I am a museum consultant specializing in interpretive & strategic planning, content & collections curation, institutional capacity building, and igniting the creative process. My holistic approach to museum work has been called slow food, divining, poetry, and a secret weapon.

“Rainey brings an intellect that is both beautiful and terrible to behold. She’ll sew together a tapestry of experiences, ideas, and practical solutions. You won’t be able to see the stitches.” —Trevor Jones, CEO, History Nebraska

My work is human, multidisciplinary, attentive—and grounded in expertise with:

  • interpretive planning

  • strategic planning

  • collections planning

  • developing new approaches to collections stewardship

  • capacity building

  • leadership coaching

  • professional development workshops

 

  • content and conceptual development

  • experience design

  • idea generation

  • prototyping

  • city museums

  • local history and place-based interpretation

  • placemaking

My Guiding Principles

  • Creativity is my religion. I study it, I practice it, I preach it. Creativity makes our work more effective and impactful. It’s what distinguishes a mediocre organization from an excellent one.

  • Organizational progress is a result of curious exploration, serious play, and continuous experimentation that builds on existing strengths. It’s a messy and open-ended process—the most important things in life usually are.

  • When museum professionals bring their whole selves to work, they bring more passion, dedication, and value. And when they have an opportunity to use their whole selves in the service of positive change—not just hear or read about it but experience it for themselves—they can transform institutions.

  • Talking, listening, collaborating, storytelling, sharing—investigating together. Museum experiences are most powerful when they facilitate a conversation about what really matters to us as members of the human family. These exchanges are equally important behind the scenes as they are with public audiences.

  • Museum practice is stronger when it is informed by social science. Psychology, sociology, and neuroscience offer new findings about the environments, tools, and approaches human beings need to be our best selves. This research helps me develop new strategies for improving museums.

  • Approaching each project in a spirit of collaboration, trust, and generosity. Museums, like other types of not-for-profits, too often operate from a position of scarcity. I model the openness I want to see in the field.

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“Rainey is the 21st-century conscience of history museums.” —Laura Roberts, @museumplanner