Helping Luci Creative Shape a Community-Focused History Exhibition

Client: Luci Creative (on behalf of the North Carolina Museum of History) | Location: Raleigh, NC

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We conducted audience research for Luci Creative on behalf of the North Carolina Museum of History to help the museum redesign its Becoming North Carolina galleries to meet the needs of different visitor personas.

OVERVIEW

In 2022, we partnered with Luci Creative (on behalf of the NCMOH) to conduct a seasonal audience research study to inform Luci Creative’s concept development phase for the Becoming North Carolina galleries, a permanent exhibition at the museum about the history, people, and arts of North Carolina.

Our research was prompted by the galleries’ redesign but was ultimately framed to serve the museum’s larger goal to understand its audience better, including the types of visitors that come to the museum.

APPROACH

We designed a standardized survey to explore visitors’ demographics and also to define types of visitors by how they prefer to experience and engage with history museums. Data was captured over two seasons (spring and summer) to explain any seasonal differences.

CLIENT TAKEAWAYS

We confirmed for NCMOH that it has a strong regional and local audience with many connections to North Carolina. We also expanded the museum’s understanding of this audience by defining four visitor types—Open Enthusiasts, Social History Buffs, Independent Thinkers, and Tentative Companions. These visitor types value different experiences and ways of engaging with history but do not differ significantly in their demographic makeup.  For example, engaging with history through social interaction is important to Open Enthusiasts and Social History Buffs (who represent a majority of visitors). And, Open Enthusiasts and Independent Thinkers place more importance on personally connecting to history than Social History Buffs.

We also found some interesting (but not surprising) differences in how White and non-White visitors experience history at the museum, including that White visitors are more likely to agree that they saw “history that represented multiple perspectives,” and visitors who identify as Black placed greater value on “seeing myself and my experiences reflected in the history”—both of which are key priorities for all visitors to see and feel in the new exhibitions. We also saw generational differences in how visitors experienced history at the museum, with young adults (18-34) less likely to have “made a personal connection to a story” and to have “seen themselves represented in the stories and artifacts.”        

Soon after the study’s completion, Luci Creative and the NCMOH began using the audience research findings to inform the design of the Becoming North Carolina galleries, including posing important questions about whose stories are being highlighted in the exhibition design and how to best interpret those stories for the broader public.