Annual Report FY23 - 19

Hand to Hand is a quarterly publication of the Association of Children's Museums (ACM). As a
member benefit, Hand to Hand is available first to ACM members, and then publicly for one year.
ACM members may access past editions of Hand to Hand via ACM's Groupsite.
In FY23, three issues of Hand to Hand were published:
A S S O C I A T I O N O F C H I L D R E N ' S M U S E U M S
A S S O C I A T I O N O F C H I L D R E N ' S M U S E U M S
Community Building is the New Core
Kate Mirand Calleri and Hana Elwell
Brooklyn Children's Museum
What Does Strategic Planning Look Like Now?
A. J. Rhodes
R & L Consulting
If it feels messy and
provisional, you're
probably on the
right track.
Here's how one
North Carolina
museum is navigating
both the process
and the uncertainty.
Sarah Macey, R&L Consulting
L
This has often become appar C
hildren have always played hard at
Brooklyn Children's Museum (BCM).
ent in com...we
are seeing new expressions and
behaviors among our visitors of all ages.
What we have observed is part joy,
part pent-up physical release, part social
and community craving, and some bouts
of real aggression-hard Brooklyn-style
play like never before.
What has become clear through
observing this shift is that some children,
younger children in particular, are
experiencing new social environments
with people outside of their families,
such as museums, for the first time.
Volume 36 Number 2
parative conversations with other children's
museums about measures to ensure safety
or the number of consumable props needed,
and physically manifest, in the traveling
exhibits that have passed through BCM and
traveled on with the imprint of heavy-handed
visitor appreciation. This, however, was
pre-pandemic. Now, we are seeing new expressions
and behaviors among our visitors
of all ages. What we have observed is part
joy, part pent-up physical release, part social
and community craving, and some bouts of
real aggression-hard Brooklyn-style play
like never before.
What has become clear through observing
this shift is that some children, younger
children in particular, are experiencing new
social environments with people outside of
their families, such as museums, for the first
time. This is particularly apparent among
ACTING OUT IN THE MUSEUM
the children visiting on field trips. BCM has
always been one of the first stops for children's
first field trips, but the quantity of
" firsts " now feels compounded. Additionally,
we (among so many others in the education-related
field), have seen a shift in how
our visitors engage with one another.
Growing Ideas
With these observations in mind, drawing
from research focused on the impact of
the pandemic on early childhood behavior
and development-and the challenge of
" what kids need now, " we have reviewed and
renewed our approach to the programs we
present. Specifically, we have redeveloped
our school programs to increase an emphasis
on cooperation and focus on community.
All of our field trips offerings now include
collaborative elements based on participatory
actions that have children work in
unison toward a single goal. For example,
may 2023
et's have a show of hands: How many of
you absolutely love the strategic planning
process? OK, got it. And how many of you
really hate it? Yep. Got it.
Now, let's get specific: What exactly do
we love and hate about it? When I posed this
question recently on LinkedIn, I received the
variety of responses seen in the chart below.
LOVE
Taking steps away from the daily grind
and visioning the big picture.
Engaging the whole team for great ideas.
Engaging in conversations that really
matter and experiencing that feeling when
your values align with those of your
organization & colleagues.
Focused time looking at challenges
and opportunities.
Gathering, the reset button, different
voices, new perspectives, stepping away
from struggle thinking into strategic thinking.
The luxury of time to listen and think.
Pondering the future, anticipating the
challenges, and proposing responses
to meet them.
Volume 36 Number 1
As one colleague put it: " I think that E.
B. White [author and essayist] captured perfectly
the tension between strategy and planning:
" 'I get up every morning determined
to both change the world and have one hell
of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning
my day difficult.' " Ha!
HATE
Wordsmithing!!!! And wordsmithing
as a large group!
When things don't get implemented.
The onerous process of gaining consensus
among team members.
When the documents created to guide
strategy lose relevance/are shelved/don't
actually guide practice.
A plan so large that it becomes hard to
manage or follow.
The problems that result when goals
shift and the plan isn't revised.
The absence of accountability when
things don't get done.
Strategic Planning
Ideally, planning the future of your museum
should be an opportunity to gather
folks together, pull out the butcher paper
and markers, and let the ideas fly. Candid input
from the community is woven throughout.
The process is refreshing, affirming, satisfying,
and fun. (Yes, it really should be an
enjoyable exercise.) There is sufficient time
to generate ideas, revise, and add to those
ideas; dig into relevant data to back things
up; and secure buy-in across the organization.
The resulting plan is enthusiastically
embraced, referenced, and discussed by everyone
with impressive frequency.
Back to reality.
Even before the pandemic, the strategic
planning process was rarely ideal. It could
move at a glacial pace. It could be unwieldy
and tedious. It could be expensive-particularly
if an outside consultant was involved.
It could feel top-down. It could (perhaps
unknowingly) turn a blind eye to the needs
and interests of the community. It could feel
focused on fundraising. And most of all, it
STRATEGIC PLANNING
February 2023
Acting Out in the Museum
May 2023 | Vol. 36, No. 2
Strategic Planning
February 2023 | Vol. 36, No. 1
ACM's 60th Anniversary
Fall 2022 | Vol. 35, No. 3 & 4
Association of Children's Museums
2023 ANNUAL IMPACT REPORT

https://childrensmuseums.org/publications/ https://childrensmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/H2H-Acting-Out-June-2023.pdf https://childrensmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/H2HStrategicPlanningFeb23AAFinal3.7.23.pdf https://issuu.com/associationofchildrensmuseums/docs/h2hacm60.final.12.7.22.v3

Annual Report FY23

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Annual Report FY23