I help visionary organizations achieve their goals of making education enjoyable, motivating, and effective.
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I help visionary organizations achieve their goals of making education enjoyable, motivating, and effective.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
This forward-thinking institution questioned the value and use of a standard audio tour and sought input on new forms of in-gallery interpretation. I designed a study which assessed use of existing audio and digital interpretation and tapped into visitor preferences for proposed future techniques and content.
"Lauren's method is highly collaborative, asking questions and spending time really understanding her clients needs. Lauren makes it easy to develop and implement evaluation. She listened carefully to our unique set of circumstances and was flexible throughout the process. The result was an evaluation that offered important information about how our visitors were using our current audio tour program and valuable insights into how we could best offer digital interpretation in the future. Illuminated Ideas provided a detailed report with thoughtful analysis and valuable graphics allowing us to share the results in a variety of formats. We would recommend Illuminated Ideas to museums and cultural institutions looking to complete visitor research and evaluation. Lauren is a consummate professional whose critical thinking and problem solving were vital to the project."
Margaret Sternbergh | Gallery Interpretation Manager | Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Mattatuck Museum
To kick off our collaboration, I introduced evaluation, its benefits, and trained the full museum’s staff in a full-day workshop, tailored to their team’s experience and goals. We worked together to develop a visitor baseline survey instrument that could be used 2-3 times each year to monitor growth and changes in their audience, then I ran the first round of analysis for their team. As a group, we did an interactive, participatory analysis workshop, and after incorporating their suggestions, I gave the team the tools I used so they could perform future analysis and reporting on their own.
“You did an amazing job of taking twenty different perspectives and creating a document with information that we can all use. These different ideas were all included in the survey that was produced and in the workshops that we participated in. We appreciated your ability to manage expectations for the process and the timeline as we worked together. It was great to get experience with surveying while you were in person for the workshop because that made everyone more comfortable with the project that was coming up. Your flexibility in coming up with the best way to survey our visitors was also very important and helpful to us.“
Cyndi Tolosa | Director of Development | Mattatuck Museum
Holden Forests + Gardens
We aligned vision for and determined the impact of a new multi-visit classroom program for children ages 3-5, called Sprouting Young Scientists. The evaluation revealed ways to refine the program for Preschool educators.
Cleveland Museum of Natural History
I supported CMNH on two program evaluations: Inspire, an on-site visit for 2nd grade students; and Science of Seeking Snacks, an interactive virtual outreach program for K-12 students.
Nature Center at Shaker Lakes
To evaluate their ASK! field trip program, I helped educators at the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes identify and assess outcomes for Pre-K, Kindergarten, and 1st Grade students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Together, we created a series of logic models, custom embedded evaluation tools for each grade level, and refined a teacher survey to learn more about their programs.
I am working with the team to also evaluate a Head Start visit program.
Palo Alto Art Center
In collaboration with their team, I helped PAAC design in-gallery evaluation prompts and a flexible observation checklist to collect data on their temporary installation.
Museum of Life + Science
This museum's board and senior leadership wanted to understand the value of their membership. I analyzed a large qualitative dataset and produced a short summary report to help distill what brings in members, which perks are most appreciated, and ways to better serve this dedicated community.
I worked closely with Kate Livingston, founder and principal at ExposeYourMuseum LLC. Through my work with Kate, I contributed to projects for organizations like Great Lakes Science Center, Denver Botanic Gardens, WWII Museum, History Colorado Center, and the MICES study led by John H. Falk.
"Having known and mentored Lauren since she was an undergraduate student, it's no surprise to me that she has quickly become a sought-after consultant to those eager to understand their audiences. Lauren has always demonstrated an incredible drive and passion for her work. She is tenacious and confident, yet balances those traits with an open-heart and open-mind-- ever-curious about the world around her. Lauren is creative and strategic, regularly seeing multiple ways to solve problems and find solutions. It's been a true pleasure to include Lauren as a thought partner and consultant on many ExposeYourMuseum projects; in fact, I request Lauren's help on every project I can!"
Kate Livingston | Principal | ExposeYourMuseum
Blanton Museum of Art
For my Master's thesis, I spoke with visitors to the Blanton Museum of Art and university students that do not regularly visit museums. I found clear connections between visitor confidence, knowledge, and interest when viewing contemporary artworks. Participants described their interpretation preferences in art spaces, including common reasons for using (or not using) labels. For specific findings and discussion, see the [Contemporary Art] series on my blog or download the summary report here. For the truly ambitious, feel free to download the full thesis text!
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art + San Francisco Public Library
With support from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) partnered to deliver Public Knowledge, a suite of programs and public engagement around the cultural impact of urban change. I designed a dynamic evaluation for the collaboratively designed and delivered Museum/Library program, Take Part. Process Evaluation interviews assessed highlights, opportunities, and challenges of the relationship between the two organizations serving the San Francisco public. A comprehensive survey of Take Part participants offered insights on the program's reach and reception among its audiences.