During this internship I worked on two special events held at the museum, coincidently on the same day with about a half hour in between them. For the two different events I collaborated with different members of the Education Department to develop content for them.
The first event of the day was a Sensory Friendly Day with Potter Park Zoo, called Falconers Day. I worked with Elesha Newberry, who is the Campus Outreach Specialist, to create the content for this event. I ended up creating a new activity, using an older activity, and getting to test a part of my gallery box.
The new activity that I created was inspired by a bingo card activity that Elesha did at a previous institution. I knew that scavenger hunts were used in the past at this event but I thought it should be a little different. So I combined the two ideas to create a new activity for the event. I went around the museum taking photographs of objects on display and then used those to create a bingo card for guide visitors around the museum. It was a bit different than a scavenger hunt but it did allow for the visitor to move through the museum at their own pace and also focus on the individual items on display. I think that it worked well and allowed the visitors to explore the galleries in a new way.
The second activity was a Tooth Brushing Activity, where visitors were brush the teeth of different animals and learn more about why each animal has unique aspects to their teeth. Side note: I ended up using this activity as inspiration for a hands-on activity in a proposed exhibit for my Museum Exhibition: Theory and Development (MUSM 494) course.
Finally the last activity was the hands on portion of my gallery box about the general store in Heritage Hall. Which I have discussed in a previous post. It was a nice way to practice this portion of the box and to learn more about what needed to be improved for that box.
The second special event of the day was a screening of a new show on PBS that the museum partnered with WKAR (the local PBS station) to host. The show, based on a series of books, was called Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum. We showed five episodes of the series which featured Charles Dickens, Helen Keller, Amelia Earhart, Zora Neale Hurston, and George Washington Carver. There were two screenings and afterwards the families were encouraged to explore the museum. I ended up collaborating with Dr. Denice Blair, the Head of the Education Department on this event. I worked on creating small labels to hang out throughout the galleries that connected the individuals discussed to specific objects in the museum. That was the challenging part, however. We didn’t have many items that specifically connected to the historical actors presented so some stretches had to be made. However, it was successful and people were excited and find the labels.
These events were exciting and something that I had never experienced before. Creating the programming for both events was challenging and new and eye opening. I had never, done something like that before. And to be put in a position creating and collaborating like that as an intern was unexpected. However, I enjoyed it and it really helped me realize that this was the type of work that I enjoyed and wanted to keep working on.
Museum Musings 