ACM Bulletin Board

Increasing U.S. Children and Families’ Understanding
of Asian Cultures: A Final Report

Increasing U.S. Children and Families’ Understanding of Asian Cultures: A Final Report is a publication of the Association of Children’s Museums and authored by Selinda Research Associates, Inc. © Copyright 2008 Association of Children’s Museums. All rights reserved.

ABSTRACT
The Freeman Foundation Asian Exhibit Initiative was administered by the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) and funded by The Freeman Foundation (Stowe, Vermont, and New York, New York). The Initiative developed seven traveling exhibitions, each depicting an Asian culture (Chinese, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, and Viet Namese). The exhibitions opened at their first venues in early 2004, and each traveled to at least 10 children’s museums across the United States over four years.

The Asian Exhibit Initiative research study investigated the impact of the Initiative on American children’s understanding of Asian cultures by examining the learning, interactivity, and audiences observed at Initiative exhibitions. The study found that children learned about unfamiliar Asian cultures through a variety of developmentally appropriate interactive engagements and types of play, and with the assistance of their caregivers. Exhibition audiences were much more diverse than the original target audience. Recommendations made to individual museums included the use of planning and evaluation tools such as development frameworks and play/knowledge hierarchies, samples of which are included in the report. Recommendations made to the Association of Children’s Museums focused on extending the multidimensional benefits of the Initiative both to museums planning cultural exhibitions and to the children’s museum field at large.

Increasing U.S. Children and Families’ Understanding of Asian Cultures: A Final Report can be downloaded in from the Members Only section of the ACM Web site. Members are not permitted to sell this report or provide a copy of the report to any second party without receiving written approval from ACM. Requests to provide a copy of the report to any non-ACM member must be made to ACM in writing. Please contact Korie Twiggs, ACM Education Officer with all requests and inquiries.

A PDF version of the publication is available for individuals and organizations that are not ACM members to purchase for $200. Contact ACM for details.

Coming Soon: HR Tool Kit

When an institution welcomes a new person into its museum family, it is important that the new volunteer, employee or
board member not only understand the mission of the museum, but to also be aware of the children’s museum field as a whole. To help tell the children’s museum story, ACM has created an HR Support Tool Kit for museum leaders and HR staff.

HR Support Tool Kit Highlights:

• Power Point presentation highlighting the variety of children’s museums around the world.
  
• Children’s museums stats and trends.
  
• Examples of how museums can implement Diversity in Action.
  
• Tips and recommendations for floor staff hiring and training.
  
• A checklist of ACM benefits and services available to members.
  
• Instructions on how staff can create individual Members Only accounts.

2009 Museum Membership Survey
Responses Deadline: January 26, 2009

Each year, ACM issues a museum membership survey. In years ending with an odd number, such as 2009, it is a short form survey that mainly asks museums to update finance and attendance information. All survey data will be used to update the online ACM Membership Directory. Museum members should complete the survey online at SurveyMonkey.

The survey should take you no longer than 5-10 minutes to complete but may be completed in more than one sitting if the same computer is used. We recommend that you download and print the survey, gather your answers from appropriate museum departments, and then enter the results online.

If you have questions, contact Lila Elliott, Program Manager, Membership.

Nickelodeon/ACM Children's Museum Promotion Results

Background
In June 2008, ACM and Nickelodeon's GoCityKids.ParentsConnect.com agreed to partner on a national promotion opportunity to run four weeks in GoCityKids' Deal & Steals section, beginning on Monday, September 29 and ending Monday, October 26. All open U.S. children's museum members of ACM were invited to participate. Participants agreed to honor a "buy one adult ticket, get one child ticket free" coupon during the four weeks, in exchange for exposure on GoCityKids.ParentsConnect.com.

GoCityKids.ParentsConnect.com is winner of a Webby Award for Best Family/Parenting Web site, has approximately one million unique users each month and serves more than 200,000 newsletter subscribers each week.

Communication about Promotion

How ACM promoted the opportunity to members:

• Three dedicated emails were sent to all members about the promotion in July.
  

• A profile about the opportunity was published in the July E-Update.
  

• An invitation to participate was posted on the ACM Web site's homepage for the month of July.
  

• A Nickelodeon/ACM Promotion Update page was launched in the Bulletin Board section of the ACM Web site.

How ACM informed museum participants about the promotion:

• Each participant received a confirmation email from ACM.
  

• ACM regularly updated the Nickelodeon/ACM Promotion Update page located in the Bulletin Board section of the ACM Web site with a list of museum participants and posted multiple resources for the promotion.

  • A-Participant Q & A

  • B-Web Links*: GoCityKids Homepage; ACM homepage on GoCityKids that lists all participants;
    GoCityKids Participants on ACM Web site

  • C-GoCityKids Coupon;

  • D-Customizable flyer created in Word; PDF version of the flyer for ideas on how to design your own.

  • E- ParentsConnect logo and ACM logo for museum online promotional purposes.

  * Some of the Web links will loose their active status over time.

• Three blast emails were sent to all participants in September about preparing for the promotion, finding the coupon online and GoCityKids resources that were available in the Members Only Web site.
  

• Updates about the GoCityKids promotion were published in the August, September and October E-Update.

Marketing Activities of the GoCityKids Promotion

Nickelodeon issued a press release about the promotion, which was picked up by The Wall Street Journal MarketPlace and
several parenting blogs.

Subscribers to Nickelodeon's ParentsConnect Newsletter and Nick Jr. Family magazine were sent an electronic newsletter on
Monday, September 29, with information and a link to the children's museums "October Deal" found on the GoCityKids' Steals & Deals section.

For non-subscribers, i.e., regular GoCityKids visitors, Nickelodeon put up on the GoCityKids site a national attraction page for ACM, with links to all the participating museums. This page served as the source page for the "coupon." Readers could find the source/coupon by: Visiting www.GoCityKids.ParentsConnect.com/local; Clicking "Local Deals" link at the top of the page; Selecting the Association of Children's Museums listing and; Clicking the "Get Coupon" button, print and GO!

ACM published a link on the ACM homepage to all museum participants and the GoCityKids coupon.

Each individual museum participant was ensured a profile on the ParentsConnect Local (GoCityKids) Web site. In some instances, these profiles existed prior to the promotion, in other cases local editors of the ParentsConnect Web site wrote a profile. Each museum's profile lists the museum name, address, phone, Web address, museum hours, admission fees and a short, general description. All participant profiles continue to live on the GoCityKids site.

ACM Participation
A total of 126 (52 percent) out of 242 eligible ACM U.S. open museum members participated.

Coupon Redemption
Out of 126 participants, 104 participating museums reported their numbers to ACM. This means, the coupon redemption rate is calculated based on 82 percent of the participating museums.

• 381 total coupons redeemed
  

  • 40 museums (32 percent) redeemed at least one coupon
    

  • 10 museums (8 percent) redeemed 10 or more coupons
    

  • 30 museums (24 percent) redeemed 9 or less coupons
    

Note: ACM instructed all participants to provide their numbers via email on October 29; reminder emails were issued the week of November 17, and ACM telephoned all participants who had not responded and asked that they provide their redemption rate and promotion experience to ACM.

Number of Coupons Redeemed at Children's Museums

Comments from Participants

The overwhelming majority of participants answered "yes" to both of the questions ACM proposed in its request for promotion feedback.

1. Did ACM provide the appropriate level of communication and resources to support your participation in this promotion? Yes or No
   

2. If ACM and Nickelodeon were to ask for your participation in a similar promotion next year (October 2009) do you think your museum would be likely to participate?

Only one museum said they would not likely participate in a similar promotion in 2009, due to fact that the museum is scheduled to be closed for renovations. Several museums provided general feedback about the promotion experience.

Below are selected comments from participants.

AHA! A Hand's On Adventure (Lancaster) redeemed 36 coupons. This accounts for approximately 2.5 coupons and 20% of our non-member visitors for each day that we were open during October. I also know, from the cool stats we get for our Web site action, that there were 78 downloads of the coupon information during the week of Oct. 20-Oct. 26. Multiply that number by the four weeks and you get over 300 people who looked for the coupon, even though they may not have used it.

Yes, AHA! would like to participate again next year. The downfall to this coupon is the revenue we lost. While the coupon helped make people aware of the museum and brought new people into the museum that might otherwise not have visited, we also lost several hundred dollars worth of income from people who may never return and weren't motivated to purchase a membership after experiencing the museum. I guess you could say the program is a mixed blessing!

Thank you for the opportunity. It was interesting and a way for AHA! to join with other children's museums for a national program. --Kimberly Murray, Director

Kohl Children's Museum had 28 GoCityKids coupons redeemed. The communication about the program from ACM was great; however, the source used to gather information about the individual museums for posting on the Web site was wildly out of date for our museum. The information was quickly corrected once we brought it to the attention of the editors. It leaves me curious, however, what resources were tapped to gather the descriptions of exhibits and services offered, and if in the future each Museum may be invited to provide its own information for posting. We would be happy to participate in this program again next year-- Janella Watson, Marketing and Sales Manager, Kohl Children's Museum

I would like to know how our redemption compared to others. A suggestion when you send the email - please include a link to the Bulletin Board section or a reminder on how to access it (which would be helpful for new members like myself. Thanks--Alison Segebarth, Marketing & Membership, DuPage Children's Museum

[ACM Question: Did ACM provide the appropriate level of communication and resources to support your participation in this promotion?] Yes; although it was a little difficult to explain to our staff the relationship between ACM and Nickelodeon and how the promotion would be publicized in our area. Next time it would be helpful to have a preset blurb about the national promotion that individual museums could post to their "specials" area of the Web sites and link back to the coupon more directly then this year. Thanks-- Deidre, Marbles Kids Museum

We had seven coupons presented. I thought we would get more. I like the promo, but would prefer it be offered in September. I also felt that the Go City Web site was very awkward and our museum got kind of buried (not ACM's fault). So, it is hard to measure how many people were aware of this opportunity at our site. I do think it is a good partnership for ACM to pursue.-- Lynne M Morrison, Hands-on House, Children's Museum of Lancaster

It would be great if Nickelodeon could support the promotion with TV spots driving traffic to their site…and our facilities.-- Christina, Omaha Children's Museum

Although the redemption this initial year was low, we are interested in participating in national promotions. We see these efforts as a means to promoting the children's museum brand. Beyond our promotions to members and visitors, I know that at least one area mothers group shared details about the promotion.-- Maureen P. Mangan, Director of Communications & Marketing , Long Island Children's Museum

The Great Lakes Children's Museum had 5 GoCityKids promotion coupons redeemed. Also, one visitor knew about the promotion, but was unable to locate the coupon information and the coupon on the Web site. They brought in our flyer that described the promotion, so we considered the flyer as the coupon. Warm regards-- Martha Belfour, Museum Administrator/Volunteer Coordinator, Great Lakes Children's Museum

[ACM Question: Please share any comments or suggestions you have regarding this promotion. Open response opportunity.] We think that a September promotion is worth a test. As parents are getting in the back to school mode, we know that attendance falls off as soon as Labor Day passes. --Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY.

We had one redemption. We did have a link off our Web site to the coupon site which was prominently featured on our front page. It seems like it's a good program as is to me, maybe next year we could get more Bakersfield museums participation and get some press. Thanks--Carola Rupert Enriquez, Director, Kern County Museum

Unfortunately, I could not open any of the email that was sent to me during this promotion. However, we knew what to do if someone approached us wanting to redeem a coupon from the earlier instruction.--Natalie Schaefer, Paso Robles Children's Museum

I think large markets are saturated with Web-based marketing and opportunities like this promotion, and as a result they often aren't noticed. I would imagine in mid-sized markets the promotion did well. Other coordinated national promotion ideas: Consider hosting the promotion in the winter months, such as January and February, when most families are looking for indoor activities. Consider finding partnerships with local transit authorities, having bus/train posters promoting children's
museums.--Gina Moreland, Habitot Children's Museum

We did not receive any of the coupons. (I just confirmed with our group.) We did receive, however, one inquiry from someone asking if we honored those coupons. We said we did. But they never came in with it. Maybe you asked us to do this and I failed to do it, but I should have added a link to our Web site. Perhaps in the future museums could be encouraged to issue a release on their own about the program, steering traffic to their own sites (from which they would end up on the GoCityKids site). Not sure why this was an October promotion, but maybe it becomes a more traditional vacation time offering, such as July. Anyway, I was very pleased with how all this was handled, and we're looking forward to participating again - perhaps a bit more actively! Thanks--Scott Andersen, Marketing & PR Manager, Grand Rapids Children's Museum

We had no coupons redeemed at Children's Hands-On Museum of Tuscaloosa. One suggestion may be to time this so that it coincides with the Annual Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day that is celebrated nationwide. See www.Smithsonian.com/museumday. Thanks-- Charlotte A. Gibson, Executive Director, Children's Hands-On Museum (Tuscaloosa, AL)

We did not have any coupons turned into our museum. However, we would definitely participate in future programs if offered. It was probably a timing issue as we are a major tourist destination and this was during our "off-season." Also, we have coupons printed in area tourist magazines and many of our visitors get their coupons there. It would have been nice to get a copy of the coupon a bit sooner next time so we could let staff know what they looked like, etc.Thanks so much-- Carol Moran Pfeffer, Executive Director, The Sandbox

We had no coupons redeemed. However, we would be very interested in participating in similar promotion campaigns. I could not adequately evaluate the level of national promotion as I do not have access to Nickolodeon network nor do I check out their webpage often. As a parent, though, I am intrigued by the Go City Kids program. Thanks for the opportunity. --Stacie Kinlaw, Executive Director, Exploration Station, Lumberton, NC

We did not have any GoCityKids coupons redeemed at the Phelps Youth Pavilion. Locally, we did not do much promotion of the coupon because we wanted to see what GoCityKids and Nickelodeon's reach was here in our area, and if they were able to catch the eye of our local parents. I think that awareness through this type of promotional program is good. Even though we didn't see a direct result during Oct., maybe our listing caught the eye of someone with family in our area, or someone
who didn't realize there is a new children's museum here. So, I think this was a worthwhile endeavor with the nationwide exposure/awareness.--Phelps Youth Pavilion

[ACM Question: Did ACM provide the appropriate level of communication and resources to support your participation in this promotion?] The communication was fine, but we had a hard time viewing the coupon on line. It would have been much easier to have it sent to us or directly on the Member Only Web site. It very well could have been our fault, but going through the other Web site was frustrating.--Exploration Station

Member Discounts

Discount School Supply
For the past 20 years, Discount School Supply has served as a leading developer, manufacturer and retailer of educational products for childcare programs, preschools, elementary schools and museums. The catalog now offers 14 categories of products ranging from arts and crafts materials, school supplies and educational toys to furniture. The company's mission is to help further children's education and to provide educators and parents with high quality products, services and resources. Discount School Supply has been an ACM Corporate Supporter since January 2004 and became ACM's first Corporate Leader in September 2005.

As an ACM Affinity Partner, Discount School Supply will offer ACM members a 10% discount and special freight terms on all items in its catalog. Members should site the source code, "MUSEUM," to activate the discount when ordering. This members-only discount applies to all items in the Discount School Supply catalog, including the company's proprietary line of versatile art materials, Colorations, and its popular Liquid Watercolor and Biocolor paint products.

To request a catalog or place an order, contact the customer service department by phone at (800) 627-2829 or by fax at
(800) 879-3753. ACM's Accounts Manager is Barbara Wolfmueller. To order online, visit www.discountschoolsupply.com.

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Tips for Opinion-Editorials

Opinion-Editorials (or Op-eds) are opinion articles 500 to 750 words in length. Most newspapers print such articles on the pages opposite their editorial page.

Op-eds should emphasize the writer's opinion or experience and be of interest to the general public.

Opinion page editors look for op-eds that advance the public discussion of an issue, that are interesting and compelling, and that come from interesting authors. As your communities "town square" your museum's director or board of directors is that interesting author!

Don't go over 750 words. It's not a manifesto; it's your humble opinion. Op-ed editors have so many articles submitted for their consideration that if you can't make your point in 750 words, they can afford to wait for someone who can!

Be open to revision if the op-ed editor for the newspaper suggests it. Why? It will make your piece more likely to be printed. Don't take it personally if if the op-ed editor tells you they can't promise to print it.

Include a cover letter when you submit the op-ed to the editor. It should summarize the key points in one paragraph. Be sure your name and phone number are in the letter.

Submit the op-ed by email or fax, depending on the editor's preference. Newspapers usually provide instructions on how to submit op-eds on the printed edition and also online.

Three or four days later, if you have not already heard back, call to see if the op-ed editor has had a chance to review the piece and decide its fate. If the newspaper rejects the op-ed, don't be discouraged. If there is another newspaper - daily or weekly - you are free to submit it to that paper. However, under no circumstances should you submit an op-ed to two newspapers in the same market at the same time. Newspapers deserve and will demand a "market exclusive" for an op-ed. Submit it to one outlet and, if they turn it down, move on to the next.

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Your Voice Counts

Click here to download the 2004 Your Voice Count Report PDF

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PBS Sprout Let's Go Show Status

Last year, ACM invited all open museum members to get involved with PBS Kids Sprout’s microsite for its new “Let’s Go Show.” That experience was such a hit, Sprout has asked ACM and its member museums to participate again on Season Two of the “Let’s Go Show.” This is an exciting opportunity to promote and brand children’s museum as educational and fun institutions with a broad audience (35 million Sprout viewers).

Let's Go Show Season 2 Museum and Discovery Matches

Click here to see the "Let's Go Show" Museum Discoveries. Note: The page take a few minutes to load. Once you are on the sight, click on the "Discoveries" signpost on the left.

Let's Go Show Project History

ACM emailed all open U.S. member museum directors, public relations, education and exhibits about this opportunity on Friday, March 7. Information about this opportunity was also included in the March E-Update, and the opportunity was posted on the ACM homepage.

Thanks to all ACM members who responded to the opportunity by completing an online application by March 17.

ACM recorded all applications. The criteria for selecting a museum to one of the ten topics, as listed on the online application were:

Museum/museum staff member has expertise to answer the topic question.

Museum staff has the capacity to work within the project timeline. (Draft explanation need to be written between March 17 and April 7).

Museum submitted a "Let's Go Show" Discovery Expert Application in a timely manner.

If you have any questions about the Let's Go Show, please contact Diane Kopasz, ACM program officer, communication.

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ACT NOW Museum Advocacy

Are you ready to Speak Up for Museums?

The American Association of Museums (AAM) has created a Museum Advocacy Action Center, that is designed as a one-stop resource for finding the information you need to be an effective advocate on issues affecting museums and a portal from which you can share your views with your representatives in Congress. You do not need to be a member of AAM to access the center.

Passionate people are the best advocates
Over and over again lawmakers and their staff tell us the most important voice they need to hear from is their constituents back home – YOU!

The key question we must answer for policymakers is, “What do the people in my district (or state) think?” Authenticity counts and your views matter. By speaking up you can influence policies such as increased spending for federal grant programs at IMLS, NEA, NEH, and NSF and expansion of tax incentives to increase charitable giving.

We need your voice
Get involved. The Association of Children's Museums (ACM) is on AAM's Museum Advocacy® Team, a national network of museum advocates working to influence elected officials and public policy makers on issues critical to museums. Your museum can join too! As a member, you will receive, via email, timely information about taking action on federal legislative proposals affecting museums. As an informed advocate, you can influence and shape legislation by expressing your views to your representatives in Congress.

View ACM's ACT NOW advocacy letter for increased IMLS funding.

Make a difference. Contact AAM today to be added to the network! Please include your name, organization or affiliation, address, phone, fax, e-mail and congressional district. E-mail: mat@aam-us.org

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December 2008 NPR All Things Considered "Hands-On Kids' Museums Make Learning Fun"

December 2008 Better Homes & Gardens "Just Imagine"

Fall 2008 Travel + Leisure Magazine "Play Awhile"

May 2008 Chicago Tribune "The Value of Learning Through Play"

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