The Museum Hack Blog

We’ve been using FUJIFILM’s Instax cameras on our tours for quite some time. Given that we’re such big fans, we were super excited to work with FUJIFILM on creating and hosting a custom event to promote their new product line in New York City.

More and more museums are creating online personas for their onsite mascots. It’s a smart move in a variety of ways. Besides being fun, it’s an easy way to drop knowledge online in a unique way, and respond to some admiring fans. It also shows off that your museum is social media savvy, and knows […]

Museums housed within a university campus have big pros and big cons. When it comes to having a diverse audience, it can be both. This was the case for the Art Museum on Arizona State University’s (ASU) campus. First and foremost, ASU wanted to attract students and young post-grads from the Tempe area to come to […]

We believe that great storytelling is the backbone of successful museum tours. As we’ve discussed in previous case studies, the right story can transcend someone’s preconceived notions of what a museum experience can be. Engaging storytelling has the potential to transform your visitors from museum skeptics into lifelong patrons.  

Let’s turn museums into mmmuseums. When it comes to making visitors happy, museums sometimes overthink it. We focus on big, complex projects: thought-provoking exhibitions, unique objects and artworks, exciting events, and eye-catching designs. But for many visitors, it’s amenities like cafes that really make or break their museum experience. After all, if we can’t look […]

The most intriguing thing about superheroes isn’t that they leap tall buildings in a single bound or change into capes and spandex tights inside phone boxes. It’s the fact that they help save the world every day – without most people ever realizing it. That’s why we think small museums are real-life superheroes. As much […]

Think the arts and humanities don’t have a big impact in the US? We found some fantastic facts showing how beneficial the National Endowment for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Arts really are.

What do you get when you combine the thrill of an Escape Room with the energy of a Museum Hack tour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art? A whirlwind, narrative-based, team building puzzle we call Escape the Met! What’s an Escape Room? For the uninitiated, Escape Rooms are a phenomenon that have taken the “escape […]

Is your museum f***ing awesome? Are you a leader in the museum industry? Or maybe you have a ton of ideas on what museums are doing well and where they could improve in 2017. Museum Hack wants to be home to a variety of voices and ideas in the museum world. We can’t do that […]

The frigid air was biting at my cheeks, and I could feel the warm blood running to my ears. Not that I minded too much; this was just another one of my nightly walks, and extreme negative temperatures are part of growing up in small-town Canada. In most ways this icy stroll was much like […]

It’s no secret: we love scavenger hunts. We think they’re an awesome way to highlight cool pieces in the museum while still being a pretty great tool for subtle team building. Our scavenger hunts are super customizable, making them the perfect candidate for an event that’ll check all the boxes on your team building needs […]

Even the best laid plans can go awry. It can be tricky when things change on a dime and don’t go quite as planned. At Museum Hack, we know situations can take an unexpected turn, and we pride ourselves on thinking fast on our feet and coming up with new ways to make the best […]

Many of our custom company tours are focused on creating a memorable experience for that company’s employees with a healthy mix of team building, amazing stories, and fun. Just before the end of 2015, we were approached by UNICEF, who wanted to know if we could do something a little different. UNICEF’s idea was to […]

For $1.19 an hour, you could have more visitors than your busiest holiday weekend. Pokémon GO has taken the Internet by storm.  The app was released a week ago, and already museums and cultural institutions are seeing a marked increase in visitors.  Best of all? Most of these visitors are the coveted millennial audience! So […]

Have your museum’s programs become stagnant?  Are you struggling to find new ways to engage audiences and get your staff on board? Peel Art Gallery, Museum, and Archives (“PAMA”) explores the rich history of the Region of Peel in Canada.  Having recently completed a large expansion, PAMA was looking to revitalize their current programming in […]

A special guest post by Blaire Moskowitz. Have you seen more people than usual staring at their phones in your museum? That is because “Pokémon GO” was released this weekend. It quickly claimed the number one place in the app store and will soon surpass Twitter in daily active users by capturing the attention of […]

Local Projects is a media design firm that focuses on creating enduring projects through storytelling.  They utilize collaborative storytelling, technology, and a visitor-first strategy to transform museums and public spaces. We asked Nathan Adkisson, Director of Strategy at Local Projects, to talk with us about their work.  His insights shed light into how museums can […]

In late 2015, Ricky Jackson took the stage at TEDxMet.  Having served a 39-year prison sentence for a crime he did not commit. Many might have expected Ricky to talk about the justice system.  Instead, Ricky took us on a journey to freedom, a journey that began in his childhood.  His talk reminds us that […]

Social media is one of the most powerful tools museums can use to connect with and inspire their audiences outside of the institution’s walls. While Twitter and Facebook are often the go-to for many cultural institutions, the visual aspects and nature of Pinterest perfectly align with the curation of museum collections. We know what you’re thinking […]

Sometimes, even big companies run into a problem they’re not sure how to solve on their own. Few brands have a name with as much star power and history as Bloomingdale’s. The famous retailer boasts an amazing legacy in New York City and abroad, and the name Bloomingdale’s has become synonymous with incredible, iconic, and […]

One day last month, a man named Narcissus wandered into the bathroom at his girlfriend’s apartment, only to discover that it contained the perfect lighting for mirror selfies. Jealous that she had kept this fact hidden from him for so long, he took photo after photo of himself until his phone’s battery reached zero. Dumbfounded […]

New York City has a reputation for being a tough place where neighbors don’t know neighbors, but one local company is working to change that by cultivating a new sense of community in the concrete jungle with people who are all united by one thing: their love of dogs! BarkBox is a company that’s all […]

Stories are awesome. At the heart of the vast majority of Museum Hack’s hacks is a good story. Good stories resonate with the audience in new, engaging, and sometimes unexpected ways, leaving listeners with a deeper connection to the story and the storyteller. The catch is figuring out how to tell these tales in just […]

Last summer we were shocked to find one of the world’s largest media companies piggy-backing on our small brand. It appeared this company was using the Museum Hack trademark, without permission, to increase traffic to their website. Heads up — today’s article outlines that media company’s continued disregard for good business practice and laws. The […]

Audio tours are a key aspect of museum’s visitor experience.  Done right, audio tours are a unique way to connect with visitors that may not like docent-led tours or prefer the freedom to learn about objects and spaces on their own.  Such tours also provide a cost-effective way for museums to foster deep engagement with […]