Front-End Study for an Exhibition about Belonging at the Jewish Museum of Maryland
Client: The Jewish Museum of Maryland | Location: Baltimore, MD
We led an audience-focused front-end evaluation for a new permanent exhibition at the Jewish Museum of Maryland.
OVERVIEW
In 2017, we partnered with the Jewish Museum of Maryland to conduct a front-end evaluation of materials in development for a new permanent exhibition titled: Belonging(s), which invited visitors to explore the intricacies of the concept of belonging.
The goal of our evaluation was to explore how the early-stage exhibition materials and concepts supported the museum’s desired outcomes for its target audiences.
APPROACH
To make good use of limited time and resources, we designed a small-scale qualitative study that included interviews with two target audiences:
Repeat adult visitors
Middle school teachers (speaking on behalf of their students as well as to their needs as educators)
During the interviews, we showed participants materials related to the proposed interpretation of the exhibition, including possible titles, section themes, and images of related objects. The interviews were purposely open-ended to allow insights to emerge naturally.
CLIENT TAKEAWAYS
We found that participants easily made connections between thematic ideas and objects for two sections in the larger exhibition, but had some difficulty with two other proposed exhibition sections, revealing opportunities for creative interpretation.
Participants also found personal meaning in some of the themes proposed for the new exhibition, especially in topics related to ethnic discrimination, immigration, and charity work. Whether participants reacted positively or negatively to the materials, our findings suggested that the exhibition, especially through old photographs, has the potential to draw visitors into the content and evoke strong emotional responses.
