Museums Can Thrive in a Post-COVID World
July 22, 2021
Like so many businesses and services affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 saw the closure of museums all around the world. In an instant, one of our most prized cultural pillars emptied their halls, closed their doors, and were forced to imagine how they would be able to function in a post-pandemic world.
One thing that we’ve learned from the pandemic, however, is that museums are resilient. With a touch of innovation, creativity, and perseverance, museums were able to evolve and transform, taking their galleries and exhibits online so that people could enjoy their valuable contributions to society when they were most needed.
As more of the economy continues to open to the public, museums are in a unique position to take what they’ve learned from the pandemic so that they can thrive in post-COVID world.
This article will go over a few ways that museums can revamp their institutions in order to thrive in a post-pandemic world.
Ideas for Museums As the world Opens up
If there’s one silver lining from the pandemic, it’s been our ability to become more creative, efficient, and resilient, and if museums are going to continue to thrive, they need to apply what they’ve learned from the pandemic toward the future.
Below is a list of things museums should be doing today to survive and thrive in a post-COVID world.
- Focus on what museums do best: collect –
- At their core, museums are a place for collection, preservation, and education. However, amid growing pressure to attract crowds and generate excitement, museums have focused too much on creating temporary exhibits that don’t add long-term value to the museum’s core collection. Museums can reestablish their core values and provide valuable contributions to society by collecting their own items and showcasing them to the public.
- Alternative services and contributions –
- Museums have had to find other ways to educate, share, and contribute to a community of art lovers, science fanatics, and history buffs. Leaning into alternative museum experiences will be a necessity moving forward in a post-pandemic world. This works to any museum’s benefit because sharing content like podcasts, publications, films, virtual tours, and speeches will help boost museum engagement and marketing strategies.
- Making connections –
- It will be incumbent on museums to make connections and partnerships in a post-COVID world, but this goes beyond partnering with just other museums. If museums are going to thrive, they need to make novel partnerships that bring separate subjects, like the science of music with the wonders of art, onto the same stage. Research initiatives, public programs, and university partnerships are all great ways to build lasting connections for mutual growth.
- Digitize and engage –
- People want a few things from museums: they want to learn about new subjects, they want to be inspired by the world’s most treasured artifacts and innovations, and they want to engage with culture alongside other people. If you’re going to create a virtual strategy to digitize your museum, you have to do it in a way that brings people together. Whether you’re hosting online lectures, virtual tours, or digital photo-galleries, allowing your guests to interact with each other, ask questions through an online chat, and see the professionals who are facilitating the experience need to be a part of the online package.
- Community engagement –
- Another museum core value is community. Providing engaging, lasting cultural contributions is good for both museums and the local communities they find themselves in. For museums looking to revitalize their institution or build deeper connections, the first place to start should be their local communities. Partnering up with schools, local businesses, and other cultural and educational institutions are just a few ways to create mutual growth within the community.
As we’re hopefully reaching the tail end of the pandemic, people are eager more than ever to get out and engage with the world around them. If museums continue adapting, evolving, and leaning into their core values, they can come out of the COVID-19 pandemic stronger than ever.
How ACME Ticketing can help you thrive in a post-pandemic world
Once museums have created an engaging and innovative strategy to thrive in a post-COVID world, their new challenge will be to acquire and manage their members. Getting people involved with your museum is great, but turning first-time visitors into life-long members should be the goal for long-term growth.
ACME’s state-of-the-art ticketing and membership management technology will make it easier for museums to track visitor interest, manage membership benefits, and create a vibrant and data-driven marketing campaign that will resonate with your visitors and members.
To learn more about how ACME is transforming the way guests and staff engage with ticketing and membership, try the ACME demo today.