Summative Evaluation of a Solutions-Focused Climate Change Exhibition at The Wild Center

Experience Design Research
Written By Cathy Sigmond

Client: The Wild Center | Location: Tupper Lake, NY | Funding: Institute for Museum and Library Services

 
 

We conducted a summative evaluation of a new solutions-focused and place-based climate change exhibition at The Wild Center. 

OVERVIEW

In 2022, we worked with The Wild Center to evaluate its new IMLS-funded climate change exhibition, which used an innovative approach focused on presenting climate solutions through place-based examples and storytelling. Our evaluation came at a time when many museums were wrestling with how to effectively empower visitors to take climate action.

In the early stages of exhibition development, we also conducted audience research using Yale’s Six Americas Short Survey (SASSY) to help The Wild Center understand their audience’s dispositions toward climate change, which they used to guide content and messaging decisions in the exhibition. It was valuable for The Wild Center to recognize its audience is already concerned or alarmed about climate change and looking for solutions—it did not need to spend significant time or valuable exhibition space convincing people about the reality of climate change, but rather could skip to addressing solutions head-on.

APPROACH

We conducted onsite interviews with visitors exiting the Climate Solutions exhibition. We also conducted remote longitudinal interviews with a different sample of visitors several weeks after their visit, to understand the lasting effects of the exhibition.

CLIENT TAKEAWAYS

Overall, the Wild Center was successful in creating a hopeful and engaging exhibition on climate solutions that resonated with its visitors—a significant achievement considering the challenges of positively engaging visitors on such a critical and serious topic. As indicated in the early audience research, The Wild Center’s visitors did not need convincing that climate change is a major crisis—they appreciated the exhibition’s focus on highlighting practical and locally relevant climate solutions.

While most visitors came away understanding that anyone can be part of climate solutions, shifts in personal action were subtle. Still, we find it promising that the exhibition is deepening thoughtfulness in visitors about their everyday decisions, which is an important stepping stone to action.

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. 

Previous

Shaping Made By Us’ Nationwide Initiative to Connect Young People to History
Next

Baseline Study to Measure the Impact of the Smithsonian AWHI’s Internship Program