Instructor Mary Kay Cunningham teaches AHVS 488Y, Visitor Experiences. We recently had the opportunity to have a conversation with Mary Kay to ask a few questions about her background, interests and more.

Why is cultural resource management important to you?

Cultural resources are essential to preserving our collective heritage. Having real and tangible destinations, along with virtual opportunities to examine all aspects of our heritage—the moments of progress, along with all the mistakes made—is so important to healing communities and creating a better future. However, we cannot make the assumption that people do or will continue to care about our cultural resources unless they remain relevant. With so much demand and competition for our free time and attention, effective cultural resource management will focus on the changing needs of our communities and evolve our management and engagement strategies to remain relevant to future audiences. 

What do you like about teaching?

Having the opportunity to facilitate learning conversations about the visitor experience at cultural institutions always teaches me something new and helps me reconnect to my work of designing visitor experiences. I consider myself a learning addict and truly value the opportunity to keep growing and having my ideas challenged or expanded by the conversations that happen in class discussions or student submissions. 

What do you do when you not teaching?

I have had the good fortune of working in the museum field for the last 30+ years as a consultant. I primarily work with institutions to improve their learning experiences by focusing on visitor experience design, interpretation, institutional change around decolonizing collections, practices and policies, and professional development for volunteers, staff, administrators and board members.

How did you end up in your career?

As an undergraduate, I studied environmental communications and learned how to simplify complex ideas and appeal to people’s interests. Having grown up in Chicago, where I was exposed to world-class museums, I sought an educator position at a botanic garden where I could apply my skills as an educator. One of my responsibilities was to train volunteers to engage visitors in learning conversations. There was no single resource for me to utilize for that training, so for my graduate degree in environmental interpretation, I wrote and was able to publish my thesis, “The Interpreter’s Training Manual for Museums.” The book became a best-seller for the American Association of Museums and I spoke at conferences and began working as a consultant to help other museums with interpretive training. Eventually, I realized that fantastic interpretation (i.e., personal education programs, signs, exhibits, etc.) could only be appreciated by visitors if all their other needs were met and negative barriers were removed. This is when I started helping museums focus on visitor experience design to maximize learning opportunities while minimizing barriers to participation. 

Any advice for our students?

Focusing on the visitor experience and the needs and interests of our communities will be critical for museums and cultural institutions/resources to survive into the future. As students and employees, serving as audience advocates (regardless of your role) can strengthen our organizations by taking time to learn about current and desired audiences—the reasons why people visit and stay away. After all, very few institutions can survive without public support (which includes governments seeing that constituents care enough to continue funding a site). 

While learning about our audiences can involve in-depth studies, much can be gleaned about people’s needs and interests through observation, surveys or direct conversations. Moreover, as our population and subsequently our audience becomes increasingly diverse, it's crucial for the management of cultural resources to acknowledge how collections, policies and practices from the past may have caused harm or made certain audiences feel unwelcome. As ambassadors of cultural resources, I urge all students to help their organizations recognize areas for improvement, acknowledge past wrongdoings and invest time in building relationships with audiences, especially those impacted by our sites. This commitment to change is the key to ensuring truly successful visitor experiences and enduring cultural resources in the future.

 

• Posted July 8, 2024