Summative Evaluations & Strategy for Temporary Exhibitions at the Corning Museum of Glass
Client: The Corning Museum of Glass | Location: Corning, NY
We evaluated temporary exhibitions at The Corning Museum of Glass on an annual basis to inform their exhibition strategies over time.
OVERVIEW
Beginning in 2018, The Corning Museum of Glass contracted us to evaluate visitors’ experiences in their annual temporary exhibitions. Each exhibition differed in content and theme.
APPROACH
Historically, the museum had evaluated temporary exhibitions. We were brought in because they desired to continue to build this body of knowledge, but they sought a more rigorous evaluation approach. Each of our evaluations included observations of visitors in the exhibition spaces. They also included interviews with visitors to understand the meaning they made from the experience. After each evaluation, we presented results to staff and facilitated a reflective discussion.
CLIENT TAKEAWAYS
Evaluation revealed several learning-specific takeaways for the client about each exhibition. For example, the exhibition New Glass Now was successful in challenging visitors to expand their notions of what glass in contemporary art and design can be. And the exhibition In Sparkling Company challenged visitors to consider how a “modern” lifestyle in Britain during the 1700s was enabled by the exploitation of enslaved human labor.
Additionally, the evaluations built a body of knowledge about design strategies. Each year, our evaluations probed deeper into the accessibility of the exhibitions after we observed behaviors indicating a need for more accessibility, such as visitors bending significantly to view art or labels, visual challenges, and more. The museum is now beginning to implement some of these observational strategies and tools in their own evaluations in the museum.
