Developing a travelling exhibition can be costly, time consuming and staff intensive. Factor in the added pressure of finding funding or content partners and you have yourself a major project on your hands.
This interactive panel session will present different business models for developing successful travelling exhibitions with both funding and/or content partnerships. Our speakers will present the benefits, challenges and risks of different models and based on personal experience, they will present candid, tangible information and best practice. They will also share how different models lead to different kinds of exhibitions, which in turn can reach audiences in new ways and innovatively support their institutions’ missions.
Facilitator
Session speakers
Touring Exhibitions Manager
National Museums Scotland
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
National Museums Scotland made a strategic decision in 2015 to create a touring exhibitions programme; to build on our work as the ‘national’ museum for all of Scotland but also to grow our brand and reputation internationally. To realise our touring ambitions we had to find additional resources, partnerships and funding. Over the past five years National Museums Scotland has worked with the commercial sector, Government and even the whisky industry to deliver an expanding portfolio of touring exhibitions, each with a unique partnership model. Alanna will reflect on the challenges faced to date, offering tips and ideas to consider when developing new ways of working.
Head of Cultural and Commercial Partnerships
London
United Kingdom
As we are operating within a current financial climate of funding cuts and restrictions, it is very important to look at new funding models and partnerships to develop exhibitions. However, partnerships are vital not only for financial reasons but also to develop new ways of thinking and to be creative in the process of delivering new experiences and insightful topics for our visitors.
The ambition is to look at new collaboration models but also exciting and creative content partnerships.
Here we look at various models, experiences and case studies from the Science Museum Group with an insight into lessons learnt and what is particularly important when considering such partnerships.
Associate Director of Exhibits Registration and International Projects
Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES)
Washington
United States
The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) has been touring exhibitions from more than 65 years. Today, we develop collaborations with the Smithsonian's national museums, as well as with outside collaborators. Each partnership is unique and each requires developing a model that creates a win-win for that particular exhibition. Figuring out how to fund the project takes time, deliberation and collaboration as we are constantly working with partners with different business cultures and business expectations. The comments will focus on how to stay nimble, set expectations, raise funds when needed, and deliver high quality. Successes and failures will be explored.
Corporate Director of Culture and Science
Barcelona
Spain
Fundación “la Caixa” has been offering a travelling exhibition programme without interruption since 1986. This programme allows us to bring culture and science to the heart of Spanish and Portuguese cities in a way that focuses on education. In many cases, the cities where we present our exhibitions do not have large museum facilities and are therefore satisfied with limited access to projects of this kind.
Over the years, the operational and management model for our travelling exhibitions has evolved towards greater efficiency and effectiveness: efficiency in terms of the formats and the type of temporary infrastructure we use for the installation of shows; and effectiveness in the sense that we focus on presenting high-quality content that appeals to all of the different audiences that come to see and enjoy these exhibitions.
In line with our objectives, we prioritise the educational character of our exhibitions and make extensive use of interactive elements and technologies that foster emotional engagement as a means of increasing learning by visitors.