Engaging the Permanent Collection: Program Development for Art Museums

The following capstone project discusses public programming development for the de Young Museum’s Friday night program in San Francisco California in order to highlight the permanent collection. The purpose of this project is to reignite interest in an aspect of an art museum’s permanent collection. A solution that I am proposing is to hold an event that focuses on artwork of the permanent collection. Holding an event opens up two related goals: 1) to diversify the audience who regularly comes to the museum by targeting local communities, and 2) collaborating with source communities. Co-creating programs addresses community needs and helps the museum by building audience. This project lays out steps using event planning strategies for a project manager that includes community involvement in early development of a program. Collaboration between museum staff and community members in program development fulfills community needs while incorporating the voices of the people being served. Events management strategies cover logistics such as scheduling, booking, working with volunteers and program evaluation