Americans today are still grappling with much unfinished business that has its roots in the European settlement of this continent. In collaboration with Michelle Moon, I am currently leading a multi-year interpretive planning effort at Historic Huguenot Street that attends to this unfinished business.
In 2022 The Frick Pittsburgh invited Michelle Moon and me to lead an interpretive planning effort to reimagine the visitor experience for Clayton, the Frick Pittsburgh’s Gilded Age Mansion. The result was award-winning.
Critical thinking on labor, industry, and capitalism at the Frick Pittsburgh
Read More
Social science research shows that lifelong curiosity drives a raft of positive outcomes that we all seek as human beings: employment success, physical and mental well-being, creativity, and community engagement. How can museums increase curiosity in visitors of all ages?
Cultivating lifelong curiosity with History Nebraska
Read More
Using a new experimental model of creative strategic planning, Laura Roberts and I collaborated on a living plan for Cambridge Historical Society that resulted in a name change to History Cambridge, stronger organizational decision-making capacity, and a commitment to history in the service of social cohesion.
Transforming History Cambridge through creative strategic planning
Read More
Developing a new educational vision for Montreal’s Musée McCord
Read More
“[Creativity in Museum Practice is a] veritable bazaar of ideas, activities, and references on creativity that will inspire museum professionals to open up, take imaginative risks, and develop their own methods for practicing in the creative spirit.” —Kathleen McLean
Building creative capacity and inspiring museum professionals
Read More
This new, 4,600-square-foot museum in development in Augusta, ME, is dedicated to building greater knowledge about, participation in, and stewardship of the First Amendment, which protects our freedoms of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition.
Bringing Maine’s First Amendment Museum to life
Read More
Collections stewardship and sustainability at Oysterponds Historical Society
Read More
Building a creative exhibition infrastructure for Mystic Seaport
Read More
Museums need a new model for collections stewardship. This is the core idea that animates my work with Active Collections co-founders Trevor Jones and Elee Wood.
Imagining a new model for collections stewardship
Read More
Creative adaptation at the 1867 DeLong House in Glen Falls, NY
Read More
Leading the museum community in healing after the Boston Marathon Bombing
Read More
Visitor Comments:
“A great place for healing”
“Thank you for holding us with care.”
“Thank you for this closure. I truly needed it.”
“This is my one outlet for my grief.”
“I came thinking of myself and left thinking of you.”
“I’ve felt so lost—now because of this I am found.”
Dear Boston: Messages from the Makeshift Memorial
Read More
“When coaching TED and TEDx speakers, we often emphasize that the most successful TED Talks aren’t merely presentations. They’re acts of sharing that combine authority and vulnerability. Rainey nailed both parts: authority in that she knew her material cold and was the only person in the world who could tell that story, and vulnerability in that she really lets the audience in and feel what it was like to live through such an emotionally charged assignment.” —Jimmy Guterman, TEDxBoston
