Integrating Audience Strategy into the Master Planning Process for the Carnegie Science Center

Impact-Driven Strategy
Written By Cathy Sigmond

Client: Thinkwell Group | Location: Pittsburgh, PA

 
 

We partnered with Thinkwell Group and staff at the STEM Center of Carnegie Science Center to help them be strategic about audiences ahead of their major master planning process.

OVERVIEW

In 2022, we partnered with Thinkwell Group to develop strategy tools for the Carnegie Science Center’s STEM Center, the educational branch of the science center. The tools, and the process to develop them, were meant to help the STEM Center clarify their purpose and be intentional in making decisions to best serve target audiences.

APPROACH

We developed two strategy tools:

  • A Theory of Change to articulate the target audience, social problem, social impact and outcomes, and underlying assumptions of the STEM Center

  • An Updatable Dashboard that synthesizes school data (including demographics) from all the schools the STEM Center serves and partners with

CLIENT TAKEAWAYS

The STEM Center’s Theory of Change emerged out of a series of guided conversations. Through those conversations, STEM Center staff got on the same page about their assumptions and understandings surrounding current and potential audiences and the social problem the STEM Center is uniquely situated to address within the broader Pittsburgh landscape. Ultimately their new Theory of Change will inform strategic decision-making and continuous program improvement. 

The Updatable Dashboard is a tool to help the STEM Center both know exactly what schools they currently serve and target new schools that fit best with their target audience. The Dashboard includes variables like percentage of students with free/reduced lunch, a race/ethnic breakdown of the student population, and number of special needs students served—all data that is available online. We synthesized available data for the STEM Center and trained them to collect that data themselves moving forward.

Cathy Sigmond

Cathy brings many years of experience in education and experience design to her role as Head of Strategy at Kera Collective. 

Having previously worked in a variety of educational settings, Cathy is driven by her constant fascination and delight at how people make discoveries about the familiar and the unfamiliar. 

Cathy loves helping to shape experiences that spark curiosity and make a difference in people’s lives. She particularly enjoys the rapid, iterative nature of design-based research and the deep insights that come from qualitative research, especially on projects exploring interactions with the digital and built environments. 

Cathy shares her passion for experience design research widely and regularly guest lectures for graduate programs, including the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Exhibition and Experience Design Program and the Pratt Institute’s School of Information. Cathy served as the co-chair of the Museum Computer Network’s Human-Centered Design special interest group from 2018-2021.

Outside of work, you can usually find Cathy playing soccer, thrifting, or making her way through her large cookbook collection. 

Cathy’s favorite museum experiences are immersive; she will always vividly remember walking through the giant heart at the Franklin Institute, being surrounded by birds at the Peabody Essex Museum, and hearing centuries-old instruments come to life at the Museum of Musical Instruments. 

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