starring and highlighting sections in the book again, I thought, “Why don’t I bring some of Steve Van Matre’s declarative positions forward for our blogging community to digest and ruminate on.” All the quotations that follow in this post derive from Van Matre’s challenging and creative viewpoints, directly pertaining to the concept of interpretive invitations which form a critical part of our upcoming third installment. This post will flesh this concept out as a necessary precursor.

What is an interpretive invitation?

An invitation is a request for the visitor to get involved and to do something mentally and physically that will enrich their personal dance of experience. The interpretive medium chosen must reach out to the visitor helping to get them underway in experiencing the site’s purpose. With this preliminary definition in mind, I hope you are primed to ponder and to have your thoughts and methods challenged?  Are you ready to absorb and maybe even say “Hmm” occasionally?  

Get ready for a ride with interpretive author – provocateur Steve Van Matre.

Let’s raise the bar…

Van Matre summarizes on page 240 of the book:

“The ultimate goal of interpretation is experiential transformation.”

The methodology to get there is a marriage of the structure developed in previously described Phase 1 and 2, with the design of invitational experiential interactions. Let’s unpack this concept of invitation and the preparation of visitors to continue experiencing a site on their own. Have a pen handy or your keyboard close by because you will probably want to capture your thoughts before they fade away.

“As interpreters, we want to turn the dance of experience into a dance of love for the visitors. The aim is to love our jewels [heritage site], not just recognize them. People value what they understand, and love what they feel, so we want to guide them in moving from value to love in their dance with a place. To love something is to cherish it, support it, return to it, and that is what we want in interpretation. We begin by inviting the visitors, ‘Come, dance with us,‘ but along the way, we pass them off to ‘dance with the jewel’ without us.” (page 240)

You may want to read these quotes over a few times slowly and methodically (remember at the beginning I talked about ruminating). Please, take the time to really grapple with what Van Matre is proposing, as it is a slight whack on the side of the head. So here are a few more morsels to consider on invitation in the interpretive experience…

“An interpretive experience needs to be offered with an invitation and some practice beforehand or it will struggle to reach its goal.” (page 222)

“An invitation is usually a request to attend something. The most successful ones have a personal feeling about them. If every interpretive tool was designed in the same way, it would change interpretation from an often passively informational medium into an active engaging one.” (page 196)

“We need invitations not opportunities. An opportunity is a suitable time or circumstance while an invitation is a specific request to be somewhere. By its very nature an invitation is designed to attract. It says someone wants us. An invitation reaches out while an opportunity is just there.” (page 196)

What Part Should We Play in the Visitor Experience?

Once again, Van Matre has a perspective that demands some more mind churning and note taking.

“How we see ourselves professionally shifts our focus. As interpreters, we are not presenting opportunities for enrichment, we are inviting people to do enriching things. This makes us proactive coaches... An interpreter is a coach for visitor experience.” (page 196)

“Guides offer a menu of opportunities, interpreters extend invitations. “

Photo credit: Bill Reynolds

(Note: Van Matre’s use of the word “zoo” below could be interchanged with other types of heritage sites)

 “It [guiding] is the difference between going to the beach and going to the zoo. People go to the beach realizing no one has set something up for them. It’s a recreational area for what they will do on their own. There may be some facilities, some amenities, but the activity there is something people arrange primarily for themselves. Going to the zoo is different. People expect to find things on offer there. They know people at the zoo think about the visitors’ experience and want to share the work of the zoo with them. Just remember this is not directional guiding; it’s experiential guiding. In a way it’s saying, ‘I will aid you in getting ready, sharing some things that will be helpful, and practicing them with you when needed. I will even set off with you to make sure you’re comfortable, but then you’re on your own.’ This is guiding as coaching, not leading.” (page 128)

“All interpreters are guiding, but all guides are not interpreting.”

 How Shall We Best Communicate?

“The most important factor for successful guiding in interpretation seems to reside in the use of words. Since an interpreter translates the natural and cultural language of a place for visitors who come to experience it, and much of that language is non-verbal, and since interpretation is first and foremost direct experience, an interpreter must translate the language of place through meaningful and memorable interactions, not just words. If interpreters are not extremely careful, their words will overwhelm the experience for the visitors.” (page 128)

“Good guiding implies that there are discoveries to be made by prepared visitors… Interpretive guiding should prepare visitors to make their own discoveries whenever possible.” (page 130)

Getting visitors to continue dancing (maintain their excitement) and engage with the heritage site is best done through interactions.  Some common interpretive media formats are personal presentations, guided or self-guided tours, simulations, demonstrations, re-enactments, storytelling, campfire talks, guided discoveries, or portrayal of persons from the past. Just as important are the communication devices of various formats: print (e.g. signage, banners, labels, maps, brochures), exhibits, audio, video, smartphone/tablets, digital screens, QR codes, augmented reality or virtual reality. Regardless, Van Matre points out many of our media still predominantly focus on information and not invitation.

He reminds us several times about this concept/idea: “As interpretive designers we should ask over and over, ‘Where’s the invitation?’ If an offering doesn’t invite participation, then we should consign it to the library. It is information not interpretation.” (page 134) This is true for all interactive communication devices or interpretive media.

Photo credit Bill Reynolds, in Galapagos National Park- an invitation to think?

An invitation to do favourite digital pastimes close by en plein air

How Can We Set Up Invitation Stations

To extend this concept, Van Matre introduces Invitation Stations - “…where interpreters deliver the invitational interactions that prepare and motivate visitors to participate in one or more essence experiences” (whether interpreter led or not). We use the term immersing experience (essence-based) as synonymous with Van Matre’s use of essence experience.

Visitors need to feel pulled in and set up for their adventure and this can be enhanced by a carefully crafted Invitation Station.  This is where they practice, and begin to absorb the designed outcomes in preparing for an extended experience. I liken it to a sampling at a farmers’ market.  Visitors should then be invited to do something on their own with what they enticingly gained at an Invitation Station. Accompanying paths, both real and metaphoric ones, emanating from the invitation station should be designed for the expressed purpose of leading the participant to an immersing experience…a chance to dance deeply with the place.

Here’s one Invitation Station example from the book that Van Matre presents for Everglades National Park in Florida:

“Invitation stations for sharing essence can take many forms. A small-roofed viewing platform that’s raised to give visitors a panoramic view, could become the outpost for setting off on foot onto the boardwalk over the marsh but also the artists’ point where returning explorers record their experience. With a little interpretive legerdemain, the various signs, containers, props, even costumes, could be reversed, or turned inside out while the walk was underway, transforming the station in just a few minutes from an outpost for exploration into a retreat for contemplation.

“This latter element could be expanded upon by encouraging regional artists to create things based on the view from the overlook, then sharing them in an exhibit assembled there once a month (letting them sell their other work in the car park below. For visitors during other times, a large chalkboard could be installed under the shelter with an invitation to share words and renderings that capture the language of the place (with the board being salted on a regular basis).” (page 224)

Salting side bar: Salting was introduced earlier in Van Matre’s book referring to any time you add something that will enrich the visitors’ experience with the place. As he points out, where can YOU chalk graffiti on a back wall, arrange for an old nest to be found, stumble across the bag of an early explorer, have a door to open or find a pull - down map under the eave of a building? “…when sharing a particular place, we don’t have to rely on what is immediately at hand, we can add things to help us heighten the intensity and clarity of our messages.” (page 137)

Photo credit Bill Reynolds

These are techniques to strengthen the invitational interaction and pull the visitor into the experience that awaits. Sometimes it is just a word or phrase, other times it is an item found normally in the area but you place it in a particular spot as a focal point for something you will explain or for something you will use as a prop for a special activity. In addition, it could be an item that visitors could discover when guided surreptitiously by you, like evidence of unseen inhabitants or architectural details.  

“An immersive experience without a structure for attracting and sustaining mission-driven mental engagement becomes little more than a shopping mall, recreation area, or theme park.” (page 235)

 What is the Key Design Process?

As we explained in Phase 1 and 2, the key to developing meaningful, memorable, tangible, and delightful visitor experiences happens by:

• determining your site essences,

• knowing the processes you will emphasize,

• developing an inventory of visitor outcomes, and

• deciding on the messages you want to reinforce

Collecting all of this place-based evidence, then displaying it so it supports your carefully crafted interpretive plan is key to the process of designing invitational interactions.

It is so easy to skip the early, foundational steps covered in Phase 1 and 2 and jump right to the fun stuff of creating interpretive programs and choosing interpretive media. However, without the well-thought rationale of what makes your site special, what you want to accomplish and for whom, the site interpretation can’t reach its potential. This is why Van Matre placed creating interpretive experiences in Chapter Six of the book and not at the beginning.

This framework for interpretive design is what we unravelled in Phase 1 and 2 of Putting Interpretive Design Ideas into Practice. Phase 3 will look at what Van Matre calls AMORE interpretive skills as the basis for developing experiences based on invitational interpretive interactions, integrated into various media formats. See you there.

It’s Finally Time to STFU

EID encourages collaboration and sharing of smart practices across disciplines. Bill is an exemplar, as he brings a cross-disciplinary background of tourism planning and design, with event management and marketing interwoven with front-line experience in natural heritage interpretation.  These worlds often don’t intersect and they have much to teach each other especially when it comes to experiential interpretation.

EID has addressed this importance in several of their posts. We discovered interpretive blogger Don Enright had crafted a related plea to form a bridge between the experiential tourism world and the meaning making world of interpretation into a memory making visitor experience, five years ago.

Photo Credit: Marion Reynolds

He touched on the need for combining fun with the facilitation of concrete interpretive outcomes, in the orchestration of a suite of experiences. When he stressed the downplaying of presentation mode a comment surfaced about the training utility of a judicious use of duct tape across the interpreter’s mouth when involved in program design (with a nod to Earth Rhythms CEO, Celes Davar for mentioning this technique). Watch this short comical video, abit Monty Pythonesque, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMdiUbA5XXw as a spoof on communication style of interpretive guides.

In other words, it might be time to engage in the practice of Shut The F… Up or STFU, as our guest blogger states in his title. We have reproduced these words of wisdom here in their entirety. It still stands the test of time. Interpretive planner Don Enright declared that he wanted professional interpreters to retool. Take it away Don:

It’s Finally Time to STFU

Start to think of yourself as narrator, stage manager, and prop assistant.

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of interpretation in the rapidly-expanding world of experiential tourism.

What is experiential tourism? It’s the future. Actually, it’s the present—the world of tourism began moving to an experiential model at least fifteen years ago. Where once it was enough to see Florence, to see Old Quebec, to see Long Beach, we now need to engage with these places in ways that are tactile, emotional, local, authentic and transformative.

Eating pastry in Paris? Nice, but now we’re taking pastry-making classes from local chefs there. Riding a gondola in Venice? So ten years ago. Now we’re learning to steer our own gondolas under the tutelage of a local pro. Sampling Italian food in a restaurant? Lovely, but now we’re eating in Abruzzo country homes, hosted by local families (and brokered by the Italian government.) Learning about dinosaurs in the badlands? Okay, but you really must take part in a real dig with working palaeontologists.

And shuffling along on a guided tour listening to an interpreter talk about pastry in Paris? Um, no thanks. That’s the way people travelled thirty years ago.

Interpreters love to talk. And they really love to find themselves a captive audience and bend their ears back for 45 minutes or so. And I think this is why, 59 years after Freeman Tilden pointed out that our role is to reveal and inspire rather than to inform, we still haven’t stopped talking.

And the world of travel and tourism is slowly but surely reacting with a giant, collective yawn. They’ve had enough. To quote my friend Fred: it’s time for interpreters to STFU. We need a collective shift away from presentational interpretation.

What do I mean by “presentational?”

Are you on a stage, standing in front of a circle, behind a touch table, in front of a group at an artefact? That’s presentational interpretation. Are you talking more than half the time in your program? That’s another hallmark of the presentational model. Are you the star of your program? That’s definitely presentational interpretation.

Photo credit: Don Enright

And what is experiential interpretation? Experiential interpretation moves the interpreter from the front and centre to the sidelines. The activity becomes the star; the interpreter is still key to the experience, but she is no longer front and centre. She plays second fiddle to the experience: the things that the visitor is doing to connect with the place.

The activity is the star. The interpreter is secondary in the visitor’s eye (but still omnipresent in the background as the designer of a carefully-crafted suite of experiences.)

Steve van Matre calls this “interpreter as narrator, stage manager, and prop assistant.”

In my previous post, I talked about the making of memories. Recently, I’ve been going further with my reading, and came across a pretty compelling study. It suggests that lifelong memories are made when visitor experience accomplishes the following: 1. social impact— the experience deepens our friendships and other relationships; 2. intellectual development—the experience challenges and advances our understanding of the world; 3. self-discovery—the experience transforms the way we see ourselves in the world; and 4. physical challenge—the experience pushes us in the acquisition of new skills.  1

Look at those four criteria. Nobody’s going to get them from a touch table, I’m sorry to say. Nobody.

I’m whistling across the Bay of Fundy in a Zodiac; my guide is Tom Goodwin, a biologist with thirty years’ experience on these waters. At no point does he lecture us about whale conservation or pollution in the bay or climate change—here’s here to help us find the whales. But as we search, he points out what he sees, and contrasts it with what he used to see. When we find our whale, we whoop with delight and snap photos like crazy—and he points out its behaviour, and in a few words, tells us how whale behaviour is changing. It’s enough to make you think. For me, it was enough to inspire my own reading on the subject after I got home. Looking back, I had a wonderful time. I certainly never thought of it as a program or a lesson… but the lessons, in retrospect, were clear.

Photo credit: Don Enright

I’m in a parrot sanctuary in Costa Rica, and I’m surrounded by gorgeous, outrageously-coloured macaws. We snap photos as they pose and cavort and occasionally climb on us. We snack on local fresh fruit as the director quietly tells us the history of these birds: they were confiscated at the airport, stuffed in tubes inside suitcases. Later we walk to an area where we can watch successfully-reintroduced birds streak past through open skies. I knew about the illegal pet trade before; I’d never really felt its impact before now.

Experiential interpretation looks a lot like recreational tourism, and goes by the same names: River rafting. Cross-country skiing. Canoeing and kayaking. Horseback riding. Snorkelling and diving. Orienteering and geocaching. Backpacking. Whale watching. Wine tasting. Heritage cooking and gardening. Heritage quilting and knitting. Traditional hunting and fishing.

But it’s more than recreation; it has its own quiet agenda. It is a designed and choreographed experience with concrete interpretive outcomes: to inspire thought; to make meaning; to connect with essence of place; to facilitate epiphanies large and small; to quietly connect the ecological or historical dots, however subtle they may be; to teach a few, relevant and carefully-chosen facts, and then to stand back and watch those facts come to life.

That’s what makes it interpretation, and that’s why the world of experiential tourism needs us. The pure tourism model is content to let visitors simply have fun—and there’s nothing wrong with having fun while we travel. But experiential interpretation says yes to fun, and a lot more.

We can craft experiences that change lives. We can facilitate subtly choreographed activities that challenge, provoke, reveal, and inspire—using minimal words and maximal action. We can build lifelong memories; we can design experiences to connect people to all things real, local, authentic and sustainable.

It’s good tourism, it’s good conservation, and it’s good interpretation.

And it’s high time.”

Don Enright is a freelance interpretive planner and visitor experience advisor, who works collaboratively with parks, historic sites, museums, aquariums and other organizations to help bring their stories to life. Connect with Don and dig into some great resources on his web site Home - Don Enright

Notes:

1.       Exploring the essence of memorable tourism experiences VWS Tung, JRB Ritchie, Annals of Tourism Research 38 (4), 1367-1386  

Inspired to Inspire: The Dance of Inspiration

Are you up for another guest blog post? My fellow Canadian, Jacquie Gilson, Principal of InterpActiv, has recently published a book, Inspired to Inspire: Holistic Inspirational Interpretation. She conducted a wonderful session at the recent Global Association of Heritage Interpretation (GAHI) and we invited her to provide some highlights as she is challenging the interpretation profession to rethink its core. Her growth mindset sees the field presently being tied down but being on the verge of taking off like a hot air balloon. She poses very practical and thought -provoking questions. Take it away, Jacquie.

credit: Jacquie Gilson

I have been a devoted fan of Steve Van Matre since his books Acclimatization and Acclimatizing came out in 1972 and 1974 respectively. I was fortunate to attend a nature-oriented summer camp in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada and Van Matre’s ideas guided the camp program. It was a camp for inner-city kids, and it changed my life. I qualified to be a camper since I was one of five girls being raised by a single mother. After a session there as a camper, I went on to spend four glorious summers working at the camp, while studying environmental education and interpretation at university.

credit: Fran Bires

At summer camp, we did every activity that we could from Van Matre’s book! I recall pouring over the Acclimatization activities, always looking for new and fun things to do with the campers to help them experience the natural world. We even did his Day in the Bog activity from Acclimatization, in which you walk right into the bog. We experienced as many of his other hands-on and engaging activities as we could fit in while the kids attended the camp.

Fast forward 40 years. (I just turned 60, so I'm doing lots of reflection lately!) Here I am with my own book and ideas to share. I've spent my entire career working for various parks as an environmental educator, interpreter and/or interpretive manager. I have led many guided walks, campfire talks, evening programs, school programs, and trainings, and I have always made them as interactive as possible. My belief that exploring nature and culture should be active for audiences has only gotten stronger over the years.

(Special Note: I don’t even like to use the term audience anymore. In today's more active, participatory world, I think we should use the word “engadiences” instead. The word audience suggests that people are there for the audio, i.e., to listen. I prefer to think of participants as being there to be engaged.)

Believing that engadiences/participants of all ages should be involved directly in interpretation, led me to experiment with different techniques over the years. Rooted in the Acclimatization activities I learned from Van Matre’s books, I have tried to make my interpretation as hands-on and involving as possible. I have used, or encouraged my staff to use, experiments, crafts, games, rotating stations, competitions, sharing of costumes and props, and so on. Even adults participating in an interpretive experience like to take part in hands-on activities; why should kids have all the fun?

With the desire to make interpretation more active and aim to inspire audiences of all ages, I developed the framework that is a central part of my book. It is based on my doctoral dissertation research into the concept of inspiration in heritage interpretation, as well as my experiences from the last 40 years.

At the centre of the framework is what I call the entry points to inspiration. I believe that people are inspired through their head, heart and hands, (and sometimes even the feet). People are varied and inspired through more than just information; let’s be sure to give them variety and we will reach more people.

courtesy: Jacquie Gilson

The two swirls in the image above represent the two critical moments in inspiration; what people are inspired by and what they are inspired to.

My research, and experiences since, suggest to me that people are inspired by people, places (plus ideas, events, objects, etc.) and by participation. That’s why I aim to engage visitors, trainees, and workshop attendees in as much participation as possible. I always try to ensure that the participation has purpose and that people know it is perfectly acceptable not to participate if they don’t want to.

And the other swirl, which is equally important, is the idea that people are inspired to something. That something may be action at, i.e., while they are still at the site, or action after they leave. As one of my research participants said, in interpretation we put on our capes and aim to save the world! We need to give people ideas for concrete actions they could take and also invite them to generate their own ideas for actions. People may also be inspired to a non-action, i.e., a change in being or in a way of thinking. I recall loving Van Matre’s more quiet and reflective activities, and I love the idea that we don’t always have to inspire people to take action. Sometimes we all just need to slow down and take some time to think, feel and absorb. This may result in a change in being or in viewing the world a little bit differently. And, of course, it may lead to action later.

courtesy: Jacquie Gilson

In my book, I go through this framework in detail, with lots of examples from my experiences. I wanted to make the framework real and practical for interpreters and I hope the ideas will inspire a new generation of interpreters to think about their craft a little differently. I encourage interpreters to question their base and consider how they could be more holistic in their work. To this end, I provide thought provoking questions with sticky notes to guide reflection. Like…“How might your approach to interpretive programming or design of interpretive media look, if you were aiming to be a facilitator or inspirator, and not just a presenter or instructor?” (BTW- I think I made up that word, inspirator!)

Just as I was inspired by Steve Van Matre all those years ago, I hope you are inspired by these ideas and inspired to act upon them in some way, for the betterment of the world. There’s a lot to be done.

To Steve Van Matre, thank you for the inspiration.

(EID Note: His latest book Interpretive Design: A Dance of Experience is a tour de force for the field).

To EID, thank you for keeping up the dance and inviting me to join in. 

Jacquie Gilson has been involved in interpretation, and loving it, for more than 40 years. She received her Doctor of Social Sciences degree from Royal Roads University in 2015 and recently retired from being an Interpretation Coordinator for Parks Canada in Banff National Park. She now runs her own company, InterpActive, named for her philosophy that interpretation needs to be more active. She focuses on interpreter training and her specialty is online training on dialogic and participatory interpretation.

Check out  https://interpactiveplanning.wordpress.com/about/jacquie-gilson/  or www.interpactive.ca  

Look for her book Inspired to Inspire: Holistic Inspirational Interpretation on  https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08SB3922Y  or  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08S6R9177

Tips to Ease Overcrowding at Parks and Sites

When we read this practical and idea-full post by Regine Kennedy, interpretive planner with the 106 Group, we knew it was time for another guest blog post. The issue of overcrowding, as it effects not only the visitor experience and the protection of the heritage asset, is an important management conundrum and has especially been on many manager's’ minds this last year. How can an interpretive mindset come to the rescue? In her blog post, reproduced in its entirety here, Regine provides us with some excellent solutions to consider :

Across the country, visitation at parks has been rising for several years. With coronavirus and limitations on air travel, parks have seen a new boom along with changes in visitation patterns. Tour busses are no longer bringing international crowds, but local and regional visitors with limited options are flooding in. This includes a rise in visitors who have never been to such parks before.

credit: Emma Van Sant via Unsplash

While this boom is a dream for many outdoor advocates, more boots increases damage to resources and wear on infrastructure. And negative visitor experiences have the potential to taint support for parks long-term.

This is not a particularly new problem, just a change in scale. The 106 Group has worked with Pennsylvania State Parks and is currently working with Joshua Tree National Park, California to address these issues through an interpretive lens.

When limiting admissions and increasing staff aren’t feasible, two forms of interpretive messaging can help:

How-To Basics

Those of us who work in this realm take conservation messages for granted. However, newcomers to parks have not necessarily been exposed to the ethics of Leave No Trace™. Likewise, we are hearing an increased need for reminders to wear appropriate shoes, carry enough water, and take a map because cell coverage cannot be assumed. Long lists of regulations don’t help, but clear information at trailheads and along trails can.

Spreading Out

One way to minimize damage at one attraction is to spread visitors out. Make people aware of other interesting things to do in your park. Even encourage visits to nearby businesses and other parks.

The question then is how to make people aware of these messages. Ideally, every visitor would talk with trained staff who can assess level of experience and interests to provide the best advice on where to go and how to behave. But always, we recommend multiple information channels. Here are some tips.

Before they come

Visitors learned about your park somewhere and they found their way to you. That almost certainly means that they came to your website or social media platforms. Prioritize these how-to and spreading out messages right up front. Be repetitive. Be friendly. Be funny. And remember the importance of gorgeous photos. Some parks are even creating new short how-to videos.

On the approach

As visitors drive in, grab their attention with signs intended to be read while driving. You can play with the yellow warning sign format; try the old-time Burma Shave approach of a series of smaller signs; and the National Park Service has been testing drive-by waysides. Depending on your specific geography, consider also a low-power radio station like those used for traffic information. Radio has the advantage of being easily updated to current conditions.

credit: Mathieu Dessus via Flickr

credit: John Fowler via Flickr.

On arrival

Ideally, you would have staff or trained volunteers easily available at each parking area. A temporary tent and table could help them be found. Whether or not that’s possible, use the message strategies at each trailhead. Create bold signs, emphasizing visuals over words. (Don’t feel like you have to struggle to get it just right. Temporary is better than nothing. Consider it prototyping.)

Sometimes, nothing can beat a human voice. A solar-powered audio post can provide easily changeable messages at the push of a button. This also has the advantage of options for multiple languages. And the posts can be reused in the long-term as needed.

Provide updated park guides/maps built to highlight the messages. Point to the alternate locations as boldly as you do the biggest attractions. Feature how-to information. Put safety tips alongside trail names (“One-way, 3-hour hike with slight slope. Bring water and bug spray. Poor cell reception!”)

These tactics work best as part of a larger strategy including infrastructure changes such as reservation-based ticketing (try a lottery), updated traffic flow, additional restrooms and trash, shuttle busses, and increased staff contact stations. But these interpretive strategies are also relatively quick and easy. Go ahead and try them out on their own.

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Regine Kennedy is a resourceful planner, facilitator, and project manager whose award-winning work includes community engagement, facilitation, interpretive planning, and exhibit development. She applies a keen attention to detail in every project, while never losing sight of the bigger picture. As a result, Regine empowers clients and their stakeholders to create meaningful and effective solutions that transform challenges into opportunities. You can contact the guest blogger via email: RegineKennedy@106group.com

If you are in the mood for more along these lines then our Shape-Shifting post from December 2018 deals with the concept of signs, signs, everywhere signs. Are they getting noticed or ignored? Another EID Christmas present that month was about greeting your visitor with the Keep Anticipation Alive post. We advocated for checking and balancing of the predominant following message tone: “Here are things you are not allowed to do and by the way the fire risk is this, the animal danger is that and such and such a trail is closed.. Have a nice day?” Concern about an effective orientation and welcoming entrance is touched on in our posts Tale of Two Welcomes Part 1 and Part 2. The Gift of Humour post from January 2020 builds on this and provides some how-to’s for increasing receptiveness in the visitor for your message.

Finding HOPE-FULLness Part 2

Glad to have you back aboard to travel down some more pathways into HOPE-FULLness. Part 1 involved some very practical ways to inspire your visitor and this go around I have found myself dabbling in a more conceptual labyrinth – a motivational synaptic playground. I hope you feel a motivating charge.

My fourth nudging into HOPE-FULLness, was initiated by a strange occurrence. Have you ever had the experience of a book spine calling out to you? Well, not actually calling -more like beckoning. Writing a post about HOPE-FULLness might naturally have predisposed me to notice this title, Hope Beneath our Feet, among the books lined up along my bookshelf. In any case, the book’s premise is based on the editor, Martin Keogh, asking fifty authors to respond to the question, “In a time of environmental crisis, how can we live right now?”  (Note: this book was compiled before COVID). The universal response: “Life as we know it is precious and worth protecting.” Let’s unravel this abit.

The book Hope Beneath our Feet is so full of inspiration along these lines that I have dedicated the full post to it. I have incorporated perspectives from a few chapters and placed them into the interpreter’s realm. The post is chock full of quotes from the book. They create the stimulus for thought exploration. I have always found the sharing of quotes with visitors when I delivered programs as productive fodder for reflection and reimagining. As I share a few here with you, I hope they stimulate your little grey cells.

Credit: Bill Reynolds

In the “Eyes Wide Open” chapter, Chameli Gad Ardagh of the Awakening Women Institute, discusses expanding our sensory receptivity as she harkens back to the time when “… little sticks and stones were portals into exciting adventures.” My grandkids remind me of this every time we walk outdoors. Too many people get caught up in what Albert Einstein called “…the optical illusion of the human mind;” the busy activity of our own thoughts leading to the feeling of separation from the earth and all her beings. We must grease the wheels of receptivity for our visitors so they sense a world of vibrant life. Can we figure out how to help our visitors watch the natural world bustle about its business, feeding itself and its’ families, running one urgent errand or another?

Naturalist and essayist Diane Ackerman waxes poetically in her “Healing Power of Nature” contribution, about the need for people to “…inoculate themselves against the aridity of a routine workaday life,” by spending time in nature. We have certainly seen this in the past year where doses of sunlight and wildlife have been restorative.

She emphasizes how “…wonder heals through an alchemy of mind.” We feel whole, healthy and deeply nourished only when we stop the self-imposed exile and reacquaint ourselves with the outdoors by knitting our being into nature.  However much water you draw from nature’s magic well, you always find more waiting for you. “Time to go outside and take a drink.”

Credit: Bill Reynolds

Diane also mentions how important the concept of the earth being perceived as our mother truly is. Might this be the most crucial aspect of nature interpretation to improve our relationship with the earth and the understanding of the healthy interrelatedness of all living things?  The role of the nature interpreter is to heal that feeling of divorce and help repair and deepen that relationship.

What skills are we re-giving people to practice a childlike openness? How are we helping our visitor to tone down their internal mind conversations to make space for connections and conversations with the natural and cultural worlds around us? What a gift to be able to focus on the wonder of the moment!  The practices shared in our April 30, 2020 blog Earthwalks: Using Our Senses To Deepen Our Feelings For The Earth deal directly with ways to achieve this.

As mentioned in Part 1, the first living cell came into being 3.8 billion years ago, and its direct descendants are in all of our bloodstreams. We share a common 100 million-year- bloodline with every mammal, sharing with them more than 90 % of our DNA., We are in each other’s blood. Author of Ecological Intelligence, Dr. Ian McCallum, exclaims that, “We too have our alarm calls, our cries of territory, of sexual display and discovery. We experience fear and rage and we are not the only ones who die of a broken spirit.” Interpreters must highlight these aspects of mutuality to boost the relatedness factor.

Credit: Bill Reynolds

In the wise words of Dr. Ian McCallum’s chapter:

““To lose the sense of connection with the landscape is to suffer one of the most overlooked psychiatric disorders of our time. It is a condition that I call ecological amnesia. We have forgotten our wild heritage, of where we have come from and who we are - the human animal.””

In his practice, Dr. McCallum has found that patients’ sense of self is intimately associated with a sense of landscape – a memory of origins and the sense of shared survival strategies. Productive therapy involves rediscovery of biological roots and a knowledge of our indebtedness to the natural environment. It is a healing process of becoming ecologically literate - to be sensitive to and informed once more by the wind, the ocean waves, bird song, the bark of trees, the industriousness of ants - the skin and spirit of place.

“We are here because the dream of every cell is to become two cells”

— Environmental activist, Paul Hawken

As Paul Hawken points out the planet came with a set of instructions but we seem to have misplaced them because we are not paying attention to them. “Important rules exist- like don’t poison the water, soil or air; don’t let the earth get overcrowded; and don’t touch the thermostat.” He also refers to visionary Buckminster Fuller who was famous for his description of “spaceship earth” that is ingeniously designed to fly through the universe at a million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in coach, and with really good food… until humans came along and started taking over, ignoring the manual … yet the realization is there, with hope that this present generation will study and follow the manual.

Scott Rodwin, a leader in sustainable architectural design, bolsters his ongoing commitment to the planet, when he feels his contributions are insignificant, by retelling the starfish story in his chapter of the book.

Image courtesy of Pexels

“A man is walking along a beach after a big storm. There are tens of thousands of starfish washed up and dying. In the distance, a small boy is picking them up and throwing them one by one back into the ocean. The man walks up to him and says, “What are you doing?” “Saving them,“ replies the boy. “You’re crazy. There are thousands and thousands of them. You can’t possibly make a difference.” The boy was quiet for a moment and looked down, picked one up, and threw it in. “Made a difference to that one.”

The quote from the famous humanitarian and African doctor of the early 20th Century, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, provides a kickstart for visitors to think about how to stand up for our world. Schweitzer was on a quest to find an ethical basis for living when he wrote this:

“As I sit here under this tree, I think about how much I value my own life and wish to go on living and to have more of it. Then I look up at this lofty tree with its gently swaying leaves and think, this tree must hold its own life as valuable and also want to go on living and have more of life, too. And even though it is mute, it nevertheless is no different than me in its desire to live, grow, and flourish.:”

— Dr. Albert Schweitzer

credit: Marion Reynolds

As interpreters we have an unprecedented opportunity to find the drive, the will, and the passion to stand up for our natural and cultural world. Helping others to observe life around them, to recognize their common bond to all of life and to grasp that importance may be our profession’s most important calling. Be an emissary for nature and culture to assist visitors to broaden their circle of awareness. Find your contribution and offer it. What interpreters do matters and makes a difference for us all. 

In the previous blog post Part 1, the Biomimicry Institute had sent me a Happy Birthday Earth email, and within it they had included a request for me. I thank them for the idea that I have modified slightly and will now request of you, our reader. It is also an idea that you could use at your heritage site with your visitors.

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Please share with the EID community any uplifting wisdom (e.g. favorite quote) that life has shared with you and provided a sense of HOPE-FULLness.

Leave your quote in the comments below, or contact us. We will be sure to share them in future posts.

Finding HOPE-FULLness Part 1

Several things grabbed my attention last week and made me sit up and take notice. They literally screamed HOPE-FULLness.  I hope you agree.

A very simple, yet profound, design image instantly grabbed me when I was “strolling” through a favourite business e-news magazine...it made me smile. That simple act brought a flood of memories. Expressions and melodies came to mind: “Smile and the whole world smiles with you. Smile, and maybe tomorrow the sun comes shining through, for you.”

What I saw in this magazine was more than just a functional place to sit but also incorporated a feeling through the design of a happy face - the Smile Stool - from Spanish designer Jaime Hayon, offered by the company Benchmark.  Just imagine if interpretive facilities incorporated more smiles in their spaces. How could this NOT brighten up your visitor’s day? Please send us your examples. If we can’t start thinking now, about mental health & positive leisure enhancing elements, when?

photo credit Benchmark

A second attention grabber popped up when I reviewed some old travel musings. I have the habit of keeping notes when my wife and I travel to capture memories of what we have experienced including elements of beauty, little natural history highlights and architectural details that have caught my eye and ear. Well, when searching for the name of a location in one of my old journals, a different entry jumped out at me, inspiring the second instigation of HOPE-FULLness.

I was struck by one of my writings from a trip to Washington state in 2008, where I noted, “An outstanding example of creative trail interpretation…” and “Finally, something innovative and instructional without a dominant sense of teaching/learning attached.”  I had to read on.

Following this statement were short descriptions of an art trail in the woods called Wander the Willapa, at the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. My mind swirled with a flood of recollections, filled with a sense of rejuvenation and deep appreciation for the field of interpretation because the interpretive treatment was so emblematic of innovation and positive perspectives.

A variety of sculptural art pieces had been positioned at different heights alongside a trail that followed a stream, so you were primed to be explorative and engaged with the world around them. Each one captured a perspective that made you think more about where you were and made you linger longer.

credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service

For example, nature’s partnership in the salmon life cycle was artfully explored with salmon sculptures placed among trees to reinforce how the dead and decaying salmon would play an important role in the nutrient cycle. Those nutrients from the decaying salmon would find their way into tree roots thereby acting as a fertilizer to feed the forest.

credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service

In addition, locally significant species of vibrantly painted bird figures had been mounted as part of a clever, elongated, and undulating tubular system, that captured the eye and carried you along in a forward direction subtly & effortlessly. I have yet to experience a “sign” that exudes the element of movement more effectively than these curiously suspended avian migrants.

The sense of novelty and artistry continued with several spiral pieces commanding a closer look as they interpreted the magical method of metamorphosis spotlighting insect transformations along a vertical journey. In the distance, shorebird silhouettes took flight from the nearby salt marsh in a sculptured form like a mini dust devil.

Even the boardwalk was unique. This boardwalk swept and bent, narrowed and widened, just like the nearby stream and pieces were embedded in the floorboards. Even the picnic table and benches played a supporting role through a stunning mosaic inlay of “charismatic mini-fauna.” How impressive that the usually often overlooked and forgotten invertebrates were profiled and highlighted.

credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service

Nestled alongside the path mini-amphitheatre like spaces were carved from the forest vegetation, reminiscent of an eddy in a stream -- an alcove of calmness encouraging reflection.

I discovered in the trail brochure, after the fact, that the site managers had wanted to celebrate a stream restoration project and focus on the diverse wildlife living there. They had chosen NOT to use a traditional series of beside the path, regularly spaced, educational, square- shaped, text prominent signs. Instead, they had looked for a community partnership with the University of Washington Public Arts Program and provided freedom of expression. Students had designed, constructed, and installed the artwork along the trail.

BRAVO on so many counts.

All HAIL WILLAPA! to those open to exploring WAYS to:

• express essence at their site,

• be comfortable with breaking the mould, and

• be resourceful to include the bigger WE among the community.

credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service

This trail in Washington state is an example of hope personified - what I like to call “doing more with more.” This means being mindful of constraints BUT searching out others to get the job done. Going it alone and giving up due to budget limitations along with “this is what we have always done thinking” will not be the way forward.

Through google, I discovered the Willapa art trail still exists and you can take a joyful virtual stroll on the refuge’s website:    Wander the Willapa

For my third pathway into HOPE-FULLness, I must congratulate the Biomimicry Institute. As I am perpetually catching up with emails, I was ever so glad (even if tardy) to read their catchy email subject line:  Happy Birthday Life!  Were you aware that February 25 was the day Life would have appeared on Earth if one would compress the age of the Earth (4.5 billion years) into one calendar year? Based on present knowledge, Life appeared on Earth 3.8 billion years ago (or February 25th).  No candles required.

Talk about a chance to share an amazing formula for contemplating a resilient, sustainable future. Adaptations abound. Biodiversity blossoms. Models and mentors of motivation are omnipresent.

credit: Bill Reynolds

This annual announcement could serve as a reminder that the Earth and its inhabitants are a repository of brilliant survival stories that are all around us to marvel at, find inspiration with and learn from. I am not aware of any natural heritage sites that celebrate such an occasion. What an opportunity to pounce on.

Our visitors are in desperate need for a dose of positiveness and a time to celebrate HOPE-FULLness. We should never tire of the chance to revel in the indomitable spirit of life and our interdependence with it.

I was reminded recently that every day millions of microbes living in and on us perform important functions that cleanse our skin, digest our food, and destroy harmful invaders. We are an amalgam, which is good to keep in mind, when you want to restore in visitors’ heads, hearts, hands and stomachs their sense of place IN the natural world. This is not the kind of interdependence most of us think about but it sure is personal and certainly is a conversation starter.  To fuel the feelings of the remarkable and the incredible in visitors, let’s provide those constant reminders that life is f---ing awesome.

Next week Part two

Treasure Trove of Tweets #2

Hope you enjoyed the first round of tantalizing tweets that we selected from the first 6 months of EID twitter posts (June-Dec 2020). This represents the second grabbag of inspiring projects that we thought were worth sharing across and among interpretive disciplines.  Our intent is to stimulate curiosity, generate new ideas and provide you with additional resources. We hope these tweets act like a delightful pack of dynamite periodically exploding within your cranium. Please let us know your reaction and even better did this inspire you to join our twitterpage?

In keeping with the medium of Twitter you will see article headings with highlights accompanied by cursory synopses and minimal analysis. Hopefully we whet your appetite and you click on the article heading out to expand your horizons.

 Tweets Exploring INNOVATION:

Takeover Day - Kids in Museums 

Takeover Day happens when museums, galleries, historic homes, archives and heritage sites in England invite young people to take over jobs normally done by adults. What a fabulous concept to counter mis-perceptions and engender this kind of feedback: “I don’t think museums are boring and old anymore.”  For children and young people, Takeover Day is a unique chance to learn outside the classroom to develop new skills and discover what it’s like to work behind-the-scenes at a museum. Not For Profit organizers, Kids in Museums (KIM), report that youth participants gain a critical sense of ownership and connection with their local museum and heritage.

credit: KidsinMuseums

Explore a 5,000-Year-Old Welsh Tomb Recreated in Minecraft | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine

Gaming to the rescue: heritage engagement for generation digital. Thanks to an enterprising archaeologist and his 11-year-old daughter, would-be tourists can now explore the Bryn Celli Ddu henge and burial tomb via “Minecraft.” Certainly a development idea not limited to archaeology - any young gamers in your town looking for work experience or a practicum?

Ticket Mate Fund - Design Museum

Pay it forward! Great concept to assist free ticket sponsoring for charities. A great opportunity to help new visitors less fortunate have access to your event and spread the love while building awareness of your site, with the museum’s new pay it forward scheme in partnership with local charities that distribute free tickets in the local community.

http://MICRO.ooo

LOVE THE WEB EXTENSION OOO. (all year round -not just Halloween). Reaching people where they are, is what they accomplish by bringing the mini-museum to the people. Watch their web site video and this YouTube about their co-founder Amanda Schochet: How bumble bees inspired a network of tiny museums | TED Talk.  Claiming to be the FIRST distributed museum, MICRO has and is building a fleet of six-foot-tall, vending machine sized museums. They are supported by Science Sandbox, a neat group whose overall purpose is to unlock scientific thinking in people - future critical!

Bound to supply you with endless pop-up location ideas in your community.

credit: Micromuseums

Tweets on ADVOCACY

Field Trip - Monument Lab 

This is a hands-on activity guide to help you take a closer look at the monuments in your city or town by asking questions about art and justice in public spaces, and propose your own ideas for a monument. Community engagement with collective memory aspect of heritage - we need more catalysts like this -bravo! Monument Lab is a public art and history studio based in Philadelphia. Monument Lab works with artists, students, educators, activists, municipal agencies, and cultural institutions on participatory approaches to public engagement and collective memory.

credit: MonumentLab

Museums and a greener future (pressenza.com)

Major applause for the Horniman Museum - bold enough to revisit its mission and reason for being. Their previous mission had been about promoting an appreciation of global cultures and natural environments, which felt rather weak in the light of what was happening in the world.  Is it time your team relooked at your mission?

The new manifesto aimed at speaking out and shaping a positive future for the world we all share. The founder, Frederick Horniman, was a Quaker whose parents were active in the anti-slavery movement and penal reform, so there was an ethos of engagement in vital issues at the heart of the institution. They were among the first museums to create a detailed Manifesto for Change in January 2020 by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, along with the appointment of a dedicated climate and ecology action officer.

Museum Facades Are New York City’s Latest Canvas for Art - WSJ 

Lawrence Weiner, a conceptual artist who uses language as his medium created a piece that emphasizes our shared humanity, with the phrase, “All the stars in the sky have the same face.” displayed boldly in English, Hebrew and Arabic on the exterior wall of the Jewish Museum. Exterior walls are being seen as the ultimate canvas, particularly for work that challenges norms and speaks to a broad audience. EID coaches are in total agreement with this concept - our buildings should express our mission. Interpretive design advocates that interior/exterior treatments should be integrated as part of the visitor experience.

credit:Liz Ligon The Jewish Museum

Outside > Inside: Outdoor Exhibitions in the Era of COVID and Black Lives Matter – American Alliance of Museums (aam-us.org)

Immersive walks through sidewalk staging highlight the "absence that becomes recognized." Read how Walking Cinema creates stories you can move with, while exposing a neighborhood’s character and uncovering small details that "crack open huge questions." Author Michael Epstein and founder of Walking Cinema says, “Our sidewalks are critical spaces now, and I think our museums should be spending more time on them.” Organizations like Micro and The Floating Museum are helping push forward the concept that museums should work outside their walls more often, particularly in communities of color where museums are rarely located.  Taking this technique beyond an urban museum, can you see how a nature trail could utilize trail staging to highlight the "absence that becomes recognized?” Has this stimulated you to uncover small details that "crack open huge questions?"

How to use the Kids in Museums Manifesto to plan for reopening - Kids in Museums

If you are looking for a child friendly checklist for your facility then look no further as KIM has prepared an overall parent-derived good practice guidelines in a manifesto. In addition, they have added a COVID re-opening component: from pre-visit FAQ's, to specific ideas like pens for touch screens, outdoor picnic marquees, outdoor play in car parks, opening your cafe for BYO lunch space, providing sanitizers at low levels, and even a film describing how to social distance for sight loss clients.

Tweets on STORYTELLING:

How the Anchorage Museum is Telling the Story of Climate Change – American Alliance of Museums (aam-us.org)

The Anchorage Museum is undertaking radical new forms of research, practice, placemaking, and public art to tell the story of the climate crisis.  Great work to be proud of! Bringing community changemakers and creatives together for critical thinking & city placemaking projects: large scale graphic design installations beyond museum walls. Is your centre reaching out to be part of the conversation?

credit: Anchorage Museum

How to Use Storytelling to Build and Engage Audiences – American Alliance of Museums (aam-us.org)

National Geographic Museum is presented as a mini case study: Stealth education, building stories around objects, and providing behind the scenes access to "experts" - always a good interpretive formula. Don’t have a roster of professional explorers at the ready? Don’t worry, here’s what all museums can do.  “Look into your own staff,” suggests Wesley Della Volla, former Director of Live Events and Experiences at National Geographic. “Your colleague down the hall may be a registrar of a collection or a curator…and to people on the outside they’re a rockstar…Have them elevated, give them a chance to talk about the work they do. Look into your internal talent and find how you can help them shine.”

From the immortal animated character Porky Pig "Th-th-th-that's all folks!" (until next time)

Treasure Trove of Tweets #1

We decided to scour the first 6 months of EID twitter posts (June-Dec. 2020) and put together two sample grab-bags. This represents a small selection of inspiring projects that we thought were worth sharing across and among interpretive disciplines.  Our intent is to stimulate curiosity, generate new ideas and provide you with additional resources. We hope these tweets act like a beautiful display of fireworks periodically eliciting some ooohs and aahhs within your cranium.

In keeping with the medium of Twitter you will see article headings with highlights accompanied by cursory synopses and minimal analysis. The idea is to whet your appetite so you click on the article heading and read more.

Tweets Showcasing STRATEGIC CHANGE

Running with Scissors: Creating a Sustainable History Experience (2017-2020) – American Alliance of Museums (aam-us.org)

A bold move to reimagine & restructure Old Salem that boosts inclusive relevance, elevates the visitor experience & integrates interpretive site assets while pursuing financial sustainability. EID applauds this experience-driven strategy.  This article by CEO Franklin D. Vagnone gives a frank assessment of the institutional deficiencies that were discovered, including the profound reconsideration of the core museum experience.  “Merely tweaking a system that is out-of-date and dysfunctional will inevitably fail. First, we transformed the executive leadership team, expanding it from a group of four to a group of twenty to represent every division in the organization and it is vastly more diverse in terms of gender, race, and economic status.”

credit: Old Salem Gardens and Museums

Curating During a Pandemic: A Lesson in Democracy and Fresh Air – AASLH

Great example of an embodiment of values and fulfillment of mission to connect stories of the past with contemporary experience. This museum takes a bold interpretive step to the side and embraces platform more than presentation. Kudos to the Baltimore Museum of Industry team.

Digital Tools for Pandemic Times – American Alliance of Museums (aam-us.org)

Centre for the Future of Museums blog delves into digital solutions for three challenges museums are facing during the pandemic. "To set useful goals...museums need to identify what the public wants in terms of digital content, what they actually use, and what the museum gets in return."  It is imperative to know your goals for using digital strategies & touchless tech, or benefits may not outweigh costs. Are you thinking long-term benefits? The article sheds light on these by demonstrating facility value, cultivating gratitude for facility work, priming future visits, and generating revenue.

Smartify | About Us

How a love of visiting museums grew into the world’s most downloadable museum app. An app which identifies two million digitised artworks across 160 museums worldwide has recently raised £1m in investment. This will take the evolution of the platform from an app-first experience into a multi-channel offering that supports online arts education and eCommerce. Their ambition has always been to re-frame the use of smartphones as engagement rather than distraction. EID loves the name Smartify and its application for artworks – however the expansion potential is phenomenal for the heritage landscape. It’s COMING! 

 Tweets focused on FUN

Miguel Marquez Outside

Have lots of fun exploring this series of images on this website that are guaranteed to brighten your day and inspire you to try something novel at your facility. These are just 2 examples of many insightful & often humourous/uplifting urban-based signs that interpretive facilities could learn from.

credit: Miguel Marquez

credit: Miguel Marquez

Museum FAQ -- Can Museums Get Serious About FUN? - YouTube  

Over the past 2 years Paul Orselli of the POW workshop has created a treasure chest of video interviews called Museum FAQ, with amazing people in the field (what field?). This is just one example I tweeted (there are so many more on his web site). Perhaps it isn’t the be all & end all, but fun is the glue of a mission- based experiences. Research is shared indicating a worthy offering needs to be wrapped in fun - a release of joy. Fun keeps visitors engaged.

A UK Museum Challenged Bored Curators Around the World to Find Art History's 'Best Bums.' See Their Cheeky Responses Here (artnet.com).

Museums all over the world submitted their finest fannies. “For every classy ass, a humble bum. For every cute glute—well, you get the idea.” EID bottom line: opportunities to share collections around the world using a common concept abound so let's start collaborating - let's get crackin' and come up with some erudite experiences. Don’t be afraid of any rebuttal-just do it.

credit: artnet

Tweets with a novel PERSPECTIVE

Wobbleland | The New Children's Museum (thinkplaycreate.org)

Wobbleland offers children age 0-4 a chance to explore a giant kitchen sink of creative sculptures that include: Avocado Teeter-Totter, Cantaloupe Slice Rocker, Watermelon Boat, Crawl Through Cheese Slice. Does your play area reflect your interpretive story? Do you generate a WOW from your visitors? Are you missing an opportunity to reinforce your site messages?

British Galleries | Primer - The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org) 

“There’s a revolution in your teapot.” "Design is never just about what we see...(it's) about people, politics, and power." Explore this engaging web site allows you, the reader, to delve deeper into content “behind the images.” Packed full of thoughtful, clever wording and engaging section titles like “Every price tag tells a story” (Don’t it - sorry, couldn’t resist my Rod Stewart addition-British gallery & all).  Objects show promise beyond “formality and frills” when stories are untucked and "objects having borne witness to revolution of all kinds" provide "a window on our world today."  

credit:MetMuseum

Planet Word: The World's First Voice Activated Museum | SEGD   

SEGD is a multidisciplinary community creating experiences that connect people to place. Their recent innovative project, Planet World, personifies the word “phygital” where touch and tech merge. Planet Word projects a WoW and is devoted to “…the power, beauty, and fun of language and to showing how words shape the human experience.” In one gallery you can paint a digital canvas to reflect word meanings or visit a magical library where books come to life.  Planet Word’s founder and CEO, Ann Friedman, proclaims “… at Planet Word, a museum built on ideas and not a collection, visitors don’t just receive information, they talk back to most of the exhibits and receive responses!”

About Earth Speakr 

Earth Speakr is an artwork. It invites kids to speak up for the planet and adults to listen to what they have to say. Earth Speakr was started by artist Olafur Eliasson who, in 2019, was named UNDP Goodwill Ambassador for climate action and the sustainable development goals. This intriguing, thoughtful, and stimulating site reflects on the power of imagination and provides a channel to hear the voices of children connecting to nature. Earth Speakr speaks the 24 official languages of the European Union and can be accessed throughout the world.

credit: Earthspeakr

See behind the scenes at Sudbury and the Museum of Childhood with the National Trust - YouTube

Not only a captivating promo video guaranteed to bring a smile to your face, but also a novel hopscotching tour guide with a smashing ceiling display. Have you ever thought of using a precocious child to promote your heritage site? Join seven-year-old Mo as we visit the Museum of Childhood, finding her favourite toys and peeking into all the best hiding spots.

 Tweets based on LEARNING

Spatially Gifted Students—Future Architects and Engineers—Are Being Overlooked in Schools | Edutopia

Here’s another reason for incorporating right and left brain approaches to interpretation and the design of visitor experiences. Though they have the potential to excel in many fields, we’re neglecting a large body of students with a unique set of skills.

credit:Edutopia

How to Integrate Loose Parts Play in a Preschool Program | Edutopia 

Caution: Do NOT leave design solely to professionals & steal the fun from people who innately want to shape their vision of the world. With applicability waaay beyond preschool (we know that is where we learn everything anyways…)  the design of interpretive spaces can draw from this advice. Too often we create spaces with restrictions rather than with possibilities. It’s important that visitors get a chance to play with aspects of their learning environment. The article draws on thoughts from architect Simon Nicholson and Reggio Emilia founder Loris Malaguzzi.

Stay tuned for next week’s compilation: showcasing advocacy, innovation, and storytelling.

Putting Interpretive Design Ideas Into Practice -- Phase 2

Preparing for the Visitor: Developing the WHATS, the WHO and the WHERE

In our last blog post we looked at Phase I of what we do when working with a site on an interpretive and visitor design plan. First, Expectations are communicated so everyone is on the same page, the EID role in the project is clarified, and we all know exactly what needs to be completed. Next, we Meet with Stakeholders to Clarify the Site’s Mission & Purpose, and finally we Introduce the EID Design Process.

EID’s philosophy as Interpretive Designers and Planners is to approach a project as coaches, not consultants. Though we may have decades of experience in tourism, visitor experiences, education and interpretation, we don’t want to come across as the experts who will write the plan. Rather we want to share a methodology with the site staff and other stakeholders to help improve the visitors’ knowledge, feelings and experiences with the mission, message and place.

• Our view is holistic.

• Our goal is to successfully introduce and kickstart a method for visitor experiential planning and interpretive design as outlined in the book Interpretive Design and the Dance of Experience.

• Our aim is to help integrate and reinforce the mission and message using Visitor Outcomes at every step of the visitor’s experience -- the approach to the site, in the parking lot, on every pathway, at every building, in every exhibit, and during workshops and events. 

•  Using the Model-Practice-Feedback-Revise technique we want the site staff, like at Métis Crossing, to be the ones to write, review, update and own the interpretive plan.

Phase II: Planning Site Outcomes and Essences

During this phase the staff and EID focused on getting ready for the visitors by refining the site essences, developing visitor outcomes and reviewing Métis Crossing’s essence-driven natural and cultural processes. All too often a site wants to jump right to designing the activities (the HOW) before even knowing what the visitors should take away from a site visit. The focus on the Outcomes (the WHATS) and the specific site visitor (the WHO) are the “behind the scenes” work that we introduce to ensure better participation and support by the visitor.

It may not be the “fun” stuff, but it is the necessary stuff.

Essence and Outcome

During Phase II we continued to offer feedback as the Métis Crossing and Métis Nation staff clarified and refined key statements for the six major Essences chosen for Métis Crossing:

• Becoming a Nation

• Relations & Families

• Economic Life & Entrepreneurship

• Land & Water Relationships

• Creative Expressions

• Belief Systems

Next, we turned our attention to the Outcomes. What do you want the visitors to take home in their Head, Heart, Hands and Stomach…those Must See, Must Do, Must Learn, Must Feel, Must Taste, and Must Take Home experiences and items? The Outcomes are connected to the site mission, the natural and cultural processes, and to the Essences. Working with the Métis interpretive planner, a 12-page Outcomes Inventory with about 100 visitor Outcomes was developed that covered all 6 of the Métis Crossing Essences. 

Since we were introducing a new visitor planning process to the staff, we used a Model-Practice-Feedback-Revise technique to work through the various stages in the planning and design process. We would Model a few Outcomes for an Essence and then the staff would Practice writing additional outcomes.  Next, Bill and I would provide Feedback and make suggestions. Finally, the staff would Revise and create a final, or close to final, version.

It definitely took time to complete the Head, Heart, Hands and Hunger Outcomes for each of the Essences – in fact it took a couple of months. We also had to factor in a few interruptions during this phase: emergency meetings, unexpected program scheduling, staff changes, technical issues, and of course, the fact that we were introducing a new process for planning.  But in the end, by using this Model-Practice-Feedback-Revise method the staff drafted a document specifically for Métis Crossing. 

Here is a sample from the Outcome Inventory for the Land & Water Relationships Essence. It includes the natural and cultural processes, the key Essence Interpretive Message, and samples of Outcomes for the Head, Heart, Hands and Hunger. (Note: the numbers in the parentheses show the total number of Outcomes in each category.)

We cannot stress enough the importance of taking the time to develop Outcomes for the visitor. All too often in the interpretive design process sites move right into creating activities – which is a fun and creative process, but this needs to, and will happen, later in the process. It is more important to first develop what we want visitors to take away from a site visit, then decide which experiential interactions to use for the desired Outcome. 

WHO Should We Focus On?

With the Outcomes, or WHATS, well developed, the next stage involved determining which visitor type (WHO) to focus on:  

• the site’s most common visitor,

• a visitor type that needs a bit of attention with some new interactions,

• a new visitor you want to attract, 

• workshop/event attendee.

The Métis Crossing staff decided to practice developing an Outcome Matrix and interactive experiences for the adult, ½ day, drop-in visitor who might stay for 2 – 4 hours and did not have much knowledge about the Métis People.

It is important to remember that different Outcomes will work better with different visitor types. There may be Outcome overlap between visitor types, but the Outcomes chosen for a full day visitor or ½ day visitor or a family or a school group or a weekend workshop will be different. Having a document like the Outcome Inventory as a tool helps the staff determine what they want the visitor to leave with given the time constraints and visitor type. 

The Perfect Day

To try and make the ½ day adult visitor as concrete as possible, the staff filled out a “Perfect ½ Day Schedule” for a visit to Métis Crossing. The schedule went from visitor wake-up time and preparing for the visit, building anticipation while getting to the site, arrival at the site, exploring the site and finally returning to the car park. This provided the Métis staff with some valuable insights, plus the need to make some key decisions like:

• Have we allotted adequate time for welcoming and orientation?

• Is there enough time for food, socializing, bathroom breaks, gift store?

• How much time do we really have for the interpretive experiences?

• Which Essences are best to highlight?

• What Outcomes are best to focus on for this visitor time frame?

With this completed, the staff now needed to choose an experience that was important to the Métis Culture and fit into the ½ day visitor’s time frame in order to practice designing experiential interactions that were Outcome based. In this case the staff chose the Buffalo Camp as the focus experience (WHERE).

Photo Credit: Métis Crossing/Métis Nation of Alberta, Canada

Integrating the Immersing Experience and the Invitation Station

With the Outcome Inventory and the Essences completed, and the Visitor Type and focus experience chosen, it was time to create an Outcome Matrix using the Outcome Inventory and develop experiential interpretive interactions at the Buffalo Camp. At Métis Crossing each of the experiences being developed would offer an Immersing Experience and an Invitation Station.

An Immersing Experience involves a “deep dive” into several of the universal natural and cultural processes, connects to the mission and Essences, and includes Head, Heart, Hands, and Hunger Outcomes. It is a minimum of 30-60 minutes for the drop-in visitor but could apply to a day-long program or even a weekend workshop. 

An Invitation Station is a 10–20-minute sampling experience that hooks the visitor and grabs their attention while presenting one or two key processes, Essences and Head, Heart, Hands, and Hunger Outcomes related to a specific Immersing Experience. It introduces the Immersing Experience and “invites” the visitor to participate more deeply either right away or on a subsequent visit when there is more time for “deep dive” engagement. 

It’s best to integrate work on the Immersing Experience and the Invitation Experience for an interpretive experience. At Métis Crossing we developed a “work in progress” outline for the Buffalo Camp Immersing Experience (see below). This big picture sense of the “deep dive” helped determine how to best “invite” the visitor into the Immersing Experience. 

After reviewing the “Perfect ½ Day” schedule, along with a bit of discussion, it was decided to focus the bulk of our visitor planning time developing an Outcome Matrix for the shorter Invitation Station at the Buffalo Camp. We came to this conclusion because (1) the ½ Day Visitor will probably want to “sample” a variety of offerings, not get deeply involved in one experience, and (2) this model could be used by the staff when designing other Invitation Stations for additional Immersing Experiences at Métis Crossing. 

The sample Invitation Station Outcome Matrix below was developed by the Métis interpretive planner for the Buffalo Camp. It provides information on the visitor type, primary processes, essences and outcomes for the Head, Heart, Hands and Hunger for the ½ day adult visitor. Of course, the Outcome Matrix should be reviewed on a regular basis and revised as needed depending on activity changes at the Buffalo Camp, or a shift in Essence or Natural/Cultural Processes focus. 

Remember, the Invitation Station is meant to provide a sampler that entices visitors to take part in the longer Immersing Experience and to takeaway a few key remembrances of the visit. Having the staff first work on the outcomes as part of the visitor planning experience gave us all a chance to cross-check what was on paper with the Outcomes and Essence-driven natural and cultural processes. Did everything match-up or were some revisions needed?

A quick Phase II recap of the interpretive design and visitor planning process so far at Métis Crossing:

• a compiled Outcome Inventory

• a chosen Visitor Type

• a  focus experience

• an outlined Immersing Experience and

• a completed Invitation Station Outcome Matrix for the Buffalo Camp 

The next phase is the really fun stuff – “Designing the HOW: Getting the Visitor on the Interpretive Dance Floor” by using a bit of AMORE from Interpretive Design and the Dance of Experience.

Photo Credit: Mike Mayer

A Eureka Moment (Part 2)

Blueprinting the Visitor Journey

During Eureka Moment-Part 1, I explained my motivation to revisit Freeman Tilden’s pioneer work Interpreting Our Heritage after reading Steve Van Matre’s recent article “Experiential Interpretation: a new structure for an old pursuit.”  http://www.ieetree.org/experiential_interpretation.pdf).

Both these readings made me realize how important it is to the field of interpretation that we get unstuck from the communication model paradigm and embrace more fully an experiential approach. This struck a nerve and sent me back for a reconnoitering of Steve Van Matre’s 2009 innovative book Interpretive Design and the Dance of Experience with its emphasis on experiential interpretation.

Photo credit Bill Reynolds

His main premise dealt with the need for upfront designing and preparation for the visitor journey. This is a critical requirement in order to set the stage for impactful interpretive delivery. Otherwise interpretation is in danger of stagnating, losing its way, becoming irrelevant, and never leaving the old communication role model.

I had been seeing the telltale signs of a diminished interpretive profile during my years of heritage site visits. I had not been seeing evidence of strong upfront interpretive design merged with visitor planning. This really bothered me. What I knew to be a noble and life-honoring profession was getting sidelined, becoming superfluous, and de-prioritized.  Frankly, THIS WAS UNACCEPTABLE.

Purpose of Preservation

After years of doing tourism attraction feasibility work and heritage facility design assessment, I saw how the needs of the visitor’s leisure journey was getting a lot of attention but perhaps at the expense of the values of the site being explored. Hooking the interest of visitors based on the place’s mission was necessary and needed to be emphasized over simply catering to visitor interests. What was missing was a solidly aligned purpose that was reinforced throughout the visit. I saw this being applied in Interpretive Design and the Dance of Experience where interpretation played a key role in integrating site functions and interactions throughout the visitor journey.

Photo Credit Bill Reynolds

Central to all this, interpretively speaking, is what Van Matre’s book advocates for - a deeper engagement with sharing and doing experiences. This embraces dealing with the whole person, not just being aimed at the cognitive mind by improving or extending the communication model paradigm (whether that be monologue or dialogue).

Before attempting the book Interpretive Design and the Dance of Experience, I strongly encourage you to read the 18 page “Experiential Interpretation” article mentioned previously. Van Matre has condensed the whys and wherefores of interpretation rejuvenation from the book.  At the same time he connects and reinforces several key elements from Freeman Tilden’s writing that the field of interpretation seems to have strayed away from.

Tilden wrote about …“visitors leaving with one or more whole pictures rather than a melange of information that leaves him in doubt as to the essence of the place and why it is preserved at all.”  Van Matre makes a strong point about revisiting the purpose of preservation and how to frame whole pictures for the visitor. The article positions this question as the driving raison d’etre that all sites should be coming to grips with:  What is the essence of this public place that we want visitors to experience & take away, then apply elsewhere in their lives?

Uncovering Essence

The back cover of Tilden’s 3rd edition (1977) indicates that the potential reader will discover how best to “present the essence” of a preserved area to multitudes of visitors. This little phrase gets at both positive and negative sides of the paradigm trap dealing with WHAT and HOW.

Photo Credit Bill Reynolds uncovering heritage

Interpreters do need to grapple with determining essence and Van Matre takes up this challenge by exploring what exactly essence is and providing a way to help uncover it.

Tilden also states that interpreters need to “…shine a light on the revelation of a truth that lies behind any statement of fact.” Reflecting on the forward to the 3rd edition of Tilden’s Interpreting Our Heritage, Gary Everhardt, Director of the US National Park Service, talks about “…bringing into focus the truths that lie beyond what the eye sees.” Van Matre explores these “…truths that lie beyond” as central to the interpreter’s craft - the necessity to illuminating universal natural and cultural processes being fundamental to interpretive planning and design.

Thinking in terms of universal processes are perceptual tools meant to be of practical value for the visitor to apply in their lives. Many sites that are reassessing their role and undergoing a critical evaluation of what and how they share knowledge and information will find this quite relevant. Both the what and how of the knowledge being shared needs investigation because there still seems to be a preponderance of presenting pieces and products not processes. Objects without context provide little value. As the experiential interpretation article points out,

“Life becomes richer and differences less uncomfortable when visitors grasp the universal processes behind what they experience.”

— Steve Van Matre

And how does the emotion and doing fit into this sharing – or as EID likes to say, “where is the invitation to engage the Heart, Hands and Hunger, in addition to the Head?”

Body-on Immersion

Interpreters are almost immediately put into the “show and tell” declarative mode of communication when they are expected to act on the verb “present” to a group of people. This form of communication may not be the best way to feel and grasp essence. A better pathway is through “first hand experiencing.” This was a phrase in Tilden’s original definition for interpretation as one of three ways to provide interpretation rather than communicate information.

Photo credit Bill Reynolds

The other two ways were:

·        “use of original objects” and

·        “illustrative media”

The field of interpretation has embraced the art of communication through use of original objects and by illustrative media yet seemingly leaving behind the “first -hand experiencing.” Everyone has heard the expression “hands-on” yet the true meaning is more like body-on immersion to get a sense of the place/ relationship. You do not achieve hands-on by having visitors simply hold an object. This is where Van Matre also picks up the challenge of experience design rather than leaving it up to chance.

Guiding Hand

In that same 3rd edition forward to Tilden’s work, Everhardt mentions the interpreters’ job as being “a guiding hand “ to assist visitors in their “…quest for enriching leisure time pursuits.” This guiding hand concept seems to have been forgotten. Van Matre has woven the “guiding hand” into an invitational form of experiential interpretive design integrated with the new role of coaching. Here are some simple examples posted in a reception area described in Interpretive Design and the Dance of Experience:

·        “Don’t miss the recently hatched birds on the forest trail. They have a long flight ahead.”

·        “Check out what’s happening to our shrinking lake.”

Designing invitational experiences to help guide visitors into doing something that gets them engaged physically and emotionally is most effective. The interpreter becomes a narrator, stage manager, and prop assistant for the ongoing show the visitors are joining. Another example drawn from the Van Matre book is the friendly visitor ‘challenge’ on a mangrove boardwalk:

·        Visitors receive food trays with a mangrove food pyramid and special words painted on the under side - grazers, swimmers, flyers, stalkers, divers, floaters, etc.

·        The invitation to visitors is to track as many different feeding behaviours that they can find at the “delicatessen that never closes.”

Engaging the visitor in this way can get them to engage their observational powers and likely generate quite a few questions – stimulating what we could even call- the experiential prologue.

Fanning the Flame of Wonder

Photo Credit Bill Reynolds

Back to the concept of sharing of knowledge - this has always been a dominant thrust in interpretation yet that may be another inherent problem. What happened to fanning the flames of curiosity, wonder and beauty. Interpretation tenets have always focused too heavily on the communication of ideas and opening a person’s mind.  We are more than our mind however and achieving a human connection to place must entail all the senses…even a spiritual dimension. Another reason EID includes the Head, Heart, Hands and Hunger when developing place essences and creating outcomes for visitors.

Knowledge expansion still seems paramount in the interpretive literature whereas a leisure enrichment visitor mindset requires a more important place in interpretive design work. A review of the experiential interpretation article and a reimagining of the interpretation of Tilden’s writings are necessary if we are to pull ourselves out of the communication paradigm trap. 

My suggestion – try the 18-page Van Matre article as an appetizer. It should set you up for the main repast of the 283-page book. Consider it as a 7- course meal to savour in stages as it provides a step-by-step approach to designing a planning framework for a site where interpretation is core and integral to the visitor journey, not an afterthought. The reader will no doubt see how their site could be firing on all cylinders with a refreshed feeling of site purpose and a deeper commitment to helping visitors develop a more valuable connection with their place of value.

A Eureka Moment (Part 1)

Reading a recent Experiential Interpretation manifesto by Steve Van Matre, I was especially struck by a very thought -provoking section called Revisiting Tilden, about how the writings of the father of park interpretation should be interpreted and how they have been applied for years in a short-sighted way. Because of this, our field is still caught in a former-thinking paradigm trap that we need to escape from, in order to be relevant and impactful now and going forward.

As the experiential interpretation essay points out, communicating messages through a presentation approach whether monologue or dialogue, personal or non-personal, is not fulfilling the important task of counteracting visitors “being out of touch” with our natural heritage and “out of reach” with our cultural heritage.

Let’s explore some of the highlights of this snappy 18 -page hard - hitting manifesto analysis that lays out where the interpretive field needs to change and improve, in order to truly enrich the visitor experience at our natural and cultural heritage sites.  Ah, but first some background, some reminiscing and some chewing on Tilden from a new context.

Revisiting the Genesis of Interpretation

The writings of Freeman Tilden, that pioneer in interpretation, captured the underlying philosophy of the field as it began to take shape. I dug out my dog-eared copy of Interpreting Our Heritage, re-discovered many gems in this seminal work, revived a few memories, and came away telling myself “Always take time for Tilden.”

“The interpreter’s main reliance will be upon a proficiency in what we call rhetoric; that is the art of writing or speaking. Especially, it implies skill in the presentation of ideas.” Unfortunately, this is part of the paradigm presentation trap. Tilden comes from the foundation that interpretation is an “educational activity,” a better way to inform visitors “…whether written, oral or projected,” by “…revealing meanings and relationships.”  The 1967 forward to the 2nd edition states that the interpreter seeks to open a person’s mind and communicate ideas. This is all very cerebral and misses other human components that are essential to forming a sense of place/relationship between visitor and an heritage site.

Though Tilden’s principles expanded on how to do this effectively the core premise relating to the art and delivery of “idea” communication took precedence with interpreters of the 1950’s and has persisted into the 21st Century.

This attempt to improve the publics’ understanding, appreciation and awareness of an heritage site came from the teaching perspective of a passionate person thinking he had to inspire a somewhat passive receiver with meaningful knowledge.

Since the days of unidirectional education we have evolved towards a more relational approach and respect for diverse visitors and situational knowledge. Yet we still see the heavy influence of the communication mindset involving a sender-message-receiver model.

Getting Unstuck

The continual movement towards more active participation and engagement, with a greater sense of collaboration and sharing is regretfully still in its infancy, and this is problematic. We in the field continue to talk much more about crafting a message rather than creating an experience and this is also problematic. In the September/October 2020 issue of NAI’s Legacy magazine, the editor Paul Caputo, points out how the tenets of graphic design are quite similar to those of interpretation. He is exactly right and that is problematic. Interpretation and graphic design both address visual communication really well, yet the business of creating visceral, emotional and intellectual connections for an audience (or visitor) within an heritage site, needs to focus on much more than communication.

This is what was troubling me back in the 1970’s when I had my Eureka moment.

In the forward to the 2nd edition (1967) of Interpreting Our Heritage, there is a quote

“Awaken people’s curiosity. It is enough to open minds; do not overload them. Put there just a spark. If there is some good inflammable stuff, it will catch fire.” ”

— Anatole France

I had attached that quote to my desk as a constant reminder of what to strive for, as an interpreter with our National Park Service in Canada, in the 1970’s.

Then in the last paragraph in Tilden’s last chapter, called Vistas of Beauty, a powerful yet haunting line appears:

“It is the duty of the interpreter to jog our memories to appreciate beauty.”

— Freeman Tilden

The thing is, I was never quite sure how to do the necessary “jogging.” I always had this nagging feeling that there was something missing. “Creating the spark…” was more difficult than just being clever with words in a presentation or a conversation – trying to achieve this with forms of communication and mind engagement was missing the mark.

Jogging Memories of Beauty

Only when I attended an Acclimatization Workshop sponsored by The Institute for Earth Education in the mid 70’s and took part in an Earthwalk conducted by Steve Van Matre, did I finally grasp what was missing. I needed to focus on full body engagement and rich first-hand experiences with the natural or cultural site (for more background review our blog post this April 2020).

Photo credit Bill Reynolds

Suddenly engagement took on a whole new meaning and when I incorporated the Acclimatization principles being practiced, my naturalist walks started to have a deeper impact on people and connect them to the place on many more levels. I had begun to discover how to jog people’s memories of beauty.

There were many relationship learning principles that helped to guide me, however the most influential was- “Start where your learners are not where you are.” That had been the missing component when I designed my interpretive programmes. I needed to think more about experiences and less about “show and tell” presentation style walks, however incredibly edutaining they were.

This was truly a Eureka moment for me and at that point I decided to do my Master’s of Science in the Interpretive Services Program that Professor Van Matre led. Fast forward to the year 2009 and my first reading of his book Interpretive Design and the Dance of Experience based on decades of experience and critical observation. My initial love of front-line interpreting in parks and nature centres combined with all my subsequent planning and design work on visitor experiences gelled when I dove into this book (read our March 2018 blog post).

Bill as part of a visitor experience assessment

Coming from my visitor experience background I was deeply entrenched in the customer service and retail business tenets of the Experience Economy that Joseph Pine II and James Gilmour had espoused in their highly influential book of the same name.  I could see the applicability for heritage site visitors where the concept of providing a service (interpretive or visitor) was needing a boost upward into the art of creating an experience.

Van Matre’s book was timely and involved not only heritage site purpose principles but also service business improvement principles. By refocusing on site mission and BIG picture universal processes that shape our world and connect people with place, he was reuniting essential elements for heritage success. It appeared that these were getting forgotten in the rush to increase attendance and revenue. Understanding the needs of the visitor’s leisure journey was important but not at the expense of the values of the site being explored.

Hooking the interest of visitors based on the place’s mission was necessary and needed to be emphasized over simply catering to visitor interests. Finding the happy marriage of both was stressed as critical for visitor support, management support and the long-term rejuvenated future role for interpretation.

We will continue this story in Eureka Moment Part 2 and resolve how to design for engagement to release us from the communication paradigm and presentation trap many interpreters find themselves in. Being in touch and within reach with our diverse set of visitors is going to require more than mind connections and imparting knowledge to achieve awareness and appreciation. We will also circle back to the Experiential Interpretation manifesto that kickstarted this strategic assessment.

Putting Interpretive Design Ideas Into Practice — Phase I

Ready to Re-Imagine Your Visitor Plan?

Photo Credit: Mike Mayer

So let’s say you’ve read the Van Matre book, Interpretive Design and the Dance of Experience (IDADE), you are excited about the content and ideas, and are willing to try this approach for visitor planning and interpretive design. However, maybe there are some concerns about how to pull all the pieces in the book together in a coordinated way. Or perhaps you’re wondering if it is possible to implement all the ideas by yourself. Well, we agree there is a lot of information in the book and it can be a daunting task. Frankly, though the book is a game changer in planning and design, at times it needs some interpretation to grasp the meanings and the best way to implement the process.

Our goal over the next few blog posts is to share the process we used during our latest project at Métis Crossing. Hopefully this example will provide some concrete insights into how to implement the ideas, structures, and help clarify the content in IDADE when developing visitor interpretive experiences. Perhaps it will even stimulate some ideas in your planning and design processes or encourage you to contact us if you have questions or comments.

Métis Crossing – Background Information

Photo Credit: Mike Mayer

Métis Crossing is a cultural heritage centre created by the Métis Nation of Alberta, Canada located near Smokey Lake (about 70 miles/114 km northeast of Edmonton). The director wanted to re-imagine what the site could offer beyond the camping and recreational area, several historic buildings and an attractive river front. They were willing to take a chance on a new approach that emphasized experiential interactive invitations as the heart of their interpretive offerings for visitors.

By the time EID was involved in this project, construction on a new Cultural Gathering Centre had begun. This building would be a welcoming point, a place to tell the Métis story, a gathering place for the Métis, an events facility, plus exhibits, classroom space, a gift shop and a café. This would be the first fully designed and operated Métis Cultural Gathering Centre in Alberta. Our work focused on introducing an interpretive design process to the staff so they had a framework to develop and incorporate interpretive programming for visitors.

Photo Credit: Métis Nation of Alberta, Canada/Métis Crossing

But first, let me tell you a story. Imagine you are a people that have lived and prospered for thousands of years in a natural community rich with the gifts of nature. Suddenly people from another part of the earth invade and colonize the land in their image. You are disenfranchised, oppressed, humiliated and forced to give up much of your land and culture. You are barely acknowledged as human or worthy of notice. At times the fear and shame is so great that you to hide your lineage, even from your children, because you fear they too will be the targets of discrimination. You feel hidden in plain sight. Yet despite it all, your culture, stories and language endure and persevere. 

Photo Credit: Bill Reynolds

Then one day things begin to change. In the 1980s your country recognizes you as a distinct nation. Within a decade there are new agreements with the federal and provincial governments, lands and rights are restored and reparations are offered. All of a sudden the descendants of the colonists are more aware of the important role your people and culture played in the history of the colonized land – you no longer want to hide in plain sight.

Photo Credit: Mike Mayer

This, in brief, is the story of the Métis People and Culture in Canada. The Métis no longer hide in the shadows and they can proudly proclaim the importance of their culture and contributions to Canada. Métis Crossing is a place where the Métis can tell their story without the filter of provincial, federal or colonist viewpoints. Now imagine a couple of middle-aged non-Métis guys, one from Canada and one from the US, being asked to work on the Métis Crossing project with the Métis Nation. What an honor for EID to be asked and included.

This project had 3 distinct planning phases:

·      Expectations & Engaging the Community: Digging into the WHY

·      Planning Site Outcomes: Preparing for the Visitors to Arrive –The WHATS, WHO & WHERE

·      Planning Visitor Experiences: Getting Folks onto the Interpretive Dance Floor - The WAYS & HOWS

Photo Credit: Métis Nation of Alberta/Métis Crossing

Expectations and Engaging the Community: Digging into the WHY

We approached this project as Interpretive Designers and Planners with a coaching philosophy, not as expert consultants in leisure, education or interpretation. Our view was holistic. We would not write the plan; we would provide the scaffolding. The design process from IDADE helped integrate the mission and visitor outcomes with the buildings, exhibits, paths, workshops and other experiences. Though natural processes played an important role in the natural landscape and Métis life, this project focused on the cultural aspects of the Métis and how best to share their story with all people. It was equally important to deepen cultural ties for the Métis wanting to visit the site.

A four- step method was used when presenting the interpretive process: Model-Practice-Feedback-Revise. This allowed the Métis Crossing staff to create their own planning document. A document that is useful now and in the future.

Setting Expectations

The IDADE book doesn’t address expectations directly, but it is something that EID considers. The importance of clear expectations and communication when working with others is vital. It reduces frustrations and ensures that time will not be wasted pursuing issues that the planner is not responsible for. Our preference is to work closely with the architects, landscape designers, business and media planners, marketers, exhibitors, etc. on the project to ensure interpretive outcomes are integrated and reinforced throughout the visitor experience.

EID likes to determine a few areas of clarity before starting a project. We need to know:

·      how narrow or wide our scope is in the project.

·     who is coordinating the project and integrating the various parts, and if EID is needed to assist in that role.

·      the list of people we are going to directly work with and a list of key people we need to keep informed of our progress.

·     about project timelines, deadlines and what benchmarks are needed to determine progress.

·      that we can set up regular meetings with staff to work on the interpretive process.

·     what other meetings or presentations EID should attend that are key to staying informed about the overall scope of the project.

Here’s the most important things we wanted to remember during the project:

Our responsibility is to introduce a process that will be useful for the Métis Crossing staff long after we are gone. This is a Métis project and it is their right to do what works best for them. As coaches it is important to internalize that fact and focus on our goal: introducing a process through modeling, practicing, feedback, and revisions.

Engagement with the Métis Community

Photo Credit: Bill Reynolds

Before we started to work with the Métis Crossing staff on planning the experiences, we wanted to engage with a wide cross-section of the Métis community to ensure clarity and mutual buy-in to the site purpose and mission. We wanted to know WHY Métis Crossing was important and what the Métis wanted visitors to takeaway from a visit. A one day gathering was arranged with some elders of the community, the officers of the Métis Nation of Alberta, Métis Crossing staff, the Cultural Advisory Committee, and other organizations working with the Métis. This day was filled with excitement, tears, deep memories, and a bit of cautious optimism about working with “these two non-Métis, guys.”

Photo Credit: Bill Reynolds

What we discovered was the deep feelings the Métis have for this site that was once part of a larger Métis Homeland. The group shared their sense of pride and excitement at being able to tell the Métis story in their own way. We reiterated that we saw our role as coaches, not consultants or experts in education, leisure or interpretation. Our process offered scaffolding and feedback so the Métis Crossing staff could create a Métis plan for now and the future.

We then presented some key elements of our coaching plan. First, we introduced the 4 Hs – the Head, Heart, Hands and Hunger – four of the 15 steps Van Matre presents as an holistic approach to experiential planning and visitor takeaways. These 4 Hs are embedded in every experience and outcome.

• Head reflects the mental thinking we want the visitor to take home like factual awareness and conceptual understanding. (MEANINGFUL INFORMATION)

• Heart reflects the visceral emotions or feelings we want the visitor to take home like respect, awe, sorrow, pleasure, appreciation. (MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES)

• Hands reflects the physical doing of the visitor, so they take home a kinesthetic memory, like the beginning of a skill, along with a Métis related memento they have made or purchased. (TANGIBLE SKILLS & MEMORIES)

• Hunger reflects the need for food and drink as visitors taste both prepared dishes and items harvested from nature to help reinforce the site’s messages in a comfortable setting that engenders social interaction. (FLAVOURFUL DELIGHTS)

We also emphasized how our work with the staff would focus on designing visitor outcomes and experiential interpretive interactions.

After the full day session, Bill and I took the meaningful experiences and deep memories offered by the participants and created a list of Essences – important categories the Métis wanted visitors to know about.

Photo Credit: Mike Mayer

These were presented to a smaller, working group of Métis staff members who clarified and distilled our list. Over time six of the Essences were refined, finalized and approved by the Métis Crossing staff and Cultural Advisory Committee. 

•      Becoming a Nation: The Métis are a distinct Indigenous people proud to have persevered, and the Métis continue to play a significant role in the building of Canada.

•      Relations & Families: Enduring family and community bonds value kinship, inter-generational learning, and connections within the larger community.

•      Economic Life & Entrepreneurship: The Métis community adapted to changing market situations that required skilled labour as well as efficient acquisition and quicker movement of economically valuable goods.

•      Land & Water Relationships: A distinctive blend of nomadic & sedentary land and water relationships was influenced by, and developed through, the Métis connection to their environment.

•      Creative Expressions: Musical, artistic, culinary, and linguistic expressions evolved from the ethnogenesis of the Métis people.

•      Belief Systems: A spiritual world view that has historical basis due primarily to paternal Christian lineage blended with a belief and practice of connection to the natural world.

With a clear sense of the WHY of Métis Crossing and a set of Essences to help guide the development of visitor experiences, we were ready to begin the next step in the process:

Planning Site Outcomes: Preparing for the Visitors to Arrive –The WHATS, WHO & WHERE (Phase 2 of Putting Ideas Into Practice)

Photo Credit: Métis Nation of Alberta, Canada/Métis Crossing

What Makes a Happy Heritage Facility?

What Makes a Happy Heritage Facility?

credit: Bill Reynolds

Whether you are an interpretive or visitor centre, museum, art gallery, botanic garden, zoo, etc. and you are sharing a piece of world heritage (even the difficult stories), should we not aspire to exude a positive outlook -- not only for our visitors but also for our staff?

The inspiration for this subject matter comes from the recent opening of Denmark’s Happiness Museum in Copenhagen. “We want it to be somewhere we can reflect on the good things in life,” says Meik Wiking, head of the Institute for Lykkeforskning (Happiness Research Institute), the organization that is funding and organizing the museum. The plan is to offer insights into the history and science behind happiness through experiments and exhibitions -- from the science of smiling to the politics of a cheery disposition.

The museum has a great mission statement:

“Our hope is that guests will leave a little wiser, a little happier and a little more motivated to make the world a better place.” 

Now that’s a solid, relevant mission statement that EID can get behind.

How do we take inspiration from this think tank about well-being, happiness, and quality of life?  With the weight of COVID-19 and various human rights issues foremost in our minds everybody needs some mental health relief…especially now. But why not always make uplifting people’s spirits a valued policy in every interpretive facility and heritage site? What is your action plan moving forward to boost happiness at your site?

How many of us celebrated International Day of Happiness on March 20th? Full disclosure: I wasn’t even aware there was such a day until recently. “Well, NOT this year,” you are probably mumbling. But actually, isn’t it all the more important this year?

When dealing with a site’s “back of house”, learning architect Lianne Picot provides several crucial questions that lead to a more positive impact on the mental health of your organization and guides you in proactively dealing with the future normal.  (For even more details on “future normal” check out her entire post):

• What will you bring with you from before?

• What will you leave behind?

• What new ways of working and leading will you keep using?

• What will you do differently, value more, and care deeply about when you move forward?

She concludes: “This is the moment when you get to decide what your future story will be. Use it well. Soon enough, your future normal will begin to form—whether you had input on it or not—and this moment will be lost.  This is the time for being brave, and for standing up for the things that matter to you and your people. This is the time to lead.“

This also impacts “front of house” visitors and can easily be adapted to focus on them. Lianne’s process reminded me of a workshops I lead coaching people on making entrepreneurial and customer service changes at their site. Throughout the workshop we asked participants to jot down anything they were going to keep doing, stop doing and start doing to improve the visitor experience. This would be the core of their action plan — to delight the visitor.

EID stresses Engage, Inspire, and Delight as the holy trinity of interpretation and here are some images that begin to push us in the right direction when considering the Delight aspect of our work. First, our “delightful” persona needs to be expressed at all stages of the visitor journey -- pre-visit, visit, and post-visit.

Credit: Bill Reynolds

Even where you least expect it…Loyal blog readers may remember our New Year’s post titled “The Gift of Humour” where a delightful cat & mouse image had been wrapped around the base of a corner wall.  The philosophy would be that unexpected delightful moments are potentially around every corner.

Looking at your entrance signage…Take a page from the Happiness Museum where they us clever contouring of the letters in their name, on a strong yellow background, to create a happy face. Didn’t you feel a twitch at the side of your mouth when you first saw the image?  Certainly gave me a delightful, welcoming feeling. Smile and the whole world smiles with you.

Getting visitors in the door…If your storefront depends on innovative signage with a snappy invitation, then this retail operation did all the right things with this tongue-in-cheek questioning attitude. Even with captive visitors coming from a parking lot you should reinforce a welcoming, upbeat attitude.

Credit: Bill Reynolds

Check out this example…How often can we get our visitors in the right frame of mind, plus take the edge off, when helping them part with their hard-earned cash for a service as mundane as parking? Giving a high five and thanks to your visitor before they have entered and started their interpretive adventure is certainly an approach worth emulating. The images show the parking meter and two different info-taining side “banners” used in this urban park in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They sure know how to set the stage appropriately by informing the visitor of the good deed performed and the benefit gained.

credit: Bill Reynolds

Credit: Bill Reynolds

How about some video…Video cams are being used more often during enforced isolation, yet rarely have I encountered a fun and engaging personal appeal to “click the button”. Here are examples of two video scripts from the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, Alberta that show how to employ joyful wording as a way to entice you in while imparting factual information. Even the viewing time is worded in a very approachable, light-hearted manner:

“He's a bit shy most of the time but look closely beneath the coral and you may catch a glimpse of our brightly coloured Peacock Mantis Shrimp, Lyle!  Lyle belongs to the smashing group of mantis shrimps, whose unique smashing appendages accelerate at the same rate as a 22-calibre bullet. They use their appendages to break open crustacean and mollusk shells, but they will eat almost any living creature...which is why Lyle doesn’t have any roommates. Check-in between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. on Wednesdays to catch him snacking on shrimp or snails. Lyle's tank goes dark from 8 p.m. — 10 a.m. so he can get a little shut-eye.”

“Meet our Western Painted Turtles! We have two females (Frida Kahlo and Emily Carr) and two males (Rembrandt and Banksy). You can identify the sex by the larger size and more domed shell of the females and the flatter shell and longer tails of the males. Check back between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday for feeding time.

P.S. Turtles gotta sleep! The lights go out from 8:00 p.m. — 8:00 a.m.”

Do you get a sense that this museum might be an easy-going place to find out about STUFF? Let’s all aim to remove the mundane. Make a promise to yourself to embark on a mundane-removing crusade around your site!

Mirthful quotes sprinkled around your site can add to the positive feeling that is so important for visitors to pick up on. Here is one from the Happiness Museum web site which could easily find a home somewhere in their building (By the way…some of the best quotes I have encountered have been engraved in sidewalks).

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go."

Oscar Wilde

Playful Signage…Taking a playful role with signage is not used nearly enough and humour is much more effective at getting our point across and getting people to notice. For example, we know everyone at some point needs to relieve themselves during the visit and a light-hearted approach with signage provides an opportunity to bring a smile to the visitor’s face.

Careful now…How about using humour to grab visitors’ attention when you want them to notice or take warning, as in the all too common advisory regarding a potentially dangerous wet floor? This banana peel slip-up is a great example of an effective and creative us of signage at a Mexican leisure attraction called SENSES.

Credit: Bill Reynolds

How can you create the greatest happiness return for your visitor? If you read a new report, Wellbeing Adjusted Life Years, you fill find some tips in planning the common currency of delight across economic, social, and environmental domains.

A gentle bottom-line reminder…look for happiness every day, delight in life, and do not take yourself too seriously.

When the Normal is Experienced as Something Special

When the Normal is Experienced as Something Special

(Guest Post by Angus Forbes)

"Where are you from?" is one of the first questions we are asked when we introduce ourselves. Our home place is a strong identity factor and it bonds us with others who are also connected with it in some way. Most likely, our home place has also influenced the way we are. There is one thing that absolutely everyone living in a place has in common with each other... and that is the place itself. This is cause enough to celebrate both place and each other! (How we define a ‘place’ is another question.) Through denying us access to more exotic places, the Covid19 lockdown has challenged us all to find more value in our immediate locality.  

Becoming and staying aware of what makes our home-place different or special is not so easy, but it can start a virtuous circle which benefits both its human and non-human components. We humans enjoy a positive identity reinforcement and in return we may choose to take more care of its source. Parents and kids at my son’s forest kindergarten, for instance, comb the surrounding woods twice a year for litter. This kind of care is not always the case. Oddly enough, ‘stakeholders’ often feel that they have a stake in the use of a resource, but not necessarily in its stewardship. Our familiarity with our surroundings can breed disinterest or even contempt. We see the same landscape features so often that it can take a visitor or newcomer to point out to us how special these features are. And even then, we may need some convincing. Our surroundings are our ground zero -- our normal. 

So, how can interpreters help strengthen this identification with locality and help visitors find something special in the normal, everyday place?

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Sensitisation to, and celebration of, the normal are for me what identity-building design is all about. Here are some techniques for the practitioner to stimulate new interest in the familiar.  They emerged from my work in landscape architecture and are applicable in most fields of interpretive design.

1. Distill: remove extraneous paraphernalia until the essence of the place shines forth. Our prize-winning design for the front of Schönefeld Airport in Berlin was based on a reductive approach. We pared down the fencing, paving and signage which had accumulated over the years until all that was left were the pines and the ‘beautiful field,’ after which the place is named.

2. Perspective change: set up an unfamiliar viewpoint. Get up close to the tiny things and get an overview on the big ones.  This ‘high-chair’ allows a panoramic view over fields of rushes in the Elbe flood-plains. Nearby we embedded its twin, a ‘low-chair’, giving people an immersive experience among the rushes. 

3. Encounters count: elicit a physical and emotional response by pitching people into a physical encounter with the phenomena. If information is 2-dimensional and being there is 3-dimensional, the full 4-dimensional experience is engaging with something in an interactive process in real time. This is learning through experience. We experience phenomena by placing ourselves in relation to the experience, not just intellectually but with our whole selves, in motion. Given a ‘situation’ and some action, enthralling facets of both ourselves and the phenomena are revealed. This labyrinth boardwalk triggers disorientation, trepidation and, in a sense, respect, which echo our archaic responses to traversing a bog. 

4. Flag up: indicate the significance of the ordinary with the judicious use of signifiers. Just as putting a frame around or a pedestal under an object can elevate it to an artwork, symbols need not only be two-dimensional.   This unexpected, large, red chair outside an agricultural museum catches the eye and redirects it to the quite ‘normal’-looking paddocks and orchards beyond.

5. Change the intangible to the tangible:  make the intangible heritage of a place, such as historic events or people long dead, more real. These should be materially manifested in some form to make them tangible. Here the residency of Friedrich Wilhelm I in Alt Landsberg is brought to life by comical figures:

6. Relate to the whole: position the location into a larger frame of reference by revealing interesting new dimensions and significance. These stones in a school yard in Königs Wusterhausen, Germany, are tagged with the names of localities thousands of kilometers away in Norway and Sweden from which they were transported by the ice caps as little as 10.000 years ago.

7. Define, holistically: give a phenomenon physical limits, emotional context, and a name, thereby giving it more substance in our minds and enabling us to talk about it with others. The entity you present should be as holistic as possible, so essential components are not neglected by default. Our 20th Century practice of focusing on constituent parts, rather than on the whole (e.g. star-species as opposed to the ‘biome’ which includes the habitat, all the plants and animals in it and ourselves) has caused untold damage to the world. The holistic approach is thankfully beginning to establish itself in our time. The Tourist Association of Havelland, Germany, for example, ignores the haphazard county borders, and presents ‘Havelland’ as the river and its associated landscapes.

8. Mediate: direct visitors’ attention and influence their emotions in the same way as an enthusiastic guide or compere might. Good interpretive design mediates between people and phenomena. This spring bench is intended to put visitors in a whimsical state of mind for enjoying the wildflowers of the meadow.

9. Value transfer: use a mind-trick often found in the world of advertising. Props with well-established value are inserted around the product of undefined merit, and the desirability of the former will ‘overflow’ onto the latter. Think of those top of the range cars and fashion models in advertisements for watches. In the same way, excellent design and the use of quality materials will signal high value for the phenomena they are attending to. This rule cuts both ways, of course: poor design and materials will signal the opposite. The neglect and poor design of the panel on the left at a historical site in Bulgaria surely devalues the site it is supposed to be promoting. Our appreciation of this dragonfly motif, on the other hand, surely rubs off on the moor beyond it with which it forms an aesthetic whole.

These are just a few of the ways in which designers can encourage the ‘normal’ to be experienced as something special. I see this task of consolidating landscape identities as essential to creating a sense of place and connection to heritage communities which can be beneficial to both people and places — to preserving our cultural and natural environments. As Meto J. Vroom put it, “identity makes identification possible.” 

Angus Forbes is from the UK and has been a practicing landscape architect in Berlin, Germany for over 20 years. forbesberlin@yahoo.com

Nature as Mentor

Just before I started to write this blog post about mental health-inducing, life affirming insights, I decided to read one last email.  That took me for a ride and completely hijacked what I was going to write. Blame it on the Biomimicry 3.8 team. Biomimicry is a concept I have been enthralled with ever since reading Janine M. Benyus’ ground-breaking book “Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature.”

She positioned nature as a mentor and as a source of value, based on what we can learn from it, not what we extract from it.

The email was emphasizing the need to take comfort in nature—her resilience, her inspiration, and her endurance, as a way to help people through the enduring COVID crisis.

Biomimicry is all about tapping into and applying nature’s genius -an endless source of solutions to life’s design challenges.  The potential is there to transform the way we grow food, make materials, harness energy, heal ourselves, store information, and conduct business. One of their approaches to jumpstart solution development, is through nature journaling activities. The journaling can encourage participants to build their own collection of inspiring forms, processes, and systems found in nature.

Bio-inspired Outlook

To help guide you, on your own bio-inspired future through nature journaling, they have produced a biomimicry workbook written by Erin Rovalo.  The clever title, iSites, or as they explain “eyesight”, is a fun play on words, as it aims to focus you on being in a specific place while observing what is around you.  <https://b38.app.box.com/s/un6kwk5jhh2aaq8c202uu5l37n42l1d8?utm_source=Full+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=2b18ffb7e2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_19_02_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_740ccc5ad4-2b18ffb7e2-118175665>

This isite guidebook maintains the eyesight analogy by sorting the exploratory exercises into different lenses to prompt different viewing perspectives that help with recognizing phenomena, observing patterns, focusing on context, and seeing interactions.  Biomimicry workshops employ a process of strategically directing participants to ponder questions like how does nature produce energy, how does nature optimize strength, and how does nature minimize waste? This opens up many diverse avenues of engagement interpreters could employ while building observation - raising skills with our heritage visitors.

Nurturing Dedications

The isite book has a wonderful dedication by the author that resonates on many levels for our work:

““To all the creative problem solvers working tirelessly to create a better world and who could use a dose of inspiration, beauty, and optimism to carry on. And to all the creatures of the Earth, large and small, that inspire us to do better.””

— Erin Rovalo

She captured the kind of nurturing holistic feeling our society so deeply needs right now (and always). How would you feel if you read this as you were entering one of our world’s heritage sites? Would you be uplifted? Would you pick up your pace and be inclined to increase your level of nature empathy?

Do you have a feel- good factor dedication aimed at your site visitors that also ties to your site mission? Maybe you should …

Credit: Biomimicry Institute

Ask Nature

Guided observation can allow participants to uncover solutions to specific situations. Here is one the biomimicry team shared:  Pomelo fruit can strike the ground from heights over 30 feet without showing signs of damage. An engaging extension for your visitor would be to explore questions like how does it do that and might this have any application to my life? A spinoff web site called asknature.org allows you to delve into background solution stories and provides an explanatory graphic to enhance your interaction. 

“The structure of pomelo peel aroused research interest in recent years because of the outstanding damping and energy dissipating performance of the pomelo peel. Researchers found that pomelo peel had varying pore size through the peel thickness.”

What ideas might this inspire in your participants? Their resource page lets you know that this discovery has inspired the recent development of an aluminum composite material being considered for use in safety applications. You could pull this out of your quiver of fun facts once they have had time to explore creative options on their own and in the group setting.

The family of biomimicry related web sites provides a wealth of information making it easy to get lost in a state of awe as you absorb the diversity of nature’s survival techniques. There is surely great fodder here for sharing with your actual and potential clientele.  One more example that was so topical, it demanded to be shared with you all.

3.8 Billion Years (or more) of Wisdom

“Get Outside-Nature is Antimicrobial” is an excellent article Biomimicry staffer Mark Dorfman has written for their Synapse blog.  In order to help reduce our COVID -induced anxiety level he points out that “ it might put a smile on your face to know that emerging from the wisdom of 3.8 billion years of evolution, nature has figured out how to make her materials–ranging from leaves, flower petals, and insect wings to horns, beaks, and feathers–inhospitable to microbes. There is so much nature could teach us about how to design our surfaces so that they become a dead-end for pathogens.”

Credit: Bill Reynolds

He proceeds to provide a slew of examples from turtle eggshell proteins to carotenoid pigments in parrot feather barbs. https://synapse.bio/blog/get-outsidenatures-antimicrobial?utm_source=Full+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=2b18ffb7e2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_19_02_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_740ccc5ad4-2b18ffb7e2-118175665

Nature-Rx

Buried in the Biomimicry 3.8 text was a link to something called doctor’s orders which took me to the Nature-RX website. There I was gobsmacked.  Here I found a series of ads from 2015 about the benefits of nature presented in a hilarious, yet powerful, way. Once I got over the bouts of laughter, I reflected on how cleverly written and produced they actually were. The ads perfectly blended together two of our recent blog posts: “Noticing: Attention Antidote with “The Gift of Humour.” An outdoor prescription had been combined with the art of humour in a very effective manner- a formula we could all emulate.

What an effective way to present the value of nature as an antidote for being tired, irritable and stressed out- a direct connection to how humans are increasingly feeling these days.  Rather than a lecture about the healing power of time spent outside or a philosophical discourse about being inspired by all the beauty and detail that surrounds us, the ads were easily digestible by being smothered in mirth. By spoofing the prevalent form of TV prescription ads, they immediately grabbed your attention. They even ended off with the familiar “Ask your doctor if nature is right for you” line. http://www.nature-rx.org/nature-rx-part-1

Creator Justin Bogardus touched on positive feelings of personal value importance as a way to achieve compliance rather than negative feelings that the world is going to hell in a handbasket. His primary goal appeared to be raising environmental awareness and getting more people valuing the outdoors for its health -inducing selfishness. Ultimately, he hoped that would extend to supporting universal planetary health.  He was going for this relevance because he realized that nature had a marketing problem. By looking at things in surprising and funny new ways, he was using the classic advertising technique of capturing interest through humour.

If you want to follow his impeccable branding logic listen to the Ted X talk as he unravels how the brain works where instincts and emotions drive our decision-making. http://www.nature-rx.org/nature-rx-ted-talk If you still need more laughter medicine and want it tied to the work environment, then watch the tongue-in-cheek living plant videos - great to send to co-workers and office managers.

Making Unappealing Messages Appealing

This seems like an appropriate time to insert a cultural spin on this topic of grabbing attention for something that is not that palatable or sexy or in this case anxiety-inducing - how to be safe during the COVID crisis. 

The Looma Creative Agency were hired by the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Information Policy to design an effective public strategy to minimise the risk of infection. The firm used a combination of creative blending of heritage appreciation with humour to send an important message. They capitalized on the concept that the ability to preserve the COVID quarantine – is a kind of art. So, they decided to use classic paintings with some artistic license and playful rendering to produce an eye-catching campaign that gets the message across.

Credit: Looma Creative Agency

If you want to see Jesus wearing a mask sitting alone at the last supper with a message about staying at home and social distancing, among other clever renditions, then take a peek at these framed masterpieces on this web site. https://www.adsoftheworld.com/media/digital/mcpu_artofquarantine  Drawing attention to your collection through humour while linking several items together to tell a relevant story just may be a very effective marketing approach.  Isn’t it time we employ more of these appealing styles to connect and build our base of support?

Anyone with successful examples of blending humour with your collection? Please send them our way. We would love to share them with all our readers.

Reserves of strength

We can never be reminded enough about the power of humour and its need in our heritage sites, however let’s get back to the folks at Biomimicry 3.8, to wrap up this blog-post. Their e-newsletter that started all this, included this wonderful quote:

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth
find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. …
There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature. ”

— Rachel Carson

If you have never read Rachel Carson’s book The Sense of Wonder you need to SOON, as a way to renew your curiosity and sense of awe while pursuing this journey of spending more time in nature. If you have already read it, it is probably time to read it again as she eloquently gets at the heart of our infinitely healing earth relationship.

Personally, I owe a lot to Rachel Carson and her book Silent Spring that shook my high school world in the sixties when she exposed us all to the perils of pesticides like DDT. This was one of many influential pieces of literature that catapulted me initially into the academic world of biological science and heritage interpretation. But I digress.

Continue to build up and draw from your reserves of strength to do what you do. Let’s bring laughter, the art of being more observant, and the feeling of being nature awestruck together to benefit the health of people, and the earth. Keep up the great work protecting our heritage and bringing joy to people’s lives.

Meow Wolf

Photo Credit: Mike Mayer

Meow Wolf: Please Open All Drawers and Doors

If you have a chance to visit a Meow Wolf installation near you, by all means go…and hang on to your hats, it can be a bit of a wild ride.

After reading Bill’s post regarding a museum in Belgium that presents artwork in an unusual fashion, I couldn’t help but think about my visit to Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A friend of  mine thought I would enjoy the experience and here’s what I knew: it was set up by artists and it had a story line dealing with a top government scientist and his family that went missing. I was open to whatever might happen next.

Meow Wolf’s converted warehouse was full of energy with families, young kids, teenagers, and adults all taking part in various experiences, playing with and on the installations, and the staff encouraging everyone try and solve the mystery of the missing family, and to please touch everything, open drawers and doors, and have fun. These instructions fit nicely with the Meow Wolf mission, “Meow Wolf champions otherness, weirdness, challenging norms, radical inclusion, and the power of creativity to change the world.” There is something for everyone in Meow Wolf, but perhaps not a lot of peace and quiet.

However, things they have done in the name of art and fun offer some important interpretive possibilities that I think could liven up even the most staid museum, historical or even natural site…if you are willing to challenge the norms and allow some otherness to seep into the site.

Photo Credit: Mike Mayer

Philosophy

I was also impressed with the philosophy they took toward the importance of art and artists. “Meow Wolf firmly believes that accomplished artists must be compensated on an equal level with other skilled, in-demand professionals, and that successful businesses must give back to — and participate energetically in — their communities. We provide financial assistance, expertise, and other forms of active support and we are excited to support innovative, community-focused art and social projects.”

A movie produced by Meow Wolf chronicles their unique approach to the development of the space in Santa Fe and a trailer on the web site is definitely worth watching. The movie is for sale and is one way they raise funds for the artists.

Radical Design

From an EID perspective, I was fascinated by the design process that took place in Santa Fe. After obtaining a large warehouse everyone worked together to come up with the layout and design of the space. This included the artists, tradesman, architects, engineers, designers, and anyone else involved in the project. Though I am pretty sure this process had its ups and downs, it certainly was inclusive and allowed various perspectives to be considered. The group had definite outcomes in mind and yet there is a sense of freedom and joy embedded in the space.

This approach is what EID advocates in the design process at preservation, collection and historical recognition sites when new spaces or exhibitions are being planned. Get the Interpretive Designers involved from the very beginning to help embed mission-based, experiential outcomes for the visitors before a building is designed. Then when it is clear what you want visitors to leave with it will be easier to design a building or space or a trail. All too often the process is donation – design – build – interpretation. EID advocates donation – interpretation – design – build, or even better interpretation - donation – design – build.

Photo Credit: Mike Mayer

Interpretive Design From the Beginning

A recent EID project is a good example of how using the Interpretive Design perspective at the beginning could have provided a better visitor arrival experience. The site in question is about 90 minutes from a large metropolitan area and is quite unique in its mission with a strong set of outcomes. However, when most folks arrive and park the first thing they will need to do is get comfortable – and that means finding a bathroom. No amount of impressive interpretation is going to happen before the bladders are emptied.

But where are the closest bathrooms? In the main building, of course, on the other side of the ticket office. There is no way to have any meaningful introduction to the site between the car park and the visitor’s centre because a rest room is needed. After a certain level of comfort is restored, the visitor then returns to the front of the building and purchases a ticket — then they are ready for some interpretation. Bathrooms near the car park are now a distant afterthought. I’m not saying the current situation can’t work, but if an interpretive designer had been involved before construction plans, maybe a different introduction to the place and its mission before visitors entered the building could be a possibility.

Nooks and Crannies, Surprises and Allowing Otherness

Yes, lots of big things happen at Meow Wolf, and there are also some small touches that I found intriguing as an interpretive designer. One place was a windowed room with a table and chairs and some information on the “missing family” that I casually walked by. All of a sudden from behind a wall next to the room a couple appeared and continued on their way. To my delight I discovered a small, secret space between the room and the main wall with a one-way window where I could watch people in the room. What fun to do a bit of unnoticed watching.

I immediately began to think how this secret space could benefit an historical site. What if you could secretly watch Martha and George Washington at Mt. Vernon discussing the day’s events. Or maybe the farm overseer arrives to talk about the need for a few more slaves to run the plantation (now there’s a way to introduce a difficult topic around America’s first president). Real people could portray the parts, or, in this day and age, holographic figures could act out various scenes.

Photo Credit: Mike Mayer

Not too far from this false wall was a small balcony hidden behind a curtain that overlooked the main floor. A bit of peace and quiet was available in this space while observing visitors interacting with the various installations below. In busy natural and cultural sites, a bit of reflective space would be a welcomed relief from all the hustle and bustle…and it doesn’t have to be much of a space, just a little something out of the way. I welcomed the pause and a chance to just observe.

Photo Credit: Kate Russell, Courtesy of Meow Wolf

Doors and Drawers

A couple of surprises I liked were in the kitchen and laundry room of the “missing” family. As some visitors read a “newspaper” on the kitchen table about the family, others opened cabinets and drawers looking for clues. Then someone opened the refrigerator door and disappeared. This I had to try. Sure enough, open the door to the fridge and a bright light partially obscured the fact that you could walk right in and enter another room (I felt like I was in the Monty Python movie “The Meaning of Life”). What a delightful surprise! Couldn’t a science museum use a similar unexpected experience to keep folks interested in what might happen next – like splitting an atom and entering a new “world” on the other side.

In the laundry room the kids had already discovered the dryer. If you dove in head-first a slide took you into a different room. It was a tight squeeze, but I did make it. Surely it is OK to have some “just for fun” spots to move people about in any interpretive site.

Photo Credit: Kate Russell, Courtesy of Meow Wolf

The Power of Creative Spirit

There is no lack of creative spirit in Meow Wolf. Several gigantic structures greet the visitor near the entrance that can be admired, touched or used to sit beneath and relax.

Photo Credit: Mike Mayer

Several interior walls display the artistic flair with paintings and drawings and funny quotes. So often empty wall space is not used to help reinforce the mission and messages of a place, so why not put that space to use where appropriate.

Photo Credit: Mike Mayer

I thoroughly enjoyed the huge dinosaur skeleton suspended from the ceiling in one room that was actually a musical instrument. Using soft mallets, you strike different bones and a musical tone sounds and a light is activated. Definitely more of my kind of fun. I could envision something similar in a natural history museum but instead of musical tones each bone made a different dinosaur sound and a picture of that dinosaur is activated. An intersection between art, science and interpretation.

Photo Credit: Kate Russell, Courtesy of Meow Wolf

My wife discovered a 15-foot narrow, darkened corridor with very thin fabric on each side. She accidentally touched the fabric and it created a line of light. She proceeded to create designs of light on the fabric and spent a good 10 minutes just playing and laughing.

A forest house was available for climbing and each level had different artifacts from the “missing” family. And, of course, you could exit the house and be on another level of the building, or take a slide or stairs down a level. Another great way to create interesting structures that move folks about and still keep true to the message.

Photo Credit: Lindsay Kennedy, Courtesy of Meow Wolf

Meow Wolf was loud, busy, exciting and may not be for everyone, but if you get a chance it is worth the visit. It is fun and provided me with a wealth of ideas. By the way, wondering where the name Meow Wolf came from? Each person working on the project put two of their favorite words into a hat, and the two names drawn out became the name of the experience…thus Meow Wolf.

(Besides the Santa Fe location, other Meow Wolfs are being planned in Denver, Washington, D.C., and Phoenix)

Photo Credit: Mike Mayer