Adult Museum Programs: Designing Meaningful Experiences

by Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer, Hanly Burton

Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer and her co-authors have taken an important study and turned it into an intriguing, readable, and practical book. Adult learners provide a unique opportunity for museum educators. But what are adult learners looking for? What motivates them to take a class or attend a museum-sponsored activity? What do planners and instructors need to know to maximize the experience for participants? The authors analyzed a wide variety of programs from the perspective of planners, instructors, and participants. They discovered what works and what doesn't, and they've distilled this knowledge into twelve basic steps you can use to design truly meaningful experiences for your museum's adult programs.

Genres: Museology, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2002

Reviews

[char · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was published in 2002 so take it with a huge block of salt. It was written squarely with baby boomers in mind, but by now, "adult audiences" includes millennials as well. That said, it provides a good sounding board and structure for developing a larger set of adult programs - how to define your audience and conduct surveys for what they want, how to incorporate a diverse set of experiences, etc.

I read this book hoping for more specific information about adult learning approaches, which was only briefly covered in this book, and designing tours for adults. It was somewhat helpful but not quite what I needed. But it will come in handy if we are ever able to create a larger set of adult programs.