As competition for participating in cultural activities increases and national participation decreases, understanding the needs of audiences is more important than ever. The New Jersey Historical Commission and the New Jersey Historic Trust are pleased to present “Understanding Audience Needs through Evaluation” with expert Beverly Sheppard on April 25th at Wheaton Arts and April 26th at the Plainfield Public Library.
Why do visitors come to your museum? What excites (or disappoints) them about your new exhibit? Do they find your institution important in their lives? Why? Why not? Wouldn’t you love to know the answers to these questions? Imagine what it would mean to your museum to find ways to ask these questions and build a conversation with your visitors.
Ms. Sheppard – former director of the Institute for Learning Innovation – will host the participatory workshop and introduce the basics of evaluation, in addition to incorporating numerous examples of practical evaluation techniques. Participants will leave with a wealth of ideas for integrating useful evaluation into all that their organization is currently doing (and plans to do in the future). Evaluation need not be daunting or left to the experts. Every museum can find ways to strengthen its effectiveness by listening to the voices of their visitors.
Each workshop will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and include lunch.
